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

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10

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Considered

42

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Recs.

Aug 6, 2019

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

9 Games Considered

Best tools for running Windows games on Linux	Price	Platforms	License
-- PlayOnLinux	-	-	-
-- Steam	-	-	-
-- WINE	-	-	-
-- VMWare player	£131.95	-	-
-- Oracle VirtualBox	-	Windows, Linux, Mac	-

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score 10 · Answer 1

PlayOnLinux

Top Con

Wine favors some hardware over others

Tends to work better with nVidia graphics on an Intel CPU, even when an AMD CPU or graphics chip would normally perform better than the given equivalent part from Intel/nVidia See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

PlayOnLinux features a really easy to use interface. See More

Top Con

Requires Wine

PlayOnLinux is just a wrapper around Wine, this means that besides PlayOnLinux, you will also have to install Wine. See More

Top Con

Nowhere near native level performance

Some games and programs flat out just don't work or aren't compatible, and most games take a performance hit over running it native on Windows See More

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score 2 · Answer 2

Steam

Top Pro

Biggest digital distribution platform for games

Over 125 million users actively use Steam, with over 15,000 games to choose from. See More

Top Con

Buggy client on Linux with little customer support

Linux support is generally overlooked. It is recommended to disable in-game overlay and to use a real browser to interact with steampowered's website. Basic library access works usually without a hitch. Also do not expect real tech support on Linux. Forum questions of bugs often go unattended and unanswered. See More

Top Pro

Integrated VoIP client

Text based chat and VoIP chat are both included with your client. Of course this only works with people on the stream platform. See More

Top Con

Lots of DRM

Many games are not only steam drm protected but by another drm system. It just cries for something to go wrong. See More

Top Pro

Active community

The community frequently helps solve questions, review games, and make great content via Workshop. See More

Top Con

Pricey

AAA titles are very pricey, very often more expensive than at other online stores and sometimes brick & mortar ones. See More

Top Pro

Fast downloads

Steam has excellent servers and their download speeds tend to be the best out of any digital store online. See More

Top Con

Games costs a fortune on the official Steam store

Buy keys from other shops, never on the official store. See More

Top Pro

Wide selection

There are a variety of games from indie to AAA. There is a curated list and even classic games. See More

Top Con

Little support for older titles

Many older titles (10-15 years or more) are no longer supported and thus require much manual tinkering to run properly on windows 10, requiring digging though forums and trying many things. Compare that to GoG where these titles often run out-of-the-box. See More

Top Pro

Support for cross-platform games

Most games that have a Mac and Linux version available can be found on Steam. See More

See All

score 6 · Answer 3

WINE

Top Pro

Powerful

Top Con

Wine tends to favor some hardware over others

Tends to work better with nVidia graphics on an Intel CPU, even when an AMD CPU or graphics chip would normally perform better than the given equivalent part from Intel/nVidia See More

Top Pro

Open source

Top Con

Needs additional script sometimes

This can be done automatically by using PlayOnLinux. See More

See All

score 2 · Answer 4

VMWare player

Top Con

Not open source

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

Top Pro

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

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 Pro

3D graphic support

Not sure about games but WebGL works ok. See More

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

See All

score 5 · Answer 5

Oracle VirtualBox

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

Specs

See All Specs

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

Confusing interface and lacking usability features

VirtualBox might be a bit confusing for beginners - it requires an understanding of a lot more technical details than other VMs. See More

Top Con

3D graphics are unreliable

This is a dealbreaker for some games. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 6

Lutris

Top Pro

100% free

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

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

Large database of games

Top Pro

Has install scripts for download

Which means very little user interference. See More

See All

score 4 · Answer 7

VFIO

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 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

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 Pro

Wide platform support

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

Near native performance

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

Top Con

Platform-varying documentation

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

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 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 Con

Requires a windows license to run windows

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

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Answer 8

Longene

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Answer 9

CrossOver

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9 Games Considered

My Recommendation for PlayOnLinux

My Recommendation for PlayOnLinux

Wine favors some hardware over others

Easy to use

Requires Wine

Nowhere near native level performance

My Recommendation for Steam

My Recommendation for Steam

Biggest digital distribution platform for games

Buggy client on Linux with little customer support

Integrated VoIP client

Lots of DRM

Active community

Pricey

Fast downloads

Games costs a fortune on the official Steam store

Wide selection

Little support for older titles

Support for cross-platform games

My Recommendation for WINE

My Recommendation for WINE

Powerful

Wine tends to favor some hardware over others

Open source

Needs additional script sometimes

My Recommendation for VMWare player

My Recommendation for VMWare player

Not open source

Freeware

Tech support only comes with paid license

Better performance than virtualbox

Still requires a Windows 10 license

3D graphic support

More difficult to configure

My Recommendation for Oracle VirtualBox

My Recommendation for Oracle VirtualBox

Still requires Windows

Works with Vagrant

Inferior performance

Free, mostly open source and cross-platform

Confusing interface and lacking usability features

3D graphics are unreliable

My Recommendation for Lutris

My Recommendation for Lutris

100% free

Requires game's original CD for installation

Large database of games

Has install scripts for download

My Recommendation for VFIO

My Recommendation for VFIO

Very specific hardware requirements

No GPU drivers for assigned GPUs required outside the virtual machine

Long and sometimes difficult setup process on most platforms

Wide platform support

Requires two GPUs if using a graphical environment on host machine

Near native performance

Platform-varying documentation

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

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

Requires a separate video output

Requires a windows license to run windows

Some games might not allow it

My Recommendation for Longene

My Recommendation for Longene

My Recommendation for CrossOver

My Recommendation for CrossOver

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