Choose from over ten thousand high quality native games from Steam. Play them on high-refresh FHD or QHD panels. Thanks to the Steam Deck, thousands of “Windows-only” games run well with Proton and Lutris, including many recent AAA titles.
Steam Games
Proton and Lutris
Troubleshooting - M1 + M2 ModelsPlease read the disclaimer before proceeding. We review and update guided solutions like this regularly. If you have suggestions or requests, please write support@kfocus.org.
Gaming on Linux has never been better. Steam lists over 10,000 of Linux / SteamOS games, while Wikipedia states that over 6,500 Linux native titles are available.
Use the Proton layer to run “Windows-only” titles. On Focus systems (and many other Linux distros) the performance varies from modestly reduced to marginally faster. Games that use Vulkan or OpenGL usually perform as well, or even better, on Linux. Doom 2016, for example, is a Vulkan game, and on ultra settings it runs at 160 average FPS on the RTX 3060 and over 240 FPS on the RTX 3080 Super.
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 a game from your library and click on the Play button. To download content or drivers, click on Gear Button > Properties... > DLC.
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 and restart Steam when prompted. To set the Proton version for a specific game, view the game in the library and click on Gear Button > Properties... > Compatibility > Force the use ... and select the desired version. We do not recommend doing this unless you are having issues.
You may return Steam and other games typically if used less than 2 weeks and run less than 2 hours. See individual stores for details. This is useful if a game doesn't work as expected.
You can use Lutris to run games not found in the Steam ecosystem. Click on the icon to install it on your Focus system, or visit the home page to learn more.
NVIDIA’s GeForce Now service can stream games from Steam, Epic, Blizzard, and other platforms. These games are not installed on your system, so you can save lots of disk space. We still recommend local installation of fast-paced games where the lowest latency is desired.
GeForce Now is a great way to try the newest games or those not currently available on Ubuntu. Fortnite, for example, runs on Linux but is hampered by Epic anti-cheat mechanisms.
Navigate to https://geforcenow.com and click on the user icon at the top right to sign-in. You may create an account if required.
This is the sign-in screen. We recommend you create a separate NVIDIA account if you do not already have one. When you do this, you can link to a Steam or other account. This is required to launch most games.
You can also click on Games to browse the catalog here, however this doesn’t launch them. See below for how to find and play games.
Oddly, you must navigate to https://play.geforcenow.com to play games. Enter the desired game in the search bar or choose one from your library by linking your Steam account.
Once you have clicked on the desired game, you will see the launcher as shown below. As this example shows, we needed to sign in to our Steam account to launch Steam games. We had to visit the account settings and link our Steam account since we missed it during account setup.
All Proton versions allow the game to be installed but will crash seconds after launch. A detailed video using Protontricks to install and run the game can be found here. After the first run of the game, you may improve performance by switching to a newer version of Proton. You may need to reinstall if the game is stuck on the "Setting Defaults" screen.
Proton 5.13-4 may present a black screen at launch. Use an earlier version of Proton instead: click Gear Button > Properties... > Compatibility > Force the use ... and then select Proton 5.0-10.
Fallout 4 runs well at 100-300 FPS on Focus M2 systems. To enable audio, view the game in Library and click on Gear Button > Properties... > General > Launch Options and enter the following:
When running on Lutris, Overwatch may launch with a black screen. Click on Lutris > Overwatch > Configure > System Options and then change the Vulkan ICD loader from default (auto) to nvidia_icd.json.
Q: I Get an error when opening Steam. It shows a window that says Couldn't set up steam data. Please contact technical support.
A: This occurs when the .steam directory gets corrupted. Run the following in a terminal and then start Steam again.
Q: My system disk is getting full. How can I move my Steam games to a different 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.
Q: I cannot start a Windows game on Steam. It appears to want to use the Intel GPU.
A1: Direct Proton to use the NVIDIA GPU. Select the game from your library and click on Gear Button > Properties... > General > Launch Options. Enter the following text and restart the game.
A2: Proton may not recognize the NVIDIA GPU if the game was installed using the iGPU. You can rebuild the configurations as shown below.
Q: The NVIDIA drivers do not seem to work. How can I fix this?
A1: Make sure your system is running the Nvidia GPU. Focus M2 systems use a Plasma Optimus widget in the system tray to select the GPU. If you see Intel® instead of an Nvidia logo, click on it to switch to the GPU to Nvidia Performance (do NOT use on-demand).
A2: Make sure the correct packages are installed. Open a terminal and enter the commands as shown below:
Q: In Team Fortress 2, Left for Dead, Dota 2, and others, the graphics flickers when using Vulkan. How do I fix this?
A: This is an Intel i915 graphics issue. See GPU Select for complete resolution.
Q: I am seeing corrupt text on some websites. What could be the issue?
A: This is an Intel i915 graphics issue. See GPU Select for complete resolution.
This is a partial revision history. See the git repository for all entries.
2024-03-18 fb9b592d Add syntax highlighting for codeblocks2023-11-18 e770b1c6 Add search and help bar2023-06-25 d7e6cada Change top image2023-06-06 f627e550 Update gaming guide, images, steam dialog2023-04-25 19f0fa02 Revise Intel graphics, Ir14 sections2022-12-12 ef6ae080 Update to current2022-12-08 216a1508 Lutris repo restored2022-10-25 5dbec207 Lutris repo removed2022-07-08 f43e561c Revise images for 22.042022-03-27 b3373281 Content review and update2021-10-10 5728326e Reformat to 2-column2021-09-22 dc862884 Update link and headline colors2021-08-23 681261b4 Review and update codeblocks2021-08-20 bb5a074d Add XE support, model-specific FAQ2021-07-28 1b9cf29b Revise units to have a space after number2021-01-16 3ae944e8 Content review and update2021-01-10 5b281a74 Add per-game hints2021-01-05 25a074d0 Expand GeForce Now section2020-11-16 5fdb618d Update images to newer games2020-09-11 198a66dd Add guide to move games2020-08-31 Archive Earlier revision comments2020-06-10 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 First publicationWe 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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