@Liam,

Thanks for the clarification. I'm still on LM 21.3's default 535 driver series. I haven't gotten around to implementing your Graphics Driver Guide yet. I really should...

Update: As of July 12th, I am now on the 550 series driver. The process in your guide is a lot simpler than I thought it would be. For Mint, simply add the PPA then launch Driver Manager. Easy!

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@Mal

I hadn't quite thought of it in that way. Universal access seems somewhat extreme.

Looking back at the physical book model, a new novel was often published first in a hardcover edition and then later, in a paperback edition (often by 2 distinct publishers). If I buy the hardcover edition, I do not expect to get the paperback edition as well. Two separate containers.

I see eBooks the same way. If I purchase the Amazon edition, I do not expect to have access to the Kobo edition. Two separate containers. If I want both, I have to buy both.

Tracking would only be necessary by the online reseller or, possibly, the publisher (if you want a safeguard in case the reseller shuts down).

The same should -- and does -- apply games. The GOG, Epic, Steam and "publisher" editions (or licenses) are separate containers. If I buy the Steam edition, I do not get a copy of the GOG edition. (Although, for a short while, CDP, as the publisher, did choose to offer this on some of their products -- probably to entice some customers over to GOG.)

I think universal licensing such as you were describing would be too complicated to manage. I wouldn't want that forced on publishers. I would just like to see the publishers being expected to recognize the ownership rights of their customers (i.e., of the license and it's accompanying distribution container).

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Perhaps I am misunderstanding, but to require the latest beta Nvidia driver from the experimental (new features) branch seems a bit much.

AFAIK, Lutris automatically updates DXVK across all prefixes. If I choose not to install the driver from the experimental branch and DXVK 2.7 is rolled out, will my games stop working?

I am not impressed. :angry:

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When you purchase a novel, it is understood that you don't own the intellectual property rights to the contents of the book but you do own the physical copy (or container, if you will). Yet, if you purchase the novel in eBook format (a digital container), the publisher/reseller, more and more often, treats it as a one-time subscription that they can revoke at any time without compensation to the customer. The rules governing the digital license should be no different than those regarding a physical book.

I can accept that author and/or publisher own the IP rights. If this initiative leads to regulating the publishing industry so that it can no longer treat a digital license as if it is merely a one-time subscription, then I feel it will have accomplished something good.

I use the eBook as an example, but really, this should absolutely apply to anything with a digital license -- games, books, music, videos/movies, etc.

I don't live in the EU but, like replaceable batteries and the "right to repair", this has my full support.

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I have been experimenting with the AppImage version of Heroic. I can't get it to recognize Mangohud, which I installed from the GitHub .deb installer. So far, I've only tested with native or AppImage games. Neither work (AppImage never has, no matter what launcher I use). Anybody else have this problem?

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I think the best explanation from that thread was ...

I am a lawyer and a huge gamer. In fact, I somewhat specialize in law that relates to video games. I see a lot of people asking why the video game company has any control with our ability to play on what is essentially a rented PC when we own the game. The problem is that this is a false premise. You are not actually buying the game. You are buying a license to use the game in certain ways and the actual owners of the property rights of the game are permitted to decide the exact ways you can use that game. It is kind of like if you purchase a ticket to enter a museum, you don't own the museum and the actual owners of the museum can tell you exactly how you can behave and where you can go once you enter.

It makes sense. This is essentially new tech and the developer's lawyers aren't ready for it yet. Still, I think this thought expressed what I was feeling about the matter even better ...

Publishers are greedy and want money on top of the sale of the game that they'd get if they supported the platform.

I think that summed it up the best for me.

That being said, it doesn't really affect me. I don't game online. I am usually offline when I can find time for a little video gaming. (No Internet at home. I have to do my O/S updates, Steam game installs and Lutris game installs at work, after hours. I have a great boss!)

Besides, there is one great big negative to using GFN -- the ongoing subscription fee! You pay it whether or not you're able to use it ...

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Happy Birthday, GamingOnLinux! :woot:

The only gaming news site I read. I also love the guides.

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@TheRiddick and @Klaas

An impressive wish list but I'm not sure we'll see Vulkan support anytime soon. Not sure about multi-threading though.

One of the developers on the OpenMW team (AnyOldName3) has said "We'd have to drop OSG support in favour of VSG support and that would mean OpenMW would become incompatible with lots of hardware it currently supports.". He says they lack the manpower to implement both.

OpenMW on Vulkan API?
https://forum.openmw.org/viewtopic.php?t=7469

VulkanSceneGraph and vsgopenmw are unofficial experimental forks. There are apparently no short-term or long-term plans to integrate vsgopenmw into the main project at this time. The most recent comment on the matter was in March 2025 (see above link).

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Too bad you don't have an AppImage.

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You know, it's a funny thing. Every time Wine or Proton move through to a new major version, it breaks my prefixes and the games won't launch. I have to roll back to the previous Wine/Proton version to get them running again.

There's something to be said about Liam's advice on not using Proton Experimental or System Default as your default runner setting. Stability.

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