Linux support for wow

Community General Discussion
22

Unfortunately poor driver support for Linux (Nvidia and AMD’s faults respectively) and multithreading support limited to direct X 12 (Microsoft’s fault) makes wow run at a much higher FPS in Windows on the very same hardware as Linux.

It’s just so much more pragmatic to keep a Windows partition around and boot it for games and do everything else in Linux. You can even boot both OS’s concurrently and if you have enough RAM and CPU cores there is no discernable performance hit. It takes a little work to set up but you only have to do it once as opposed to spending hours fixing Wine every patch day just to lose 10-40 FPS.

I get it, I’d like Linux support too but the fault really isn’t soley Blizzard. Also loved the Tobias gif.

23

looks very cool going to give this a try

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24

Haven’t tried it myself, but I’m tempted to try.

It’s Linus Tech Tips, so its a reputable source.

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25

You are most definitely incorrect on that statement. I deleted Windblows long ago and run Linux (Manjaro) exclusively. My performance is just as good if not better than Windblows.

And, I won’t get into WHY I don’t run Windblows. Just take a look at their update issues. Unbelievable.

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26

AMD just released source on their drivers. And I run DirectX 12 with Wine and have the same if not more FPS than Windows. Wine has came a VERY long ways.

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27

Maybe I should write a thread on how to install Linux on your PC, install Wine, and WOW. Probably be a waste of time…

28

Honestly thats not the case anymore. I Dual boot and the FPS Between my linux and windows on the same laptop is 1 fps…same settings…the only thing is linux gets a tad hotter about 3 to 5 Degrees…

With lutris, Dvxk, and wine… honestly lutris makes installing and gaming on linux i dare say easier then windows. I play overwatch on linux with no problems what so ever…

And honestly the stranglehold that windows has on gaming is going to be Loosened Quite a bit when the Google stadia comes out Because it will use Vulcan and Google is a tweak linux OS…

And with that big fubar with windows 7 not getting supported any more It’s going to drive some to Linux…

I honestly think there’s more people using Linux then what is reported since most linux os dont track there users like windows or mac os…

And honestly if one don’t game and are not Heavy in Adobe programs why they not on Linux is beyond me.

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29

It isn’t the late 90’s anymore. While it DID used to be a lot more techy, with you having to actually “build” programs more, it is far enough along now that everything is way more automated.

You could choose to build Wine from source, do a bunch of other junk with Vk3d or whatever people are talking about on the Winehq page for wow, or you could just install wine-staging and run it out of the box, like I do.

The last time I installed OpenSuse, from just nothing (with the net install), it did everything and was incredibly easy. They are very polished and professional now.

The last time I updated, which was to OpenSuse 15.0, I just changed the repositories to the 15.0 ones, went to a command prompt after reboot,

zypper dup

went to sleep and it was done when I woke up.

It is even easier if you get the install DVD, but then you’d have more updating after that which is why I find the net install/update the best.

My ex wife’s computer was really dated, with support for XP ending (all she could run.) She was concerned about no more security updates, so I installed OpenSuse linux on it; She could not tell the difference. It did the same stuff she liked to do on that old computer.

If you have the hard drive space, I’d recommend trying it. You might be amazed.

OpenSuse, as well as likely other ones (like Uubuntu, said to be the “easiest”), have really slick installs that will also set up your windows partition to boot.

So you can try it, then you see

OpenSuse 15.0
Windows

at boot. So you can choose (even choosing one as the default to boot.)

I originally did this back before Burning Crusade, then it was that expansion where play under Linux got good enough (with Wine), that I deleted my Vista partition forever (yes, Vista did a LOT to help me make that decision.) That was the last time I had windows on a computer.

30

One word: flatpak.

31

Linux is free…

if your time is worthless

32

This is it most people here think linux is stuck in 1998…you have flatpacks, snaps, appimage, where it does not matter what linux distro you use…

Hell gaming on linux just in the last 4 months has been night and day…and with steam using proton, hell 90% of windows game runs fine thru linux…

Its a shame that people think linux is stuck back in time and has not evolved…i switched to linux because i like to Mitigate what the big companies known about me…can i stop it nope…but i can attest slow it down…and linux helps in that regard…

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33

You could also set up a virtual windows machine as well just for wow, but you’ll never do that being a hater of everything that’s Microsoft.

34

I’m a hater of Microsoft because “they” control your PC. They have deleted peoples files on stupid updates, and even at times the PC won’t boot. Everything you do is monitored one way or the other. They practically force update after update on you.

With Linux I’m not forced to update. And if there is one it may take 5 minutes and it’s done. Security on Linux is 100% better than Windblows.

I run Manjaro a Arch Linux based distro. Install is very easy and straight forward. Once installed just open a terminal and type “sudo pacman -Syy” and it updates the ENTIRE system. Very simple and straight forward system.

But folks on Windows don’t want change and are happy with what Windows does. And thats on them. I have a brand new Alienware R8 that HAD Windows on it. Right out of the box Windows partition was deleted and installed Linux. I run WOW on max settings and it doesn’t miss a beat.

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35

This is good to know. I think I’ll give it a second chance. Actually third chance TBH but after, I donno, sometime around 2011, I just stopped trying to make it work.

Thanks for the info. I’m going to straight up try it again this weekend because I’d love for it to kind of just work out of the box. I game specifically to NOT have to think about dependencies and read Stack Overflow et al.

36

One observation to those that use Linux is that most are hardcore Microsoft haters, and some enjoy the constant tinkering that’s required to keep things working correctly.

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37

Their player base would markedly increase with a Linux version IMO.

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38

I’d never use it because it’s of no use to me, and the constant messing around with it to get things to work would annoy me.

I have a decent computer, it runs everything, and I have no frame rate issues at all.

I don’t see support coming for a tiny, and lets be honest here, group of people who won’t pay anything to re-purchase the Linux version. The money blizz would invest to make it wouldn’t be worth the near zero return.

It’s simple business.

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39

That it also incorrect. There is no more of the constant tinkering as it was years ago. It takes all of about 10 minutes to set WOW up. It takes longer to download the game lol.

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40

The only distro in my opinion that is a pain to set up is Arch Linux. Thats because YOU have to build everything. All the other distros run just fine out of the box.

Seems like most people here are stuck in the mid 90’s that Linux takes a engineering degree to use. Thats not the case anymore. Linux Mint is for Window users. VERY simple yet effective distro.

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41

If this were true, they would have done it by now.