So I finally bit the bullet, installed a second SSD and put Linux on it to test the waters. Tested out GW2 as a non steam game via Wine and while it runs, it runs very poorly with constant frame drops. Did anyone else try? How was your experience?
I have Nvidia GPU which I gather might be the most likely culprit but was interested in what your experience might’ve been.
For the most part, it works better on Linux using GE-Proton than it did on Windows. But there are some weird issues with the Action Camera:
If you talk to an NPC with it active, you sometimes have to alt-tab to get it back, and if you have multiple monitors, sometimes your cursor will zip off to said monitor.
Other than that, it runs flawlessly!
GW2 runs fine but with occasional crashes on my system. I had trouble running instanced content with friends because I’d crash out and have trouble re-joining. It’s fine for dailies and general fucking about.
Mint DE running through Steam with Proton on a 3080 with updated drivers. Issue is not limited to GW2, so I blame NVidia.
I use it via Lutris, and it’s my go-to way to play GW2.
I did replace my aging Nvidia card (from 2014) with an AMD RX 6000-series unit to get proper DX11 support through Vulkan.
Just another vote for Steam on Linux.
I’ve played gw2 exclusively under wine for a decade. Switched to steam to avoid the annoyance of wine configuration.
I‘ve played GW2 a lot and pretty much exclusively on Linux for a few years now and it‘s been pretty smooth.
For the best experience, make sure your graphics driver is up to date (as of now it should start with 550, 555 or 560).
I‘d also recommend installing the game via Steam, as this makes the whole compatibility stuff far easier. The Steam version also works if you want to log in with an Arenanet-account. Just add this launch option (note the capitalization; it has to be exact) and you‘ll be able to log in with your existing account:
-provider Portal
Just make sure not to buy anything via Steam as purchases won‘t be associated with the correct account.
You‘ll also want to make sure (although it‘s probably set as default by now) to use Proton 9.0 or above, as the game‘s launcher is really stuttery in previous versions.
