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Choose from over six thousand high quality native games from Steam. Play them on a 144 Hz full HD panel. Over a thousand “Windows-only” games run surprisingly well with Proton and Lutris including many recent AAA titles.
Please read the disclaimer before proceeding. This solution is updated regularly. Please write authorship with suggestions or requests.
Gaming on Linux has never been better. Steam lists thousands of Linux native games, while Wikipedia states that over over 5,000 Linux native titles are available.
Use the Proton layer to run “Windows-only” titles. On the Focus (and many other Linux distros) the performance varies from modestly reduced to marginally faster. Games that use Vulkan or OpenGL generally perform as well or even better on Linux. DirectX also run well but tend to be a bit slower than on Windows. Doom 2016 is a Vulkan game, for example, and it runs at 144 FPS on ultra settings on the RTX 2060 model.
Use a guide like Best Games On Steam You Can Play On Linux and Windows to get started. You might also want to visit the Lutris database for information on games not on Steam, such as League of Legends or World of Warcraft.
Start Steam. The app will install and update as required. Create an account if needed and sign-in.
Select Game from library and install it if required. Then click on the Play button. Right-click on the title name or the Gear icon and select Properties... > DLC to download content like Vulkan drivers.
Enable Proton using for unsupported games with a few clicks. Select Steam > Settings > SteamPlay and then toggle on Enable Steam Play for all other titles. Use the latest Proton version available for default (5.0-8) and restart Steam when prompted. Modify Proton setting for a specific game by clicking on the Gear icon when viewing it in your library.
You may return Steam games within 14 days and with less than two hours of gameplay. This is useful if a game doesn't work as expected.
Use Lutris to run games not found in the Steam ecosystem. The Focus has the repository enabled for Lutris. Open the Discover app, search for Lutris, and then click install. Or open a terminal and enter sudo apt install Lutris. We installed and ran BattleField 5 (found on the Origin EA game service) using Lutris and it ran very well.
Q: I get an error when opening Steam. It shows a window that says Couldn’t set up steam data. Please contact technical support. What should I do?
A: This is due to a corrupted .steam directory. Run the following in a terminal and then start Steam again.
Q: Fallout 4 on Proton has audio issues. How do I fix this?
A: We have confirmed FallOut 4 and all DLCs run over 100-200 FPS on the Focus. Right-click on the game in your Library and click Launch Options. Under the General tab click on Launch Options and enter the following.
Q: The Nvidia drivers do not seem to work. How can I fix this?
A: Use the command below to check and repair the Nvidia driver stack.
Q: My system disk is getting full. How can I move my Steam games to another disk?
A: Use Steam > Settings > Download > Steam Library Folders to add a new directory on a new disk. Then in the library, right click on an installed game and select Properties > Local Files > Move Install Folder to select the new location. Do this for each game you wish to move. See this article for more detail.
This is a partial revision history. See the git repository for all entries.
2020-09-11 198a66dd Add guide to move games2020-06-10 c4ed9299 Restructure layout2020-05-20 f776dc20 Revise images2020-05-16 60267b79 Add driver repair check to troubleshooting2020-05-14 2fbce101 Restructure and expand2020-04-26 6c48c84b Clarify language2020-04-14 a8b86940 Add troubleshooting section2020-01-21 fae11094 Update proton language2020-01-19 44069e8e Initial draftWe try hard to provide a useful solution validated by professionals. However, we cannot anticipate every situation, and therefore cannot guarantee this procedure will work for your needs. Always backup your data and test the solution to determine the correct procedure for you.
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