Hi everyone!

I’m a Playstation gamer looking into moving to Linux gaming as the next Playstation might not be able to play physical games.

Here are my 2 computers:

MacBook Pro 2012 (upgraded) with Fedora 41

Surface Go 1 with Fedora 41

I bought Frostpunk on Steam after checking on Proton DB that it would normally run on the MacBook as I knew the Surface Go would probably be way too weak.

According to Proton DB it’s a Gold game.

In the end, no matter what version of Proton I use, it doesn’t launch on the MacBook. I have a black screen, some icy sounds and then it crashes at best…

I then thought, let’s give it a try on the Surface Go and it launched immediately without any tinkering using Proton experimental.

But, the game crashes when the firat cinematic starts, probably because it’s loading too many assets for the Surface.

If anyone has an idea about what to try too many get it working on the MacBook, I would be thankful.

In the meantime, I would want to know, how do you know if a game is gonna run on your machine?

  • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.ggEnglish
    50·
    3 days ago

    On some level … because it often doesn’t matter. Most people just buy the game and if it doesn’t run well enough for them refund it under steam’s 2 hour window. Even for Windows this is an issue because of the large variety of PC hardware; you might have a chip that’s new but weak (kind of like buying a new Kia and expecting it to compete with a new Corvette).

    On another level … because you’re using hardware that’s over a decade old. What you really want for Linux gaming is either a Steam Deck or a desktop PC with an AMD GPU. If you have to go with a laptop, I’d probably look at the Framework 16; definitely no modern Macs because the ARM chips are pretty hostile to Linux and especially Linux gaming.

    • Dariusmiles2123@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      65·
      3 days ago

      Clearly I’m using old hardware, but I think it should run on the MacBook as it’s also an old undemanding game. But Yeah, clearly a Steam Deck or something similar is probably gonna be on my buying list soon.

      • kusivittula@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        21·
        3 days ago

        minimum gpu requirement there is gtx 660, which is still like 5 times more powerful than yours. you can’t really run anything more demanding than solitaire.

      • fossphi@lemm.eeEnglish
        241·
        3 days ago

        My guess is the VRAM. These older integrated GPUs just don’t have enough memory.

      • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.ggEnglish
        13·
        3 days ago

        It could be the VRAM like others said, but it could also be that the DirectX -> Vulkan translation fails because your Mac’s CPU doesn’t have support for the necessary parts of Vulkan.

        Not to link to “that site”, but that seems to be the issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/sd7yup/how_can_i_fully_install_vulkan_in_my_intel_hd_4000/

        I did not bother to look into exactly why, but that can be a mix of what the Linux drivers for the integrated GPU support and what operations the hardware actually physically supports.

      • Alk@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        13·
        3 days ago

        This doesn’t get talked about much but in my experience gaming on a Mac is often worse than on Linux despite the market share.

      • someacnt@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        As others said, Frostpunk is actually fairly demanding game in my experience. That is, it won’t run on a potato.