Welcome to /r/linux_gaming. Please read the FAQ and consider asking commonly asked questions like “which distro should I use?” or “or should I switch to Linux?” in the pinned newbie advice thread, “Getting started: The monthly distro/desktop thread!”.
[ProtonDB](https://www.protondB.com) can be useful in determining whether a given Windows Steam game will run on Linux, and [AreWeAntiCheatYet](https://areweanticheatyet.com/) attempts to track which anti-cheat-encumbered games will run and which won’t.
1: Yes, you will need to move your files over, games will need to be reinstalled. Best way to do this is by backing up your files to an external or secondary drive prior to installation. You may even consider dual booting, although I don't since everything, including the games I play, work on Linux.
3: It really doesn't, in fact some games run noticeably better on Linux (make sure you enable Steam Play for all other titles in the Steam settings and enable shader pre-caching)
4: Yes, you can go back if needed.
1. If you install Linux, it will be like a brand new computer. None of your files will carry over unless you explicitly back them up onto some external storage and copy them back into Linux. If you delete Windows, your data WILL BE GONE unless you back it up, so make sure to do so.
2. See above
3. Performance varies. A lot of games do not have native Linux ports, so they have to go over a compatibility layer like Wine or Proton. From a technical standpoint, there's always going to be additional cost due to the translation, but honestly it is so efficient and optimized that most of the time you won't really notice a difference. Some games actually perform a bit faster, and others perform slower due to some unoptimized code paths. So really, there's no solid answer, it's just a different. For native ports, some ports are highly optimized by the game devs and some are not. A lot of game devs are still getting to grips with how things are done in Linux or they just don't have the resources to do an optimized port, so performance could be worse. You'll just have to see what other people are saying online about them.
4. I highly suggest you look up how to dual-boot. Linux takes time to get used to and when you get frustrated trying to do a certain task, it is often nice to be able to fallback on Windows temporarily to get it done. If you dual boot, you will obviously keep your existing copy of Windows. It also means that you can access your Windows files from Linux simply by mounting the Windows partition, which is very convenient. If you do wipe Windows, you shouldn't have to buy a new copy. You should either have the original license key, or the key is bundled with the hardware or associated with your Microsoft account.
For linux, you'd want to use the ext4 partition for playing windows games through wine/proton.
Games on linux perform about as well as they do on windows.
If you decide that you wanna return to windows then there's a powershell script for activation without a license.
btrfs is better for noobs because snapshots. A noob will 'break' his system and he would go into the boot menu and just restore his latest safe snaphot. Please do not compare it to timeshift or try to be argumentative for i will just link you the arch wiki so you can educate yourself.
Arch user btw.
shut it its dead easy if you can't do it you must be brain dead. Big easy buttons. Create snapshot boot into one. WOW maybe stfu if you don't know. Noob. BIG BUTTONS, you fucking wop. Are 2 big buttons to much for you? What is wrong with you people, you talk but you never tried you speak but you never listen. God damn it you blind mf's are leading the blind cause you have a big useless mouth.
Yeah, but I don't know if I'd recommend BTRFS to a new user. Switching to Linux can be a lot for some people and it's best to go with as few unknowns as possible. I'd just say get used to Linux with EXT4 and then re-evaluate later down the line once you have some more experience.
I guess that makes sense. On one hand, I'd say if you weren't going to use snapshots to begin with then using btrfs is just like using any other filesystem, but then there's some rare corner cases where you have to rebalance or defrag and that can definitely be something that confuses new users.
>I’m thinking about moving to Linux because my gaming pc can’t run windows 11
It probably can. if its the stupid TPM or cpu requirement things, you can bypass that stuff during install. If your system can run 10, it'll run 11, the restrictions are purely artificial and MS is just partnered with hardware vendors to get you to upgrade your stuff.
>What’s up with the files and games, will they move or do I have to copy and paste them
im afraid I dont fully understand the question. Are you asking if you can copy your installed games from your current windows setup into the linux setup? If that is what your asking, the answer is "some of them". For starters you should go to [protondb.com](http://protondb.com) & [areweanticheatyet.com](http://areweanticheatyet.com) to make sure your MUST HAVE games work. Then you'll want to check and see if they have a native client or not. This is where it gets a little bit tricky cuz some native games are good, but some times the proton version is better to use despite it having a native linux client. For any games that are going to be running via proton, these ones you'll be able to just backup and copy over into the new install.
>If they don’t move automatically do I have to select the myself
nothing about this will really be automatic nor does it always work that well in my exprience, a lot of the time it'll just end up re-downloading the game anyway. You'll need to manually copy your windows titles into the steam app location on linux, make sure proton support for all titles is enabled, then start the "install" for said game. it'll then have to "check existing files" and probably do some other verifications. For games that have a linux native install, you'll need to go to the individual games in the steam library, right click, properties, compatibility, and check the box to force use of specific steam play compatibility tool. This will tell the system that you're using the proton/windows version of the game. If you dont do this, it'll start to download the linux native title and wipe out the game folder you already copied over.
>How badly does it effect gaming and performance
How bad does what? using linux vs windows? in most cases the performance difference is minimal. some times slightly better, some times slightly worse, but rarely is the gap big enough that any one talks about win vs linux performance anymore.
>One I do it can I turn back without having to buy a new copy of windows 10
So, for starters I HIGHLY recommend doing this with a new SSD, just grab a cheap 512 ssd. Remove your current windows 10 install drive, set it aside. This will ensure you avoid nuking it or installing the bootloader to it. This will also help keep windows from nuking the linux boot loader as well cuz windows loves thinking it should be the only system on your computer. In the event you hate linux and want it gone asap, you'll be able to just pop your windows drive back in and pickup where you left off. If you plan to copy your games from windows into the linux install, then you can put the windows drive in after you install linux to the second drive.
If you cant or wont get a new drive to do this, it is HIGHLY recommended you, at the very least, backup your data some place safe. a lot of new linux users are unfamiliar with how to partition hard drives properly and while many of the linux installers make it fairly easy these days, i've seen way too many times people have nuked their hard drives and lost their data cuz they didnt know what they where doing.
If you do nuke your windows 10 install, then you tell me? Do you have the product key for your windows installer? did your computer come with windows pre-installed and if so where did you get the computer from? If it was a pre-build from a major manufacture then the key is likely baked into the motherboard. If its a custom build then you should have a key, if you dont have a key then who ever you got it from may have just installed some bogus windows 10 to it. There are some utilities to pull your windows 10 key from your install (and probably just some powershell scripts) but I've not had to do that for for a hot minute so you may want to do some google searches that, bear in mind if your windows install was done using a volume license key with some cracked activtor then it'll likely do you no good.
Welcome to /r/linux_gaming. Please read the FAQ and consider asking commonly asked questions like “which distro should I use?” or “or should I switch to Linux?” in the pinned newbie advice thread, “Getting started: The monthly distro/desktop thread!”. [ProtonDB](https://www.protondB.com) can be useful in determining whether a given Windows Steam game will run on Linux, and [AreWeAntiCheatYet](https://areweanticheatyet.com/) attempts to track which anti-cheat-encumbered games will run and which won’t.
1: Yes, you will need to move your files over, games will need to be reinstalled. Best way to do this is by backing up your files to an external or secondary drive prior to installation. You may even consider dual booting, although I don't since everything, including the games I play, work on Linux. 3: It really doesn't, in fact some games run noticeably better on Linux (make sure you enable Steam Play for all other titles in the Steam settings and enable shader pre-caching) 4: Yes, you can go back if needed.
Ad 1) On steam no, steam is smart enough to validate the files
1. If you install Linux, it will be like a brand new computer. None of your files will carry over unless you explicitly back them up onto some external storage and copy them back into Linux. If you delete Windows, your data WILL BE GONE unless you back it up, so make sure to do so. 2. See above 3. Performance varies. A lot of games do not have native Linux ports, so they have to go over a compatibility layer like Wine or Proton. From a technical standpoint, there's always going to be additional cost due to the translation, but honestly it is so efficient and optimized that most of the time you won't really notice a difference. Some games actually perform a bit faster, and others perform slower due to some unoptimized code paths. So really, there's no solid answer, it's just a different. For native ports, some ports are highly optimized by the game devs and some are not. A lot of game devs are still getting to grips with how things are done in Linux or they just don't have the resources to do an optimized port, so performance could be worse. You'll just have to see what other people are saying online about them. 4. I highly suggest you look up how to dual-boot. Linux takes time to get used to and when you get frustrated trying to do a certain task, it is often nice to be able to fallback on Windows temporarily to get it done. If you dual boot, you will obviously keep your existing copy of Windows. It also means that you can access your Windows files from Linux simply by mounting the Windows partition, which is very convenient. If you do wipe Windows, you shouldn't have to buy a new copy. You should either have the original license key, or the key is bundled with the hardware or associated with your Microsoft account.
For linux, you'd want to use the ext4 partition for playing windows games through wine/proton. Games on linux perform about as well as they do on windows. If you decide that you wanna return to windows then there's a powershell script for activation without a license.
Why use ext4 for playing windows games through wine/proton? I have btrfs and they run just fine
Ext4 is just more widely used.
btrfs is better for noobs because snapshots. A noob will 'break' his system and he would go into the boot menu and just restore his latest safe snaphot. Please do not compare it to timeshift or try to be argumentative for i will just link you the arch wiki so you can educate yourself. Arch user btw.
you sound like an arch user lol
You're god damn right.
you think a noob know what snapshots are and how to use them? or what the boot menu is and how to enter it? you overestimate what a noob understands
shut it its dead easy if you can't do it you must be brain dead. Big easy buttons. Create snapshot boot into one. WOW maybe stfu if you don't know. Noob. BIG BUTTONS, you fucking wop. Are 2 big buttons to much for you? What is wrong with you people, you talk but you never tried you speak but you never listen. God damn it you blind mf's are leading the blind cause you have a big useless mouth.
people like you are reason people don’t like Linux and the Linux community
Eat my ass.
Any linux native FS should work fine, doesn't have to be ext4. It just has to not be NTFS.
Yeah, but I don't know if I'd recommend BTRFS to a new user. Switching to Linux can be a lot for some people and it's best to go with as few unknowns as possible. I'd just say get used to Linux with EXT4 and then re-evaluate later down the line once you have some more experience.
I guess that makes sense. On one hand, I'd say if you weren't going to use snapshots to begin with then using btrfs is just like using any other filesystem, but then there's some rare corner cases where you have to rebalance or defrag and that can definitely be something that confuses new users.
if you install linux on a new drive you will still be able to play the games on your old ones. im playing games on linux that i installed on windows
>I’m thinking about moving to Linux because my gaming pc can’t run windows 11 It probably can. if its the stupid TPM or cpu requirement things, you can bypass that stuff during install. If your system can run 10, it'll run 11, the restrictions are purely artificial and MS is just partnered with hardware vendors to get you to upgrade your stuff. >What’s up with the files and games, will they move or do I have to copy and paste them im afraid I dont fully understand the question. Are you asking if you can copy your installed games from your current windows setup into the linux setup? If that is what your asking, the answer is "some of them". For starters you should go to [protondb.com](http://protondb.com) & [areweanticheatyet.com](http://areweanticheatyet.com) to make sure your MUST HAVE games work. Then you'll want to check and see if they have a native client or not. This is where it gets a little bit tricky cuz some native games are good, but some times the proton version is better to use despite it having a native linux client. For any games that are going to be running via proton, these ones you'll be able to just backup and copy over into the new install. >If they don’t move automatically do I have to select the myself nothing about this will really be automatic nor does it always work that well in my exprience, a lot of the time it'll just end up re-downloading the game anyway. You'll need to manually copy your windows titles into the steam app location on linux, make sure proton support for all titles is enabled, then start the "install" for said game. it'll then have to "check existing files" and probably do some other verifications. For games that have a linux native install, you'll need to go to the individual games in the steam library, right click, properties, compatibility, and check the box to force use of specific steam play compatibility tool. This will tell the system that you're using the proton/windows version of the game. If you dont do this, it'll start to download the linux native title and wipe out the game folder you already copied over. >How badly does it effect gaming and performance How bad does what? using linux vs windows? in most cases the performance difference is minimal. some times slightly better, some times slightly worse, but rarely is the gap big enough that any one talks about win vs linux performance anymore. >One I do it can I turn back without having to buy a new copy of windows 10 So, for starters I HIGHLY recommend doing this with a new SSD, just grab a cheap 512 ssd. Remove your current windows 10 install drive, set it aside. This will ensure you avoid nuking it or installing the bootloader to it. This will also help keep windows from nuking the linux boot loader as well cuz windows loves thinking it should be the only system on your computer. In the event you hate linux and want it gone asap, you'll be able to just pop your windows drive back in and pickup where you left off. If you plan to copy your games from windows into the linux install, then you can put the windows drive in after you install linux to the second drive. If you cant or wont get a new drive to do this, it is HIGHLY recommended you, at the very least, backup your data some place safe. a lot of new linux users are unfamiliar with how to partition hard drives properly and while many of the linux installers make it fairly easy these days, i've seen way too many times people have nuked their hard drives and lost their data cuz they didnt know what they where doing. If you do nuke your windows 10 install, then you tell me? Do you have the product key for your windows installer? did your computer come with windows pre-installed and if so where did you get the computer from? If it was a pre-build from a major manufacture then the key is likely baked into the motherboard. If its a custom build then you should have a key, if you dont have a key then who ever you got it from may have just installed some bogus windows 10 to it. There are some utilities to pull your windows 10 key from your install (and probably just some powershell scripts) but I've not had to do that for for a hot minute so you may want to do some google searches that, bear in mind if your windows install was done using a volume license key with some cracked activtor then it'll likely do you no good.
Thank you so much this saved me so much time on research and what not