How to Get Some of Your Windows Games Working on Linux

One problem that many people have with the Linux operating system is that it's not really set up to run modern games that well. In its defense, the games are written for the Windows operating system and aren't designed to work with Linux. While this is the case and a bit of a hurdle, there are some techniques you can use to get your Linux system to run some of your Windows games.

First of all, make sure you have drivers that are working with your hardware. There is no point in installing the games if your video driver isn't compatible with Linux. If you aren't sure how to do this, you will have to get help from a forum or a friend. Certain companies do not have open-source drivers, making it nearly impossible to get the true performance out of your video card. That means you might not really be able to play games on your system because of your hardware issues.

When installing games, you have a few options.

The first one most people use is installing a free program called WineHQ. This allows you to run certain Windows functions in Linux. Most simple EXE programs open and work fine. When it comes to something more complicated like games, you can go to the site and see how well it runs.

Generally, it will have a Gold rating if everything works great. It might get a Silver or Bronze if the game still has some issues. This should give you a good idea of how well the game will work. Most of the time, the most popular games work the best because people have taken the time to make sure they work well with Linux. If you wanted to play World of Warcraft, for example, this works great.

Another alternative is using some of the paid services that allow you to install the games to your system properly. Many don't like the idea of paying, but it is an option to consider. Many of these companies have written patches that make the problems go away once installed so you can play on your Linux system with limited issues.