I decided to write a tutorial about TF2 & Linux.
Why? Because I feel like while it pretty much works out-of-the-box for most players, some do have certain requirements which involve digging deep.
Also this way I can maybe get a few people to just try it out.
A few things to consider:
- fps are likely gonna be slightly lower than Windows
- no counterpart to dx8 mode
- at least for me, mouse sens is ~ 2x as high as Windows (not a problem, just change it in TF2)
- several issues can occur related to distro/ compositor used
- no way of getting stuff like esea client to work
- commands I post work for debian based systems - ubuntu, mint, etc.
- don't expect everything to work out the first time - be prepared to fiddle around!
- no plugins like prec (thanks Kenneth)
If some command doesn't seem to work, apply the old rule: put a 'sudo' in front!
This runs the command as root - the linux version of Admin on Windows.
Currently included in this guide:
- Driver updates
- Monitor
- Mouse accel
- Steam/ TF2 customisation
- prec alternative (?)
To start things off I'm gonna assume you have a current debian based system already installed -
e.g. Ubuntu 15.04
or Mint 17.2
or alternatively any other distro like Arch,
but you'd have to look up the according commands yourself (for instance: apt-get vs. pacman).
I use Ubuntu, because i always have.
Now, let's get started. One of the biggest mysteries regarding Linux is drivers.
Driver
In the linux world they are also called modules and generally you don't have to worry about them in the slightest - but we aren't general, are we? Not those Intel IGP laptop peasants right?
So just as we have to install current drivers in Windows, we have to do just that in Linux.
And even if you actually do use an Intel IGP, you might want to look into this.
Generally, you have the option between closed source and open source modules.
- a) you have a nVidia GPU
Your options are pretty limited. As nVidia doesn't give a **** about Open Source, they don't support the community building the open source driver which is called nouveau.
Basically everything in this driver is based on reverse-engineering and it lacks a ton of features - and also performance. Not recommended at this point, but of course you can try it out for yourself. Read below if you dare.
The good thing is, their closed source driver is pretty good. Download it here & choose Linux 64-bit
- b) you use an AMD GPU
This is a different but similar story. While AMD's Windows drivers are nowadays considered of equal quality compared to nVidia's, they seem to not give a **** about their Linux Catalyst. Painfully slow to fix stuff, and it always seems to break my system when I try to use it. In this case, I would recommend you first try the open source driver as they rebuilt it from scratch and it doesn't break anything - but it still isn't feature complete and usually offers less performance as compared to Catalyst.
Download Catalyst here.
For open source driver read below.
- c) Intel GPU
read below; procedure is same as all other open source drivers.
x) Open Source driver
The open source driver started as a community effort to provide free drivers for all the GPUs out there. It's mainly being developed by Intel and others like RedHat, vmware etc... and also AMD and a few other individuals...
To get the current version, you'll have to do some command line stuff.
At first, the basics. Hit Ctrl+Alt+T in Ubuntu/ Mint/ etc. to open the Terminal, or console. If you're using KDE desktop, the application to look for is Konsole. Either way, you'll find it.
To copy/paste something from/into the terminal, you'll have to hit Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V.
Now type
sudo apt-get update
to update the packet repository. Debian based systems use apt-get to manage software and all dependencies. While this guarantees everyone will always use the most current version of everything that's installed (no firefox using flasplayer 9 while IE is using its own shit etc), you can also break it if you force it to install software with broken dependencies - so try not to break it!
So the first thing you're going to install ppa-purge:
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
This is a handy tool that can cleanup every repository you added before. Just type ppa-purge followed by the name of the repository you added before, if something goes wrong, i.e. sudo ppa-purge ppa:****; which is exactly what we are going to do right now:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
This adds oibaf's repository to our packet sources. It includes the latest open source drivers out there. Hit ENTER to confirm and update your packet repo once more:
sudo apt-get update
Now, to upgrade everything (including the old open source driver, which is installed by default) you type in
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
This is also the way to update your whole system - which is the reason why this could take a while right now.
y) Installing the closed source drivers
If you want the installation to be hassle-free, start the program 'Additional Drivers' and choose the one tagged as 'proprietary'.
For most bleeding edge stuff, use the drivers downloaded before;
The nVidia driver is pretty easy. Open the terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) and go to your Downloads folder:
cd Downloads
Make the file you downloaded executable:
chmod +x <bla.run>
Run the file & follow instructions
sudo ./<bla.run>
.... Reboot and type
sudo nvidia-xconfig
The AMD driver you have to unzip first:
unzip <file.zip>
Run the .run (same procedure as above); this generates .deb files:
sudo dpkg -i fglrx*.deb
After install, type
sudo amdconfig --initiall
If it doesn't work properly, something somewhere has f**d up - there can be literally 1 million issues. I counted them all. Try google - you'll definitely find the issue. Alternatively, just use the 'Additional Drivers' solution.