Best current OS for running games like ARK: Survival Evolved

[Leviticus]

So I had a windows 10 gaming laptop die fabulously, the laptop doesnt have any kind of media drive other than USB, and my windows 10 reinstallation USB drive is just not working. I've tried to repair windows multiple times with no luck (ntfs.sys corrupted, winload.efi corrupted, ntldr.sys corrupted,) and so on so I attempted a fresh install of windows, to which it crashes and shuts the pc off around 12% installed even after half a dozen attempts.
None of the recovery options work and I can't format the drive because I dont have access to any kind of command prompt/powershell or UI for that matter, its just dead, bricked basically. I give up on windows and want to try Linux, the PC is an Asus ROG model and has a i7-7700HQ processor, a 1070 mobile graphics card and 24GB of RAM with a 1TB hard drive. For casual gameplay of games like ARK, what's the best Linux OS to use and is there any additional software I'll need that doesn't come with that OS (drivers, monitoring programs, Nvidia control panel etc)

[Urist the Dwarf]

What do you exactly mean by "it crashes and shuts the pc off", it just shuts down with no message or anything? Maybe you've got some hardware issues there, that happened to me a while ago when I was trying to install Windows on my laptop, it turned out to be a faulty ram that made the laptop shutdown all the time.

But answering your question; Most of the distributions are likely the same. Most of software and games use Ubuntu as a minimum requirement, but at the end people use different kind of distributions. I used to play Ark on my Arch Linux machine, and that was before I was able to install Vulkan so it ran on openGL. Not sure if the performance changes now that I have Vulkan installed, haven't played Ark in a long time.

If you're new to Linux and just need something that works out of the box I'd recommend Ubuntu (check for different flavours here[www.ubuntu.com]), it just "works". I'm not aware of how NVIDIA drivers work, but as far as I know you'll get to install propiertary drivers, but you should google your GPU and drivers for linux, or maybe someone here will be able to tell you what to do (AMD user here).

[WarnerCK]

Sounds like hard drive failure.

[Leviticus]

Originally posted by Urist:

What do you exactly mean by "it crashes and shuts the pc off", it just shuts down with no message or anything?

The first time I left the room thinking the re-installation would continue on autopilot. When I came back after cooking a pizza, the pc was just off. So I tried to turn it on and instantly got the blue screen of death immediately after POST telling me winload.efi is missing or corrupted and needs to be repaired with recovery options. The recovery partition wont boot so I used the microsoft recovery tool/installer on a live usb. Attempted to repair, but no luck, it would repair that first issue, restart, then after POSTing it would display a different blue screen start up error. NTLDR or NTFS.sys for example. At this point I said enough, I'll just make a new installation if the entire damn windows directory is broken. It'd get to the point where it asks me to choose a new drive, I chose the 930GB partition, it'd copy installation files just fine, move on to installing, hit about 12% make a signature loud CLICK inside the machine and just completely shut off instantly like someone yanked the battery out. Retry several times, same result at or around same % of progress.

As for what caused the problem to begin with, the pc began chugging hard the last day it was functioning, and attempting to open task manager to nuke a non-critical process with 100% disk usage completely froze the computer. After leaving it and coming back 2 hours later, it was still locked hard, so hard the caps light wouldn't even toggle on and off. I forcefully shut it off with no other alternative, and upon attempting to restart, just error after error.

[Zyro]

Indeed sounds like hardware trouble. That of course would hit Linux, too...

While I had similar reasons to switch to Linux long ago (I was just too annoyed by Windows malfunctioning!), there's another option for your Windows installation problem (if the hardware is ok): Booting and installing over ethernet ("PXE").

For the Linux distributions, Ubuntu is often recommended for beginners. You can try out different Linux distributions using live DVD... erm, USB sticks.

Unfortunately, ARK is said not to run very good on Linux.

[Nasskred]

Linux mint for beginners, my little brother uses it, and has never given him problems.

[CsabinhoGrande]

Fixed your post:

Originally posted by Zyro:

Unfortunately, ARK is said not to run very good anywhere, but even a bit worse on Linux.

[Zyro]

Originally posted by CsabinhoGrande:

Fixed your post:

Originally posted by Zyro:

Unfortunately, ARK is said not to run very good anywhere, but even a bit worse on Linux.

Thanks. Find it still a PITA to type on a smartphone. :-)

[Leviticus]

Originally posted by CsabinhoGrande:

Fixed your post:

Originally posted by Zyro:

Unfortunately, ARK is said not to run very good anywhere, but even a bit worse on Linux.

^ Spoken like a true ark player.
Oh joy, well, gg then, maybe I'll use a linux live disk to format the hard drive since windows cant even boot up, then try installation that way. Worst comes to worse I'll just have a blank hard drive to install linux on.

About 8-10 years ago I tried to use Linux Mint 10 on a laptop running windows xp but I didnt know what the hell I was doing so, I'll probably start there

[Marlock]

That loud click you hear looks like a mechanical failure on the harddrive...

Get a new copy of Ubuntu or Linux Mint on an USB stick and run the liveboot system from there to test the rest of your hardware a bit, just to rule out other issues. If it can boot, connect and browse the internet a bit without trowing a fit, it should be fine.

LM would be my choice, it is well polished, great to get used to coming from windows and is heavily based on Ubuntu so mostly everything that applies to one also applies to the other.

Run memtest overnight (conveniently also available from the liveboot usb stick's boot menu) just in case it might be a RAM stick gone bad (though it usually either comes malfunctioning from factory or works fine forever).

Try accessing the internal harddrive... if lucky maybe you will be able to browse through it and backup your files from the user folder and such.

Then try formatting it via "Disks" (comes bundled with Mint and AFAIK also with Ubuntu) or with Gparted (more full-featured partitioning app but you'll need to install it first).

You can also check the S.M.A.R.T. data for the harddrive from Disks, see if the disk registered any critical failures recently. The data is stored and accessible via disk controller firmware regardless of the OS you use, so disk health data that was monitored on Windows is still stored despite formatting, etc. It only can't be accessed if the disk controller itself is dead, which doesn't seem to be the case.

If all else works and the disk is failling, you will be able to swap it out.

Meanwhile, you can install linux from that liveboot usb stick to an external drive if you need to keep using that computer before replacing any parts (just plug both at the same time and install from one to the other).

Just avoid making the liveboot itself a long lasting solution... it stores no permanent changes to the system and uses a default user+password so it's meant to be more of a testing and troubleshooting tool, not for daily use.

[BloodEX]

How about formatting the hard drive within the windows installation menu?
Last time i had to do a fresh install of windows, there was the option to format any drive i wanted to whilst choosing the drive i wanted to install windows on.

If choosing one of the linux systems, there's also the question about what desktop environment one prefers. If you don't like the look of Ubuntu or Linux Mint, maybe try a different desktop enviroment first or try to change the themes within the menu after booting into the system. It's all as easy, if not easier compared to windows.

[Zyro]

I don't agree that it's easier than on Windows. Mainly, it's different (which needs some learning), and in some parts (drivers...) it's plain harder/worse. One should try it with realistic expectations, including a learning curve and some drawbacks.

[BloodEX]

Sure, not everything is easier on linux, but what i refered to with "as easy, if not easier" was the thing with the themes and desktop enviroment, at least when it comes to the most basic changes.
Many systems can be downloaded with different desktop enviroments right away and the themes are easily accessible via either right click or the system settings. That's what i meant.

[Zyro]

Ah, yes! The choices and custumization possibilities built in are great!

[triple_agent]

Windows10 is not that bad and if you expect to game a lot, I would say, pick up Linux only if you feel that special kind of mint towards the Linux, because if Linux fails you - due to problem being that of the hardware, for example, my Dell laptop was at the service point on warranty twice before it was fine - it will only be that much more bitter to return to Windows10. Why do I say that? Because if you expect results from Linux in an area the Linux does not excel at, you are going for a blame. If you had Windows10 preinstalled on the machine and you can consult Microsoft consumer support, ask them, they may help you to restore the system when hardware is checked.

[Marlock]

windows setup does provide some disk formatting options but AFAIK still it not as flexible as the ones available via Ubuntu or Linux Mint setup...

plus it has no liveboot full OS available before/during setup so you can't easily test the hardware nor actually try to restore/backup files in a normal/familiar working environment

and then of course, asking advice in a linux forum means interest in linux, so we wouldn't miss the chance to recommend using it, right? ;)


anyway, plenty of possibilities, and we will be here in case you need more advice

if it turns out linux is your choice from now on, welcome to Linux