Support NeoGAF

[Wolzard]

I don't think it's particularly elegant on any OS though

But retro for me ends at the PS2/GC gen which all works great. (OG Xbox emulator also not good on any OS)

I dabble with RPCS3 a bit which works pretty well but is very game-dependent on the performance.

RPCS3 performs better on Linux than on Windows.

Here's hoping that Nvidia one day figures it out on Linux. It's gotten better, but not by much. Its a large reason I went AMD on my latest build. The Radeon 7900XTX performs fantastically. Only problem being my stunted Raytracing performance, which is more an AMD issue. Its not entirely awful, as lately I've been playing Cyberpunk 2077 with its DLC at 5120x1440 with Maxed visual settings, but Medium RT. Having XeSS do a large amount of the carrying (I get slightly better performance and visuals compared to FSR? Maybe I'm imagining things?).

Is Nvidia even trying? I read they hired that guy who was working on Linux drivers. I'm not sure if that was a good thing or bad though. I'm pretty much staying in the Nvidia camp, unfortunately. I just think it is a superior product for gaming. I'm no fanboy. I genuinely wish that wasn't the case. Maybe one day.

Many people say Nvidia doesn't care, but that's not what I see. All Nvidia features work on Linux. GPUs have day-one support, while AMD has to wait for Mesa and the kernel to update. Nvidia has a control panel, not as comprehensive as Windows, but it's there. AMD doesn't.

Nvidia has been investigating DX12 performance issues on Linux for some time now. Ultimately, the problem was with Vulkan. Generally speaking, Vulkan was more aligned with the way AMD GPUs process graphics than with other GPUs. With this in mind, Collabora is rewriting the Vulkan extensions, which will address not only Nvidia's performance but also Intel's.

DirectX12 performance is terrible on Linux

From my understanding, the primary reason is that NV hardware is designed around optimizing descriptor heap operations (which is what D3D12 uses and developers like), and there isn’t an exact Vulkan equivalent yet. vkd3d-proton emulates heaps using descriptor sets or buffers, but those create a...

forums.developer.nvidia.com

 

[wipeout364]

I often wonder if Valve released some Steam OS productivity software if it would help adoption to desktops/steambox. Similar to the Google suite of productivity apps.

 

[Topher]

RPCS3 performs better on Linux than on Windows.







Many people say Nvidia doesn't care, but that's not what I see. All Nvidia features work on Linux. GPUs have day-one support, while AMD has to wait for Mesa and the kernel to update. Nvidia has a control panel, not as comprehensive as Windows, but it's there. AMD doesn't.

Nvidia has been investigating DX12 performance issues on Linux for some time now. Ultimately, the problem was with Vulkan. Generally speaking, Vulkan was more aligned with the way AMD GPUs process graphics than with other GPUs. With this in mind, Collabora is rewriting the Vulkan extensions, which will address not only Nvidia's performance but also Intel's.

DirectX12 performance is terrible on Linux

From my understanding, the primary reason is that NV hardware is designed around optimizing descriptor heap operations (which is what D3D12 uses and developers like), and there isn’t an exact Vulkan equivalent yet. vkd3d-proton emulates heaps using descriptor sets or buffers, but those create a...

forums.developer.nvidia.com

Good to know. Do they have a timeline for when the extension rewrite will be completed?

 

[Wolzard]

Good to know. Do they have a timeline for when the extension rewrite will be completed?

There isn't, but in the Collabora presentation slide, they said that the most difficult parts (working on the compiler) have already been done and will soon be in the testing phase.

https://indico.freedesktop.org/event/10/contributions/402/attachments/243/327/2025-09-29%20-%20XDC%202025%20-%20Descriptors%20are%20Hard.pdf

 

[Durin]

I often wonder if Valve released some Steam OS productivity software if it would help adoption to desktops/steambox. Similar to the Google suite of productivity apps.

I don't think it would do much other than visibility for alternatives, especially when the google suite of productivity apps can just be run in a browser, and save them as a web apps if you wanna have a shortcut on the taskbar to launch.

Most productivity software either already have a Linux app option or can be done via web app. It's really the content creation apps where things get trickier, like the adobe suite, or music creation software.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Honestly, to rile up Linux people, all you need to do is say that [name] distribution is the best and only one to use.

If you want them to get into fisticuffs, say that [name] DE is the only one, or if you want pistols at dawn: kernel version.

Oh, I forgot, which repositories to use. Or how about Flatpak vs Snaps?

I'll do you one better.

Mention Brian Lunduke or XLibre and the Linux people (really the woke ones) will flip the shit out.

 

[Crayon]

And then this "new" game has RT and/or HDR not working yet or crazy bugs like missing geometry and/or textures. Need to wait a proton update.

Yeah there's no room for a sensible response to that. Hi five. Anyone can see for themselves inside an hour. It's easy to try out.

 

[kevboard]

Yeah there's no room for a sensible response to that. Hi five. Anyone can see for themselves inside an hour. It's easy to try out.

I mean... it's 100% true. I have a Steam Deck, and the amount of times I have to fiddle around with Proton versions goes up exponentially the less mainstream and the less recent a game is.
then there's the issue that new releases have no guarantee to work, and that you might be stuck waiting for either a Proton or a game patch to fix it.

for one game I had to switch to an ancient proton version, and set it to Windows 7 mode, which I had to look through multiple protonDB posts to find that solution.
or just the other day, I wanted to play nail'd, a pretty decent ATV racing game from the 360 era... well, none of the FMVs worked and that meant many menu backgrounds were bugged + just black screens you have to skip through. I had to look through 4 different Proton versions until I found one where the menu backgrounds worked, but I still have black screens where videos are supposed to play. so I will have to look for additional fixes it seems.

meanwhile on Windows... it just works

 

[Crayon]

I mean... it's 100% true. I have a Steam Deck, and the amount of times I have to fiddle around with Proton versions goes up exponentially the less mainstream and the less recent a game is.
then there's the issue that new releases have no guarantee to work, and that you might be stuck waiting for either a Proton or a game patch to fix it.

for one game I had to switch to an ancient proton version, and set it to Windows 7 mode, which I had to look through multiple protonDB posts to find that solution.
or just the other day, I wanted to play nail'd, a pretty decent ATV racing game from the 360 era... well, none of the FMVs worked and that meant many menu backgrounds were bugged + just black screens you have to skip through. I had to look through 4 different Proton versions until I found one where the menu backgrounds worked, but I still have black screens where videos are supposed to play. so I will have to look for additional fixes it seems.

meanwhile on Windows... it just works

It's pretty common that I have to try different proton versions, actually. I often forget that because it's pretty easy. There have been a few times where nothing worked and I had to just guess whether the same thing would have happened on windows. It's not very common though, or I wouldn't recommend it. Big releases have been tested against proton for years now thanks to steam deck so it gets more rare over time.

Look like I said the only way for someone to know it's going to work for them is to try. It's free and easy. I say if you plan to log into steam and play your games as-is, you will be fine. That's half the reason nobody's running out to put windows on their steam deck. But don't take my word for it. Also maybe don't take the word of people saying it's going to explode on contact. I'm not even going to say with confidence which will happen. I can say with confidence that it's easy to try and see for yourself.