This guide is only for Arch and Ubuntu. Any derivatives like Manjaro, Mint, PopOS, etc should also work.

If your Distro is not here, you run into any problems or have any more additions to this guide, Leave a comment and I will add it. Any help is more than welcome :)

If you are not a Linux user, check out my other guide on How to choose the right Distro Install it and then come back to optimize it for gaming :)

Multilib is required by Steam, So if you are running Steam you can skip this step, If you can not find Steam in your repositories this is your issue.


Edit /etc/pacman.conf and uncomment the multilib section.

Remove the # in front of all the multilib section lines, then save and exit with CTRL + X and run

If you are running KDE be sure to install lib32-fontconfig with the following command


Add the architecture.

Update the package manager

Upgrade to newer packages

Having the right GPU drivers is imporant, else games won't run properly.

If you have a GTX9xx or newer you need driver version 430. If you have a GTX 8xx or lower you need driver version 418 and if you have a GTX5xx or lower you need driver version 390. Pick the right driver version. If you even have an older card, manually check which driver you need: https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

If you have an AMD card you just need the newest version.


For the newest Nvidia you need these packages so install them.

For Nvidia 390 you need these packages so install them.

you need these packages so install them if you have a AMD GPU

Now update and reboot


For Nvidia you need to add a repository

For Nvidia 440 you need these packages so install them.

For Nvidia 430 you need these packages so install them.

For Nvidia 418 you need these packages so install them.

For Nvidia 390 you need these packages so install them.

For Nvidia 340 you need these packages so install them.

For AMD GPUs you also need to add a repository

Next install the needed files for AMD GPUs

Now reboot

If you use Gnome or GDM you might need to disable Wayland, This is not always the case, But I include it here just in case, If your System won't reboot you can try this


Remove the # in front of the #WaylandEnable=false line and it should force Xorg.

Installing the newest kernel is generally the easiest kernel switch, There are other kernels available, I will include them later.

To install the newest kernel


This is the default in Arch, no need to do anything, the newest kernel will be present.


The easiest way is to use ukuu, First we need to install it.

Now ukuu is installed, in this program you can select the newest stable kernel click install and when you reboot the new kernel is used. Do not remove your old kernel. If anything goes wrong you can select which kernel to boot in the grub screen at startup and remove the kernel that gives you trouble.

Gamemode[github.com] puts all your hardware in performance mode, it fixes some common problems and it just sounds cool :P


Gamemode is in the AUR run the following commands to install gamemode.

same thing for 32bit gamemode.


Install the dependencies

Clone the repository

Change the directory into the just downloaded folder

Change the tree to the newest version

Run the install script


Now that it is installed we need to enable the service with this command

To use gamemode for supertuxkart for example, run this terminal

To use it in Steam edit the launch option for the desired game to

If gamemode does not run try to make it executable:

If gamemoderun does not work for you try this as a launch command:

Nvidia users might want to enable all options listed here to improve performance in games

Force Full Composition Pipeline avoids screen tearing by letting the GPU do all the scaling.
Triple Buffer avoids stuttering gameplay It allows for a stream of data instead of chunks of data.
IndirectGLXProtocol forces the game to directly communicate with the Nvidia drivers.
Coolbits enables your card to be overclocked which gamemode will make use of.


Create a Xorg Config file:

Move it to the right directory:

Edit the file with the following command

Add in these lines under the "Device" section between the other options

Add in these lines under the "Screen" section between the other options.

Try this one with risk, It will be sure to crash GNOME, I am not sure about other DEs

just add it to the end of the file

If you run into any problems, just hit CTRL ALT F3 to switch to a different tty login, run the command to edit the file again and put a # in front of the options that are giving you trouble and reboot

Alternatively you can just completely remove the file with the following command and reboot


Create a Xorg Config file:

Edit the file with the following command

Add in these lines under the "Device" section between the other options

Add in these lines under the "Screen" section between the other options.

Try this one with risk, It will be sure to crash GNOME, I am not sure about other DEs

just add it to the end of the file

If you run into any problems, just hit CTRL ALT F3 to switch to a different tty login, run the command to edit the file again and put a # in front of the options that are giving you trouble, Most likely the last one

Alternatively you can just completely remove the file with the following command

Libstrangle[gitlab.com] is a tool that helps you control framerates but also vsync settings. This is especially handy for games that do not support these features, You would like to half your framerate to make it run better save some power or just give your hardware a break.

If you run Arch it will be in the AUR, for other distros you have to run the following commands


Libstrangle can be used in multiple ways depending on what you want to achieve.

To use libstrangle you can simply type strangle and then the amount of frames you want to run. There are some examples below, But the features you will probably use are Vsync which you use by using the -v option, the rules for OpenGL and Vulkan are different, Here is what each number does for the different apis.

OpenGL 0 Force off, 1 Force on, n - Sync to refresh rate
Vulkan 0 Force off, 1 Mailbox mode, 2 Traditional vsync, 3 Adaptive vsync

You can also limit the game depending on the power state of your device, Set it to 60 while charging and on 30 while discharging for example. You do this by adding a second number right after a colon. in example, strangle 60:30. There are more features but they are not that commonly used, you can check the gitlab link above or simply type strangle -h for more information.

To limit the framerate of supertuxkart to 30 simply run


To Force enable vsync on 60 fps for an OpenGL Steam game set the launch option to


To set the framerate of a vulkan game on Steam to 120 fps but 60 on battery power with adaptive vsync set this as your launch command

Mangohud[github.com] is a monitoring tool for Vulkan and OpenGL applications. It can show CPU and GPU usage, temps, But also framerates, frametimes and a lot more.


If you are on Arch you can find it in the AUR, If you are on Fedora you can find it in your repos.

For other distros execute the following commands.


To configure it with a GUI you can check out GOverlay below. For a manual configuration you can edit


If you want exactly my configuration you can just copy this into it without the need for GOverlay.


You can tweak all the little things you want here. You can also create different configurations per game by adding a MangoHud.conf file to the game directory.

To use it for any game change its launch option to


To use it with non Steam games use the following command


Some games might need the 32 bit version, try this if the normal command fails.

VKBasalt[github.com] is a post processing layer for Vulkan which enables you to enhance graphics further. It only works with Vulkan, This includes all Proton games.

If you are on Arch, it will be in the AUR, Just look for Basalt using your package manager.

If you are on a different distro you need to manually build it.


To configure it first you need to create a config file, Run the following command to copy the example to a folder you can edit as the user.

You can tweak all the little things you want here. You can also create different configurations per game by adding a vkBasalt.conf file to the game directory.

To use VKBasalt for any particular game enter this as a launch option.


You can also start non Steam games this way by typing the following command

GOverlay[github.com] is a Graphical User Interface for managing MangoHud and VKBasalt

If you are on a Arch based distro you can find it in the AUR, just install it with your favorite package manager. You can also find it in your repos if you are on Fedora.

If you are on a different Linux distro you can install it manually.

First install Lazarus and git with your package manager, it should be in your repositories, and maybe it is already installed. I will list the installation method for Debian based systems, change the first command if you are on a different distro.





mesa-demos and vulkan-tools are optional, You need them if you want to show the previews. You can find them in your distros repository

xpad works great, is the default on modern Linux distros and supports a wide range of controllers, But if you are like me and you only Xbox One controllers then using xpadneo is much better.

For Bluetooth to work with xpad and the Xbox One controllers you need to disable ertm (This is not needed for xpadneo)

create the config file


Add the following line to the document and save and exit with CTRL + X.


xpadneo[atar-axis.github.io] supports Xbox One controllers wired and over bluetooth, It enables Force Feedback even the vibration inside the triggers, It supports battery level indication, It also fixes the mapping in many many games that where previously unplayable with a Xbox One controller on Linux.


Install the dependencies

Install xpadneo from the AUR


Install the dependencies

Install xpadneo from Github

Now you should be able to reboot and it should be all good, Having the controllers vibrate for a second when connected is a good indicator that it works.

Your Linux distribution should now be optimized for gaming, Have fun :)

If you have run into any problems, Have any suggestions or additions or you are missing your favorite distro, Please let me know, and i will do my best make this guide complete.

If you have no fonts in steam run the following command