One of the biggest things holding me back from jumping definitively on Linux is possibly getting rid of the apps/games i’m comfortable with and know well. How do you exaclty use Wine/Proton? You install it, launch the app with it and pray it works? Are there ways to know what is not working and possibly try to fix them googling or reading the documentation?
Both tools can be used from the terminal like most Linux programs, which should also give you better control during troubleshooting and also in the rarer cases of having to set up/run some more temperamental games. There are also graphical programs that handle Wine/Proton in a more friendly way, such as Heroic Launcher, Lutris and, specifically for Proton, Steam itself.
Bottles
At it’s simplest you just start the programs with Wine. So when you have Wine installed you can just select to run an exe file with Wine. By itself it will install them to a hidden folder where a mock-Windows-folderstructure is created and add entries to your start-menu equivalent.
Most people use helper apps that add a separate mock-Windows environment for every program. Makes it easier to manage them, especially if one program needs different settings from another to work.
Bottles is such a helper for general programs. Heroic is mostly for GOG and Epic games. Lutris generally for games. And Steam uses it’s own Wine version Proton automatically for verified games and you can trivially configure it to automatically use it for every Windows game.
Look at https://protondb.com for games and https://appdb.winehq.org/ for general programs.
For Steam games, it’s simply a matter of checking the “Enable Steam Play for all Other Titles”, and you’re all set. Depending on your library, 50-80% will work with no discernable difference, besides maybe a slightly longer download and open time. Check out protondb.com which will give you an idea of how many you can expect to work at least somewhat, including using your own Steam public profile if you wish.
Some games will need a couple small tweaks, ie a specific Proton version to manually copy in, a game setting like Borderless Window, or worst case a few terminal commands but they are set and forget in every instance I’ve encountered. Protondb has comments of others who will share their experience and sometimes how they got something to run well if it doesn’t out of the box.
Non-Steam games also work. Lutris is the easiest way to set it up, but it can be done manually too. Both wine and proton will work, let me know if you want a tutorial for manual set up but it’s too long for one comment.
Now for issues:
Drivers are okay for most general stuff (mic, headset, mice, keyboards, gamepads), specialized stuff requiring proprietary drivers is a crapshoot. I’ve a 2nd hand DAC I can’t use on Linux for Rocksmith.
Games that will not work and likely will never rely on invasive anticheat. So it’s a waste of time to try and run Rainbow 6 Siege, Fortnite, Valorant or League of Legends. Without the anticheat the games could run perfectly fine.
