I checked this threads replies because it was a Star Wars meme, but now that I’m here, is Mint good for gaming? I really do NOT want to “upgrade” to Windows 11 but it’s always been gaming that has kept me from going Linux.
Linux gaming is in a great place right now, thanks to proton framework developed by valve. Anything on steam will pretty much just work with no tweaks at all necessary, and if you need proprietary launchers for your games (blizz, epic, etc.) then lutris handles that.
The only games which won’t work well without some kind of mods are those with the anti cheat root kits…apex namely. Thankfully those are few and far between but you could get unlucky depending on what games you’re maining.
Bazzite is a distro you should consider because it’s made specifically for gaming and comes with some nice optimizations already baked in, but Mint will work fine if you really want something that looks and feels like windows. Either way, try out Linux, you won’t regret!
Mint main here, and I’ll say outright: most distros are good for gaming.
Got steam? Then you have an easy install of proton. Got flatpak? You got bottle to help you setup wine configs.
Mint is not setup out of the box for gaming (unlike distros like nobara), but it’s still arguably easier to install than windows’s exes.
I recommend mint to start getting into Linux. Keep it 4-5 months as daily driver, then you’ll be free to try other things. Personally I did some distro hopping, but came back to it as it was just… Good and stable.
… Until you talk about Nvidia. By default, mint uses the nouveau drivers… Which can be hit or miss. There’s the driver manager to help you one click install other versions, but you might have to try a few to get it working. If steam games crashes on startup, but not in Nvidia GPU only mode, that might be a bad version.
That’s not really a mint thing, but it’s good to know.
For Mint and gaming specifically, somebody else would probably answer better but I can’t imagine it’s going to be too different from any other Linux distribution. If my memory serves me right, there are pretty easy to use utilities to install Nvidia proprietary drivers (which can often be the painpoint for people, though my experience has luckily been different). That being said, I do know a lot of people tend to advise Bazzite for gaming, so again, maybe someone more knowledgeable there could chime in.
For the more general question of gaming on Linux (irrelevant of the distribution), Steam has made things really easy for a lot of games. I have switched to Linux about 15 years ago and I can tell you it used to be a pita, but now with Proton, a lot of games “just work” TM. Unfortunately, some games do remain unplayable, in particular some multiplayer games which require kernel level anti cheats. You should check beforehand for the games you are interested in, but if something is truly unsupported that you want to play, Mint or no Mint, you’re shit out of luck.
My advice would be, if you have time for that, to back up your data (which you do anyways right?) and just give Mint a spin. You won’t brick your computer, worst case there is a showstopper and you can just reinstall windows. I am sure plenty of folks online would be happy to help in the process ;)
No, and this place will heavily gaslight you. Yes most games do work now, it just takes a ton of extra configuration and constantly getting shit like controllers working well.
Genuinely curious what the ton of extra configuration and controller issues you’ve encountered are? Speaking only for myself, since Proton it’s been pretty much smooth sailing, even with an Nvidia GPU.
Granted I don’t have more “niche” interests like VR or flight/driving sims which would require pretty specific “controllers” and may just have been lucky all around.
Incorrect documentation, controller latency, having to write out configuration and scripts for pipewire to use my HDMI audio, same with HDMI displays and gnome, having to create new display modes so that games see and use them, missing vrr in many games, a wireless headset is missing the mic input, missing HDR in all games running in gamescope, and having to pull out and put back in my HDMI cord every time my display turns off.
Don’t get started about having to run a Debian container to run vscode because flatpack doesn’t work consistently.
Running a 3080, 12700k, and mostly standard hardware.
Do you have TV’s or HDMI audio through passthrough? I’m utterly convinced 98% of the Linux community has no clue. I regularly run into these issues across distros and I’ve basically become convinced that nearly everyone is running just standard monitors and wired in controllers.
Yes I do on my laptop (have not tried on my desktop which is connected to a standard monitor) + using an Xbox and an 8bitdo controller through Bluetooth.
Never had issues with hdmi audio passthrough, (but did use to have weird resolution issues, circa Ubuntu 10.04, on a particular TV that I never could solve).
I am not trying to negate your experience, or trying to assess sample size btw. I am just genuinely just as baffled as you seem to be, from the other end, and would like to know of potential issues I am not even aware of.
No problem, I wasn’t sure how I came off either, knowing how some of the community can sometimes respond to posts criticising Linux/ranting about real issues, I just thought I’d make sure and clarify my intent.
I checked this threads replies because it was a Star Wars meme, but now that I’m here, is Mint good for gaming? I really do NOT want to “upgrade” to Windows 11 but it’s always been gaming that has kept me from going Linux.
Linux gaming is in a great place right now, thanks to proton framework developed by valve. Anything on steam will pretty much just work with no tweaks at all necessary, and if you need proprietary launchers for your games (blizz, epic, etc.) then lutris handles that.
The only games which won’t work well without some kind of mods are those with the anti cheat root kits…apex namely. Thankfully those are few and far between but you could get unlucky depending on what games you’re maining.
Bazzite is a distro you should consider because it’s made specifically for gaming and comes with some nice optimizations already baked in, but Mint will work fine if you really want something that looks and feels like windows. Either way, try out Linux, you won’t regret!
Second for Bazzite. Have it on my steamdeck.
If you have specific games you play on steam you can look them up on Protondb and see community data on how well they work.
Mint main here, and I’ll say outright: most distros are good for gaming. Got steam? Then you have an easy install of proton. Got flatpak? You got bottle to help you setup wine configs.
Mint is not setup out of the box for gaming (unlike distros like nobara), but it’s still arguably easier to install than windows’s exes.
I recommend mint to start getting into Linux. Keep it 4-5 months as daily driver, then you’ll be free to try other things. Personally I did some distro hopping, but came back to it as it was just… Good and stable.
… Until you talk about Nvidia. By default, mint uses the nouveau drivers… Which can be hit or miss. There’s the driver manager to help you one click install other versions, but you might have to try a few to get it working. If steam games crashes on startup, but not in Nvidia GPU only mode, that might be a bad version. That’s not really a mint thing, but it’s good to know.
For Mint and gaming specifically, somebody else would probably answer better but I can’t imagine it’s going to be too different from any other Linux distribution. If my memory serves me right, there are pretty easy to use utilities to install Nvidia proprietary drivers (which can often be the painpoint for people, though my experience has luckily been different). That being said, I do know a lot of people tend to advise Bazzite for gaming, so again, maybe someone more knowledgeable there could chime in.
For the more general question of gaming on Linux (irrelevant of the distribution), Steam has made things really easy for a lot of games. I have switched to Linux about 15 years ago and I can tell you it used to be a pita, but now with Proton, a lot of games “just work” TM. Unfortunately, some games do remain unplayable, in particular some multiplayer games which require kernel level anti cheats. You should check beforehand for the games you are interested in, but if something is truly unsupported that you want to play, Mint or no Mint, you’re shit out of luck.
My advice would be, if you have time for that, to back up your data (which you do anyways right?) and just give Mint a spin. You won’t brick your computer, worst case there is a showstopper and you can just reinstall windows. I am sure plenty of folks online would be happy to help in the process ;)
Mint’s installer makes it pretty easy to set it up for dual boot so you can keep windows on the machine to try things out.
No, and this place will heavily gaslight you. Yes most games do work now, it just takes a ton of extra configuration and constantly getting shit like controllers working well.
Genuinely curious what the ton of extra configuration and controller issues you’ve encountered are? Speaking only for myself, since Proton it’s been pretty much smooth sailing, even with an Nvidia GPU.
Granted I don’t have more “niche” interests like VR or flight/driving sims which would require pretty specific “controllers” and may just have been lucky all around.
Incorrect documentation, controller latency, having to write out configuration and scripts for pipewire to use my HDMI audio, same with HDMI displays and gnome, having to create new display modes so that games see and use them, missing vrr in many games, a wireless headset is missing the mic input, missing HDR in all games running in gamescope, and having to pull out and put back in my HDMI cord every time my display turns off.
Don’t get started about having to run a Debian container to run vscode because flatpack doesn’t work consistently.
Running a 3080, 12700k, and mostly standard hardware.
So you’re the person who got all my bugs so I could have none.
Jokes aside, the pipewire stuff in particular sounds painful, this is a rat’s nest I am very glad I have not had to touch.
Do you have TV’s or HDMI audio through passthrough? I’m utterly convinced 98% of the Linux community has no clue. I regularly run into these issues across distros and I’ve basically become convinced that nearly everyone is running just standard monitors and wired in controllers.
It has to be a sampling problem.
Yes I do on my laptop (have not tried on my desktop which is connected to a standard monitor) + using an Xbox and an 8bitdo controller through Bluetooth.
Never had issues with hdmi audio passthrough, (but did use to have weird resolution issues, circa Ubuntu 10.04, on a particular TV that I never could solve).
I am not trying to negate your experience, or trying to assess sample size btw. I am just genuinely just as baffled as you seem to be, from the other end, and would like to know of potential issues I am not even aware of.
Ohh sorry, didn’t mean to come off like that, I was legitimately curious and went off into my rant about the community as a whole.
No problem, I wasn’t sure how I came off either, knowing how some of the community can sometimes respond to posts criticising Linux/ranting about real issues, I just thought I’d make sure and clarify my intent.
FWIW, I also hate the flatpak/snap trend btw…