GeForce Now

Streaming Games

1. Overview

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.

2. Sign In To GeForce Now

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.

3. 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.

If you find the system losing focus on the browser during game play, we suggest you enable native toolbars as shown here. Then choose Right-click on title bar > More actions > [x] Keep above others. You might also set full-screen mode using Meta + F.

Game Titles

Per-Game Hints

Assetto Corsa

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.

Dirt Rally 2.0

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

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:

Overwatch

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.

Troubleshooting - General

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.

Troubleshooting - M1 + M2 Models

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:

Troubleshooting - Ir14, Ir16, NX, and XE Models

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.

Disclaimer

We 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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