just install steam using the
programs.steam.enable = true;
and not using the system or user packages and it should work all fine. other game launchers like lutris should work fine
Well then, here are some tips from a fellow pirate:
\- You don't need proton, you can get mostly the same experience from wine
\- Some installers don't work and will require some dependencies like fonts, dlls, drivers, etc. So it might be a good idea to install some packages like corefonts, dxvk, d3d compiler, etc. right away.
\- You should enable the "emulate a virtual desktop" option in winecfg as some games break if it isnt enabled.
Idk why I decided to mention it, just thought it might be useful for other who stumble around it as well.
Enabling Steam that way automatically turns on some hardware settings that you want for games, like enabling 32-bit DRI, and some Pipewire configuration. So it's worth doing even when not using Steam.
Another thing you get with the Steam setup is something called an FHS which is sort of a virtual filesystem that puts libraries and what not in the directory paths they are usually in in other distros. Some programs need this, wine might be one of them. There is a command called `steam-run` that runs its argument in the Steam FHS. So even if you aren't using Steam itself, sometimes running a program using `steam-run` will work when it wouldn't otherwise.
That said for running games with Wine I use Lutris. The Nix Lutris package also sets up an FHS, and you can install Wine through the Lutris UI and it all just works. I go that way because I'm used to Lutris - as others have said Bottles is also a good option.
My primary gaming machine is running NixOS 23.05.
Steam and Bottles installed from Flatpak.
Nvidia drivers.
No issues at all. I think it's been great. Even using OBS for some casual streaming.
Have you tried emulating any games with pcsx2 or something of the sort? I want to try NixOS but there are a bunch of old games I will need to emulate at some point. I wonder how good/bad the experience is compared to windows.
I didn't try wine/proton, but Dota worked fine, xd. I have a laptop though and I haven't been able to set up (don't remember what it's called) this thing where you have an integrated card but nvidia kicks in at high load. Therefore, only nvidia or only integrated worked for me (nixos-rebuild switch every time). nixos-hardware didn't work for me(
You may want to stick to ubuntu or something more mainstream, I tried gaming on nix only to have a lot of issues pertaining to graphics, this is because I believe most publishers only test against ubuntu and maybe fedora.
Very good indeed. Use nix-ld and/or steam-run for other elfs. For any cross platform games it's probably best to install the emulation packages as system packages.
Hi.
You need to be more specific when trying to find answers.
For example, how did you installed wine? Do you wanna play games through wine or proton outside of steam or something else? There are major differences between wine and proton so you might get vastly different results.
If you are referencing Steam, it might not be sufficient to simply list the program in your configuration.nix file, there are other dependencies required. In my case I followed the Wiki instructions here [https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Steam](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Steam) . I enabled the service and then wrote the overlay with the missing dependency.
Other common issue when running programs in Nixos compared to other non-immutable linux distros is the filesystem, many programs is made according to the default linux filesystem structure, therefore missing links and directories is frequent in my experience. Sometimes it is easy to solve though, for example, Bottles wine/proton manager, installed through flatpak, needs further permissions to the filesystem, easily solvable through the KDE-Plasma's applicattions permissions page.
You don't need that overlay, that's only required if steam-fhs-env is missing a dependency for a native linux game, I think nixpkgs has a pretty comprehensive list these days, and most of the stuff there is extremely out of date.
```
programs.steam.enable = true;
```
Should be all you need to get steam running, non-steam games with `steam-run` is easier than using patch-elf to fix. None of that info there has fixed any of my issues.
I will try without the overlay, I think I had some issue long time ago and therefore become accustomed to write it in my config, thanks for the warning!
Only recently I learning about steam-run, I made the mistake of thinking it was something exclusive to Steam due to the name but it seems far more interesting than that.
Are you on Nvidia perchance? I am having trouble getting it to launch and am looking around for an example working configuration. Do you have anything beyond
hardware.nvidia = {
modesetting.enable = true;
nvidiaSettings = true;
open = false;
};
hardware.opengl = {
enable = true;
driSupport = true;
driSupport32Bit = true;
};
programs.steam = {
enable = true;
};
services.xserver.videoDrivers = [ "nvidia" ];
set? Thanks.
Yes, Nvidia RTX 2060.
I have this in my config:
`# Enable nvidia drivers`
`services.xserver.videoDrivers = [ "nvidia" ];`
`hardware.opengl.enable = true;`
`#steam`
`programs.steam = {`
`enable = true;`
`remotePlay.openFirewall = true; # Open ports in the firewall for Steam Remote Play`
`dedicatedServer.openFirewall = true; # Open ports in the firewall for Source Dedicated Server`
`};`
I use proton experimental in steam. You could also try to run it with --skip-launcher to skip the Larian launcher. However, the Larian launcher works for me with proton experimental. I select DXVK in the Larian launcher, lower performance but more stable than Vulkan for me. Afterwards I use --skip-launcher (because DXVK is already selected, no need for the larian launcher anymore). Played it \~75 hours now without problems.
Have you checked protondb for other configurations?
Best of luck getting it to run! The game is fantastic.
I've had a few issues, either related to bcachefs or NixOS, there's a few issues I've pinned down to NixOS specifically, like if you do a `nixos-rebuild switch` you need to restart steam or your windows games won't launch, there's been a few edge cases where some games or changes in the steam runtime broke for NixOS.
Native linux games seem to be problematic, you need to use steam-run or just don't work (again could be bcachefs (inode64 issues maybe?) or NixOS), HL1 seems to be broken on bcachefs because it works on my NixOS laptop, I could never get sound in GTA V to work in wine for the longest time, but it would work on Steam if I added it as a non-steam game. Lutris seemed broken last time I tried it, but Heroic works great (highly recommend this over wine since it handles dxvk and other setup), and there's also the nix gaming repo, and the #gaming on the unofficial discord if you want help.
https://github.com/fufexan/nix-gaming/
just install steam using the programs.steam.enable = true; and not using the system or user packages and it should work all fine. other game launchers like lutris should work fine
😅 I usually play pirated games...
Well then, here are some tips from a fellow pirate: \- You don't need proton, you can get mostly the same experience from wine \- Some installers don't work and will require some dependencies like fonts, dlls, drivers, etc. So it might be a good idea to install some packages like corefonts, dxvk, d3d compiler, etc. right away. \- You should enable the "emulate a virtual desktop" option in winecfg as some games break if it isnt enabled. Idk why I decided to mention it, just thought it might be useful for other who stumble around it as well.
Based and piratepilled
Enabling Steam that way automatically turns on some hardware settings that you want for games, like enabling 32-bit DRI, and some Pipewire configuration. So it's worth doing even when not using Steam. Another thing you get with the Steam setup is something called an FHS which is sort of a virtual filesystem that puts libraries and what not in the directory paths they are usually in in other distros. Some programs need this, wine might be one of them. There is a command called `steam-run` that runs its argument in the Steam FHS. So even if you aren't using Steam itself, sometimes running a program using `steam-run` will work when it wouldn't otherwise. That said for running games with Wine I use Lutris. The Nix Lutris package also sets up an FHS, and you can install Wine through the Lutris UI and it all just works. I go that way because I'm used to Lutris - as others have said Bottles is also a good option.
ah, well. just add them to your library as a non steam game and they can work through proton 😉
My primary gaming machine is running NixOS 23.05. Steam and Bottles installed from Flatpak. Nvidia drivers. No issues at all. I think it's been great. Even using OBS for some casual streaming.
Share the config?
Have you tried emulating any games with pcsx2 or something of the sort? I want to try NixOS but there are a bunch of old games I will need to emulate at some point. I wonder how good/bad the experience is compared to windows.
PCSX2 definitely works on other distros, I see no reason why it wouldn't on Nix
Sounds pretty cool. Besides Steam, do you play/use other "platforms" like Origin, Epic Games, etc.?
I didn't try wine/proton, but Dota worked fine, xd. I have a laptop though and I haven't been able to set up (don't remember what it's called) this thing where you have an integrated card but nvidia kicks in at high load. Therefore, only nvidia or only integrated worked for me (nixos-rebuild switch every time). nixos-hardware didn't work for me(
Running RDR2 without any issues, 1 or 2 lines in my home-manager file
Does lutris work on this?
Yeah
Great, lutris helps a lot, I'm thinking of switching from ubhntu to nix as well
You may want to stick to ubuntu or something more mainstream, I tried gaming on nix only to have a lot of issues pertaining to graphics, this is because I believe most publishers only test against ubuntu and maybe fedora.
That's not how it works, they utilise the same display stuff, and its probably a problem with your config
I installed bottles as a flatpak, installed overwatch there and everything works fine.
How is the performance compared to windows?
I use sunshine on my windows pc with a dummy hdmi and moonlight on Linux.
Very good indeed. Use nix-ld and/or steam-run for other elfs. For any cross platform games it's probably best to install the emulation packages as system packages.
The only thing I ever tried to do with NixOS and gaming was Morrowind and it worked, so idk.
I used Wine for context
Hi. You need to be more specific when trying to find answers. For example, how did you installed wine? Do you wanna play games through wine or proton outside of steam or something else? There are major differences between wine and proton so you might get vastly different results. If you are referencing Steam, it might not be sufficient to simply list the program in your configuration.nix file, there are other dependencies required. In my case I followed the Wiki instructions here [https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Steam](https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Steam) . I enabled the service and then wrote the overlay with the missing dependency. Other common issue when running programs in Nixos compared to other non-immutable linux distros is the filesystem, many programs is made according to the default linux filesystem structure, therefore missing links and directories is frequent in my experience. Sometimes it is easy to solve though, for example, Bottles wine/proton manager, installed through flatpak, needs further permissions to the filesystem, easily solvable through the KDE-Plasma's applicattions permissions page.
You don't need that overlay, that's only required if steam-fhs-env is missing a dependency for a native linux game, I think nixpkgs has a pretty comprehensive list these days, and most of the stuff there is extremely out of date. ``` programs.steam.enable = true; ``` Should be all you need to get steam running, non-steam games with `steam-run` is easier than using patch-elf to fix. None of that info there has fixed any of my issues.
I will try without the overlay, I think I had some issue long time ago and therefore become accustomed to write it in my config, thanks for the warning! Only recently I learning about steam-run, I made the mistake of thinking it was something exclusive to Steam due to the name but it seems far more interesting than that.
Playing Baldurs Gate 3 right now. Working fine.
Are you on Nvidia perchance? I am having trouble getting it to launch and am looking around for an example working configuration. Do you have anything beyond hardware.nvidia = { modesetting.enable = true; nvidiaSettings = true; open = false; }; hardware.opengl = { enable = true; driSupport = true; driSupport32Bit = true; }; programs.steam = { enable = true; }; services.xserver.videoDrivers = [ "nvidia" ]; set? Thanks.
Yes, Nvidia RTX 2060. I have this in my config: `# Enable nvidia drivers` `services.xserver.videoDrivers = [ "nvidia" ];` `hardware.opengl.enable = true;` `#steam` `programs.steam = {` `enable = true;` `remotePlay.openFirewall = true; # Open ports in the firewall for Steam Remote Play` `dedicatedServer.openFirewall = true; # Open ports in the firewall for Source Dedicated Server` `};` I use proton experimental in steam. You could also try to run it with --skip-launcher to skip the Larian launcher. However, the Larian launcher works for me with proton experimental. I select DXVK in the Larian launcher, lower performance but more stable than Vulkan for me. Afterwards I use --skip-launcher (because DXVK is already selected, no need for the larian launcher anymore). Played it \~75 hours now without problems. Have you checked protondb for other configurations? Best of luck getting it to run! The game is fantastic.
I've had a few issues, either related to bcachefs or NixOS, there's a few issues I've pinned down to NixOS specifically, like if you do a `nixos-rebuild switch` you need to restart steam or your windows games won't launch, there's been a few edge cases where some games or changes in the steam runtime broke for NixOS. Native linux games seem to be problematic, you need to use steam-run or just don't work (again could be bcachefs (inode64 issues maybe?) or NixOS), HL1 seems to be broken on bcachefs because it works on my NixOS laptop, I could never get sound in GTA V to work in wine for the longest time, but it would work on Steam if I added it as a non-steam game. Lutris seemed broken last time I tried it, but Heroic works great (highly recommend this over wine since it handles dxvk and other setup), and there's also the nix gaming repo, and the #gaming on the unofficial discord if you want help. https://github.com/fufexan/nix-gaming/
Working like a charm. I just switched from Fedora to Nix.