Optimizing Linux for Gaming

In this guide i will do my best to explain how to optimize Linux for gaming, The steps are pretty simple and anybody should be able to follow along. If you have any questions or suggestions please leave a comment :)

Introduction

This guide is only for Arch and Ubuntu. Any derivatives like Manjaro, Mint, PopOS, etc should also work.

If your Distro is not here, you run into any problems or have any more additions to this guide, Leave a comment and I will add it. Any help is more than welcome :)

If you are not a Linux user, check out my other guide on How to choose the right Distro Install it and then come back to optimize it for gaming :)

Enable Multilib

Multilib is required by Steam, So if you are running Steam you can skip this step, If you can not find Steam in your repositories this is your issue.

Arch Linux, Manjaro, Chakra, etc.:

Edit /etc/pacman.conf and uncomment the multilib section.

sudo nano /etc/pacman.conf

Remove the # in front of all the multilib section lines, then save and exit with CTRL + X and run

sudo pacman -Syyuu

If you are running KDE be sure to install lib32-fontconfig with the following command

sudo pacman -S lib32-fontconfig

Ubuntu, PopOS, Mint, Elementary, etc.:

Add the architecture.

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

Update the package manager

sudo apt-get update

Upgrade to newer packages

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

GPU Drivers

Having the right GPU drivers is imporant, else games won't run properly.

If you have a GTX9xx or newer you need driver version 430. If you have a GTX 8xx or lower you need driver version 418 and if you have a GTX5xx or lower you need driver version 390. Pick the right driver version. If you even have an older card, manually check which driver you need: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

If you have an AMD card you just need the newest version.

Arch Linux, Manjaro, Chakra, etc.:

Nvidia

For the newest Nvidia you need these packages so install them.

sudo pacman -S nvidia nvidia-settings nvidia-utils lib32-nvidia-utils lib32-opencl-nvidia opencl-nvidia libvdpau libxnvctrl vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader

For Nvidia 390 you need these packages so install them.

sudo pacman -S nvidia-390xx nvidia-390xx-settings nvidia-390xx-utils lib32-nvidia-390xx-utils lib32-opencl-nvidia-390xx opencl-nvidia-390xx libvdpau libxnvctrl-390xx vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader

AMD

you need these packages so install them if you have a AMD GPU

sudo pacman -S mesa lib32-mesa mesa-vdpau lib32-mesa-vdpau lib32-vulkan-radeon vulkan-radeon glu lib32-glu vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader

Both

Now update and reboot

sudo pacman -Syu && sudo reboot

Ubuntu, PopOS, Mint, Elementary, etc.:

Nvidia

For Nvidia you need to add a repository

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa && sudo apt-get upgrade

For Nvidia 440 you need these packages so install them.

sudo apt install nvidia-graphics-drivers-440 nvidia-settings vulkan vulkan-utils

For Nvidia 430 you need these packages so install them.

sudo apt install nvidia-graphics-drivers-430 nvidia-settings vulkan vulkan-utils

For Nvidia 418 you need these packages so install them.

sudo apt install nvidia-graphics-drivers-418 nvidia-settings vulkan vulkan-utils

For Nvidia 390 you need these packages so install them.

sudo apt install nvidia-graphics-drivers-390 nvidia-settings vulkan vulkan-utils

For Nvidia 340 you need these packages so install them.

sudo apt install nvidia-graphics-drivers-340 nvidia-settings vulkan vulkan-utils

AMD

For AMD GPUs you also need to add a repository

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Next install the needed files for AMD GPUs

sudo apt-get install libvulkan1 mesa-vulkan-drivers vulkan-utils

Both

Now reboot

sudo reboot

If you use Gnome or GDM you might need to disable Wayland, This is not always the case, But I include it here just in case, If your System won't reboot you can try this

sudo nano /etc/gdm/custom.conf

Remove the # in front of the #WaylandEnable=false line and it should force Xorg.

Linux kernel

Installing the newest kernel is generally the easiest kernel switch, There are other kernels available, I will include them later.

To install the newest kernel

Arch Linux, Manjaro, Chakra, etc.:

This is the default in Arch, no need to do anything, the newest kernel will be present.

Ubuntu, PopOS, Mint, Elementary, etc.:

The easiest way is to use ukuu, First we need to install it.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ukuu

Now ukuu is installed, in this program you can select the newest stable kernel click install and when you reboot the new kernel is used. Do not remove your old kernel. If anything goes wrong you can select which kernel to boot in the grub screen at startup and remove the kernel that gives you trouble.

Feral Gamemode

Gamemode[github.com] puts all your hardware in performance mode, it fixes some common problems and it just sounds cool :P

Arch Linux, Manjaro, Chakra, etc.:

Gamemode is in the AUR run the following commands to install gamemode.

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/gamemode.git && cd gamemode && makepkg -si && cd

same thing for 32bit gamemode.

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/lib32-gamemode.git && cd lib32-gamemode && makepkg -si && cd

Ubuntu, PopOS, Mint, Elementary, etc.:

Install the dependencies

apt install meson libsystemd-dev pkg-config ninja-build git libdbus-1-dev libinih-dev

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode.git

Change the directory into the just downloaded folder

cd gamemode

Change the tree to the newest version

git checkout 1.5.1

Run the install script

./bootstrap.sh

All distros including Arch and Ubuntu

Now that it is installed we need to enable the service with this command

systemctl --user enable gamemoded && systemctl --user start gamemoded

To use gamemode for supertuxkart for example, run this terminal

gamemoderun supertuxkart

To use it in Steam edit the launch option for the desired game to

gamemoderun %command%

If gamemode does not run try to make it executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/gamemoderun

If gamemoderun does not work for you try this as a launch command:

LD_PRELOAD=$LD_PRELOAD:/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgamemodeauto.so.0 %command%

Nvidia Improvements

Nvidia users might want to enable all options listed here to improve performance in games

Force Full Composition Pipeline avoids screen tearing by letting the GPU do all the scaling.
Triple Buffer avoids stuttering gameplay It allows for a stream of data instead of chunks of data.
IndirectGLXProtocol forces the game to directly communicate with the Nvidia drivers.
Coolbits enables your card to be overclocked which gamemode will make use of.

Arch Linux, Manjaro, Chakra, etc.:

Create a Xorg Config file:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

Move it to the right directory:

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf

Edit the file with the following command

sudo nano  /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf

Add in these lines under the "Device" section between the other options

Option         "TripleBuffer" "on"
Option         "Coolbits" "28"

Add in these lines under the "Screen" section between the other options.

Option         "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {ForceCompositionPipeline=On, ForceFullCompositionPipeline=On}"
Option         "AllowIndirectGLXProtocol" "off"

Try this one with risk, It will be sure to crash GNOME, I am not sure about other DEs

just add it to the end of the file

Section "Extensions"
   Option         "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

If you run into any problems, just hit CTRL ALT F3 to switch to a different tty login, run the command to edit the file again and put a # in front of the options that are giving you trouble and reboot

Alternatively you can just completely remove the file with the following command and reboot

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf

Ubuntu, PopOS, Mint, Elementary, etc.:

Create a Xorg Config file:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

Edit the file with the following command

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Add in these lines under the "Device" section between the other options

Option         "TripleBuffer" "on"
Option         "Coolbits" "28"

Add in these lines under the "Screen" section between the other options.

Option         "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {ForceCompositionPipeline=On, ForceFullCompositionPipeline=On}"
Option         "AllowIndirectGLXProtocol" "off"

Try this one with risk, It will be sure to crash GNOME, I am not sure about other DEs

just add it to the end of the file

Section "Extensions"
   Option         "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

If you run into any problems, just hit CTRL ALT F3 to switch to a different tty login, run the command to edit the file again and put a # in front of the options that are giving you trouble, Most likely the last one

Alternatively you can just completely remove the file with the following command

sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Libstrangle

Libstrangle[gitlab.com] is a tool that helps you control framerates but also vsync settings. This is especially handy for games that do not support these features, You would like to half your framerate to make it run better save some power or just give your hardware a break.

If you run Arch it will be in the AUR, for other distros you have to run the following commands

Libstrangle can be used in multiple ways depending on what you want to achieve.

To use libstrangle you can simply type strangle and then the amount of frames you want to run. There are some examples below, But the features you will probably use are Vsync which you use by using the -v option, the rules for OpenGL and Vulkan are different, Here is what each number does for the different apis.

OpenGL 0 Force off, 1 Force on, n - Sync to refresh rate
Vulkan 0 Force off, 1 Mailbox mode, 2 Traditional vsync, 3 Adaptive vsync

You can also limit the game depending on the power state of your device, Set it to 60 while charging and on 30 while discharging for example. You do this by adding a second number right after a colon. in example, strangle 60:30. There are more features but they are not that commonly used, you can check the gitlab link above or simply type strangle -h for more information.

To limit the framerate of supertuxkart to 30 simply run

strangle 30 supertuxkart

To Force enable vsync on 60 fps for an OpenGL Steam game set the launch option to

strangle -v 1 60 %command%

To set the framerate of a vulkan game on Steam to 120 fps but 60 on battery power with adaptive vsync set this as your launch command

strangle -v 3 120:60 %command%

Mangohud

Mangohud[github.com] is a monitoring tool for Vulkan and OpenGL applications. It can show CPU and GPU usage, temps, But also framerates, frametimes and a lot more.


If you are on Arch you can find it in the AUR, If you are on Fedora you can find it in your repos.

For other distros execute the following commands.

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/flightlessmango/MangoHud.git && cd MangoHud && ./build.sh build && ./build.sh package && ./build.sh install

To configure it with a GUI you can check out GOverlay below. For a manual configuration you can edit

~/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf

If you want exactly my configuration you can just copy this into it without the need for GOverlay.

background_alpha=0.3
font_size=20
background_color=020202
text_color=ffffff
position=top-right
no_display
toggle_hud=F11
cpu_stats
cpu_temp
cpu_color=007AFA
gpu_stats
gpu_temp
gpu_color=00BD00
ram
ram_color=B3000A
vram
vram_color=00801B
io_read
io_write
io_color=B84700
arch
engine_color=B200B0
frame_timing=1
frametime_color=00ff00
#output_file=/home/houtworm/mangohud_log_ 
#fps_limit 120
#media_player
#toggle_logging=F10

You can tweak all the little things you want here. You can also create different configurations per game by adding a MangoHud.conf file to the game directory.

To use it for any game change its launch option to

mangohud %command%

To use it with non Steam games use the following command

mangohud supertuxkart

Some games might need the 32 bit version, try this if the normal command fails.

mangohud.x86 %command%

VKBasalt

VKBasalt[github.com] is a post processing layer for Vulkan which enables you to enhance graphics further. It only works with Vulkan, This includes all Proton games.

If you are on Arch, it will be in the AUR, Just look for Basalt using your package manager.

If you are on a different distro you need to manually build it.

git clone https://github.com/DadSchoorse/vkBasalt.git && cd vkBasalt && meson --buildtype=release builddir && ninja -C builddir install

To configure it first you need to create a config file, Run the following command to copy the example to a folder you can edit as the user.

mkdir ~/.config/vkBasalt && cp /usr/share/vkBasalt/vkBasalt.conf.example ~/.config/vkBasalt/vkBasalt.conf

You can tweak all the little things you want here. You can also create different configurations per game by adding a vkBasalt.conf file to the game directory.

To use VKBasalt for any particular game enter this as a launch option.

ENABLE_VKBASALT=1 %command%

You can also start non Steam games this way by typing the following command

ENABLE_VKBASALT=1 supertuxkart

GOverlay

GOverlay[github.com] is a Graphical User Interface for managing MangoHud and VKBasalt

If you are on a Arch based distro you can find it in the AUR, just install it with your favorite package manager. You can also find it in your repos if you are on Fedora.

If you are on a different Linux distro you can install it manually.

First install Lazarus and git with your package manager, it should be in your repositories, and maybe it is already installed. I will list the installation method for Debian based systems, change the first command if you are on a different distro.

sudo apt-get install lazarus git

git clone https://github.com/benjamimgois/goverlay.git

cd goverlay

lazbuild -B goverlay.lpi

mesa-demos and vulkan-tools are optional, You need them if you want to show the previews. You can find them in your distros repository

Xbox One Controller

xpad works great, is the default on modern Linux distros and supports a wide range of controllers, But if you are like me and you only Xbox One controllers then using xpadneo is much better.

For Bluetooth to work with xpad and the Xbox One controllers you need to disable ertm (This is not needed for xpadneo)

create the config file

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/xbox_bt.conf

Add the following line to the document and save and exit with CTRL + X.

options bluetooth disable_ertm=1

xpadneo[atar-axis.github.io] supports Xbox One controllers wired and over bluetooth, It enables Force Feedback even the vibration inside the triggers, It supports battery level indication, It also fixes the mapping in many many games that where previously unplayable with a Xbox One controller on Linux.

Arch Linux, Manjaro, Chakra, etc.:

Install the dependencies

sudo pacman -S dkms linux-headers bluez bluez-utils

Install xpadneo from the AUR

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/xpadneo-dkms-git.git && cd xpadneo-dkms-git && makepkg -si

Ubuntu, PopOS, Mint, Elementary, etc.:

Install the dependencies

sudo apt-get install dkms linux-headers-`uname -r`

Install xpadneo from Github

git clone https://github.com/atar-axis/xpadneo.git && cd xpadneo && sudo ./install.sh

Now you should be able to reboot and it should be all good, Having the controllers vibrate for a second when connected is a good indicator that it works.

Conclusion

Your Linux distribution should now be optimized for gaming, Have fun :)

If you have run into any problems, Have any suggestions or additions or you are missing your favorite distro, Please let me know, and i will do my best make this guide complete.

If you have no fonts in steam run the following command

sudo pacman -S lib32-fontconfig

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

I've been exclusively using Wayland for about two years now. (Mostly on KDE with some detours to Hyprland). Everything works perfectly for me.

[Cy]

Don't know how true it is, but I heard lately, that nowadays Wayland support for gaming is pretty okay. I will be switching in a few weeks (got new SSD).

Also, you're missing the 1st command in a Libstrangle section.

[THREE_6]

I just wanted to say that this was a lot of great information! During my linux gaming setup I also found it useful to adjust the swappiness and adjust the cpu mode with cpufrequtils to make things even better. I have the commands and things needed to install posted below but here is also the web link that I found the information on. https://fosslinux.community/forum/linux-gaming/optimizing-your-ubuntu-based-linux-system-for-gaming/

#adjust cpu mode

sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils echo 'GOVERNOR="performance"' | sudo tee /etc/default/cpufrequtils sudo systemctl restart cpufrequtils


#adjust swappiness

sudo sysctl vm.swappiness=10 echo 'vm.swappiness=10' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf

[volnes]

About Linux kernel section
There good alternative to ukuu (ukuu now paid) better now use "mainline"
https://github.com/bkw777/mainline

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

I don't know how to use vkbazalt in addition to the other two. But for gamemode and mangohud, put "mangohud gamemoderun %command%" into your launch options.

[test]

how to use both gamemode vkbazalt and mangohud at the same time!!!

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

If anyone is still reading the comments posted on here. The Mesa graphics drivers also have their own performance overlay. It's the mesa vulkan overlay. On Arch, it requires the "vulkan-mesa-layers" package on Arch to function. It's a bit messy to figure out how it works and its definitely the least user friendly when compared to Mangohud and DXVK hud (likely because it's not really intended for use by non developers) yet can still be used of course. It does what it's supposed to do.

[petran79]

I'd also recommed to use a lightweight desktop manager like lxqt. At least 1-2 GB less RAM than the rest and ultra fast

[tsK]

In this part, change the tree to the newest version, it should be
git checkout 1.8.2

[Toper]

Is there a launch parameter to force graphic APIs like opengl? A game I'm playing, for those who want to know it's Enlisted. Has a bug with the vulkan API and I wanted to see if I could force switch.