Games running a lot slower after switching from windows to linux mint | Linux Mint Community🍵 | Page 1

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 10:10 AM

#

hi I'm new to linux, so i have no idea what to test and what factors could be influencing my games to run slower. I was trying to play hollow knight silksong which ran flawlessly a few days ago when I was on windows. But I tried playing it today for the first time on linux, and now it's slower in every way, like 4fps, delay, game moving slower. Please let me know what I should try, test, and change because i got no clue haha

#

if it helps i have a nvidia gpu thats like 8 yrs old or something

jagged canopy Nov 23, 2025, 11:15 AM

#

shell marten if it helps i have a nvidia gpu thats like 8 yrs old or something

nvidia gpu's don't really work too well with linux

#

have you installed drivers for ur gpu?

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:16 AM

#

i mean there's this

#

should i follow the steps in the "guide for nvidia gpus on linux"

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:18 AM

#

the 580 driver will work for your GPU. I have the gtx970 and run the same driver and games work fine.

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:18 AM

#

or is that not necessary since it's half working

#

ok i'll try that

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:20 AM

#

good luck.

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:20 AM

#

thanks

#

i'll get back to you after i download the driver

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:21 AM

#

use the driver manager. it will make the right changes to the kernel module

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:31 AM

#

brazen herald use the driver manager. it will make the right changes to the kernel module

oh dear that made it significantly worse

#

2 fps on the main screen

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:32 AM

#

do you have a laptop or desktop?

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:32 AM

#

desktop

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:35 AM

#

that's all I could think of. Perhaps someone else knows more.

#

it's a pretty new game, and an old card. but then again I'm running No Man's Sky on my card with relatively good performance

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:37 AM

#

it's so weird how it was running so well on windows but not here

#

thanks for your effort though heartcat

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:37 AM

#

it took me a while to get my head around it and get the configuration that works

#

Mint recommends the 535 drivers but these are not new enough for the games I play. eventually I'm going to need a new PC

#

are you running the game through steam with proton. That seems to work for most people

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:40 AM

#

yeah 535 also wasn't as good as the open source one or whatever

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:40 AM

#

brazen herald are you running the game through steam with proton. That seems to work for most ...

just through steam

#

should i try proton?

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:41 AM

#

do you have the linux native version of the game or the windows version?

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:41 AM

#

i just went to steam and clicked the download button

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:42 AM

#

but you got it on windows first?

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:43 AM

#

well

on windows
- played game through steam
installed linux and wiped the computer, removing everything windows
- installed steam through the web linux downloader
- downloaded game through steam
- attempted to play, but was a lot laggier

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:44 AM

#

oh yes, then you need proton. go to compatibility in settings in steam and select proton GE or hotfix. Keep the 580 driver until you test that.

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:45 AM

#

it's already on proton hotfix

#

wait

#

no it's on experimental

#

ok will try now

#

oh god it got worse

#

it's taking up like 70% of my cpu for some reaon

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:47 AM

#

go to downloads in steam and disable shader caching (bottom of the list)

#

my games had a lot of trouble with that and it's not really needed

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:49 AM

#

turned it off and not much better

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:50 AM

#

did you reboot after installing the GPU drivers?

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:50 AM

#

after the 580 one, yes

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:50 AM

#

hmm, your system should be able to run it, as it runs in windows. you have the recommended specs.

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:51 AM

#

that's what i'm thinking too

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:51 AM

#

I have no clue man. It's all about finding the right configuration.

#

sorry 🙂

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:51 AM

#

all good

#

thanks for your effort again

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:52 AM

#

linux has been a journey for me. installed it half a year ago. lots of learning. it's a challenge. but worth it if you can get it to work.

#

does the game have an in game setting to choose a video card? because it kind of looks like it's using your internal gpu, the one in your cpu.

#

I googled it, apparently not

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:58 AM

#

yeah

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 11:58 AM

#

some folks in here know more about this issue. give it some time

shell marten Nov 23, 2025, 11:58 AM

#

no choosing video card

#

alright

grand trout Nov 23, 2025, 12:06 PM

#

I'm a linux noob myself but am running a very similar setup.
6-7 year old 1650 super. Driver manager recommends "nvidia-driver-580-open" to me.
You can see your nvidia gpu utilisation in "Nvidia X Server Settings" (I didn't install this explicitly, it was already there). It should list your gpu and have a line for "GPU Utilization".

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 12:07 PM

#

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tClEzBF15Q0

YouTube

ltkdt

Games on Linux won't use Nvidia GPU? Here's the fix! #linuxgaming

▶ Play video

#

might try this

grand trout Nov 23, 2025, 12:08 PM

#

For some games I had to try different proton versions for them to even work, you can check protondb to see what other people had success with. (Though this doesn't seem to be your problem).

brazen herald Nov 23, 2025, 12:08 PM

#

royal mica Nov 23, 2025, 2:51 PM

#

Please open the terminal and show output of this command

mokutil --sb-state ; inxi -Gxxx

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 2:18 PM

#

royal mica Please open the terminal and show output of this command mokutil --sb-state ; i...

Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] vendor: PC Partner / Sapphire
driver: nouveau v: kernel arch: Pascal pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16
ports: active: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DVI-D-1 bus-ID: 01:00.0
chip-ID: 10de:1b81 class-ID: 0300 temp: 47.0 C
Device-2: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-1:2 chip-ID: 045e:0772 class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: nouveau gpu: nouveau
display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x381mm (26.65x15.00")
s-diag: 777mm (30.58")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 model: Acer XZ272U V
serial: 13310D7F03W01 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 dpi: 109
size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (27") modes: max: 2560x1440
min: 720x400
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia nouveau platforms: device: 0 drv: nouveau
device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: nouveau surfaceless: drv: nouveau x11:
drv: nouveau inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 4.3 vendor: mesa v: 25.0.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.2
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NV134 device-ID: 10de:1b81

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 2:29 PM

#

shell marten Graphics: Device-1: NVIDIA GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] vendor: PC Partner / Sapph...

Install nvidia driver from driver manager, restart and repeat the command

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:26 PM

#

royal mica Install nvidia driver from driver manager, restart and repeat the command

i mean i downloaded, restarted, and tried the 535 and 580, and both ran significantly slower

#

but i'll send the results from the command just in case

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:27 PM

#

Also, show the result of

mokutil --sb-state

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:27 PM

#

ok

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:28 PM

#

and

dpkg -l | grep nvidia

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:31 PM

#

royal mica Install nvidia driver from driver manager, restart and repeat the command

Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] vendor: PC Partner / Sapphire
driver: N/A arch: Pascal pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0
chip-ID: 10de:1b81 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-1:2 chip-ID: 045e:0772 class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
loaded: modesetting,nouveau unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: swrast gpu: N/A
display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x381mm (26.65x15.00")
s-diag: 777mm (30.58")
Monitor-1: Unknown-1 mapped: None-1 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 size: N/A
modes: 2560x1440
API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: swrast surfaceless: drv: swrast
x11: drv: swrast inactive: gbm,wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.5 vendor: mesa v: 25.0.7-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 glx-v: 1.4
direct-render: yes renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 20.1.2 256 bits)
device-ID: ffffffff:ffffffff

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:32 PM

#

royal mica and dpkg -l | grep nvidia

ii libnvidia-cfg1-580:amd64 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library
ii libnvidia-common-580 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 all Shared files used by the NVIDIA libraries
ii libnvidia-compute-580:amd64 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA libcompute package
ii libnvidia-compute-580:i386 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 i386 NVIDIA libcompute package
ii libnvidia-decode-580:amd64 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii libnvidia-decode-580:i386 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 i386 NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii libnvidia-egl-wayland1:amd64 1:1.1.13-1ubuntu0.1 amd64 Wayland EGL External Platform library -- shared library
ii libnvidia-egl-wayland1:i386 1:1.1.13-1ubuntu0.1 i386 Wayland EGL External Platform library -- shared library
ii libnvidia-encode-580:amd64 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii libnvidia-encode-580:i386 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 i386 NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii libnvidia-extra-580:amd64 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 Extra libraries for the NVIDIA driver
ii libnvidia-fbc1-580:amd64 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library

#

ii libnvidia-fbc1-580:i386 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 i386 NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii libnvidia-gl-580:amd64 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii libnvidia-gl-580:i386 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 i386 NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii nvidia-compute-utils-580 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA compute utilities
ii nvidia-dkms-580 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA DKMS package
ii nvidia-driver-580 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA driver metapackage
ii nvidia-firmware-580-580.95.05 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 Firmware files used by the kernel module
ii nvidia-kernel-common-580 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 Shared files used with the kernel module
ii nvidia-kernel-source-580 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA kernel source package
ii nvidia-prime 0.8.17.2 all Tools to enable NVIDIA's Prime
ii nvidia-prime-applet 1.4.6 all An applet for NVIDIA Prime

#

ii nvidia-settings 510.47.03-0ubuntu4 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii nvidia-utils-580 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA driver support binaries
ii screen-resolution-extra 0.18.3ubuntu0.24.04.1 all Extension for the nvidia-settings control panel
ii xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-580 580.95.05-0ubuntu0.24.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:32 PM

#

royal mica Also, show the result of mokutil --sb-state

this just says secureboot enabled

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:33 PM

#

Disable secure boot in uefi and run

inxi -Gxxx

again

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:33 PM

#

how to disable secure boot?

#

like restart the computer, press f12, and advanced settiiings or something?

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:34 PM

#

yes

#

usually it's delete or f2 though

#

reboot --firmware-setup

should also work

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:38 PM

#

Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] vendor: PC Partner / Sapphire
driver: nvidia v: 580.95.05 arch: Pascal pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16
ports: active: none off: HDMI-A-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DVI-D-1
bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1b81 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: Microsoft LifeCam Studio
driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-1:2 chip-ID: 045e:0772 class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X:
loaded: nvidia unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa
gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 108 s-size: 602x333mm (23.70x13.11")
s-diag: 688mm (27.09")
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-0 note: disabled model: Acer XZ272U V
serial: 13310D7F03W01 res: 2560x1440 hz: 60 dpi: 109
size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (27") modes: max: 2560x1440
min: 640x480
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia nouveau drv: nvidia platforms: device: 0
drv: nvidia device: 1 drv: nouveau device: 2 drv: swrast gbm: drv: nvidia
surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11: drv: nvidia inactive: wayland
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 580.95.05
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070/PCIe/SSE2

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:42 PM

#

This looks good

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:43 PM

#

should i try to play the game again?

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:43 PM

#

yes

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:44 PM

#

huh

#

magically a lot better

#

thanks so much for the help!!

#

what exactly helped?

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:45 PM

#

Installing nvidia driver and disabling secure boot

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:46 PM

#

why would secure boot be bad?

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:47 PM

#

It is designed for windows, and usually gets in the way on other OSes

shell marten Nov 24, 2025, 3:48 PM

#

i see i see

#

thanks!

royal mica Nov 24, 2025, 3:49 PM

#

You're welcome

#Games running a lot slower after switching from windows to linux mint