Hi, I am considering switching to NixOS and I was wondering what level of hassle I should expect for gaming.

I have been using linux for about 10 months so I don’t know a lot yet. I am wondering if it is worth it to try gaming on Nix or if it is going to be way too much of a headache considering my limited knowledge.

I’ve had wildly different experiences trying gaming on different distros, and very differently from what I expected. It went from fine for a weird niche distro (antiX), to really awful for a distro supposedly “easy” and “good for gaming” (Manjaro 😑), to absolutely amazing gaming distro (Nobara), and finally to surprisingly good for a “don’t try unless you are a Level 99 Tech Wizard dual-classed Zen Master you idiot” distro (Arch). So I really have no clue what to expect from Nix.

I really like Arch but my main issue is that I keep forgetting what I have already configured and how and with which settings, or I leave stuff partially configured because adhd then I forget it wasn’t finished and where I was at, so using config files instead sound insanely more convenient and I’ve been wanting to try Nix for a while.

I’d be really glad for anyone willing to share their experience of gaming on Nix 🙂

  • JohannoEnglish
    8·
    3 months ago

    Once you installed steam you should be fine to go for the most part. Installation is however more like an enable in the configuration.nix

    I recommend protontricks and protonupQ.

    Then most should work. If you have a Linux game that you don’t want to run through steam you can use the steamRun command in nixos if it has issues finding libs.

    I haven’t tested lutris and the hero launcher though.

    However running epicgames through steam works fine.

    • Telorand@reddthat.comEnglish
      7·
      3 months ago

      (This experience isn’t via NixOS)

      If you get Heroic or Lutris, don’t even need to bother with launching Epic or Gog through Steam. In my experience, they link up just fine, and Heroic even has a built-in menu option to add games to Steam.

      • JohannoEnglish
        3·
        3 months ago

        The advantage of running the ugly epic games launcher is saved games over different machines.

        Heroic launcher seems not to save those.

        • Telorand@reddthat.comEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          There’s an option to do just that per game. It’s set to manual by default to prevent a bad sync, but I haven’t had any issues.

    • phantomwise@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      3 months ago

      Thanks it’s reassuring to know ! I mostly use steam, lutris and minigalaxy (better DLC management than lutris for gog games) so it will be nice if I can keep them 🙂 I didn’t know protontricks so thanks for the recommendation !