Seems like most mods work fine on Linux, but I'm sure it depends on the game. For games with built-in mod managers like Baldur's Gate 3, it all just works. For games with manual mods that involve replacing or editing game files, they should generally work since you're running the same game files to begin with.

I haven't had any big compatibility problems recently, though again, I'm sure it depends on that game. Proton (built into Steam) works very very well nowadays.

Just a few years ago I found the experience frustrating. It seemed like everything had something wrong with it, even if it wasn't big. Lots of games had glitchy input, whether using a controller or keyboard/mouse. But somewhere down the line it totally flipped, and everything I play runs great now. I still have a bootable Windows 10 system, but I haven't actually booted it in...two years, maybe?

Aside from some occasional glitches with SteamVR, it's been several years since I encountered a game which didn't run as good if not better on linux than on windows, and I don't think I've ever had a linux-specific issue with mods. My understanding is that anti-cheat software compatibility can still be an issue for some people, but I haven't run into that yet.

For me, switching to linux was a no-brainer; I prefer it in every way.

Honestly, we've been eating pretty good fam. See protondb.com/ for game compatibility on Linux.

The only remaining pain points are (see the provided links for databases on what does and doesn't work):
- Anti-cheat; areweanticheatyet.com/
- VR; db.vronlinux.org/

It works pretty well. I don't currently play any pc games with anti-cheat, so most games work well without having to do anything special outside of running them in Wine or some other application and there are some games that actually work noticeably better on Linux than Windows. Some games have required some additional setup but it's pretty rare for games to just not work at all. Something I find kind of funny though, is that most of the games I haven't been able to get working on Linux aren't working on Windows either.

I should also mention that I don't really use mods for games. I have used mods for the Linux version of SRB2 but the game is designed to be easily modable, so it makes sense that the mods would just work.

I've swapped to linux mostly due to aging hardware and low disposable income. I'm still running A PC that was lower MID a decade ago.

So far its a blast, nothing short of shotty anticheat gets in my way. ProtonDB is a great resource. Wine and the proton layers basically give you parity (and in some cases better performance than windows).

As far as I know, all Rimworld mods will work with Linux. You can either subscribe to them on the Steam Workshop (and enable them from the mod menu in-game) or download them manually and put them in the mods folder in the installation directory. I've played with modlists that had more than 100 mods in them and never had a Linux related issue.

To answer your other question, I dual booted Linux for a while, mainly because of privacy concerns, but switched to Linux full time around the time Windows 10 came out. The thing that gave me the final push was Windows 10 on my new laptop telling me it couldn't open a zipped folder and I would need to pay for that feature! There was also a backup copy of W10 on a second drive that I didn't know about which automatically overwrote Linux when I tried to install it.

Because it's easier, it just works and it doesn't nag me.

I use Bazzite, it's been the best computing experience I had.

Ask anything you want.

I built my wife a gaming PC. She's controller only. It's basically an xbox. Decided to try ubuntu to see if we could avoid paying for windows.

She's already 100% Hogwarts Legacy and played a dozen other games.

The only hangup was controller support for Slime Rancher on her 8bitduo. Had to use an xbox controller.

She knows nothing about linux, but she'll install and play games through Steam no problem.

most mods dont work on linux

Mods work just fine, it's mod managers that sometimes don't work.

If mods don't have manual setup instructions, I install them on Windows, copy back to Linux the mod config file and happily play on Linux.

Linux works great for gaming in my experience. I have a huge games library and I haven't had many if any games that don't run. There are certainly some games that need some tweaking to get working or optimisation to run well. I generally have those problems with older games though as my library includes some retro games (games for Windows 98 being the ones I have to tweak most).

Mods certainly do work - I've modded skyrim and rimworld extensively on Linux, as well as Oblivion, Cyberpunk 2077, Stardew Valley, Cities Skylines, Minecraft and more without issue. Proprietary mod managers may not work but they're often the poorer ones that are really just tools to advertise and market at you.

The vast majority of game mods work inside the game itself, so if the game runs on Linux the mods will work. The exception would be mods that need to run as a Windows program themselves separate to the game exe. Those can also be made to work, it's just a bit more involved. Those kinds of mods are pretty rare in my experience though. Mods that act as game launchers etc work fine too, but just need some tweaking to ensure they launch instead of the game exe.

Most games mods can be manually installed and big games even have their own Linux native mod managers - like Minecraft custom launchers and Rimpy for Rimworld etc.

I do still have Windows on my PC in case I need it but haven't used it for gaming in well over a year. I have a desktop so having a spare drive for windows is not a big deal to me but I'm tempted to wipe it as I don't use it.

The one bit that people do have issues with is Anti cheat software for multiplayer games. That's not an area of gaming I do, but I have seen reports of certain games using proprietary systems that lock out Linux. That's a problem you can't get round except by having Windows available on your system.If there is a specific game you want like that isn't working on Linux.

Every game works on my Steam Deck so far.

I always check ProtonDB before buying a game, but I might stop as everything without special anticheat works out of the box.

I just have to add that I’m not into multiplayer games so it might be why everything works easily.

It really depends, what you want to play. Old games run great for me, emulation is also good.

New games mostly work if they are not competetitive multiplayer.

Mods also mostly work for the games I play (FTL and Celeste e.g.), also mods through steam workshop like in Tabletop Simulator just work for me.

What didn't work are as mentioned some multiplayer games that are too harsh on anti cheat. SMITE e.g. works, but LoL doesn't.

As others mentioned, its best to have either a native version or an entry in ProtonDB with gold or platinum.

I uninstalled Windows few years ago even though I play the latest AAAs and indies games, including in VR, that's how good Linux for gamers.

You can check my post history but basically once you have your hardware well supported (basically the right drivers) and rely on a good system to evaluate compatibility (e.g. ProtonDB) then you won't get any surprise.

I suggest though that you try it yourself, e.g setup a Linux distribution of your chosing, a game you already own and... see if it feels good. If it does not, feel free to ask around and people will be happy to help if you provide a clear problem with your documented attempts to fix it, at least you can count on me.

So... finally why did I change? Well beside the "it actually works" it is also a lot more coherent with my own WorldView and my skillset. I'm a professional developer, WebXR prototypist to be more specific, so having an OS that does not put arbitrary (well, mostly about control for profit) limits on what I can or can not do is simply better. I can play for fun AND I can tinker with the same OS. I don't have to reboot if I just happen to have an idea that I want to try, I can just do it right here and there.

TL;DR: it works and it's better, giving me all the freedom I need to be creative and not feel constrained.

PS: also not giving more money to multibillionaires from Microsoft does feel nice.

Games mostly work. If they have a native Linux version they work (and more games have a native Linux version than you may expect). For Windows-only games, there's a compatibility layer called Proton (which is a gaming-focused fork of a more general compatibility layer called Wine) that lets you run Windows executables on Linux. IME most Windows games run flawlessly with Proton. You can check games on protondb.com/ to see how well they run on Proton.

Rimworld has a native Linux version, and I've not had any problems with Rimworld mods from Steam workshop on Linux. Never tried modding Skyrim so can't say on that.

every single player game i want to play works well, sometimes better than windows. straight up.

the only issue you are gonna have nowadays is some studios blocking linux out from multiplayer games.

here's a comprehensive list of what works: areweanticheatyet.com/

Fantastic, try it yourself!!

nobaraproject.org/

Pop!_OS was a lifesaver when I was learning Linux. You can just look up Ubuntu related questions for tech support, the graphics drivers are preconfigured, and the interface is easy to use.

I'm on CachyOS with KDE now, but I highly recommend Pop! for a first-timer not looking to tinker.

Also, with ProtonTricks you can still mod stuff. It's not perfect, but there's a version of Mod Organizer 2 for Linux ;P

Bazzite looks good for beginners, I like cachyos as a beginner but im a tinkerer, using gnome reminds me of cydia, I like cachyos because unlimited options, never feel like I can't install something, it's prob on the aur or whatever.

if cachyos
pacman for cachyosrepo
paru for aur
At first I was confused on packages being missing

grab flatpak support and use flathub for some things

appimages are nice with gear lever (updates/menu)

can easily grab snapd support if you want to cover more areas

debtap to make debs usable on arch

I had always been turned away from linux because of the many formats deb, snap, etc. and being confused about support. But now I know I can get support for most things just installing whats needed from their website. (seems easiest with arch, least instructions)

BTW, while that made me comfortable when I swapped, knowing I can have whatever. I only needed to add flatpak support, and grab gearlever, everything else is unnecessary and available on the aur or as an appimage typically.

I've never played Rimworld, so I don't know the modding situation on it.

I attempted to mod Skyrim, and as far as I can tell, it's not that the mods don't work, it's that the primary mod manager Nexus is currently using (Vortex) is kind of a pain in the ass to set up on Linux. They are currently working on a new mod manager that should be natively compatible and should resolve that issue.

But for every other game I've ever modded on Linux it works exactly the same as it does on Windows.

Truthfully, outside of the handful of games that don't want me playing them because of my OS, 90% of my games work exactly the same, if not better. The remaining 10% might require a little tinkering to get running, or have some weird hiccup (having to run it in Proton instead of native because for some reason they're "different versions" thus menaing I can only play with friends on Windows in the Proton version), but I honestly couldn't be happier.

It feels like I'm playing on my computer again, not Microsoft's computer.

As a gamer and a Linux user for more than 20 years this thread is so awesome.

I actually mostly stopped playing sometime in the late 2000s (dual booting was annoying) and restarted around 2017. We have come so far...

I dual boot Windows and EndeavourOS. I've got a range of games running great on Linux, performance does take a hit in most cases but as long as you have good hardware and aren't chasing ultimate FPS numbers, it is usually acceptable.

I wish I could make the full switch but music recording just isn't a good experience on Linux. High latency, lack of audio device configuration, and a limited range of instruments and effects (VST files), all means a Mac or Windows are the only options.

90% of games can be played on Linux, though some of them actually happened to require some sort of tweaks to get them working. That said, the experience my producer and I have had for about 5 years (August 20th I think will be 5 years) was nothing short of wondrous.

We'll continue to use LInux until we die.

Pretty good. Some games have issues on Linux, especially some that don't have native controls for DualShock 4 controllers and not using Steam Input. Even the ones that do sometimes dont work without Steam Input on (which shows XBOX buttons).

I've only had actual crashes with Forza Horizon 4 and 5 on Linux. Everything else works fine.

Distro is Arch Linux (BTW).

As to why I swapped, I get better performance on Linux than on Windows.

If you just want to play the game, then gaming works surprisingly well on Linux. Very well.

I have the same game on Steam running on 2 separate computers, Fedora and Win 11. On the Fedora one, everything is just rock solid. Heck, even when I am rendering some very intensive 3D stuff on another workspace for work and use 50% of the RAM, the game is still running. On the Win 11 laptop, random issues happen where my cursor dissapears and the entire desktop freezes.

OTOH, if you need the gaming accessories to work properly then I'm not sure, could be a 50/50. For eg, if your laptop has some proprietary sound card, then Linux might not be able to take advantage of that. On Windows, these should work OOTB.

im not a huge gamer but i don get along quite well with steam games and gog games.

i do miss warcraft classic and would love to play it again but i could never get it to work 🙁

So far most things have worked fine.

It's a little annoying when steam wants to redo the vulkan compilation thing every time, but it seems to work fine if I skip that.

Modding I'm not sure how it'll work yet. Some stuff probably just works, if it's like "edit this file" or "replace that file" but I haven't tried yet.

I used to play a lot on my Ubuntu install but nowadays I just use my PC to watch YouTube videos and series.

It works.