r/SteamOS 23h ago

question How do you guys deal with gaming online with friends?

Before I switch from windows to SteamOS, I thought that only big games (like BF, COD and Riot games) would be a problem to play. But this weekend some friends invited me to play with them, but every single game that we saw had some kind of kernel level anti-cheat (Ghost Recon, Apex, Back4Blood and so on), at the end we only played Arc Raiders because is the only one that somehow works fine.

How do you guys deal with that? Is SteamOS only worthy to those who only play single players?

4 Upvotes

33 comments sorted by

19

u/cliffom 23h ago

To be honest there is nothing to "deal with" per say. Users who want to be able to have flexibility in the ability to play those games will maintain a dual boot system. Otherwise you have to recognize and accept that some games won't work, primarily because of lower-level anti-cheat implementations. The gamble is, as SteamOS gains more popularity, more publishers and developers will recognize the need to support non-Windows platforms. But until then the only options are dual-boot with Windows, at which point maybe just stick with Windows.

Also that is not meant to be abrasive or prescriptive. I just wonder myself if someone had a PC that was solely for gaming and had games that only supported Windows, why go through the trouble to dual boot. My main gaming PC is a Windows 11 Machine (9950X3D/RTX 5800) and I built a SteamOS Fractal Terra (5800X3D/9070XT yes, like everyone else lately lol) that gets more playtime lately simply because gaming at the couch gets me away from my desk which is where I spend my entire day at work.

2

u/Adrian97c 4h ago

I went with a Liam li A3, but still a SFF for desk setup. But I keep wishing I went with the Tera… I didn’t want issues with pcie gen5 & riser cable. I’m sure I would’ve been fine. I went with 7800x3d+9070xt

1

u/cliffom 1h ago

The Terra is such a beautiful case and a dream to build with. Easy to see why it is so popular; I love and appreciate the enjoyment it brings people.

17

u/BeowolfSchaefer 19h ago

We're Linux users, we don't have friends.

5

u/BoiCDumpsterFire 23h ago

There’s a lot of other options that do work. Rivals and overwatch both work great for example, but the kernel level anti-cheat is the current biggest problem for gaming on Linux. It’s not even effective so it doesn’t make sense. I’m hoping steamOS devices and the compatibility tag will push more devs away from using it but until then we gotta cope.

2

u/No_Nobody166 22h ago

Yeah, I'm holding myself from backing to Windows cuz of it, I also believe that this new "hype" with the system may bring some attention to the game companies

5

u/MagicBagel_ 21h ago

I just play games that support it. Hunt Showdown, Dead by Daylight, Warhammer Vermintide 2, Titanfall 2, Halo, the list goes on.

4

u/SnooPets1826 20h ago

It sucks for people who mostly play FPS... But most everything else just doesn't usually have that level of anti cheat. MMOs, party games, etc all play fine. 

It's only FPS where developers and gamers take it so seriously that they needed tons of anti-cheat.

3

u/captainstormy 16h ago

Exactly what I was going to say.

The vast vast majority of the games that have issues are FPS shooters. If that's what you mainly play it's a big problem. If you don't play then it isn't a problem.

3

u/Mrcod1997 17h ago

The Finals, and Halo work. You guys should try some older games too. GMod, Half life 2 deathmatch etc.

2

u/Otocon96 23h ago

I deal with this by mostly giving up on multiplayer games now that in old. I use use my diy steam machine as a console basically exclusively for single player games.

2

u/Mission-Albatross576 22h ago

Get better friends.

2

u/nesnalica 14h ago

its simple. we ( i ) just dont play those games.

2

u/Chemical-Dust7695 13h ago

I don't play or buy games that require kernel level anti-cheats. Not even on Windows, so nothing to deal with.

2

u/jolittlelene 7h ago

My friends mostly play roblox and Minecraft and stardew valley and Warframe, so i dont really care about playing those other games

1

u/No_Nobody166 4h ago

Minecraft runs fine on SteamOS?

1

u/jolittlelene 4h ago

yes it does

2

u/Ice5530 6h ago

Ghost recon should work. Breakpoint atleast. Wildlands requires a workaround iirc. Consult protonDB.

1

u/No_Nobody166 4h ago

Thanks, I saw now

3

u/Away-Reading4857 21h ago

Kernel level anticheat is spyware.¯_(ツ)_/¯. Your best bet is to dual boot windows and only use it for gaming. Alternatively, you can install ProxMox and run both at the same time!

There are plenty of multiplayer games that support Linux, in fact, I haven't met one that hasn't yet. Darktide, Windrose, Pal World, Deadlock, Dota 2, Jump Space, Monster Hunter Wilds, Warframe, Space Marine 2, Wayfinder, Armored Core, Path of Exile, Deep Rock Galactic, Borderlands 4, Risk of Rain 1/2, Cult of the Lamb, Grim Dawn... to list a few.

3

u/No_Nobody166 21h ago

I'll try these games, thanks

3

u/phoenixgsu 18h ago

Helldivers 2

1

u/Adrian97c 3h ago

Helldivers 2 works on Linux?

2

u/phoenixgsu 3h ago

Yep

1

u/Adrian97c 2h ago

Awesome, was going to buy it on my PS5 Pro, but just built a 7800x3d + 7800xt SteamPC!

1

u/OkVirus8545 1h ago

No way deadlock works on steamOS

1

u/ButterscotchTop194 14h ago

Dual boot or cloud streaming gaming services.

Linux isn't really the best option for gaming yet.

1

u/xeosceleres 13h ago

My friends don't play competitive anymore because of all the cheats 😄

1

u/OkVirus8545 1h ago

Linux will never gain enough popularity to warrant it for the big hitters. Save yourself some head and just dual boot man. It’s really easy

1

u/Motoko84 23h ago

Simple: I don't play online games anymore

1

u/Haymaker_matt85 23h ago

I had to switch back to Windows unfortunately. I like SteamOS, but I’m predominantly an online gamer and SteamOS doesn’t work great for me right now. I might put my non-anticheat games on an extra drive with SteamOS in the near future.

1

u/Eon_Alias 19h ago

PalWorld works on Linux. All of my friends are playing PalWorld. For the time being the problem is taking care of itself.

As far as I can tell they only games that require hardware level anti-cheat are the really sweaty pro-gamer stuff. And the sweatiest games I've played in the past decade are Elden Ring and Arc raiders. Which also work in Linux. So it's really been a non-issue.

0

u/Additional-Horse-340 23h ago

GeForce now is what I use