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Interestingly enough, I've had games that had both a native Linux port and Windows version, and the Windows version through Proton ran better than the native Li

Interestingly enough, I've had games that had both a native Linux port and Windows version, and the Windows version through Proton ran better than the native Linux version. This ended up being true for Civ5, Civ6 and Cities Skylines (1). With those admittedly limited examples though, I don't experience the same ranking in performance, but I attribute that to my non-gaming hardware vs. any problem with Linux or Proton/Wine. I play on a laptop with an Nvidia 3050 laptop GPU, and I get much better performance in Windows still. In Cities Skylines, for example, I'll get ~20 fps on Linux via Proton (but I do experience what you said, it's consistent no major spikes or drops) while on Windows I get between 45-60fps up until about 15k population or so. Other games, despite working, remain unplayable to me due to performance. I can play Diablo 4 on windows no problem on medium settings, but even on low it's just too unresponsive on Linux. Anyway, just my anecdotal experience. Those with dedicated gaming rigs will be more than fine with Linux, but those of us on underpowered hardware still seem better off with Windows, unfortunately.

nialv7 1y ago
Linux port if there is one is usually done by a third party porting studio, which is not necessarily at the same quality as the original codebase. Also the devs just don't have the manpower/bandwidth to spare for Linux users given how small this community is. It's better value for money for both the gamers and the devs if the devs just choose to engage with valve and get their game running perfectly under proton.
- unaindz 1y ago
  To be you should compare the windows version on windows, no proton against the Linux version. DXVK, which proton uses, makes some games run better in windows than "native".
- egypturnash 1y ago
  But maybe figure out how to start getting those third party Linux porting studios paid to work on Proton...
  - YokoZar 1y ago
    The answer is pretty simple here - hire CodeWeavers to work on supporting your game in Proton/Wine rather than some other porting shop doing an old rewrite-style port.
- preisschild 1y ago
  > and get their game running perfectly under proton Even better would be to compile for linux, but use DXVK-Native (https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk#dxvk-native https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk#dxvk-native) if you think migrating from DirectX to Vulkan requires too much effort.
- DanielHB 1y ago
  They probably QA mostly for windows, so they run into bottlenecks and edge-cases of windows APIs during QA. Linux-native APIs probably have different bottlenecks and edge-cases. I think the reimplementations of Windows APIs in Linux, even though alternative to the original, should have similar bottlenecks and edge-cases. So the extra QA on Windows helps the Proton version more.
- pxc 1y ago
  These ports are also not usually source ports, so they're not much "more native" than the Proton ports. They often use the same kind of API translation layer, probably also built on WINE. I think as Proton sees more investment and becomes more advanced, it's probably becoming difficult for competing compatibility layers to keep up. A source port that is optimized as lovingly as its Windows counterpart will probably be faster than the Windows version running via Proton, but the incentives aren't generally there to justify the costs/difficulties. Maybe some day it will be! That would be wonderful. But until then, Proton seems like an increasingly compelling option for these compatibility layer-based ports of Windows games.
  - Macha 1y ago
    Factorio and Minecraft (Java edition) are two of the few games that come to mind where the Linux port got comparable effort to the Windows port, and I don't think people are in a rush to play either of them in Proton. Your latest AAA open world RPG on the other hand? Yeah, you're probably going to have better luck in Proton even if it gets a native Linux port.
    - minetest2048 1y ago
      Factorio is the only game that I know that have Linux (and Mac) exclusive feature, which is non-blocking saving: https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-408 https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-408
haswell 1y ago
> Those with dedicated gaming rigs will be more than fine with Linux, but those of us on underpowered hardware still seem better off with Windows, unfortunately. That’s interesting and good to know. I’m running an 10th gen i9 with an RTX 3090, so I have plenty of headroom performance wise. I’ve been wondering about Linux gaming on lower end hardware for my younger brother’s sake, and hadn’t assumed it would be worse. One thing to note: I’ve had all kinds of issues with power management impacting performance. If I let the computer sleep/standby, I’ll get 50% slower framerate until I reboot. Given the fact that you’re on a laptop, I wonder if power management has contributed to the slowness.
- hedora 1y ago
  I have a 65 watt ryzen 9 system on chip (8945hs, I think) minipc and make heavy use of it for linux gaming. My guess is that Nvidia’s linux video drivers are still substandard.
umbra07 1y ago
> Anyway, just my anecdotal experience. Those with dedicated gaming rigs will be more than fine with Linux, but those of us on underpowered hardware still seem better off with Windows, unfortunately. On the other hand, Linux (or more accurately, the Linux desktop ecosystem) doesn't support a lot of high-end PC gaming features well: HDR, Nvidia GPUs, VR, etc.
- weiliddat 1y ago
  AFAICT HDR is supported, like on the Steam Deck
  - ChocolateGod 1y ago
    HDR on Nvidia with Linux is still very glitchy, I've had the driver crash a few times trying to use it.
    - weiliddat 1y ago
      Ah good to know. I think Windows isn’t that different, just that there's more motivation for NVIDIA or Microsoft to fix those things. I recall not that long ago a combination of Windows 11, my NVIDIA RTX 40xx, my previous Dell Alienware monitor also had some issues with switching between SDR and HDR (and later Dolby Vision brought even more of a mess). Meanwhile Android and iOS phones have been able to do it flawlessly for a while now…
- thfuran 1y ago
  Can you even watch decent Netflix on Linux yet?
  - onli 1y ago
    Up to full HD, depending on what Netflix streams out. But this has nothing to do with graphics drivers or GPU performance.
    - 1y ago
whoisthemachine 1y ago
I have a laptop with the same GPU, and Diablo 4 runs really well out of Lutris. Graphics version 570, and the CPU is an AMD with a Radeon 680M integrated. I often play games with FSR on, which probably keeps performance higher?
- onli 1y ago
  FSR does indeed increase the performance a lot, before FSR 4 with a significant cost to image quality though. For your system, the integrated graphics should also be quite capable. More so on Linux, thanks to the driver advantage AMD has here.
baobun 1y ago
I wonder of this might be due to your Linux nvidia driver (nouveau?) pinning the card on baseclock by default while the Windows one will allow it to scale up? Something I heard somewhere that seems applicable here. In that case it might not be anything the game devs or Steam can do anything about but something you'd have to fiddle with on your system.
- kjkjadksj 1y ago
  Happens with whisky and macos in my experience. It is like as soon as a game is installed and you do something like chuck a grenade, no explosion the first time ever you do that.

nialv7 1y ago

Linux port if there is one is usually done by a third party porting studio, which is not necessarily at the same quality as the original codebase. Also the devs just don't have the manpower/bandwidth to spare for Linux users given how small this community is. It's better value for money for both the gamers and the devs if the devs just choose to engage with valve and get their game running perfectly under proton.

unaindz 1y ago
To be you should compare the windows version on windows, no proton against the Linux version. DXVK, which proton uses, makes some games run better in windows than "native".
egypturnash 1y ago
But maybe figure out how to start getting those third party Linux porting studios paid to work on Proton...
- YokoZar 1y ago
  The answer is pretty simple here - hire CodeWeavers to work on supporting your game in Proton/Wine rather than some other porting shop doing an old rewrite-style port.
preisschild 1y ago
> and get their game running perfectly under proton Even better would be to compile for linux, but use DXVK-Native (https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk#dxvk-native https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk#dxvk-native) if you think migrating from DirectX to Vulkan requires too much effort.
DanielHB 1y ago
They probably QA mostly for windows, so they run into bottlenecks and edge-cases of windows APIs during QA. Linux-native APIs probably have different bottlenecks and edge-cases. I think the reimplementations of Windows APIs in Linux, even though alternative to the original, should have similar bottlenecks and edge-cases. So the extra QA on Windows helps the Proton version more.
pxc 1y ago
These ports are also not usually source ports, so they're not much "more native" than the Proton ports. They often use the same kind of API translation layer, probably also built on WINE. I think as Proton sees more investment and becomes more advanced, it's probably becoming difficult for competing compatibility layers to keep up. A source port that is optimized as lovingly as its Windows counterpart will probably be faster than the Windows version running via Proton, but the incentives aren't generally there to justify the costs/difficulties. Maybe some day it will be! That would be wonderful. But until then, Proton seems like an increasingly compelling option for these compatibility layer-based ports of Windows games.
- Macha 1y ago
  Factorio and Minecraft (Java edition) are two of the few games that come to mind where the Linux port got comparable effort to the Windows port, and I don't think people are in a rush to play either of them in Proton. Your latest AAA open world RPG on the other hand? Yeah, you're probably going to have better luck in Proton even if it gets a native Linux port.
  - minetest2048 1y ago
    Factorio is the only game that I know that have Linux (and Mac) exclusive feature, which is non-blocking saving: https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-408 https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-408

haswell 1y ago

> Those with dedicated gaming rigs will be more than fine with Linux, but those of us on underpowered hardware still seem better off with Windows, unfortunately. That’s interesting and good to know. I’m running an 10th gen i9 with an RTX 3090, so I have plenty of headroom performance wise. I’ve been wondering about Linux gaming on lower end hardware for my younger brother’s sake, and hadn’t assumed it would be worse. One thing to note: I’ve had all kinds of issues with power management impacting performance. If I let the computer sleep/standby, I’ll get 50% slower framerate until I reboot. Given the fact that you’re on a laptop, I wonder if power management has contributed to the slowness.

hedora 1y ago
I have a 65 watt ryzen 9 system on chip (8945hs, I think) minipc and make heavy use of it for linux gaming. My guess is that Nvidia’s linux video drivers are still substandard.

umbra07 1y ago

> Anyway, just my anecdotal experience. Those with dedicated gaming rigs will be more than fine with Linux, but those of us on underpowered hardware still seem better off with Windows, unfortunately. On the other hand, Linux (or more accurately, the Linux desktop ecosystem) doesn't support a lot of high-end PC gaming features well: HDR, Nvidia GPUs, VR, etc.

weiliddat 1y ago
AFAICT HDR is supported, like on the Steam Deck
- ChocolateGod 1y ago
  HDR on Nvidia with Linux is still very glitchy, I've had the driver crash a few times trying to use it.
  - weiliddat 1y ago
    Ah good to know. I think Windows isn’t that different, just that there's more motivation for NVIDIA or Microsoft to fix those things. I recall not that long ago a combination of Windows 11, my NVIDIA RTX 40xx, my previous Dell Alienware monitor also had some issues with switching between SDR and HDR (and later Dolby Vision brought even more of a mess). Meanwhile Android and iOS phones have been able to do it flawlessly for a while now…
thfuran 1y ago
Can you even watch decent Netflix on Linux yet?
- onli 1y ago
  Up to full HD, depending on what Netflix streams out. But this has nothing to do with graphics drivers or GPU performance.
  - 1y ago

whoisthemachine 1y ago

I have a laptop with the same GPU, and Diablo 4 runs really well out of Lutris. Graphics version 570, and the CPU is an AMD with a Radeon 680M integrated. I often play games with FSR on, which probably keeps performance higher?

onli 1y ago
FSR does indeed increase the performance a lot, before FSR 4 with a significant cost to image quality though. For your system, the integrated graphics should also be quite capable. More so on Linux, thanks to the driver advantage AMD has here.

baobun 1y ago

I wonder of this might be due to your Linux nvidia driver (nouveau?) pinning the card on baseclock by default while the Windows one will allow it to scale up? Something I heard somewhere that seems applicable here. In that case it might not be anything the game devs or Steam can do anything about but something you'd have to fiddle with on your system.

kjkjadksj 1y ago
Happens with whisky and macos in my experience. It is like as soon as a game is installed and you do something like chuck a grenade, no explosion the first time ever you do that.