Introduction to gaming on Linux
Wine
Wine is a Linux program with open-source reimplementations of some portions of Windows in order to make it possible to run some Windows applications on Linux.
Proton
Proton is a fork of Wine created by Valve, it is bundled out-of-the-box with gaming-related compatibility fixes including:
- dxvk: Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 8/9/10/11
- vkd3d: Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 12
Gamescope
Gamescope is a micro-compositor created by Valve for the Steam Deck. It essentially provides a virtual screen for games to render into. The virtual screen can be configured with various settings such as custom resolutions, refresh rates, support for HDR, FSR, etc. The virtual screen is then presented to the user in a dedicated window.
MangoHUD
MangoHUD is a performance overlay which you can enable with an environment variable. It shows you information such as CPU, GPU and RAM usage.
Lutris
Lutris is a game launcher that lets you configure presets for running non-Steam games with customizable settings.