GamingLinuxSoftware

What are the best tools for running Windows games on Linux?

9

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Considered

31

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Sep 4, 2018

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

8 Games Considered

Best tools for running Windows games on Linux	Price	License	Programming Language
-- PlayOnLinux	-	-	-
-- WINE	-	-	-
-- Oracle VirtualBox	-	-	-
-- VFIO	-	-	-
-- Lutris	free	-	-

Oracle VirtualBox

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Top Con

Still requires Windows

Top Pro

Works with Vagrant

Works with Vagrant, an awesome tool for managing and deploying virtual machine images. See More

Top Con

Inferior performance

Apart from second-class performance in virtualization, there are some visual glitches with Windows 8.1 on Mavericks. See More

Top Pro

Free, mostly open source and cross-platform

VirtualBox is available for free with source code available here. A "VirtualBox Extension Pack" that includes virtual USB 2.0, VirtualBox RDP & PXE boot support is available only under a commercial license. VirtualBox is available on Windows, Linux, OSX and Solaris. See More

Top Con

3D graphics are unreliable

This is a dealbreaker for some games. See More

VFIO

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Top Pro

No GPU drivers for assigned GPUs required outside the virtual machine

Since the hardware is directly linked to the virtual machine, only the virtual machine has to install GPU drivers for the GPUs linked, leading to less GPU drivers required on the host machine that without VFIO. See More

Top Con

Requires a windows license to run windows

Top Pro

Wide platform support

Although the documentation varies, VFIO is achievable on most Linux distros. See More

Top Con

Requires a separate video output

While a VFIO virtual machine can be run in windowed mode, it does not perform at near native performance while doing so, a second monitor output is required in order to display the GPU output with near native performance. This can for example be achived using a secondary monitor, or by plugging both your host and virtual machine video output into the same monitor and switching between them with a button if it supports it. See More

Top Pro

Near native performance

Since the hardware is directly connected to the virtual machine, near native performance is achievable. See More

Top Con

Difficult to unbind your GPU for use on your host machine without reboot

Since your GPU will not be usable outside of the virtual machine, (unless this process reverted of course) getting it to be "hot swapped" between your host system and the virtual machine can prove difficult. See More

Top Pro

Some configurations with this method allow for running the Windows VM as a bare metal install

In addition to running Windows as a VM, you can also configure Windows and your unix boot loadter to allow booting into Windows as a non-virtual OS See More

Top Con

Platform-varying documentation

The amount of documentation varies drastically between platforms, arguably arch has the most documentation. See More

Top Con

Requires two GPUs if using a graphical environment on host machine

Since the hardware is attached to the virtual machine, it cannot be used outside of it, meaning two GPUs are required if using a graphical environment. IGPUs (integrated GPUs, usually included in consumer grade CPUs) can of course also be used. See More

Top Con

Long and sometimes difficult setup process on most platforms

Although some platforms have built-in support for VFIO, most platforms require a long setup process. See More

Top Con

Very specific hardware requirements

Among other things, your CPU and motherboard needs to support IOMMU, and your GPU ROM must support UEFI. See More

Top Con

Some games might not allow it

One game, in particular, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, does not allow its users to play the game using a VFIO setup. This could, however, be overcome by playing it on your host machine, since the game runs on Linux. Then you could either rely on your secondary graphics card to run the game on your host machine or rebind your primary GPU to the host machine. See More

Lutris

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Top Pro

Large database of games

Top Con

It's mandatory for the game to be installed using Wine

Meaning that if the user has installed the game in Windows evironment, it won't work. See More

rado84's Experience

Some games run without problems, others simply quit. Has more work to be done on Lutris but it's still a lot better than both POL and Wine. See More

Top Pro

Has install scripts for download

Which means very little user interference. See More

Top Con

Requires game's original CD for installation

For the most of the modern games that's easily achievable but for old games (such as Need for Speed 2) this can be a problem since nowadays almost no one keeps their original CDs. See More

Top Pro

100% free

VMWare player

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Freeware

Commercially supported, zero cost product for personal use. See More

Top Con

Tech support only comes with paid license

And it is EXPENSIVE See More

Top Pro

Better performance than virtualbox

Top Con

More difficult to configure

Also, the improved performance over virtual box in games is mostly gained in the advanced settings, meaning in depth tinkering, nearly negating any advantage over vfio See More

Top Con

Still requires a Windows 10 license

Meaning you still have to buy a copy of Windows or resort to illegal activity, which is obviously not recommended See More

Top Con

Not open source

Which means having to install their intrusive tools manually on guest linux vms. See More

Longene

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CrossOver

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ReactOS

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