So i believe the only way to enable crossplay is to have the xbox PC app installed on the machine and log into your xbox account. any way to do this on linux? or any workarounds to play with friends that are on xbox?

submitted by /u/lurkingSwine
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someone who plays Magic The Gathering Arena in Bazzite has been trying to play for several days but when they log in to the game they freeze

submitted by /u/MrMarto969
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With the new BF6 trailer dropping, there has been a new wave of players interested in running EA games on Linux. Rather than just saying NO, it won't run, I decided it probably would help to explain the WHY behind it and what we can possibly do in the future for things of this nature.

Why Do We Cry?

EA has been slowly changing out their anticheats, starting with FIFA in 2023 (of course it was FIFA) to their own in-house client-side anticheat called EA Javelin[1]. As far as we know, it's in 14 games (as of 2024) including Battlefield 2042 (Season 6) and Madden 25. We also know that even if a game is single-player, if it has the possibility of multiplayer, EA is likely considering or already has migrated to EA Javelin. This, in turn, means all new multiplayer EA games will use this, including BF6. As this anticheat has, like most client-side anticheats, deep kernel binding, it makes it mostly unusable on Wine/Proton[2].

What About VMs?

Here's where things get interesting and where there is light at the end of the tunnel. Most of you who have one or multiple dedicated GPUs have probably at one point considered GPU passthrough, as in running Windows in a VM with dedicated hardware. This allows you to run kernel-level anticheats for the most part if you can "cloak" your VM, as in let the VM provide your actual hardware info to the anticheats rather than the default ones, but that doesn't work in all cases.

The Layers of the Onion

So what are some of these layers exactly? Think of VM detection like peeling an onion (as is like 99% of security). Every layer you get through just reveals another one underneath, and by the end, you're probably crying, but fear not.

Layer 1: The Obvious Stuff - This is your basic CPUID checks where the anticheat asks, "Hey CPU, are you running in a VM?" and your CPU responds, "Yep!" because it has this hypervisor bit set. Easy enough to hide with -cpu host,-hypervisor,kvm=off, but that's just the first layer.

Layer 2: Hardware Fingerprinting - What is the name of the devices attached to your VM? Everything matters. Software can validate the name of the hardware, be it SSD, NICs, mouse/keyboard, or even the default drawing tablet libvirt passes over. If it's connected, a kernel-level application can see it. Your VM is telling Windows it's got a "QEMU HARDDISK" and "Bochs BIOS" and other dead giveaways. You can spoof all this SMBIOS stuff to make it look like a real ASUS motherboard with Samsung SSDs, but you better make sure EVERYTHING matches up since inconsistencies are a bigger giveaway than unspoofed information.

Layer 3: Timing Checks - When your VM executes certain CPU instructions, it takes longer because of the virtualization overhead, i.e., it goes from the VM to the actual hardware and then back. The anticheat can time how long a CPUID instruction takes, for example, and if it's too slow, it knows something's up. Some of these timing differences are in the thousands of CPU cycles, making it super easy to detect.

Layer 4: MSR and WMI Probing - EA Javelin specifically probes Model Specific Registers that behave differently in VMs. It also runs WMI queries that return empty or different results in virtualized environments compared to bare metal. For example, WMI queries for thermal sensors, power management, or hardware monitoring often return null in VMs but real data on physical systems. The anticheat cross-references these results with claimed hardware specs.

Layer 5: ACPI Table Analysis and Exception Handling - EA Javelin examines ACPI tables for virtualization signatures and tests CPU exception handling behavior. VMs handle certain CPU exceptions differently than physical hardware, particularly around memory protection and privilege level transitions. It also checks for QEMU-specific ACPI entries and tests interrupt controller behavior that varies between hypervisors and real hardware.

Why Most Games Work but EA Doesn't

The thing is, these VM cloaking techniques actually work pretty well for most anticheats. EasyAntiCheat, BattlEye, and even Valorant's Vanguard can usually be fooled with proper SMBIOS spoofing and basic hypervisor hiding. But for some, like Valorant, it does become a cat and mouse game.

EA Javelin is different because they're not just checking for virtualization, they're building behavioral profiles. While other anticheats might check 5-10 detection vectors, EA's system is checking dozens simultaneously and looking for patterns that match known hypervisor behavior. They've basically said, "We don't care if you're a legitimate user; if there's even a 1% chance you're in a VM, you're blocked."

The Actual Solution: Type 1 Hypervisor Patches

Where do we go from here, and why do I still think there's hope? The fundamental problem with our current approach is that we're using Type 2 hypervisors (KVM/QEMU running on top of Linux), which inherently have differences compared to baremetal systems. A commonly explored solution is moving to Type 1 hypervisor implementations specifically designed for gaming.

Xen with gaming patches represents the most promising path forward. Type 1 hypervisors run directly on hardware without a host OS, eliminating many of the behavioral signatures that EA Javelin detects. The key is implementing gaming-specific patches that address the core detection vectors:

• Hardware interrupt controller emulation that matches physical chipset behavior exactly
• MSR passthrough for specific registers that games probe while virtualizing others
• ACPI table injection that provides realistic hardware enumeration without QEMU signatures
• Memory management that eliminates virtualization-specific page fault patterns

The Qubes OS gaming patches project has been working on exactly this. A Xen-based system that provides near-native hardware access for gaming VMs while maintaining security isolation. Their approach involves creating hardware-specific profiles that match exact chipset behaviors rather than generic virtualization.

ESXi gaming modifications are another route some people are exploring. Since ESXi is already a Type 1 hypervisor, the detection surface is much smaller. The challenge is getting proper GPU passthrough and gaming-optimized scheduling, but some users report success with heavily modified ESXi configurations that present authentic hardware signatures.

The real breakthrough will come when someone develops a gaming-first hypervisor that's designed from the ground up to be seemless. Think of it like a BIOS/UEFI that can boot multiple operating systems with complete hardware isolation but presents identical signatures to anticheats.

Current Reality and What I'm Working On

Right now, yes, EA has basically won this round. My own VM setup that worked fine for everything else gets instantly detected by EA Javelin, and I've tried pretty much every technique out there. But I'm not giving up on this.

I've been experimenting with Xen configurations and working on some patches that address specific detection vectors EA uses. The goal is to create a reference implementation that others can build on. It's slow going because you basically have to reverse engineer what EA is detecting and build countermeasures for each vector.

The other approach I'm exploring is making a KVM patch for gaming, removing the fingerprints while keeping us on KVM and QEMU (which is the best long-term approach).

What This Means for the Community

For now, if you want to play EA games, you're stuck with dual boot or GeForce Now. But I genuinely think the Type 1 hypervisor approach will eventually crack this nut. It's just going to take time and a lot of technical work.

The broader Linux gaming community needs to start thinking beyond Wine/Proton for these edge cases. VM gaming with proper hardware passthrough is actually a better solution for many use cases and you get native Windows performance, full hardware access, as well as the ability to sandbox games away from your main system.

I'll probably do a follow-up post if I make any breakthroughs with the Xen stuff, but for now, I just wanted to explain where we stand with EA and what the actual path forward looks like.

[1] https://www.ea.com/news/introducing-ea-javelin-anticheat

[2] https://www.ea.com/security/news/eaac-deep-dive

EDIT: Removed EM-dash since people falsely assumed it was AI.

submitted by /u/KstrlWorks
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ok so i recently moved to linux-Arch-KDE and three of my games have the same problem and one doesn't

only death stranding works

and Elden ring night-rein doesn't work

expedition 33

or

Sekiro

my gpu: nvidia rtx 2060

cpu: core i7 10th gen

im using a razer blade 15 basic 2020 model

im using heroic

submitted by /u/DueAnt9057
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Hello, i recently bought a Knock-Off Ps4 controller called AceGamer. I tried connecting it to Windows and it worked perfectly. I also tried on Android and no problem.

However Linux seems to be having issues. I managed to connect it through Bluetooth, it says Wireless Controller, but Moonlight (the platform where I want to use it) doesn't show any movement when i press any of the buttons.

I tried my real PS4 controller and it worked flawlessly.

I checked many things recommended by ChatGPT like evtest and official is showing but knock-off is not.

I also tried connecting it via cable and it seems to work.

So why exactly does it not work with Bluetooth? Any ideas on what I can try?

Note: I'm really new to Linux in general, i just installed lubuntu to my old laptop to be able to just run moonlight but I don't use it for anything else. Therefore, i don't even know what to share or might be needed to solve this. Let me know, and I will send right away!

submitted by /u/darksapra
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Honestly I thought I was tripping or not even seeing it at all, but yeah.

9070 XT - 7800x3D - EndeavourOS - SteamOS gamemode session from the cachyos distro

Seems to mostly be happening in God of War Ragnarok but I have seen it in other games occasionally, but not as frequently. The color was green at one point, but now it's red. GPU load or temp doesn't matter much for the frequency. At 99% load / 304 w, I'm hitting about 63 C though, just to document it

Not gonna lie, it doesn't bother me all that much, I just wanted to see if other had a similar issue and what could be causing it as well as to make a post documenting it for future googlers trying to solve it.

submitted by /u/VegtableCulinaryTerm
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Title says it all. I seem to be the only one running into this issue, as everyone else seems to agree that it works perfectly out of the box. I'm currently running EndeavourOS with Hyprland on an NVIDIA 4070 GPU and an AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX CPU. I'm also running a texture mod that replaces the AI-upscaled textures with the ones that were present before they were added. Is this a known issue? If so, is there a fix for it?

submitted by /u/Icy-Profile-9317
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After the new animation update, CS2 now runs automatically on Wayland. However, there are some issues, such as problems with audio and the Steam overlay. If you're experiencing these issues, simply add the following command to your launch options:

SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 %command%

and if you have issiues with audio

SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 SDL_AUDIODRIVER=pipewire %command%

Host: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. ROG CROSSHAIR VIII HERO (WI-FI)
Kernel: 6.15.8-zen1-1-zen
Packages: 1650 (pacman), 12 (flatpak)
Shell: fish 4.0.2
Resolution: 3840x2160, 1920x1080
DE: Plasma 6.4.3 (Wayland)
WM: kwin_wayland_wr
Theme: Breeze-Dark [GTK2], Breeze [GTK3]
Icons: breeze-dark [GTK2/3]
Terminal: konsole
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (12) @ 5.281GHz
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
Memory: 31999MiB

submitted by /u/Time-Initiative1670
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I'm sorry if this post doesn't fit the sub's theme, but I'm not sure where to ask this. Please remove it if it doesn't belong.

I set up a minecraft server in a Debian 12 machine with 4GB of dedicated RAM. I can always connect to the server, but with a PC connected with Ethernet to the same switch than the server it works flawlessly, but when I want to connect with another PC using WIFI or ZeroTier, I can connect but I can't interact with the world, and after a few seconds I get disconnected with a net error: java.net.SocketException: Connection reset. Both of these PCs use Windows 10

I use the port 25565 and have allowed the firewall in these ports, I have a stable WIFI connection and when pinging the server I get on average 3ms and no packets lost. The server has 8GB of ram and its processor is an AMD A10-8750 Radeon R7.

Am I going to be forced to be connected via Ethernet or am I doing something wrong? I wanted to use the server with ZeroTier so my friends can join remotely.

submitted by /u/Mateogm
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I am trying to play Mafia II classic in my linux mint with protondb compatibility. However whenever I skip or watch the tank shooting cutscene (from the first episode sicily war), the game just quits without crashing or anything just quits. I've tried playing with proton version 7.0-6 and 9.0-4 but the same thing happens.

Can you please help me how to fix this issue, if you had the similar problem or have idea how to fix it please comment.

submitted by /u/lazarusss_
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Hello,

i have try lsfg-vk with some game and it seems to work fine, but I can't get it to work with minecraft.

I saw in the wiki that it's not totally compatible because minecraft runs under openGL.
There is a mod or emulator to run minecraft under vulkan and make it recognized by lsfg ?

Thanks for the help ;)

submitted by /u/SnooSongs3370
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If you have that issue after the update run the game with X11.

"SDL\VIDEODRIVER=x11 %command%")

https://preview.redd.it/08pfoq90t2gf1.png?width=596&format=png&auto=webp&s=9c2f4ac99c91a2318741f233eac833a4e941a886

submitted by /u/amogusseverim
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submitted by /u/LetterheadTall8085
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Made the switch from windows to linux for my main gaming rig at home.

So far most of my games work I have tried without any fuss. EXCEPT for the new FF7 games which I own on epic. I am able to install games from epic, and get others to run. However the FF7 games just show a black screen. No title screen or anything. If I open the .exe for either of them directly it will launch then complain I haven't run them from the epic launcher.... So far this is the only two games that I feel the need to retain a windows partition for.

Computer specs:

5800x3d

32gb ram

9070xt

2tb nvme main drive

Linux Mint 22.1 running the xanmod mainline kernel with most current mesa for the 9070xt support

submitted by /u/germz1986
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submitted by /u/New_Grand2937
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i got a soundboard etc but it doesnt work on sober people cant hear my soundboard + even if it isnt supposed to be the soundboard but anyone knows a way to make it so people hear what im streaming on sober?

submitted by /u/Gloomy_Bath_7180
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submitted by /u/Vast_Umpire_3713
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Welcome to the newbie advice thread!

If you’ve read the FAQ and still have questions like “Should I switch to Linux?”, “Which distro should I install?”, or “Which desktop environment is best for gaming?” — this is where to ask them.

Please sort by “new” so new questions can get a chance to be seen.

If you’re looking for last month’s instalment, it’s here: https://old.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1lnlgsn/getting_started_the_monthlyish_distrodesktop/

submitted by /u/monolalia
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I've tried everything on this section of the Arch wiki, but nothing is working. I can download things at around 20-25MB/s on my web browser, bittorrent software, other game launchers etc, but on Steam it's consistently only hovering around 2-5MB/s.

I've used Nobara for a month before switching to EndeavourOS and this has never been an issue on there, so something weird is going on. If anyone has any suggestions to fix this, then let me know.

submitted by /u/joeross75
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Can u use lossless scaling app on steam on linux or do u gotta use the unofficial port, if u can use both which one is better on linux?

submitted by /u/Next-Owl-5404
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