Get 10% MORE FPS in Linux games with GAMEMODE!

Linux gaming has really become a thing in the recent years. 80% of the reported games on ProtonDB are marked as working on Linux, thanks to Proton, wine, and a host of other libraries like DXVK. Even with all of that progress, there can still be a performance gap between Windows and Linux on some games. Fortunately, there is a way to reduce that gap, and that's Gamemode.

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00:00 Intro
01:41 What is Gamemode
02:52 Benchmarks
06:25 Install Gamemode
07:21 Use Gamemode

Gamemode is a little program, developed by Feral Interactive, which you might know as the company that tends to port games to Linux, such as Total War Warhammer 2, or the Tomb Raider games.

What it does is try to optimize your system to give as much performance to the game you're running, and return to normal once the game is closed. It can do quite a bit, including giving more CPU priority to the game, more disk priority, inhibiting the screensaver while the game is running, using the GPU performance modes for AMD and Nvidia, when available, and even using overclocking on NVidia GPUs if it can.

Gamemode has been around for a while now, but it's still something that is rarely included by default, and needs to be installed separately.

The end result of running a game with Gamemode? You'll get more out of your hardware, and get better performance. The improvements will vary from game to game, but in general, the more a game is taxing for your hardware, the more gamemode will make a difference.

Gamemode doesn't come preinstalled on many distros, but it's pretty easy to install anyways. Gamemode is available in the repos for Ubuntu, Debian, Solus, Arch, Gentoo, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Mageia, so you can just install it through your regular package manager, for example a quick
"sudo apt install gamemode" on Ubuntu.

If Gamemode isn't available on your distro of choice? If you're on an older version of Ubuntu, like 18.04 LTS, there is a PPA, you'll find the command to add it here:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:samoilov-lex/gamemode

If that doesn't suit your needs, you can always compile Gamemode from source, you can find the instructions in the github page of the project, I'll leave a link to it in the description.

Once you've got gamemode installed, how do you make sure your games are actually using it? Let's see.

## Use Gamemode on Steam
On steam, it's super simple. Whether your game is running natively, or through proton, all you have to do is add a little launch option. Just righ click your game's name in your library, select "Properties", and in the window that appears, you'll find a "launch options" line.

In there, enter gamemoderun %command%

That's it. You can close the little window, and run your game as usual. If you were already using other command lines, you can just add that one at the end, and it will work fine.

## Use Gamemode on lutris

If your game isn't on Steam, but you're using Lutris, it's even easier. On Lutris, you get the option to enable gamemode with a single switch, if it's installed.

Just right click your game in Lutris's main window, select "Configure", and go to the last tab.
Here, you'll find a "Enable Feral Gamemode" option. Turn it on if that's not the case, and you're good to go.

You can also auto enable it for all games, just by going to the Lutris settings, in the "System option" tab, and enabling Gamemode there. All games will now make use of it.

If you're playing games on another platform, you should have a menu item to run them, in your distribution's menu. You'll have to edit that menu entry using any program of your choice. I use appEdit on elementary OS, but there are others for other distros.

In that menu entry, you'll need to add "gamemoderun" before the actual command line that starts the game. For example, if you have something like /usr/share/supertuxcart, just type gamemoderun before all of that.

I'd still advise you add these games to Lutris if at all possible, it makes it a lot easier to handle all of that.

If you're unsure if gamemode is correctly starting, open a terminal, and type gamemoded -s.
It will tell you if gamemode is active or not.

And that's about it. Since it's so easy to install and use, there is no real reason not to use it, and get a nice 5 to 10% boost in terms of FPS in all your games.

[nastygamer]

All I can say is: Wow! Gamemode made Dishonored 2 go from a 30-fps mess to stable 60 fps on my old 1050ti. Incredible!

[_RobertOnline_]

been gaming on Linux for a while and wasn't aware of this. Thanks for the info :)

[birchtree]

There is also a GNOME extension for gamemode that indicates when it is active

[joshpcausey]

watching this three years later and I just switched my main machine to pop os. It's amazing how far gaming on linux has come so fast. I didn't think this would ever happen

[MartinWimpress]

Gamemode is also extremely useful for live streaming. We've included Gamemode, by default, since Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 😀

[misterspitfire]

Just 10%...? I always use Minecraft as my benchmark, as it is so stable and reliable when testing, and this time the results were staggering! On my Intel i5 3570, with a Radeon RX 550, I usually get a comfortable 120 - 150 fps, using Optifine, but when using Gamemode my FPS goes insane! I'm trying to guess an average now, as my FPS sometimes hits incredible highs (over 500 fps), but I would conservatively assume that I'm getting at least twice my previous rate - so 280 - 300 FPS is a reasonable estimate. I'm not even sure how this little program works, but it is brilliant! Thank you so much for this video - I wouldn't have known about this otherwise. You've got another subscriber for sure my friend - can't wait to watch more of your videos. Thank You.

[joaogabrielv.m]

Oh boy... I vividly remember the old and bad days gaming on Linux. Having issues trying to install Steam Windows client using Play On Linux, huge frame drops with the Dx to OpenGL translator. What a time to be alive <3

[Peshyy]

The only downside a few people have with it is its hard dependency on systemd. It is an awesome tool and is already bundled with a few Linux ports by Feral.
I would like to see something like it or it running without depending on systemd, but that might be a lot to ask considering most distros are systemd-only with no option or intention to change

[joecardenas]

Hey Nick, I just wanted to give some feedback: Showing game footage while doing something quantitative (game benchmarks) is not really useful. It would be much more helpful to see a graph, especially in integrated benchmarks where run-to-run variance should be lower and reliability should be higher. I understand that with your current *theme* you have in all your graphics (which, may I say, I LOVE) it might be difficult to create entirely new graphics, but I think it would be worth it, especially if you ever wanted to do quick reviews of Linux laptops or something in the future. Thanks!

[LoganT]

Game mode works really well and is preinstalled on Zorin OS. Even simple games, it really makes a difference even on potato laptops. More distros need to have it preinstalled!

[ilozavr]

The text description is just great! Thanks!

[slembcke]

I use gamemoderun when profiling my own games too. Without it, a game may run smoothly enough although you'll end up with really noise task timings. With gamemode I can get very consistent timings and can actually act on the information. :)

[Coldfirebe]

How was I not subscribed to your channel yet? O.o Installed gamemode right away ! Thanks man !

[andrew]

This is pretty awesome I didn't even know this was pre installed on my Ubunru 20.04 system. I'ma go try it with some of my favorite emulators. thanks for this video.

[JordanIbanez]

Thanks buddy. My games run about the same with game mode on EndeavourOS + LTS kernel + CoreCTRL. Nice work.

[Blueeeeeee]

That's cool. It's a shame I never heard about it before now...

[SkyFly]

Hopefully, it will be improved more and more... ✅✅✅✅

[mostafatouny]

I got a +20 FPS increase in AC Syndicate! Really never expected to see an immediate difference :D

[fatbeard]

Thanks for the info. This is actually really helpful, especially for non gamer ppl like myself with OLD tech. I just received "newer" tech Hand me downs and I have to clean it (Physically) and put it back together and I want to try a different Distro other then LM and see how well I can game on it, because this hand me down was a gaming PC for World of Warcraft and some other high end games as well. Again thank you!

[jasonfanclub]

I am not a gamer but gaming on Linux could be a huge market to gain more users