Gaming with CachyOS Guide

Welcome to the guide for Gaming in CachyOS. We’ll guide you through the essentials aspects on how to setup everything and have a great experience.

Prerequisites

Caution

Before we dive into the fun stuff, it’s essential to ensure that your graphics card drivers are installed and functioning correctly. If your graphics card isn’t performing optimally, you may encounter issues when playing games.

Essential Packages

To make things easier for you, CachyOS has grouped all the necessary packages for gaming into one meta package that includes all the necessary dependencies and libraries for gaming in Linux and a separate package for the tools and launchers/stores. This makes the installation and setup process for gaming faster and less convoluted for everyone.

If you find that any packages are missing, feel free to let the CachyOS team know.

Follow the steps below to start with the gaming setup.

Meta Package

sudo pacman -S cachyos-gaming-meta

Tools & Stores

This package includes the following:

• Gamescope, Goverlay, Heroic Games Launcher, Lutris, MangoHud and Steam.

sudo pacman -S cachyos-gaming-applications

CachyOS Hello

• Go to Apps/Tweaks and click on Install Gaming packages

CachyOS Hello installs both packages cachyos-gaming-meta and cachyos-gaming-applications

Steam

For Steam users, playing games on CachyOS is a breeze! Open Steam and follow the Proton guide and you’re ready to enjoy your games.

Note

Laptop users with discrete NVIDIA GPUs should refer to the following guide

How to enable Proton support in Steam

Tip

CachyOS provides various Proton versions that we build & maintain for further performance improvements:

• proton-cachyos (included in the cachyos-gaming-meta package) being the one that we develop with added QoL changes + cherry picked patches + compilation optimizations (x86-64-v3 & x86-64-v4)
• proton-ge-custom, proton-tkg-git, proton-experimental and proton stable releases are built against native libs.
• proton-ge-custom-bin pulled from AUR.

Tip

To check if your game is compatible or how does it run with Linux, visit proton-db or Are We Anti-Cheat Yet?.

Steam FAQ & Tips

Which Proton version should i use in Steam?

• proton-cachyos Being the one that we build and maintain is highly recommended unless it has an issue with the game you want to play. Should work in most cases.
• Proton Experimental Bleeding edge release from Valve If the game you want to play is relatively new or it doesn’t work well with the current Proton stable release or perhaps you saw people recommending it in ProtonDB.
• Proton 9.0.3 or lower Stable releases from Valve. If the game you want to play only works in a previous Proton release.
• Proton-GE Build made by GloriousEggroll in some cases it comes in handy.

What is proton-cachyos?

Check out this explanation about it.

How to properly set multiple launch options

The launch options in Steam are constructed using the following pattern

• <env variables> <wrappers> %command% <application arguments>

  • <env variables>: These are options in the form of VARIABLE=value. For example PROTON_DXVK_D3D8=1 or DXVK_HUD="fps,memory,version,api"
  • <wrappers>: Applications and scripts that modify how the real application is run. Arguments to the wrapper usually go after the wrapper’s executable. For example mangohud --dlsym or gamescope -W 1680 -H 1050 -w 1280 -h 720 -S fit -F fsr --mangoapp --
  • %command%: This is the real application. This should be specified exactly as is and Steam will replace it with the proper command when the application is run.
  • <application arguments>: These are various arguments to the real application, and they depend on the application. For example -dx11 should go here if the application supports it.

• Example: __GL_SHADER_DISK_CACHE_SKIP_CLEANUP=1 prime-run game-performance %command% -dx11

Caution

Don’t add multiple %command% by using them as separators for multiple launch options.

Example: __GL_SHADER_DISK_CACHE_SKIP_CLEANUP=1 %command% game-performance %command% prime-run %command%

• In this case, everything after the first %command% is going to be ignored because it’s being treated as game arguments therefore only __GL_SHADER_DISK_CACHE_SKIP_CLEANUP=1 got recognized as a launch option.

Fix stuttering caused by the Steam Game Recorder Feature

Add the following launch option to your game

LD_PRELOAD="" %command%

Performance tips

Power Profile Switching on Demand

Note

This behavior is slightly different with intel_pstate. On Intel, the governor remains at powersave but the EPP/EPB values are set to performance.

CachyOS provides a wrapper script game-performance which uses power-profiles-daemon to temporarily switch the current power profile to performance. The performance profile increases the system power levels and changes the CPU governor to performance.

When this script is used to run a game, the system will be set to use the performance profile as long as the game is running. The previously used power profile will be restored once the game is closed.

Feral’s GameMode has similar a behavior but it should not be used as CachyOS already ships with ananicy-cpp

How to add game-performance to Steam, Lutris, Heroic Games Launcher and Bottles

Steam

1. Open your Steam Library
2. Right click the game’s title and select Properties.
3. On the General tab you’ll find Launch Options section.
4. Add the following Launch Option:

   game-performance %command%

Heroic Games Launcher

1. On the left panel open Settings.
2. Go to Game defaults then click on Advanced.
3. In the wrapper command section. Add the following line without any argument:

   game-performance

4. Click on the + sign to save changes.

Lutris

1. On the top right open the hamburger menu
2. Go to Preferences/Global options.
3. Enable Advanced Mode on the top right.
4. Scroll down to Command prefix and add the following line:

   game-performance

5. Save changes.

Bottles (Broken)

1. Open an existing Bottle.
2. Open the cogwheel(Next to Run executable).
3. Add the following line in the Launch Options field:

   game-performance

Proton-CachyOS

Proton-CachyOS is based on Proton’s bleeding-edge branch and applies a number of modifications on top of it.

• Wine-staging patches
• Wine Fullscreen FSR
• Includes video and audio codecs for game cutscenes
• Support for umu-launcher including UMU-Protonfixes
• Adds early hotfixes/workarounds for games

Note

The proton-cachyos package from the CachyOS repositories is compiled against native system libraries, it doesn’t use the Steam Linux Runtime. The target architecture depends on the repository. Currently x86_64_v3, x86_64_v4 and znver4 repositories use the same x86_64_v3 binaries.

Caution

If you encounter issues with games using Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) or BattlEye (BE), for example refusing to log in the game servers, you can use the version of Proton-CachyOS built using Steam Linux Runtime

Additional configuration options

• PROTON_NO_WM_DECORATION=1: Disables window decorations using the Linux window manager. It can fix issues with borderless fullscreen and the mouse clicking through the window.
• PROTON_PREFER_SDL_INPUT=1: Enable to work-around issues with proper controller detection.

Wine-CachyOS

This is the same wine that is at the core of proton-cachyos, but as a standalone package, which can be used in Lutris, Heroic, Bottles and others.

• All the Wine modifications included with Proton-CachyOS
• Adds early hotfixes/workarounds for games

Note

In the CachyOS repositories Wine-CachyOS is offered by two different packages. wine-cachyos installs it as the default system Wine and replaces wine or wine-staging. wine-cachyos-opt installs it in a different location, which allows multiple wine versions to co-exist in the system.

Caution

Wine-CachyOS’s primarily intended use is for gaming. Although it can be used as a system Wine with desktop applications, be aware that it might lead to some unexpected behavior and issues due to the gaming focused modifications.

If you want to use desktop application, we suggest using wine or wine-staging as your system’s Wine and installing wine-cachyos-opt for gaming.

Additional configuration options

• WINE_WMCLASS="<name>": Sets the WM_CLASS of all wine windows, allowing the window manager to control the Wine’s windows through rules.
• WINEUSERSANDBOX=1: Disables the creation of symlinks from Wine user folders such as Documents/Pictures, to the equivalent folders in the user’s HOME directory
• WINE_NO_WM_DECORATION=1: Disables window decorations using the Linux window manager. It can fix issues with borderless fullscreen and the mouse clicking through the window.
• WINE_PREFER_SDL_INPUT=1: Enable to work-around issues with proper controller detection.

How to setup wine-cachyos-opt

Normally running /opt/wine-cachyos/bin/wine instead of just wine should be enough for an application to run using wine-cachyos-opt.

If a more strict configuration is required, it could look like this

export PATH="/opt/wine-cachyos/bin/:$PATH"
export WINEDLLPATH="/opt/wine-cachyos/lib/wine:/opt/wine-cachyos/lib32/wine:$WINEDLLPATH"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/opt/wine-cachyos/lib/:/opt/wine-cachyos/lib32/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH"

If you want to use winetricks with wine-cachyos-opt you can invoke it like this

WINE=/opt/wine-cachyos/bin/wine WINEPRFIX=<your prefix> winetricks <verb>

Bottles

Bottles is an application that allows you to easily manage Windows prefixes on your favorite Linux distributions.

Bottles can also make use of different runners like Lutris and are all manageable within the application. Bottles offers the option of a gaming-oriented prefix.

You can also install dependencies, add EXE files, and use their one-click installers for gaming-related apps like EA App or Battle.net.

How to install Bottles

# Open a terminal and run the following command:
sudo pacman -S bottles

If you want to know more about it, check out their documentation.

Lutris Introduction & Tips

Lutris serves as a central hub for all your games on CachyOS.

With Lutris, you can efficiently manage your game runners, including Wine, Proton, and emulators.

• You can launch games through Lutris simply by clicking the Play button.
• Add any game you want clicking the + sign in the top left.
• Set up a store in the Sources at the left panel and connecting your account, it will then proceed to install said store, and then you’ll be able to run games from within the store, just like you do on Windows.
• And more!

Games stores supported in Lutris

• EA App
• Epic Games Store
• GOG Galaxy
• Steam
• Ubisoft Connect

Setting up wine-cachyos Wine runner

Lutris FAQ

How can I add a parameter to a game?

• Right-click on the game icon > Configure > Game options > Arguments > Add any argument you need.

Does game-performance work on Lutris?

• Yes. Look here

How can I use wine-cachyos in Lutris?

• In the Runner Options > Wine version it appears named as System 9.0 Staging Default

How can I setup umu-launcher with proton-cachyos in Lutris?

Tip

Make sure you have umu-launcher installed in your system. Install it with the following command: sudo pacman -S umu-launcher

Global (affects all Games)

1. In the main screen of Lutris, click on the cogwheel at the right of Wine
2. Do the following changes in the Runner Options tab
   • Wine version = proton-cachyos
   • Use System winetricks = Disabled
   • Graphics
     • Enable DXVK = Enabled
     • Enable VKD3D = Enabled
     • Enable D3D Extras = Enabled
     • Enable DXVK-NVAPI / DLSS = Enabled
     • User-defined versions of DXVK, VKD3D and DXVK-NVAPI are not applied when using umu-launcher
3. Go to the System options tab
   • Lutris
     • Disable Lutris Runtime = Enabled
     • Prefer system libraries = Enabled
4. Scroll down to Game execution and look for the Environment variables table
5. Add the following environment variables:
   • Key: UMU_NO_RUNTIME
     • Value: 1 use system libraries instead of the steam runtime, only for proton-cachyos
   • Key: UMU_RUNTIME_UPDATE optional
     • Value: 0 skips Steam Linux Runtime updates for proton-cachyos
   • Key: PROTON_VERB optional
     • Value: waitforexitandrun allows protonfixes to work with a corresponding GAMEID
6. Save changes.

Per game (preferred)

1. Right Click in the game you want to configure, then click on Configure
2. Do the following changes in the Runner Options tab
   • Wine version = proton-cachyos
   • Use System winetricks = Disabled
   • Graphics
     • Enable DXVK = Enabled
     • Enable VKD3D = Enabled
     • Enable D3D Extras = Enabled
     • Enable DXVK-NVAPI / DLSS = Enabled
     • User-defined versions of DXVK, VKD3D and DXVK-NVAPI are not applied when using umu-launcher
3. Go to the System options tab
   • Lutris
     • Disable Lutris Runtime = Enabled
     • Prefer system libraries = Enabled
4. Scroll down to Game execution and look for the Environment variables table
5. Add the following environment variables:
   • Key: UMU_NO_RUNTIME
     • Value: 1 if you are using umu-launcher 1.1.4 from CachyOS
   • Key: UMU_RUNTIME_UPDATE optional
     • Value: 0 skips Steam Linux Runtime updates for proton-cachyos
   • Key: PROTON_VERB optional
     • Value: waitforexitandrun allows protonfixes to work with a corresponding GAMEID
6. Save changes.

Ray tracing Support

The Arch Wiki has already provides comprehensive instructions on how to enable ray tracing for various hardware platforms.

• Ray tracing on NVIDIA
• Ray tracing on AMD
• Ray tracing on Intel

With this guide, you are now ready to start gaming on CachyOS. Enjoy!