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GameMode, the system optimization tool from Feral Interactive recently had a new small release put up.

What does it do? When you run games with it the tool can do things like tweak the CPU governor for performance, change the I/O priority, process niceness, kernel scheduler, inhibit the screensaver, set your GPU into performance mode, allows custom scripts and so on. The point is that it can in a lot of cases ensure you're giving a game as much power as possible but it doesn't always work so well.

Version 1.7 includes:

  • Added new utility: gamemodelist to show running processes using it
  • Run executables from PATH instead of /usr/bin to work across more distributions
  • Add a trivial gamemode.conf file, which creates the gamemode group to help control permissions
  • Various minor bugfixes and updates to documentation

Once installed to run it on specific games with Steam, all you would need to do is add this as a launch option for example:

gamemoderun %command%

Or for standalone games:

gamemoderun ./game

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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19 comments
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kokoko3k Jul 22, 2022
The nice thing for me is that they are still developing for Linux.
Looking forward to more stunning ports from Feral guys.
notmrflibble Jul 22, 2022
It still needs systemd and is therefore still incompatible with Devuan. I still won't be using it.
Purple Library Guy Jul 22, 2022
Quoting: notmrflibbleIt still needs systemd and is therefore still incompatible with Devuan. I still won't be using it.
Oh, is Devuan still a thing? How is it doing?
peta77 Jul 22, 2022
I'd rather like to hear that they'd be doing a new awesome port of a fantastic game to native Linux (their radar is ... well .... there's a lot of space in there left to be used by some cool projects). But still nice to know they didn't abandon Linux (desktop) completely.

P.S. :
Quote... can do thinks like ...
I don't think it can think.... rather it's able to to do things, isn't it?
sorry for being so pedantic...
iskaputt Jul 23, 2022
Quoting: notmrflibbleIt still needs systemd and is therefore still incompatible with Devuan. I still won't be using it.

GameMode also supports elogind which is how Void Linux provides the package.
Appelsin Jul 23, 2022
Quoting: peta77But still nice to know they didn't abandon Linux (desktop) completely.

To be honest, I think it would be more accurate (and fair to Feral) to say that Linux desktop sorta abandoned them, not the other way around :/
1xok Jul 23, 2022
Over the last years I had performance problems in many games, for example in Nier: Automata, where I simply did not reach 60 fps @1080p consistently. I had attributed this to my graphics card alone (a GTX 970) until earlier this year.

Then I bought an AMD RX 6600 XT a few months ago. Not a monster but you would expect powerful enough to play a five year old game like Automata with constant 60 fps in high settings. But again, no such luck for me. Then rather out of helplessness I activated this demon from Feral and attention: problem solved!

Not only Automata, but also Elite: Dangerous and many other games run much better with it. It really makes a big difference. Not so much in increasing peak performance but in consistency. I think the effects are especially big when you combine a current graphics card with a somewhat older processor. In my case, an Intel Skylake model.


Last edited by 1xok on 23 July 2022 at 3:18 pm UTC
Purple Library Guy Jul 23, 2022
Quoting: Appelsin
Quoting: peta77But still nice to know they didn't abandon Linux (desktop) completely.

To be honest, I think it would be more accurate (and fair to Feral) to say that Linux desktop sorta abandoned them, not the other way around :/
Agreed. And I mean, it was the right decision, but Feral was an egg that got a bit battered in making the Proton omelet.
anokasion Jul 23, 2022
Quoting: notmrflibbleIt still needs systemd and is therefore still incompatible with Devuan. I still won't be using it.

Same here with MX Linux and sysvinit, although it supposedly also supports scripts for systemd, it is not always the case, systemd divides us again. Feral are very based though, maybe they would read this and apply a fix?
denyasis Jul 23, 2022
Quoting: 1xokOver the last years I had performance problems in many games, for example in Nier: Automata, where I simply did not reach 60 fps @1080p consistently. I had attributed this to my graphics card alone (a GTX 970) until earlier this year.

Then I bought an AMD RX 6600 XT a few months ago. Not a monster but you would expect powerful enough to play a five year old game like Automata with constant 60 fps in high settings. But again, no such luck for me. Then rather out of helplessness I activated this demon from Feral and attention: problem solved!

Not only Automata, but also Elite: Dangerous and many other games run much better with it. It really makes a big difference. Not so much in increasing peak performance but in consistency. I think the effects are especially big when you combine a current graphics card with a somewhat older processor. In my case, an Intel Skylake model.

To be honest, I kinda relegated "scriptish" stuff like this into the pile of silly gimmicks. I'm glad it worked for you. I'll have to give it a shot on my GTX 1079 and Intel 9700 whatever-lake. Anything to keep it running smoothly for years to come!
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