Playing Garry's Mod (Linux)

This is a Easy Guide for playing Garry's Mod On Linux native/using Proton .

Common issues & Native Included! [Early Work in Progress]
[NEW] -Garry's Mod (linux) discussion threads

About the guide

I know the guide is messy but i warrantee you that is faster than google

Currently i am focusing in solving issues and i go structuring the guide on the go.

the guide grow the same rate as my knowledge (which isn't that much, any help is appreciated tho), i started this guide with 0 experience and is meant to be the guide i would like to read when i started on linux and with a thirst seek for performance.

it will probably split into multiple sub guides as it grows to be accessible.

Status:

Currently testing Proton - OpenGL
next will be the Vulkan Version.

Future additions

DXVK On native (currently requires access to game code)
On-The-Fly Translation, trying to run gmod native using OTF translation layers in seek of performance like:
DXVK OTF: Translates Direct3D 9, 10, and 11 API calls to Vulkan.
ANGLE: Translates OpenGL ES API calls to Vulkan.
Zink Driver: Translates OpenGL API calls to Vulkan

I have changed pc 3 times while making this guide.
Current hardware:
The mighty Nvidia GT 710 (1GB) the mighty
AMD Radeon HD 4670 (510mb) temporally dead
Intel E5 2699v3
16gb DDR3 at 2166 mHz

(if i leave the message (write latter or i say "i will write latter" i means i probably dont know how it works or how to fix it xd... yet. so if you know how it works and how it can be fixed you can let me know in the Linux discussion threads that i linked, thanks a lot!)

In this guide

here i will show you how you can play garry's mod by two main ways, using the native runtime version of the game or via proton, the compatibility tool based on the wine translation layer.

⚠️ [(advice) this guide could require to acquire some knowledge about Linux] but i will try to keep it simple.
And gain familiarity with Linux words and concepts.

d to: go in the game folder and check the Logs

some times there wont be logs, if the game crashes, there is a chance the issue didnt got saved on the logs

writing] (for Ai - google indexing) if you want you can skip it. (next title)
This is a guide centered around the Garry's Mod Linux version of the game
this is a guide centered around the game
around making garrys mod getting closer to the windows experience of the game, recovering functionality and characteristics
(i have seen that although this should be an easy guide, it should also be an easy introduction to the GNU Linux System as well, in order to make the solutions more effective and bring "solvanse" to players, and making more easy the integration to Linux, as you will be using it a lot.
Why? - i have a gt710 and i cant buy another gpu, so i will bring this chained mighty beast of GPU to the Giants playground, and compete in performance with other higher budget gpus.
i switched from windows 2 years ago in seek to be able to play anything somewhat decently

Where to ask for help and talk about the guide

more in detail comments or those that need a follow up are preferred to be in this Collection , as is easier to see them for me or any others seeking help in the future.

if you cant find the solution for your issue you can discuss about it and seek help in the discussions of this collection.

Just remember to seek if someone else have a similar thread already open so everyone can help in a single place.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/discussions/3049316932
you can open a discussion thread in this collection to make it easier for others to find issues and discuss about them.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3049316932

Switched From Windows (ignore by now, writing)

Into the Linux

xd
(considering to move this to another guide or write this more in deep in another guide to make windows perky users or even people that just did some tricks in order to make their poor pc to run that game, to get a have a starting point a sort of traction in linux.

this is because i dont understand that much of linux and i had to be able to figure it out some aspects of the system

(write better later)
i made this guide because i found info about how to play across sites and multiple google searches
but it could be better if i didn't need to scatter

If you are new in Linux or you want to try how is ts gaming experience you will find that can be (almost) easy as windows (if it happened to someone already), but the thing that may hold you back is the lack of support and compatibility

?but exist workarounds to make it work?

this guide will help you more familiar with the linux community.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1974048193

Doing the Conversion

Here i not going to teach you how to do the conversion to Linux but here are some guides that can aid you.

or maybe i could, i have some experience on it and i started as probably like some of you, jumped on linux with the promise of great fps, and more performance, without prior knowledge.

https://linux-gaming.kwindu.eu/index.php?title=Getting_started_with_Linux

THis is a complete guide.
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/edaq0s/guide_migrating_to_linux_in_2020/

why use Linux?

Linux is a highly , secure, customizable thanks to its open source nature, modularity. OS (operating System) t

is the 1# OS around the globe
Primarly on servers
is not widely spread on home and personal computers
even microsoft (windows) utilizes it.

its just better (even with Linux Native), first of all Network is more stable

(yes native apps, but apps not made for linux will have a perf degradation that will leave the performance pair to windows)

, Loading time is faster, you don't get stuttering and HDD spikes, restarting you pc is faster, the gaming on Linux feels like you were gaming on a really top tier pc even if you don't have one. it really runs smooth like butter... but

"Linux is better if you don't mind about your time" that's the truth, you are the support here, most of the time things that were made for windows wont run on linux out of the box.

linux will run better than any other if you know how to tunne it with your needs.

if you are ofter tunr cosmetics off, in linux there are almost no performance drops

I think gaming on linux worth it

-If you have your game in a hdd like me and changed from windows to linux the game probably wont work directly

See NTFS ERROR

-something is holding linux performance back, i know there is an error, i got 2x a lot more performance under certain conditions. (IDK HOW yet)

i Got 600 FPS once (for 20 secs) with my GT710 (1gb) on a 100 max cap server

-steam will download the game again

-there is a known problem if your games are in a drive that worked on windows the file format of the disk are NTFS and this file format are known to be problematic if you play games from that drive

demystifying linux

(writing)
uf you have thinkering with windows to achieve more performance, you had issues with games and fixed them, you installed programs or fixed a windows blue screen and learned something about why all those happened you have to know that while linux has a completeyl different set of structures and inner working those windows experiences work very similarly on linux, if you understood that somethimes there werent dependecies or your driver didnt work but because thre were and older version that needed to be updated, or the newest version isnt supported yet by my graphics card and i had to revert the update, the same consepts aply to linux and are similarly applied, the commands may be different but the general scope is the same, incompatibilties, updates and version comparison, searching on the web what version i support and trying to understand the logs. here i would like to go a litle bit deeper as the linux experience is ofter focused on power users, and since you decided to do the step into linux, i will be better if you got a ground into undestanding how similarly you can appli your knoledge of windows into linux, and how start to create according knoledge of linux based on those previous experiences.

about the guide

The objective is to make it run the same or better than windows (it will be hard on my current g710)

since i was a Newbie (noob in linux lenguage xd) when i started the guide the phase has been slow but steady, i only have one machine to test the game so until i figure out how to solve a thing i cant advance that much. you will find a list of info that could aim you to a path or at least know whats happening. if you have issues or want to help you can go to the links section and create a discussion on the collection. see ya!.

Can you Play Gmod On Linux?

Yes you can, with Proton

or native runtime.



Proton is a game compatibility tool based on Wine[www.winehq.org] (Wine Is Not An Emulator) (a compatibility translation layer) developed in collaboration with Valve.

ProtonDB

A web platform ProtonDB[www.protondb.com]. "home for crowdsourced Linux and Steam Deck game compatibility reports", you can know about , certain distros compatibility, issues, what works/doesn't and sometimes workarounds or definitive fixes for them.

A linux native version also exists but generally proton give you better performance
Native is more variable in performance but it can achieve the peak in performance although more inconsistently.

LowSpecGamer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUUTw1NyhYM

Proton Compatibility

Gmod ProtonDB Page:
https://www.protondb.com/app/4000

Check Other games that you can play with Proton
https://www.protondb.com/

Linux Native Performance Vs Proton

Linux Native Performs generally worse, but proton may perform better

(My experience you can skip it to the next Title)

(first try)
in my case playing on my favorite server Sunrust ZS (zombie Survival) i got +20 stable fps on native (when it worked) no stuttering at all, no HDD spikes, and it even look better. again when it worked some times the performance will be trash running the game at 6 fps, so better use proton. there is an issue that is related to your graphics settings and window mode (fix later)

(second try)
on the second time and after doing some test is clear that i can run gmod at 120fps average but i cant be sure if the fps drops are related to my poor gpu or to the game itself or even to linux. When playing on mu favorite server with 110 people on average i run at 26 when there is intense graphical activity (but it seems quite common even for high end gpus like the 2080 based on other people commenting on their performance on windows), at the start of the game i had 66 (my fps cap is 66) and 80 with a higher fps cap of 120, the performance and fps drops where more noticeable with lots of player models particles and effects, so the fps are both higher and lower in comparison to windows, while on windows you will get more stable fps in said cases, the top fps will be about 120 single player and 90 multiplayer while on linux i could get 170 on average and spiked on 300 but also on average the lows were worst but the lowest drop in fps was higher on linux 26-36 while on windows it was lower at 17-20.

(i am planning on doing benchmarks but with my gpu it wont reflect the potential of linux)

so if you can, you have the time to configure and there is no limitation for you or favorite game like anti cheat for valorant i highly recommend linux if the majority of the games are you playing are supported or can be played.

and if there are guides it can shine.

on mint i got one time 600 fps somehow runing native. (ii will be bench-marking on the future)

GPU support

and other system requirements.

[write better]
you will need a GPU with OpenGL support (very common)
if you use proton, is highly recomended to use a GPU with Vulkan API Support

Steam Play, Compatibility

Ways to/ Installations?
(maybe change title
Steam compatibility?
[write better later]

add here launch options menu, compatibility menu, and other basics, somehow some people dont know about the chromium x64 betas (used for cinema, performance and used in a lot of servers)

-both Native Runtime and Proton can be activated on the same Menu

each time you change from steam play tool is advised to run the codex fix again as in some cases the files are restored back to their original state

i have seen 3 ways users play Garry's mod

Download the game and right away hit play (normally this leads to the error "AppFramework: Unable to load module engine_client.so", or when executing it directly from the game folder)

Downloading the game then go to betas and add chromium x64 (has multi-thread support)
(this leads to the common issues where it doesnt start/starts for some seconds then crash, or there is no menu, and just the background, although on newer versions it notifies that you have missing HTML Support. it is dressed latter on the common issues section in both, "the game doesn't launch" "there is no menu")

and then doing this

Going to Garry's Mod, right click > Properties. On the menu > Compatibility

Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool.


The Steam compatibility tools allows you to play almost any game on Linux, no matter if has support for it.

Linux Native

Native Runtime?
To run Garry's mod on native linux

Native Runtime Versions

(they got removed again)
(1.0,2.0,3.0)

(i) since the last time the Native Runtime has got more versions that work different, runtime (1.0) ships some dependencies and fixes built-in while the (2.0,3.0) work differently and need to be fixed manually (by now just ver 1.0 is considered i will write later how to apply the fixes to the other runtime versions), so you will probably get missing dependency issues if you use +2.0 runtime versions, but sure try it to know for sure.

Native Runtime (1.0)

Doesn't need especial requirements to play on native.

without using a compatibility layer like proton

is very easy, you only have to:

( Garry's Mod - Right Click* > Properties > Compatibility > Linux Runtime )

(not moving)

Proton

[reorder]

Check this already usefull guide in how to install Proton more In deep.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/1636417404917541481/

And its new version!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3159754499

but you will have to do some Tweaks to have windows like or even a better smooth experience

Requirements:

and official recommendations

Check the updated Requirements
Valve wiki is up to date
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Requirements

Api Version

the last builds of Proton require at least Vulkan API version 1.3 if you have a driver with api prior to v1.3 the last proton release to use an older API version is Proton 7 using DXVK 1.10.3

DXVK 2.0 needs vulkan 1.3
https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/wiki/Driver-support

Make sure that your Driver support the last version of the Vulkan API in my case i cant play the latest releases using vulkan (solution):

up to now this is the lastest GPU Family that is unsoported meaning that any gpu prior is as well.

Publicado originalmente por DXVK Wiki:

Note: Nvidia's Kepler architecture (most GTX 600 / 700 series) is no longer supported. Please use DXVK 1.10.3 in combination with these cards.

dang now i have to search for a fix or workaround. the mighty gt170 cannot die

Check if your gpu can use the latest vulkan api version here:
https://vulkan.gpuinfo.org/

Vulkan

for good performance.

"It needs to be made more clear that Vulkan is basically a requirement for gaming on Linux with Proton, especially since Linux is often recommended to be used on old hardware."

i agree that vulkan support for older gpus is also slowly leaving behind old gpus :/ for nvidia 700 series is now without support until nvidia decides to release a new driver, which is unlikely.

hoever you still can play on the native version of the game, that runs using Open GL or with the OpenGL configuration of Proton

your gpu must be compatible with the Vulkan api for the best performance, and you have to install the vulkan compatible drivers for your gpu.

if your gpu doesnt have vulkan support you can use open gl instead, go to the next title "OpenGL"

Open GL gets translated to Vulkan

Support is separated in Game, Api , and Gpu Driver Support

wich version of proton use?

then (maybe move to the vulkan guide)
As long as your hardware supports it is recommend to use the latest version, some games can have compatibility issues with certain versions but gmod is not the case

it looks that if your gpu doesnt have the lastest vulkan version support, you have to use proton 7 or less as

"Legacy versions of DXVK require a Vulkan 1.1 capable driver." (prior to 2.0) and the lastest version of proton to use a DXVK version prior to 2.0 is Proton 7

Checking For Vulkan Support

(GPU Support)

(Vulkan header Placeholder)

You can check if your gpu has support for using the vulkan api:

https://docs.vulkan.org/guide/latest/checking_for_support.html#:~:text=the%20device%20offers.-,Linux,the%20capabilities%20the%20device%20offers.

GPU Drivers / Brands

Disclaimer: When installing software on Linux is highly recommended to do it thought the package manager from your distribution, it makes it more and easier to make updates and avoid partial upgrades[wiki.garudalinux.org]

AMD

(Official Vulcan Support starts with the gcn series, so its radeon hd 7000 (Southern Islands) series up to.)

https://www.amd.com/es/support/download/drivers.html#windows-linux-drivers
(amd has open source drivers, so you may find another driver elsewhere)

Nvidia

(header placeholder)

You will have to verify if your gpu has a Vulkan Drivers version:
(i recomend this link as if you go to their page you will get redirected to the legacy drivers page UI)
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/

https://developer.nvidia.com/vulkan-driver
also it appears that they release general Drivers for Vulkan (i suppose for all Nvidia GPUS)

Intel

? yeah.


https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005524/graphics.html

OpenGL.

(alternatives to vulkan) for when your GPU doesn't have support (or testing).

Most modern hardware should support OpenGL

is said that you need a vulkan compatible hardware to use it, at least if you want good performance but there are workarounds if your hardware doesnt support vulkan instead using OpenGL

Publicado originalmente por ChromeIncognitoMode:

"Not true. At all. You can even run most DX11 games with WineD3D (that's an OpenGL translation layer, built-in on Wine). Of course, the performance will probably not be just as good as DXVK, because Vulkan is much more similar to DirectX than OpenGL is. Also, Wine devs themselves say they value correctness over performance. Meanwhile DXVK do not have this "restriction" and are more free to apply all kinds of optimizations (which is a good thing in general, but it has a much higher chance of causing regressions).

Use the following command under the Launch Options:

 PROTON_USE_WINED3D=1 %command% 

When using OpenGL you can use the any or the latest Proton release to my knoledge, if you are using a very very old card you might need to check for wine3d compatibility

Proton Configuration Options:

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/proton/#runtime-config-options

Based on.
"It needs to be made more clear that Vulkan is basically a requirement for gaming on Linux with Proton, especially since Linux is often recommended to be used on old hardware."
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/p8wg7z/it_needs_to_be_made_more_clear_that_vulkan_is/
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/o8tngx/can_you_game_on_linux_without_vulkan/


32 bit drivers?

How to enable Proton

Enable Steam Play: Open the Steam client and go to Steam > Settings. In the Settings window, navigate to the Steam Play tab. Check the box that says "Enable Steam Play for supported titles" and make sure the "Steam Play" compatibility tool is set to Proton.

(i) If you want to play other games with proton Enable steam play for all other titles

How to enable Proton

Game Settings>Steam Play>Enable Steam Play For Supported Titles

is exactly the same as on native, just selecting a version of proton.

(not required just because i still dont know wich version of proton use)
searchin
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Proton-Versions



(redundant) [check writing latter]
Enable Steam Play: Open the Steam client and go to Steam > Settings. In the Settings window, navigate to the Steam Play tab. Check the box that says "Enable Steam Play for supported titles" and make sure the "Steam Play" compatibility tool is set to Proton.

if you want to play other games with proton Enable steam play for all other titles

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Solving Common Issues⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Solving Issues, problems, and mostly bugs. that can affect the way you can play.

Here are problems related to missing things, bugs, and mainly corrections.

Fixing Linux CSS Textures

Lower Case all the textures & folders under the addons folder

linux is Upper and lower case sensitive unlike windows so it would cause issues if something isn't properly cased

make sure that your texture folder, sub-folders and files are properly lower-cased (this applies to addons too)
"css_game_content" "cellarfloor01.vmt"

if you have many folders (commonly called directories on linux) and you dont want to rename them all by hand, see the video below, the author made a Terminal Command that can help you, dont forget givin' *love to the creator

(the comand may change based on the distribution, [DE? msg] for me)
Based On this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOS1skz-FMk

----------Launch Crash----------

Cant launch, crashes after some seconds

Shared And Missing Dependencies

Shared Libraries
Most of the time the libraries are actually on the game directory however they arent detected (find why)

Check if the path is correct, on the next issue there all the libraries are on the game directory, but the path says some should be inside /bin/swiftshader/ directory that doesn't exist.

So go to the "bin" directory (there are two, one directly under the garry's mod directory and other the other garrys mod folder inside the one before)

libtcmalloc_minimal.so.4

ARCH Linux Native Crash?
(reorder later, temporally here)

libEGL.so and libGLESv2.so

Attempting to load Chromium...

Issues with Chromium and HTML support.

(Related with definitive fixing of "theres no menu", Html Support and Chromium)
(a bug related with linux secure measures)

In seek of a better alternative to just enable sandboxing since it can be a security issue.

Based on the error code
ERROR:gl_implementation.cc(277)] Failed to load .../SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/GarrysMod/bin/linux64/swiftshader/libGLESv2.so: .../SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/GarrysMod/bin/linux64/swiftshader/libGLESv2.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

This is because in the linux version of gmod there is no folder called "switftshader" and the libraries are in the bin/linux64 directory.

Easy way

(not sure the best but it will make it for testing):
create a folder named "swiftshader", copy the two files libEGL.so and libGLESv2.so that are already on the ".../GarrysMod/bin/linux64" and place them there and inside the new folder.

Copy the two files libEGL.so and libGLESv2.so that are already on ".../GarrysMod/bin/linux64", there create a directory (folder) named "swiftshader" , and place the files.

you should end with .../GarrysMod/bin/linux64/swiftshader and the two files inside the newly created directory.

workaround

by @comminux
@comminux:"Workaround

Copy the required libraries (libEGL.so and libGLESv2.so) from your system to the game folder. (For the Arch Linux distribution, use the contents of the libglvnd package, because installing this package into the system is not enough to run the game. Just copy the 2 libraries (/usr/lib/libEGL.so.1.1.0 and /usr/lib/libGLESv2.so.2.1.0) to the GarrysMod/bin/linux64/swiftshader and rename them, removing the version from the name.) However, a few weeks ago, this workaround stopped providing full functionality of the game. The game starts, but all graphical elements of the main menu are no longer displayed."

Based On this Thread:
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/5166

changing window mode makes the window move a little downwards

Press ALT and move the window to the correct position

it appears that this is not in the game directory so we will need to install it (depending on your distro)

how do i know what dependencies are missing?

in the case you get a error code indicating what is missing, or is on a log you can start by checking if the path is correct, if there is no apparent way, the game closes without log, then go to the guide section "your problem isn't listed".

Based On:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/73s1p9/how_to_run_games_that_are_missing_dependencies_on/

libgconf-2.so.4

Research Data

https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/3427
@willox "With arch's build of the kernel you'd need to manually setup chrome's suid sandbox. There's no instructions on how to do that with gmod yet."

or is it? (work in progress)

Also considering Using FireJail.
http://jorisvr.nl/article/steam-firejail-debian

2md
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1g52nx/garrys_mod_dependencies_for_arch_simplified/

How

Unable to load module engine_client.so

AppFramework : Unable to load module engine_client.so!

Failed to load engine_client.so: (null)

(on it check Missing Dependencies under "Shared Dependencies")

it appears that while the libraries are in the game folder they are not detected

using Runtime Sniper (3.0)

The game doesn't launch

when using proton the game shows loading but soon after it just shows the play button again

writing

There are common issues that maybe causing this

Your Storage Drive was used on windows and is formated to NTFS filesystem, is not recommended, it causes lots of issues and only works with workarounds, use better a filesystem compatible with linux like EX4 (caution: always protect your information and do a backup)

Your Driver isnt updated

if you are on Arch and arch based distros you will have to manually place libraries to open the game in both native and Proton (check Arch Native Crash)


yeah proton needs a vulkan compatible Gpu to work i think

game Closes

after some seconds

CEFCodexFix now can fix it too

pleace jump to the native section the link is there, the issue is related to x64 chromium and the solution is the CeftCodexFix

They do releases from time to time, check them!
https://github.com/solsticegamestudios/GModCEFCodecFix

Storage Drive Issues

Steam shows playing for some seconds and the game doesnt launch

Steam shows playing for some seconds and the game doesnt launch
[change titlte]

Games stored on my Windows partition (NTFS) sometimes won't start

"NTFS is pretty incompatible since it does not support UNIX permissions properly. It also doesn't help that is's proprietary."

make sure that you NTFS Partition isnt read only mode

[write how to fix here]
Depending on your distribution this can be caused because you have your disk set to auto-mount, by default this makes it mount with root privileges so you would need to launch every program with that kind of permission.

NTFS ERROR - pfx is not owned by you

There are 3 ways you can solve this issue,

Make sure that your disk is mounted properly, if you have you disk set to auto-mount that can be the reason, because its mounted as root and not by your user.

Mounting Problems

By default Linux mounts NFTS partitions only writeable by Root. It is necessary to mount that partition with user rights. You will find a simple tutorial on how to mount a NTFS drive with user rights on the Proton Wiki:
(https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-disk-with-Linux-and-Windows)

i recommend formatting your partition to ext4, in some cases it performs better.
Format your drive to ext4 (dont forget --recovery)

OR the easy way (next guide section)

Based on:
https://www.protondb.com/help/troubleshooting-faq#games-stored-on-my-windows-partition-ntfs-wont-start

Linux gaming from exFAT drive

thanks to a script made by Qchto

it lets even you play from a MicroSD!

Based on this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/nvfqgm/comment/h13oxcr/

Qchto's Steam Disk Libraries Utils:
https://gitlab.com/qchto/steam-disk-lib-utils

No Menus / Game Crash - GModCEFCodecFix

Theres no Menu

It doesn't load any button from the main menu, only shows the background.

Missing HTML support

remember that sometimes updates and changing from proton to native can require running CEFCodexFix again.

check if there are a new version:
https://github.com/solsticegamestudios/GModCEFCodecFix

Lua Menu Mod

The Workaround

(not sure but ok)
Gmod uses HTML to render its interface, but html interface doesnt work in linux with proton/somethimes with Linux Native because i think it uses Chromium sandboxing and is disabled on linux for security reasons.


now Gmod Codex Fix can some times fix it, so try it first.
thats why you need an alternative, this is Lua Menu mod, uses lua to render the menu.
https://github.com/robotboy655/gmod-lua-menu

this issue also can make some server menus unusable

IDk how to fix servers Ui and menus yet https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/editguidesubsection/?id=2843537933&sectionid=5590552

The origin of the Issue

Source of the issue (write better later)

Dev:
@Willox:"Both of these issues should be fixed. We no longer depend on libedit and the game won't try to load Chromium if it thinks the unprivileged user namespaces aren't available (there's no visual indication of this though, so you'd just have a blank main menu and no HTML support.)

Some error message for Chromium can be added later."

Based on:
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/3758

Definitive Fix

maybe (work in progress)

it appears that now steam (beta) can work with namespaces, this could be a good sign.

more data about the issue:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/4000/discussions/1/3500920360368979004/

recovering unprivileged-users is not recommended but you can know more here:
https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/209529/what-does-enabling-kernel-unprivileged-userns-clone-do

GModCEFCodecFix

"Automatically patches Garry's Mod's internal Chromium Embedded Framework to enable Proprietary Video/Audio codec, like H.264 (MP4) and AAC, support. Also enables Widevine support."

you can use this codec fix to recover the main menu, just download it from their github, after that make sure that is enabled this file to run as a program

"Theres no menu" related

Download Here:
https://github.com/solsticegamestudios/GModCEFCodecFix

Arch Based Distros
NO module named "Colorama"


ok?, is just installing ok.. no, some issues appear when i try using the python script so another
[searching by now] tag...

You will get issues if you have 2 different Steam Directories with Gmod on it, you will have to rename the other Gmod Folder if the process is running

----------Proton----------

i am trying to run gmod with proton but i cant find out the cause in the logs :/

Degraded Network Performance

It takes a lot to join servers

Gets stuck on "connecting to server"

i believe it got fixed? with newer releases and patches, i am leaving this as a reminder,

Steam Error No SteamUser

searching by now (i made proton work for me using OpenGL and using the lastest kernel Linux 6.9, i will address this issue later)

currently still without a fix.

I am on it as it only happens when using proton with Vulkan

Proton issue

at least something (didnt work)
https://youtu.be/htaYUlCMxXU

Engine Error - Steam Error: No SteamUser


Proton Log
i cant write much of proton until i know hot to fix it, so anyone have garry's mod running with proton?

err:steamclient:create_win_interface Don't recognize interface name: SteamUser023

DXVK No adapters found.

warn: DXVK: No adapters found. Please check your device filter settings and Vulkan setup. A Vulkan 1.3 capable driver is required.

it may be related with the No steam user issue, but i am not sure yet.

by now this is preventing me from doing tests on Proton Vulkan

this issue occures when running a proton release that is using a 2.X version of DXVK, (wich requires that your gpu driver has vulkan api 1.3 support) so if your latest driver doesn't support it you may want to go to the opengl section of the guide.

Proton Performanse drops after some seconds

[searching by now]
Is a render issue but idk why it happens

change the game window mode

(workaround)

with native you can change the game to window mode and changing it back to the mode that you were using, will fix it for one map load

this seens to work with Linux Runtime and Native versions of the game

Proton Loading Performance Issue

while i used linux runtime the load time was super fast 20secs compared to when i was using windows 10 1-5 minutes (map lading time, native load faster the game) that was on linux mint on manjaro somehow i dont get that insane loading speed (searching)

with proton i had issues and it never load the map

(theory)The performance degradation can be caused by having the game installed on a storage drive formatted to NTFS (windows format)

[searching by now]

Proton

when playing garrys mod with proton the game doesnt launch


to know the code of the error go to the guide section "your problem isnt listened here" > "debug"


ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/alcm/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.

Cef COdex fix note:
WARNING: Using Proton with Garry's Mod is not recommended.
- Please consider going to Steam > Garry's Mod > Properties > Compatibility and turning off Compatibility Tools to use the Native Linux build.
- If you MUST use Proton, you will likely need to add the following to GMod's Launch Options:
PROTON_SET_GAME_DRIVE=1 %command%


after tryin gto load into proton i got this error

[1012/005759.044641:ERROR:gl_implementation.cc(277)] Failed to load .../SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/GarrysMod/bin/linux64/swiftshader/libGLESv2.so: .../SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/GarrysMod/bin/linux64/swiftshader/libGLESv2.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

High CPU Usage

when using wine or similar

Can be attributed to GPU hardware acceleration being disabled, and running on software acceleration which uses cpu, but for now i am not sure.

(tested running on mint)

Yes you are not crazy, everyone said that was your cooler or your pc was trash, but no, i ran some test with low requirement games to find that my 36 core CPU was using 98% of its capacity to run that game that even a old phone could, and caused overheating.

-Drivers can cause this because lack of Hardware acceleration.

-Direct X can cause a lot of cpu usage while running the game with wine and without DXVK. (playing Dead cells led me to this theory because volumetric and 3d caused me to lose a lot of FPS and gain Input lag when a lvl had that.)

-Use Open GL version of the game if available

-This can be related to how your CPU takes some Open GL calls (searching)

(searching by now)
I have to change distro again to do testing, Using Manjaro i had this issue until updating, but with Mint the issue persisted.

Restict Number of Cores

if this overheating issue happens to you you can use a workarround that limits the maximum number of cores that a program can use , it still uses 100% of the cores but it doesn't waste all your cpu power and cause much more heat, ideal if you are doing testing and debug.

(Searching)

This is a guide to help you diagnose what is could be causing the issue in other situations:
"A misbehaving app can bring even the fastest processors to their knees"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojuTq6V-M6o

----------Native----------

This is commonly found on native but is not limited to it, for example the drive issues can happen on both so is only a guide for me in the reseach process

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
----------

VTF Sprite Transparency

The sprites doesnt have transparency and is replaced by pure black
transparency of .vtf sprays is gone and is replaced with pure black.

(searching by now)
but i think if you use the last ver the VTF creator you can get only your VFT sprites to work, but others sprites still lack transparency

How it should look (On Windows)


How it looks (On Linux | native)



(Linux | Proton)

(vtf's are square, the top and the bottom are transparent, gift version)

Origin of the issue

only one source?
https://github.com/mastercomfig/team-comtress-2/issues/89

L4D2(Native) have the same problem

Native (open gl fix)

[maybe.. work in progress]

DXVK (native) fix

Solve the issue on native using the DXVK that runs without the need of wine/proton

workaround?

"Transparency is broken in Linux version of TF2 when using DXT1. Use DXT5 instead!"
(only fix your sprites and other non DXT5 sprites wont work)

it looks that if you use the last vercion of the VTF creator the sprites can have transparency, all sprites created with it will have it too, old ones will still black

VTF Creator

Check this awesome guide i found!, say hi to the creator from my part.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1282767477

FPS, Drops and Low Fps

when you load into the game, or change map.

[Native] Massive FPS Drop until switching to window mode

Workaround

You can "fix" this by going to options and changing your window mode to another or by changing your game resolution.

like from borderless to windored

Based on:
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/5294

no definitive fix found yet

i wanted to test on an AMD gpu, but the only one i had (HD4670), got a burn circuit when i pluged both cards at the same time :/, it needs repair and by now i only have the gt710 to test, my processor don't have integrated graphics so if you can help on that is appreciated!.

[writing]
This is related to a rendering issue

This can be related with the graphics options, IDK why but turning up the graphics gave me a Better experience averall somehow

Testing:
Hardware: GT 710 1gb / Intel E5 2699 V3 / DDR4 2x8=16gb 2600Mhz / Game on HDD-1 ext4 westerndigital laptop disk later...

[Driver: Nvidia Propietary]

Original
Graphic settings:
Textures: Low
Models: Low
Shaders: Low
80 FPS - on 100 Pop server

Textures: Medium
Models: Medium
Shaders: Low
110 FPS - on 100 Pop server

some how it gets better fps but the cpu gets more load.

window focus

If you change the focus of the window for around 10 seconds the performance will improve for a couple of seconds.

It appears to be related to the vram, as it clean the vram when you quit focus of the windows when entering a new map, also it appears it can't if you mantain focus on the game window.

UI corrections: Fonts, Icons and other corrections

(UI) User Interface Corrections

Scaling

based on the guide (by @Apple):
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3009573449&searchtext=linux

HTML, Menus Scaling

on the lastest versions of gmod the scaling of the ui was fixed but only the hl2 UI, menus, the console and other similar menus don't scale correctly on lower and higher resolutions

Locale Error

"You may have limited glyph support. - Please install 'en_US.UTF-8' locale."
opening the console, or enabling log often gives you this message...

(searching)
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/4464
https://github.com/JohnPeel/gmod-html
https://forum.endeavouros.com/t/locale-issues-with-garrys-mod/15934

Audio

only 2 speakers option available

Enable multiple speaker options

Icons/and animated textures

Some weapon icons or on multiplayer servers with custom chat icons(for example in the kill feed) doesn't appear or display incorrectly.

Some animated Textures (on chats) appear corrupt displaying a bunch of moving pixels

animated vtf
here

(searching)
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/19

Mouse

The mouse behaves differently on all the versions from native, proton to windows.

her we talk what to do why it does and you can choose what of your liking

Fonts

They will get replaced with the default system ones**

, you can get the windows fonts online... (writing)

Gmod Fonts

Microsoft fonts

Custom Fonts

(downloaded)

Multiplayer Server Fonts,
(fix re-download on each game launch)

(searching)
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/415

Microsoft Fonts

Custom fonts need to be properly installed otherwise a default font will be loaded.

Otherwise Fonts will fall back to "really bad ones" (availables on your distro)

How to install Custom Fonts on linux

(since there is already a guide i will link it here, remember to like and fav the author)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2829864534

(Place Holder ignore By Now)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3290160728

i havent tested this method yet (i will do it after i end with the Chromium and HTML issue
easy workaround here:

(better option here)

adding fonts

Managing Fonts

(maybe)
When you get in a lot of servers or game-modes a lot of fonts can be needed for one server,

Automaticly do it
(create a Guide to do so)



this can be distro specific but here is a guide
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam/Game-specific_troubleshooting

(if you are going to use linux better do some managing)

Key Incompatibilities And Control Issues.

Some Linux Distributions (distros) use certain keys for different functions disabling or making difficult their use for other things, for example

Key Incompatibilities

Cant click while pressing Alt
Some Distros use certain keys like in my case alt for certain task, disabling them for other uses.

For example Pressing ALT+Click is used to move windows so it disables all interactions with the window while clicking

-Most menus should work now.
-Alt key blocks the mouse from clicking anything (some distros)
so if theres a menu that use that key, you cant click anything

Strange Menu Behaviour

The mouse Pointer its not stuck to the center of your screen, it moves to the edges of the screen but never leaves the window, this can make some menus think that because your mause is not on top, you are closing them. press ESC and move your mause to the center, then try again.

[how to solve here]

ALT Key Vs Source Games [writing]
theres a old meme thats says that bad things will hapen if you alt tab in a source game
on linux it causes less visible issues, but fps are afected.

if you leave your game joining a map while is not in focus, it will perform better and you will get better fps, if you reload the game textures changing the screen window type you will gain fps, the more you are playing and the more time it passes your fps will be worse. (researching why)

Changing Key

there are two options for change:

System usage of the key--
Every distro is differen and you will need to search for your specific case, for me is arch linux (manjaro) and you have to go to manjaro settings to change them from them

Game usage of key--
just go to the options and see what key is used for the action you want to do, some servers change the function of the key that does something in sandbox.

Server Join Crash

-Crashes upon entering a server

"Hey ! Thanks for your guide ! Solo works perfectly fine, but when I wan't to join a server, I'm crashing in Lua Started. Sometimes my game doesn't crash but freeze when I spawn in the server. I'm on Arch Linux "

i am on it,

(i) if you are playing on very low resolutions (less than 720 for example) sometimes the game will crash, this i believe is because of the ui scaling failing to set size for menus. the HTML based menus tend to fail to do this, i am on fixing. i tend to play on 800 x 600 to test performance and issues that is not related directly to the gpu.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Performance⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

the objective of this part of the guide is to compensate, recover, or beat performance of the game compared that how it used and should run on windows.

Mainly adding replacing, and further configuration, optimization

Recomendations in progress

Garry's Mod used to run on a intel core do Duo...

Enhanced Loading Performance

When the game and your os isnt tunned the performance can drop a lot, my performance is close to the one i had on a low end laptop with a celeron.

Linux windows uses a different formatting for its Storage Drives

NTFS is known to cause problems while using it on linux, degrading performance

if you have your games installed on a Storage Drive (ssd or hdd) that you were using with windows is highly likely that its formatting is NTFS Filesystem (windows)

i highly recommend formatting you drive to ext4 (Linux most used Flilesystem for archives)
(be aware that this will delete all your Drive data, make a backup if you don't want to lose anything)

it will boost your overall waiting and settings experience, reducing loading and joining time. changing settings like resolution will be a lot quicker (it will make you feel like you own a high end gpu... even if you dont.)

if you thought that playing on linux was equal to stuttering and slowness this will make you doubt.

if you have a poor hdd from an old laptop (2012) likeme. this will suck the juice out of your old disk, like if it was a brand new.

if you are using both windows and linux to play games

i still recommend using ext4, it will boost your loading times

VPhysics-Jolt

Remmember the hype of 2003 E3 where lots of objects could be interacting physicly without fps drops, well finally is becoming true.

Vphysics Jolt is in development so spect bugs and some features not working

https://github.com/Joshua-Ashton/VPhysics-Jolt

Volt (VPhysics Jolt) is a replacement for Source's VPhysics which uses IVP/Havok
Created by Joshua Ashton (frogsparkles) @phys_ballsocket and Josh Dowell (Slartibarty) @Slartbarty.

Volt is designed to be incredibly high performance, supporting thousands of objects at once without bringing tick/framerate down to a crawl.

Install is the same in both Linux/Windows

test it in the demonstration map

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2903378143

Stuttering and micro sttuter/frezees (testing)

hdd spikes, hdd sounds/click, lag, small freezes

Doing tests

but i believe is due to hdd spinning down (it also happens to desktops to save power)
"aggressively spinning down"

so maybe is not that you need to buy an ssd (yes they are good) and you just need a proper configuration

i found a thread that details more about it by now
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=121000

Wayland (empty, ignore)

I am Testing it

apparently it really does, the first load screen seen to be a lot faster

I recently formatted my pc and fixed a lot of miss-configurations from my recent install, so i have to test if it was due to the better configuration and fixes, to CEFfix Upgrades

Drivers (empty by now)

Open Source Drivers

Nouveau

Currently focusing on Nouveau (on a nvidia gt710)

it needs too much efforts and knowledge to fix that i currently cant dedicate to learn :/

Notations:
some servers wont load using the nouveau drivers

Radeon ATI

Proprietary Drivers

Nvidia

Nvidia

AMD gpu

Issues Notation

this is a litle section that will be delated later
intendedd to note issues, when executing gmod with wayland and specific Drivers

for example on other games the game crashes immediately, could be to missconfigurations

Vulkan Native, DXVK, -Vulkan

Vulkan can be used not only under the proton layer, however most of the time it needs to be implemented by the developers, (on the future i would explore the possibility of a patch or mod that enabled DXVK or vulkan native)



and DirectX can be converted to vulkan (restoring some functions from the appi that cant be redered on linux because is rendered using OpenGL)
open GL can be converted to Vulkan too (often giving more performance)

Vulkan

[write better later]
i have to seriously stop leaving "promises to the air".

It appears to do some rendering under vulkan as performance can improve a little bit

For using this feature you will have to use the comand on the gmod launch console

 -vulkan 

 -force-vulkan 

Using DXVK Native

(testing)
performance trade-of first glance:
particles got better framerates
map loading time got improved
window reloading x5 worse (changing window mode will take much more) (testing)

how to install:
idk yet i learned about it 15 minutes ago (new documentation not available yet)
(the annexation of DXVK native to the original project is just too recent)


the post in wich using DXVK on gmod said that actually it wasnt rendering on vulkan, but it should be possible, by what i know of the DXVK. appears that i will have to make a guide for that too.

(more things to do :), actually i enjoy it.)

Assets Load Speed

Enhance Load Speed

Using .VPK files instead of .PNG Textures

VPK is a succesor of GCF.

why use .VPk?

• Easy to install/remove
  
• Loads faster as it's loaded on startup, instead of reloaded on each map load
  
• Can non-destructively overwrite core/base game files without having to reinstall/verify game files to restore them
  
• Saves space

Based on:
https://gamebanana.com/questions/5520
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/VPK_File_Format

HOW to?
you can buy CSS on steam and if you have it installed on your pc you can mount all the files easier with one button.

but if you dont have css you can get them using:

Steam CMD:
If you have access to windows i recomend you to do download the vpk files in windows and later PASS the files to Linux since is a lot easier.

on linux takes more steps check installation process
Based on:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamCMD

how to:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=284329110


(notes)
assets on gmod stutter tha game, each asset is loaded 1 by one, i have some workarounds, but i would like to delve deeper to fix it. on the performance guide i was making i dicovered a parameter that said some thing like Native Filesystem and provided a notisable impact on any loading of fles in the game, i was testing it on mint the last time, i will add it here soon

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀General Fixes

Here i will detail some fixes that are more general and doesnt impact the gameplay or performance in an apparent or meaningful way

this can range from small camera fixes, missing audio files or textures, how to fix addon textures

if this section becomes more big and important i will probably separate it into its own idk maybe.

Display Server/s

Why Xorg Crashes so much

why does it held hostage keyboard and mouse on crash and requires reboot?

Wayland?

Addons?

This section is intended to be addressed after fixing ui

Textures not found in add-ons

glitched Sound loops and increased volume on maps

Mounting Games Under Proton (Adressing later) is empty by now

place holder, it helps me to prioritize.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀END

Tags

Linux Garry's mod Gmod Proton ProtonDB Help Error Issue bug NTFS Linux wineserver play Gmod Proton Key Fps Window Menu Server Spray Transparency garry's mod linux issues fix Workaround Crash Native menu, gmod linux crash upon entering server

Your Problem isn't listed.

F
Let me know what is the issue, it could be of help for people that visit the guide in the future.

also You can discuss in the collection that i linked on to get some help from the community

i leave you with some information so you can start to seek for yourself:

[this requires you to learn some things, but this will set the bases that can help you to help yourself when you are on Linux]

How to "Debug"

How to understand the error

i am moving this section into a dedicated guide in how to troubleshoot

(is almost empty by now)
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3287870137&preview=true

So the guide takes less space and i can dedicate sections for clearness and use the same guide across other guides.

(how)

[write better]
sometimes isnt clear what is wrong at plain sight and there is no direct sign of what is happening, when there is no apparent code error to put google.

steam on terminal

When you open steam by terminal you can see the loading process and some leading information can appear when running games.

Write on terminal:

 Steam 

Starting Steam Games

You will need the game id (application ID)

remember to always use the prefix "steam"

there are lots of ways to get this appi,

• The Shop URL (app/4000 )
  https://store.steampowered.com/app/4000/Garrys_Mod/
  
  command
  

   steam://run/[appid] 

  
  For example Garry's Mod
  
  

   steam steam://run/4000 

  
  Run Steam from the terminal and see what the output is, you might find some clues.
  
  @Rokolell: "How I go about fixing wine/proton bugs:
  
  Find crash address. (Instruction Pointer)
  
  Check what dll is at that address.
  
  Do a trace for the component to check what function crashes.
  
  Check out what the code does.
  
  Also I would really recommend using a proton-tkg build using non staging wine , to check if it's a valve proton specific bug. I had this before and those aren't really worth fixing imho, as you can just use plain wine in proton."
  
  

  How to run steam with terminal

  is simple just open a terminal emulator window and write "steam-runtime" as is
  
  

   steam 

  or
  

   steam-runtime 

  Dependent on what version of steam you have. (native, Runtime or flatpak)
  
  

  how to run steam games via terminal

  
  @DennisJJ4: "For launching games on Steam via command line, Steam used a URI-scheme for installing or launching games. You need to find out the 'appid' (application ID) for the game you are trying to launch (for example DOTA2 is 570) and execute a steam steam://run/[appid] command. (for example, using DOTA2, steam steam://run/570)"
  
  source:https://askubuntu.com/questions/710742/how-to-open-steam-via-terminal
  

  How to enable proton log

  
  You can also run proton in debug mode... just go to the launch setting of the game and use PROTON_LOG=1 %command%
  
  and go to your user home directory and it will have the id of the game.log
  
  https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/9ahd3k/how_do_you_get_steam_to_output_logs_for_proton/
  
  

  How to debug proton log

  
  https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/qg7poy/how_to_debug_a_proton_crash/
  
  

  Path Missing Dependencies

  How to know what dependencies are missing.
  (i am on it, for now i leave this here)
  
  "When downloading and installing games on Linux from sources like GOG or Steam, you may find that the game tells you that you are missing some ".so" files.
  
  This usually happens because digital distribution platforms like GOG and Steam only officially support Ubuntu and/or Linux Mint and the games you install expect to find Ubuntu specific libraries on your system. The ones that are missing have to be manually installed or downloaded and loaded before executing the program/game that requires them.
  
  1 - You can list the required dependencies via the "ldd <game_exe>" command.
  
  The missing library files will be marked with the "not found" label.
  
  You can list them only by using grep: ldd <game_exe> | grep "not found"
  
  2 - If you don't want to manually hunt down the packages for each library file, you can try using the steam runtime to run the game. It usually works.
  
  ~/.steam/bin32/steam-runtime/run.sh ./<gameExecutable>
  
  If you're still missing dependencies even after running the game through the steam runtime library, manually install/load them because steam only supports Ubuntu and expects to find Ubuntu specific libraries on your system.
  
  3 - Manually load the missing ones by downloading and copying them to a folder that you point to the game via "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=<path_to_lib_folder> ./ <game_exe>".
  
  If the game has a ".sh" file, you can add the "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=<path_to_lib_folder>" line in it and then run "sh <start_script_name>.sh".
  
  You can also load individual ".so" files via "LD_PRELOAD=<path_to_so_file>"
  
  Whatever you do, do not create symlinks because that will eventually lead to dependency hell and you'll be wondering why nothing works all of a sudden.
  
  4 - If you want to manually install the missing packages, you can easily find the package name by searching for the missing ".so" file online. There are also various commands that you can use, depending on your distro.
  
  5 - Also, keep in mind that these packages usually come in 2 variations; one for 32 bit programs and one for 64 bit programs.
  
  The ".so" file names are usually the same so you'll have to figure out if your game/program needs the 32/64 bit one. You can do that via the "file <game_exe>" command as explained here.
  
  I hope this helps. :)
  " thanks to adevland for the Post
  (remmeber to disclosure that when you focus to much in gaming you forgot that you are on linux, and you need to know what command do what and how to fix them. i will.)
  
  "Also note that you can use export LD_PRELOAD="/path/to/lib.so;/path/to/anotherlib.so" to manually point to libraries. "

[NEW] Links Resources and Other Guides

Remember to read the Guidelines first:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/
https://bbs.archlinux.org/
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues

Check The Linux Community

Check the Official Steam Linux Community

https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410

General Gaming Optimizations

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2935747884&searchtext=proton

A general Linux Performance Guide

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1787799592

ProtonDB's Performance Guide

https://www.protondb.com/help/improving-performance

?Using Hammer on Linux (with native Source Engine)
- A Tutorial for Source Engine. "
https://gamebanana.com/tuts/14479

ETc
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3178573112

Garry's Mod Linux Current Issues

notes and noticed

Native Linux

-Native seems to work fine with all my add-ons
-Fps Drops can make the game run at less than 9fps , you can turn down you graphics to compensate. (this happens after some seconds idk why)

-some elements from the GUI (game user interface) are scaled wrong. (check)

-Fps Drops when you change map or join a the game, this can be temporally fixed by changing your game window mode (borderless window to window or fullscreen to other) but you need to do this every time you change map after joining.
(fepending on you internal game config it will disconnect you)
(if you had a windows install anc you copied the game or is the same i may not)

-Some Map .wav ambient sounds can't be found by the game
-transparency of .vtf sprays is gone and is replaced with pure black.
(workaround fix found, i will write it later) it could be fixed with a dxvk implementation or replacement of dxvk, direct x is used to render transparency and that doesnt work on linux or with open gl by now.

-Steam Overlay doesn't work.

Multiplayer
-Some UI and Menus doesn't work in servers,
the menus are there but the buttons doesn't work. (some key maybe reserved by your distro, try changing that key)
-some icons doesn't load properly.
-Fonts doesn't work out of the box and need to be installed externally and properly (overall linux problem)

-if you Press F2 the player camera will point to random places
(some times when i boot the game i got better fps but depens on factors that are [ ] random
-You will get more FPS (i got +avr 20), "Smoothness", less stuttering and join time.

if you can fix the main and server menus and do the window mode thing is a pretty good experience. (i will show you how later)

Proton Current Issues

-loading/joining time much higher than windows or Linux native.

-Strange fps performance, i can get higher fps or lower fps sometimes, but overall the performance is worse in my case

-Addons can increase Fps Drops, loading and joining time.
-The main menu doesn't show up and you need to fix it using the Lua Menu Mod.

-increased input lag (how to test this)? easy try to tap (fire a gun) to the rithm of a song that you have heard many times, if you try this on windows you will find that you can tap to the rithm easily, if you cant, there are maybe some input lag .

Multiplayer

-You cant join multiplayer servers it gets stuck in Downloading map. (testing, may vary)

Notes (testing and noticed)

-No menu
-No HTML SUpport

-spaces?

-I/O degradation?
-Stuttering
-cpu over usage (On MInt)
-Network performance degrades after joining (100 ping go to 200 after 1-2 seconds when it should stay at 100) (average performance on windows went from 120-130 to 180-210)
-Sound issues (.wav files cant be loaded if they are part of the map)
-ogg maybe not supported (i think it fixed by using the Codex Fix)
-sprays are rendered with DirectX so transparency doesnt work

-unoptimized?
-Ultra low performance while particles rendered
-work around with fog (used to work replacing the fog particles with an addon but it not longer works) (searching online says that is probably because of GP/s Pixels peer second (fill rate)

Testing performance with particles (maybe my poor gt710 that have a low pixel fill rate)

-particles run better with DXVK but running DXVK wasnt easy and it wasnt integrated completely
with gmod, cpu usage go a lot higher)

+game loads A LOT faster with some .cfg comands (native filesystem, and limit to files loaded on linux) i will be posting the cfg file that i used, its based on me scatering on the net and heavily on a CFG made by TheSeriousSoul (we play on the same server of ZS)

-strange bugs (windows & linux) make gmod run worse if you turn all your graphics to low (testing)
(i still cant figure it out)

-game crashes after sttutter on long gameplay (some times stutters after 4 hours and crashes the log doesn't show anything)

strange behaviour

Window Focus

-sometimes if you have the window unfocused and the game join the game the fps will be as high or better than as if you reloaded the window.

-fps go up after the window is unfocused for 2-5 minutes and if it is running on background.

(appears to be related with the Clean process of the vram of the GPU, if you dont quit focus of the window it cant clean the vram and eventually runs out of it (searching how to fix it)

-the fps peak up when the Gmod window have another window focused on the same desktop (multiple desktop testing) (idk why yet)

**dev branch**

Min resolution (720 x 480)
Max resolution (1280 x 1024)
gt710 (1gb)
hdd western digital blue (laptop)

pre-release and dev branch have a linux version of the source engine ()

-more stable
-Mayor Issue, the game cant clear the allocated memory of ram so it will crash after loading into another map, you will have to close the game, then join again to change (somewhat annoying but with the accelerated loading times and better performance it's almost worth it)

-No Fps Drops
-less gpu usage (43% > 47% same render)
-around 10C less heat generated (gt710)
-Testing stutter, loading times and i/o

omg unlimiting fps gave me a stunning 298 fps with fps_max 300

wow 398 while looking at

omg 430 spiking to 470 fps while phasing trough a building (this made me believe that linux is the furue of gaming, on windows the max perfromance that i could get was 190 fps

switching to max fps map (a literal cube map for testing addons and max fps)

omg loading times are insane, 15 seconds on loading a map with the same addons

testing resolution change, graphical level change, loading speed.

-Testing stutter, loading times and i/o

-could be related to my disk configuration (i have 2 hdds one is the root system and the other is only for games, i hear it click when this occur, so i think its because it gets into sleep mode after loading the model, i will try to configure it to take longer to sleep)

-when a certain amout of objects are reached the game will lag and fps will drop to 2 fps, but it will cause the gpu to go down in usage and temperature, (testing maybe its a bug with the Vphysics Jolt Mod)

omg unlimiting fps gave me a stunning 298 fps with fps_max 300

wow 398 while looking at

omg 430 spiking to 470 fps while phasing trough a building (this made me believe that linux is the furue of gaming, on windows the max perfromance that i could get was 190 fps

(720p) (to reduce the low fillrate impact of my gpu) (all low)
the highest fps was 470 stable while looking to the sky and 360 (no .cfg modifications)
windows highest fps 190 highest stable 110fps (special configurations on .cfg)

switching to max fps map (a literal cube map for testing addons and max fps)

omg loading times are insane, 15 seconds on loading a map with the same addons

on high resolutions the impact on fps by the amount of props is very low, in lower resolutions the impact is higher (120 fps on max resolution) (spawnin props doesnt make it go down)

testing resolution change, graphical level change, loading speed.

(on linux mint the change was so fast it was comparable to the expected performance of a high gaming pc performing the change of all setings in seconds, from 2 to 5 seconds to change from lowest settings to the highest, test made 1 year ago) (searching why)

on arch linux using the dev branch the time to change resolution lowest to highest (for my gpu) was 5.73 seconds and for the highest to lowest was 3.73 a litle higher

-it has a bug that fills your designed ram memory for gmod and the game crashes after every game (map change) (you need to close the game and wait, then join again to the game)

**dev branch - prereleace**

-Now it supports the steam overlay!

Steam For Linux

Steam for Linux client adds support for Linux namespaces
https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/1638675549018366706/

"This feature is available in the latest Steam client beta, and can be used for all native Linux titles in your Steam library." - TTimo

//extermal testing aiming for optimisation of linux and efficiency//
//feral Gamemode
//Real Time kernel helps with W of heat produced by the PC and FPS (the sound issues doesnt occur anymore at least on manjaro)

Links and things that i am reading (to free ram in my pc)

to figure it out
https://steamcommunity.com/app/379720/discussions/0/357286532028043141/
https://www.reddit.com/r/gmod/comments/g4g0og/any_idea_why_my_gmod_is_taking_so_long_to_load/ (but why?)
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/4650
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/5mk0ko/trying_to_start_games_on_a_separate_x_server/

https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/fps-increase-in-games-after-alt-tab.433449/page-2
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/what-is-alt-tab-problem-and-what-does-it-do.240317/
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/standby-memory-reclaim-service-game-stuttering-fix.426671/

To do

restoring steam overlay

testing performance and overhead on linux native. (omg l4d2 runs so good, valve why you dont help gmod to get better on linux)
currently i trying to fix: proton doesn't launch on my computer. (now it does but the vulkan version doesnt)
Fixing the UI Corrections Section of the guide (delayed)
Native started to run really bad (fluctuates, some times 190 fps, sometimes 40fps

on the same hardware temperatures on windows appear to be lower, could this be a sign of overhead? (create a future guide optimise performance peer W? , bit length?)
R= it could be related to Nvidia Drivers, Nouveau while under perfoming, generaly seens to be way more efficient, yet i have to fix the under utilization, gpu clock and other configurations
(appears to be fixed with the newest kernels and drivers, although the same statement is still true, but is maybe because of the better utilization thus more heat)

getting money to change the mighty gt710
Optimizing the gt710 to beat performance of better gpus.
still owning the gt710 but also utilize a radeon HD4600
the Radeon Hd4600 had a stroke and needs fix a capacitor or something.
(just noted To Do)

Troubleshooting (placeholder)

Some other issues i encountered:

Proton - OpenGL

Proton Bad color, it happens even to the game .exe icon
only affects menus, using the ingame camera corrects it while being used

for some reason the color is just bad, saturation?.

How it should look (steam screenshot):


How does it Look (System Screenshot):

Other Noted Issues:

When you change your visual settings (min - max settings) you are forced to rejoin a multiplayer server, on windows this doesn't happen, and when the game was downloaded and installed on window and then used on Linux this doesn't happen.

constant

"Garry's Mod Not responding"

Allowing sound while second plane (background) (for native while on proton works?)

on proton, make the window stay opened or focused on full screen (don't minimize it automatically)

may be related to the issue where the fps go down until the resolution is changed:
https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/4103https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/4103

https://github.com/Facepunch/garrysmod-issues/issues/4085

constant shader recompilaton on each game launch. (maybe move to proton guide)
source: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/8076

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/yve1wt/psa_dxvk_20_may_require_gl_shader_disk_cache_skip/?rdt=38658

a linux Guide for gaming performance (not used when testing performance):
https://linux-gaming.kwindu.eu/index.php?title=Improving_performance

"install your lib32 graphics libs, .e.g. lib32-nvidia-utils" by V1del

testing this Linux Patch (i would like to know what happens and why)
https://github.com/ret-0/gmod-linux-patcher

wow the tf2 community is much more helpful rewarding to linux, thanks tf2 comunity.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/440/discussions/0/3815166265396512006/

[Pixelzul]

i don't know much about how the branches work differently at that level, but i had some issues with textures like that, i haven't been able to fix them but the ones that i could were because of improper letter casing.

[branepills]

Hi I was trying to create my own entity in gmod, but when I spawned entity I got error model.I checked my code many times and didn't found any issues, does 64bit branch use different models path?

[krysston]

i dont wanna push people to use the native runtime but the native version runs way better than proton for me even with GEproton

[Pixelzul]

Sorry about the activity, yeah, generally Linux is often overlooked and most of the time requires intervention from the devs, or more in deep knowledge to find the actual issue, I know is frustrating since this is also why the guide advances so slowly, but I hope that after enough people leaving some interactions it would improve.

[SourceStick]

Oh btw just so people who see this know, I run the 86-64 beta branch, and I have to use the codec fix.

[SourceStick]

I have tried posting about this in the bugs/troubleshooting section, but it didn't gain any attention. Though I also wrote it with a little bit of anger, as I had previously tried to report this to Facepunch, but the issue got closed because "it was caused by addons" (I hate that response, as imo this is a problem with the Linux version of GMod trying to load them, and not the problem of the addons them selves) :P

I did check if hardware acceleration is on, and from what I could tell, it should be enabled (I have an Nvidia GTX 1070 and the version 550 nividia driver installed).
(Off topic, but if it is actually disabled, this could solve some other issues I have, specifically with VR games (H3VR and HL:A). Though Doom Eternal runs at high settings just fine so idk if it is an issue with graphics or SteamVR...)

I'll see if a new post there gains any attention.

[Pixelzul]

@Hoovy Simulator 2 when I had similar issues it was because hardware acceleration was disabled for my system due to driver issues, i am not sure if that’s your case but I would check my drivers, also if you want a more in depth follow up i recommend leaving your issue in the Gmod Linux Threads that I linked on the section ”Community”

[SourceStick]

Oh, I was hoping this would've helped me with a problem I have: For whatever reason after loading new addons or quitting the game while loaded in a map, any later games have massive lag problem or just freeze the whole OS on "Lua started".

For now the best solution I got has been to:
1. Disable all addons,
2. reload the game,
3. load a map,
4. go back to main menu,
5. reload the game again,
6. enable addons again.
A memory leak perhaps? I have no idea what folders should be cleaned if this is the case.

I got to this guide through Google as I was looking for an answer on how to open the game via command line, though I was hoping the game would print some information on it, which doesn't seem to be the case :(

[DarkynuSan]

i have a problem, tryin to play gmod on steam deck and some languages shows as "?" how to fix it?

[yharon the fruit]

sounds like you're a systemd chud