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 well with Proton and Lutris including many recent AAA titles.
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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 usually perform as well, or even better on Linux. DirectX games also run well, but tend to be a bit slower. Doom 2016, for example, is a Vulkan game, and on ultra settings it runs at 140 average FPS on the RTX 2060 and over 200 FPS on the RTX 2080 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. 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 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.
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. CyberPunk 2077 looks like it will soon run well, but Ubuntu support is still being worked on.
Navigate to https://geforcenow.com and click on the user icon in 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 actually find and play games.
Oddly, you must navigate to https://play.geforcenow.com to actually play the games. Enter the desired game in the search bar or choose one from your library by linking your Steam,
Once you have clicked on the desired game, you will see the launcher as shown below. As this example shows, we needed to sign into 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.
Proton 5.13-4 presents 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 100-200 FPS on the Focus. 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 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: 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: The Nvidia drivers do not seem to work. How can i fix this?
A: Use FocusRx. Open a terminal to check and repair the driver stack as shown below.
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.
This is a partial revision history. See the git repository for all entries.
2020-01-10 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 games2020-06-10 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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