this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Help Me understand Steam Deck vs SteamOS compatibility (self.steam)
submitted 1 year ago by ieightpi to c/[email protected]
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From my understanding Steam Decks come with SteamOS preinstalled on them. Yet when you look at the list of games on steam that are compatible with Linux + SteamOS, its a small fraction.

But what confuses me is this page

https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck/mygames

It shows your games that are compatible with the Steam Deck which has a Linux based OS. And almost my entire library is compatible with the Deck. Can someone help me understand how this is possible? If games are compatible with the Steam Deck, why wouldn't they also work on Ubuntu for example?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Linux + SteamOS" compatibility is a bit legacy. It mostly refers to games that have a native linux client (I believe some of the early Proton Validated games are included as well.

The Steamdeck (and generally speaking, any linux system) uses Proton as a compatibility layer with windows, and the "Steamdeck Verified" system is more relevant today. That said, even the Steamdeck verified system isn't perfect. There are a number of titles that, while verified, have some problems with the deck, typically later in the game or after running for some number of hours. There's also a vast number of games that while not "Steamdeck Verified" work perfectly on the deck and linux via proton (though you do have to enable it in the settings).

[–] ieightpi 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Thanks the info. I'm hoping to switch to Ubuntu soon, so it's good to know that I can use Proton to run most of my games

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you intend to use Linux for gaming, then using a distro that's optimised for gaming, such as Nobara, would be a much better option, IMO.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Or just not Ubuntu, used to the kneejerk good for newbie but, pooch screwed. Nobara gets you a fedora base, so, cool.

[–] ieightpi 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the tip. I'll look into this. Does Nobara have regular security updates like the main Fedora OS?

I'm fairly new to the whole Linux thing so I want to make sure my PC is secure while running Linux

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, of course. It uses Fedora's default repositories but adds it own repository with the customisations on top. So the update cycle is pretty much the same as Fedora.

Nobara is made by the same guy who makes Proton-GE, ie, GloriousEggroll, so you know that this is a legit distro.

[–] NabeGewell 3 points 1 year ago

You can also run windows programs on Linux.

To this day i can't find image viewing software as good as irfanview which is Windows only , yet i just run that as if it's a native program

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Games that have native Linux versions are uncommon, but Steam on Linux includes a program called Proton, which provides a Windows-compatible environment so that games made for Windows can run without being manually ported. It isn't exactly the same, so some games don't work quite right, which is why not every game is compatible with Steam on Linux.

Any game that's compatible with the Steam Deck should run fine on any other Linux system, as long as the underlying hardware is powerful enough.

[–] ieightpi 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for clearing this up. It makes me think I'll be switching to Ubuntu sooner than I expected.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

expired

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

What limitations are there from running a game in Linux within a Windows environment?

Im Linux inexperienced and just curious and drunk and like blahaj.zone people they seem to know their shit

[–] Norodix 7 points 1 year ago

Games that work are generally exactly the same. If you sit down in front of a Pc already running the game you cant tell the difference.

Sometimes you need to fiddle a bit to get a game working. Sometimes you click play and you play. Some developers dont want you to play their games so they dont work (anti cheat).

Most things work very well. Some games are more fun to get working than playing the game in my experience.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

https://www.protondb.com/

It differs per game. The game I play works flawlessly.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The only games I've had not work are games with invasive anti-cheats: many competitive fps games and hoyoverse games.

Not all competitive games fail tho, overwatch, for example, does work using bottles.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

If the game is reasonably well-coded, there's not going to be any obvious difference between a game running on Windows, a game running native on Linux, and a game running using Proton.

I mean yeah, you could have some performance impact (usually light, occasionaly not so), maybe video not playing (some games use video formats for cutscenes which can't be distributed on Linux installs), or maybe issues with windowing (Tropico 6 has an weird bug where the game mouse pointer has a bit of offset compared to the real one, until you change screen size).

But in most cases, if it works, it works the same.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

As someone that swapped to running Linux full time on home rig, yes proton on Linux works great.