Don’t let your eyes deceive you: Windows compatibility is an illusion

I often see comments that have bought into the commonly-held belief that “Windows is better than SteamOS because I can play *all* my games.” But this is a complete myth. Fact is: SteamOS and Proton yield much better results when it comes to most games–especially retro titles. So unless you’re playing something like Destiny 2 or this years Call of Duty derivative, you’re gonna have a better experience on Linux/SteamOS.

Links & References:
SimCity 3000 on GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/simcity_3000
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith: https://store.steampowered.com/app/32390/STAR_WARS_Jedi_Knight__Mysteries_of_the_Sith/
Command & Conquer: Generals portrait mode issues: https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/270940/how-can-i-fix-old-games-being-run-in-portrait-mode-on-my-windows-tablet
Max Payne 2 community fix: https://github.com/fkortsagin/Max-Payne-2-Fix-Windows-11
Alder Lake CPU issues: https://www.pcmag.com/news/intel-these-50-plus-pc-games-are-incompatible-with-alder-lake-cpus-due
Windows Blue Screen of Death: https://twitter.com/gardiner_bryant/status/1660751345425448960
BioShock Remastered: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/bioshock-the-collection?partner=thelinuxgamer
GTA de-makes (Switch): https://www.humblebundle.com/store/grand-theft-auto-the-trilogy-the-definitive-edition-switch?partner=thelinuxgamer
PC: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1547000/Grand_Theft_Auto_San_Andreas__The_Definitive_Edition/
Destiny 2: https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2022-yes-valve-really-did-fix-elden-ring-for-steam-deck
Bungie ruining everyone’s fun with Destiny 2: https://help.bungie.net/hc/en-us/articles/360049024592-Destiny-2-Steam-Guide
Valve, Proton, and Elden Ring: https://www.eurogamer.net/digitalfoundry-2022-yes-valve-really-did-fix-elden-ring-for-steam-deck

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*What are your PC specs?*
My Office Rig:
❯ AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
❯ ASRock B550 TAICHI RAZER Edition
❯ MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
❯ G. SKILL DDR4 32GB x4 (128GB)
❯ HYTE Y60 Case

Emily’s Rig:
❯ AMD Ryzen 7 1800x
❯ MSI Pro Series X370 SLI PLUS
❯ NVIDIA GTX Titan X (Pascal) 12 GB
❯ GSkill Ripjaw V DDR4 8GB x4 (32 GB)
❯ Fractal Design Define R9 Case
❯ Manjaro GNOME

Living Room Gaming Rig:
❯ ASUS X99-E-10G WS
❯ Intel Core i7-6900K @ 3.2GHz
❯ NVidia Titan X (Pascal)
❯ DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB 8GB x8 (64GB)

Backup Rig
❯ System76 Thelio Minor
❯ AMD Ryzen 5 3400G
❯ DDR4 16GB RAM
❯ Zotac Nvidia GTX 970 4GB

Home Server:
❯ ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
❯ AMD FX 6300 at 3.5 GHz
❯ Nvidia GTX 750 1GB
❯ DDR3 20 GB RAM

– Timestamps –
00:00 – Introduction
00:32 – The SteamOS red herring
00:59 – Windows is the paragon of compatibility
02:36 – Retro gaming is a real concern
04:04 – Disposability
04:53 – Why does incompatibility happen
06:25 – Unofficial patche, source ports: Here be dragons
07:28 – Window’s backwards compatibility has become incompatible
08:51 – You can’t credit Windows for its compatibility

“100% compatibility” is a myth that is getting out of hand.

#steamdeck #windows11 #pcgaming #retrogaming