There's a bit of drama going on with the popular game manager Lutris right now, with users pointing out the developer using AI generated code via Claude.
Steam for literally everything else: add the .exe as a non-Steam game, find it in your library, go into its properties, set Compatibility > Force Compatibility Mode > Proton Experimental.
Again, Steam does a fine job of that. Add the installer as a non-Steam game, set compatibility, “play” it, then when it’s finished change the shortcut to point to the actual game.
Lutris furfils several roles that a bunch of .desktop entries will not.
Its a list of games
you can search it by title
you can tag them
you can sort them in different ways
you can use wine for some launches, proton for others or native
although i don’t use it, you can log into your steam account (i think also gog?) to get access to games from there.
Think of it, as a more of a plex/jellyfin library for games than a bunch of video files spread around your hdd. I don’t want to remember which games are wine friendly and which need proton or are linux native.
I simply can’t take the one-prefix-fits-all approach. Some games play way nicer with older wine versions (especially 32bit games. From the top of my head, The Sims 1 works better for me with Wine 8). A prefix manager is really helpful for managing prefixes with different wine versions that don’t clog up the rest of the system.
I use wine with winetricks for the manager and the other stuff that makes it easier. I also use q4wine. It’s a GUI for wine written in Qt. Both makes things simpler to varying degrees, and winetricks does have some scripts (though I don’t know how they would compare to lutris)
Oh poop, been using lutris and it was pretty good at what it was doing for me. What might be alternatives though?
I’ve found Faugus to just be better.
Heroic. Bottles for the rest.
Heroic and Steam.
Heroic for GOG and Epic games.
Steam for literally everything else: add the .exe as a non-Steam game, find it in your library, go into its properties, set Compatibility > Force Compatibility Mode > Proton Experimental.
Heroic can add games to Steam for you.
I liked Lutris for Battle.net games like Diablo.
Again, Steam does a fine job of that. Add the installer as a non-Steam game, set compatibility, “play” it, then when it’s finished change the shortcut to point to the actual game.
How-to guide: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/guides/view/how-to-install-battle-net-on-linux-steamos-and-steam-deck-for-world-of-warcraft-and-starcraft/#steam
Bottles, maybe?
Heroic has been my go to for everything outside of my Steam library.
Heroic is pretty good
I just fucking install my games like normal with wine if needed.
What is wrong with people that you can’t install something and add a .desktop entry on your system?
Lutris furfils several roles that a bunch of
.desktopentries will not.although i don’t use it, you can log into your steam account (i think also gog?) to get access to games from there.
Think of it, as a more of a plex/jellyfin library for games than a bunch of video files spread around your hdd. I don’t want to remember which games are wine friendly and which need proton or are linux native.
I simply can’t take the one-prefix-fits-all approach. Some games play way nicer with older wine versions (especially 32bit games. From the top of my head, The Sims 1 works better for me with Wine 8). A prefix manager is really helpful for managing prefixes with different wine versions that don’t clog up the rest of the system.
But go off being an ass, I guess.
I use wine with winetricks for the manager and the other stuff that makes it easier. I also use q4wine. It’s a GUI for wine written in Qt. Both makes things simpler to varying degrees, and winetricks does have some scripts (though I don’t know how they would compare to lutris)
Neat, thank you, I’ll be taking a peek at that combo!