LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers. - SOLVED

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grungy_me
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LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers. - SOLVED

Post by grungy_me »

Hey People,

If you like gaming on LinuxMint, or Linux in general, I'd like to strongly suggest that the Cinnamon desktop is not the desktop to use, XFCE is. I say that with a sad heart, as I truly enjoyed the Cinnamon desktop experience. It's really a nice desktop and I like the applets and shortcuts that allow you to split the screen between multiple applications. I've spent a lot of days doing a bunch of testing prior to upgrading to LinuxMint 17, as I had problems in LinuxMint 16 Cinnamon 64-bit running five games from Humble Bundle 10 and 11, and Windows games run through WINE. The HB games were Hoard, Strike Suit Zero, Papo & Yo, Antichamber, and Monaco. The Windows games were Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, MDK2, and Age of Empires 2 The Conquerors which all would not run full screen. This is with an AMD HD5770 graphics card using the AMD proprietary graphic driver installed from the Driver Manager, an AMD Phenom 2 x6 1055T (2.8GHz) CPU, and 4GB of RAM.

I'll summarize my results first for easy reading and then post my test data at the end. I chose to test with all the Humble Bundle games that would not previously run plus some that I knew did run before, plus the three previously mentioned Windows games.

Firstly I'd like to make note that from my testing, the open source AMD graphic driver is not anywhere near good enough for gaming. Which is contrary to a lot of people hyping up the improvements in the open source driver. So I'm omitting it from my summary, but you can find my results with it in my test data.

With LinuxMint 17 Cinnamon 64-bit using the AMD proprietary driver installed from the Driver Manager which is an older version, I found that some games that used to run in LinuxMint 16 Cinnamon 64-bit no longer ran and vice versa. I find that quite odd. Installing the 14.6 beta AMD proprietary driver downloaded from their web site improved significantly what games would run, but still left five games that would not.

With LinuxMint 17 XFCE 64-bit I got the same results whether I used the older AMD proprietary driver installed from the driver manager, or two different versions of the 14.6 beta AMD proprietary driver downloaded from AMD's web site. Which is, that all the games I tested with ran perfectly except for Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 which would only run in an emulated desktop (in a window).

So this is why I say the Cinnamon desktop environment seems to be at fault in some way, and that the XFCE desktop environment is the better choice for LinuxMint gamers. Although I wouldn't rule out KDE as being a good choice too. I just have not tested it.

My only complaint regarding my AMD graphics card at the moment is Papo & Yo plays at a bit below playable FPS at times with choppy/laggy frame rates happening regardless of screen resolution and graphic settings. And the Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 issue which may be a combination of a WINE issue plus graphic card driver issue. On an older computer of mine that has a Nvidia GeForce 7600 with the proprietary Nvidia driver installed, it plays fine full screen until you change the in game screen resolution, and then the game crashes with a similar error message. Same issue using an emulated desktop with it.

With LinuxMint 17 XFCE 64-bit this is a far better gaming experience than I've ever had on Linux. And I now feel that I have been unfairly blaming my AMD graphics card as the source of problems. Which seems to go contrary to a lot of comments I've seen on the internet regarding how bad the proprietary AMD graphic drivers are. But perhaps my particular AMD graphics card is old enough that it is well supported with their driver. I've read some comments that suggest that with newer AMD graphic cards that is not necessarily the case. Regardless, my next graphic card purchase will be an Nvidia one due to their proprietary driver working very well in Linux.

I hope this information helps some of you people play more games on Linux. :)

Here's my test data:

Code: Select all

Order of tests:

LM-17 Cinnamon 64-bit
	Open source AMD graphic driver
	Proprietary AMD graphic driver from driver manager
	Proprietary 14.6 beta 7/14/2014 AMD graphic driver from AMD web site.

LM-17 XFCE 64-bit
	Open source AMD graphic driver
	Proprietary AMD graphic driver from driver manager
	Proprietary 14.6 beta 5/27/2014 AMD graphic driver from AMD web site.
	Proprietary 14.6 beta 7/14/2014 AMD graphic driver from AMD web site.

All Windows games running through WINE done on version 1.6.2 stable.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linuxmint 17 Cinnamon 64bit with open source AMD GPU driver labeled "xserver-xorg-video-ati Version 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3.1"

Games that did not run:

Antichamber - Segmentation fault
Beatbuddy - ./Beatbuddy.x86: error while loading shared libraries: libXcursor.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Guacamelee - Error: ( bool GVideoSys::InitOpenGLContext(u32, u32) ) Missing required OpenGL extension: ARB_framebuffer_object
Error: ( bool GVideoSys::InitOpenGLContext(u32, u32) ) Missing required OpenGL extension: EXT_texture_compression_s3tc
Error: ( bool GVideoSys::InitOpenGLContext(u32, u32) ) Missing required OpenGL extensions
Prepping shutdown...
( SoundMgrFmod::SoundMgrFmod() ) SoundMgr constructor
Shutting down...

Hoard - segmentation fault
Joe Danger 2 the movie - ./JD2Launcher: error while loading shared libraries: libXrender.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Monaco - segmentation fault
PapoYo - segmentation fault
Strikesuitzero - X Error of failed request:  GLXBadFBConfig
  Major opcode of failed request:  156 (GLX)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  34 ()
  Serial number of failed request:  169
  Current serial number in output stream:  168

TheSwapper - Could not attach to process.  If your uid matches the uid of the target
process, check the setting of /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope, or try
again as the root user.  For more details, see /etc/sysctl.d/10-ptrace.conf
ptrace: Operation not permitted.
No threads.

=================================================================
Got a SIGSEGV while executing native code. This usually indicates
a fatal error in the mono runtime or one of the native libraries 
used by your application.
=================================================================

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 - A Windows game run through WINE. Game loaded but displayed full screen 1/3 up the way of the monitor so was not playable. It did seem to play properly in an emulated window.

MDK2 - A Windows game run through WINE. Game loaded but displayed the full screen in the top left hand corner of the monitor such that you only saw the bottom right hand corner of the game. Played fine in an emulated window.

Age of Empires 2 - The Conquerors - A Windows game run through WINE. Game loaded and appear to run fine although the aspect ratio was not maintained on my wide screen monitor. Changing to a higher screen resolution caused the game to crash. It did seem to run fine in an emulated desktop.

Games that did run properly:

Dustaet - Ran beautifully. No screen tearing.
Fez - Ran beautifully. No screen tearing.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linuxmint 17 Cinnamon 64bit with AMD GPU driver from Driver Manager labeled "fglrx-updates Version 2:13.350.1-0ubuntu2". Driver shows as version 13.35.1005-140312a-169199E in AMDCCC.

Games that did not run:

Antichamber - segmentation fault
Beatbuddy - ./Beatbuddy.x86: error while loading shared libraries: libXcursor.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Guacamelee - segmentation fault
Hoard - segmentation fault
Joe Danger 2 the movie - ./JD2Launcher: error while loading shared libraries: libXrender.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Monaco - segmentation fault
PapoYo - segmentation fault
Strikesuitzero - segmentation fault
Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 - A Windows game run through WINE. Crashes to error message: "Exception Raised - Access Violation. Error Location: Unknown", gracefully goes back to the desktop. Does not run in an emulated desktop.

MDK2 - A Windows game run through WINE. Just brings up error message before loading: "EaccessViolation." Does not run in an emulated desktop, it gives the same error.

Age of Empires 2 - The Conquerors - A Windows game run through WINE. Crashes with a program error. Does not run in an emulated desktop, it gives the same error.

Games that did run properly:

Dustaet 
Fez
Theswapper


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linuxmint 17 Cinnamon 64bit with AMD GPU driver 14.6 beta 7/14/2014 from their web site. Shows as version 14.20-140529a-173820E in AMDCCC. 

Games that did not run:

Beatbuddy - ./Beatbuddy.x86: error while loading shared libraries: libXcursor.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Joe Danger 2 the movie - ./JD2Launcher: error while loading shared libraries: libXrender.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

Strike Suit Zero - At first glance it looks like it runs right. But the mouse doesn't line up with the menus, and the screen is not using all of the monitor in full screen mode. On top of some screens only showing a bottom corner.

Rollercoaster tycoon 2 - Windows game run through WINE. Loaded to a black screen then crashed. It would run properly in an emulated desktop. 

MDK2 - Windows game run through WINE. Looked like it run full screen properly but frooze upon exiting the game and unable to get back to desktop. Had to log out and back in. Runs fine in an emulated desktop.



Games that did run properly:

Antichamber
Dustaet
FEZ
Guacamelee
Hoard
Monaco
Papo & Yo
The Swapper
Age of Empires 2 The Conquerors - Windows game run through WINE. Ran full screen just fine with aspect ratio maintained.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linuxmint 17 XFCE 64-bit running open soure AMD GPU driver labeled "xserver-xorg-video-ati Version 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3.1"

Games that did not run:

Hoard - It ran! Although screen was black with mouse cursor showing. But sound could be heard and interactions with mouse could be heard. So I technically could not play it.

Papo & Yo - It ran. But graphical glitches were so bad it could not be played.
Strike Suit Zero - It runs. But graphical problems are too much to play it. Everything is really dark and things seem to be missing.

The Swapper - Crashed with seg fault.

Games that did run:

Antichamber - With screen tearing and possibly other graphical problems.
Beatbuddy - With some screen tearing. 
Dustaet - With some screen tearing.
Fez - With some screen tearing.
Joe Danger 2 The movie - Runs with some screen tearing and sever graphical problems.

Monaco - Game runs perfectly!


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linuxmint 17 XFCE 64-bit running "fglrx-updates version 2:13.350.1-0ubuntu2" from driver manager. Shows as version 13.35.1005-140312a-169199E in AMDCCC.

Games that run:

Antichamber 
Beatbuddy
Dustaet
Fez
Hoard
Joe Danger 2 the movie
Monaco
Papo & Yo
Strike Suit Zero
The Swapper
MDK2 - Windows game run through WINE.
Age of Empires 2 The conquerors - Windows game run through WINE.

Games that do not run:

Rollercoaster tycoon 2 - Windows game run through WINE. Brings up error message: "Exception Raised - Access Violation Error Location: Windows Unknown Driver". You click on ok and then it crashes gracefully back to the desktop. It will run properly using an emulated desktop, as in windowed mode, not full screened.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linuxmint 17 XFCE 64-bit running AMD 14.6 Beta 5/27/2014 from their web site. Shows as version 14.20-140522a-172181E in AMDCCC.

Games that run:

AntiChamber
Beatbuddy
Dusteat
Fez
Guacamelee
Hoard
Joe Danger 2 The Movie
Monaco
Papo & Yo
Strike Suit Zero
The Swapper
MDK2 - Windows game run through WINE.
Age of Empires 2 The conquerors - Windows game run through WINE.

Games that do not run:

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 - Windows game run through WINE. Brings up error message: "Exception Raised - Access Violation Error Location: Windows Unknown Driver". You click on ok and then it crashes gracefully back to the desktop. It will run properly using an emulated desktop, as in windowed mode, not full screened.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Linuxmint 17 XFCE 64-bit running AMD 14.6 Beta 7/14/2014 from their web site. Shows as version 14.20-140529a-173820E in AMDCCC.

Games that did run:

Antichamber
Beatbuddy
Dustaet
Fez
Guacamelee
Hoard
Joe Danger 2 the Movie
Monaco
Papo & Yo
Strike Suit Zero
The Swapper
Age of Empires 2 - The conquerors - Windows game run through WINE.
MDK2 - Windows game run through WINE.

Games that did not run:

Rollercoaster Tycoon 2 - Windows game run through WINE. Brings up error message: "Exception Raised - Access Violation Error Location: Windows Unknown Driver". You click on ok and then it crashes gracefully back to the desktop. It will run properly using an emulated desktop, as in windowed mode, not full screened.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
DrHu

Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by DrHu »

I guess I was just reading your SUBJ: Title and got the wrong impressions
--so you think Linux is OK for games you use!
  • And unless Noveau improves greatly, I will always be tending towards the vendors drivers, and I do use NVIDIA, as their past support for Linux has been better than ATI (AMD/ATI..)
Unless it is dos games or online streaming, or Linux specific games, then yes Linix OS is not effectrive for gaming
--because as you will know, any recent games come in Sony PS2/3 or XBox or PC game modes, not in Apple OSX or Linux OS mode..

Linux games NEWS
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2363780/ ... -home.html


Linux and Games..
http://www.linuxgames.com/
http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/best-linux-games
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_gaming
http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20080 ... Games.html
http://www.penguspy.com/#/All/free_and_ ... =1/limit=0
http://www.lgdb.org/

Streaming
http://store.steampowered.com/browse/linux/
http://www.zdnet.com/steamos-the-linux- ... 000021059/

Unless you need the latest commercial games, Linux as a gaming system works just fine,
grungy_me
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

Yeah, I suppose my title could be interpreted the wrong way. But once you read the first sentence it all becomes clear. Yes, so far Linux is surprisingly quite nice for games. Particularly if you can find them made native for Linux which is starting to be more and more. Although getting some Windows games to run through WINE works quite well, and DOS through Dosbox which I haven't tried yet. I suppose I just haven't been craving to play games that old.

It has also been my understanding for quite some time now that Nvidia had better proprietary graphic drivers than AMD. Hence why I was surprised that my problems turned out to not appear to have anything to do with my AMD graphic card and more to do with the desktop environment Cinnamon. It's made me re-think this whole thing about about the AMD proprietary graphic drivers being terrible. It certainly was early on when I first bought this graphic card, but it doesn't seem to be the case anymore. But also makes me wonder why Cinnamon is one of the two main desktop environments if it causes such problems with interfering with games from being run.
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karlchen
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by karlchen »

Hello, grungy_me.
If you like gaming on LinuxMint, or Linux in general, I'd like to strongly suggest that the Cinnamon desktop is not the desktop to use, XFCE is.
You do know that you can install both desktop environments in parallel?! Then at logon time you can decide which one to login to. One will be the default. I.e. if you do not select a desktop the default desktop will be used. Would be your decision whether you make xfce the default or Cinnamon.
Works perfectly. I added xfce to my Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon system, because Cinnamon was a bit too heavy for everyday usage on my Zotac (Atom processors, nVidia ION graphics card).

Kind regards,
Karl
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grungy_me
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

Yes. I am aware that one can do that karichen. The reason I did not attempt that is because in that past when I've done that, the alternate installed desktop environment is not setup and optimized the way each LinuxMint version is on top of them installing extra programs that I don't need that seem to come with the desktop environment. The fonts don't look very good and it is the basic desktop environment with no LinuxMint customizations. I don't know how to correct that. So I opted to make Clonezilla images of each install for quick and easy restore as needed. It worked for me.
grungy_me
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

I've since installed all the games from HumbleBundle 9, 10, and 11 with the exception of Starseed Pilgrim that seems to require an Adobe program that I don't want to install. And the only problem I have with any of those games is the mouse seems to disconnect from Surgeon Simulator 2013 after a few seconds of running in full screen. But it does run fine running in a window. Very occasionally game sound will be become corrupt in some games like FTL and Monaco. But I've been able to work around it by saving the game, exiting the game, logging out, then logging back in and everything is fine again.

My new favorites are Strike Suit Zero, Hoard, and Monaco. All fun games! :)
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Post by SMarais »

In my opinion amd products don't work so well on linux. I strongly recommend Intel products nvidia and Intel proc.
Even is Linus Torvalds doesn't like nvidia for various reasons, they do actually pay attention very carefully to the drivers they release for Linux.
I have LM Running on all these computers
grungy_me
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

@SMarais -

I used to think this was the case for AMD graphic cards. But my current experience is not proving that out as long as you choose a desktop environment like XFCE that doesn't get in the way and prevent games from running. I've personally never had an issue with AMD processors on Linux. And I've used AMD processors exclusively since I started owning computers.
zektor

Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by zektor »

Well, Gnome 3 (which Cinnamon is based off of) has not been nice to me in gaming at all. I am using an ATI AMD 7770 card with proprietary driver. I switched to the KDE version of Mint 17, and it is a night and day difference. One thing I did have to do is to turn on the nifty setting to turn off desktop effects when a fullscreen app/game is detected. Once that was done, my Steam games (Portal, Portal 2, Half Life, Beat Hazard) run flawlessly. The KDE version of Mint is the way to go for me at least.
grungy_me
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

@zektor -

This is good information to know! Thank you for posting it here and varifying that Gnome 3 which Cinnamon is forked from has the same issue. I had indeed suspected that KDE and possibly Mate would be good desktop environment alternatives for gaming, as I've read about this setting to turn off desktop effects when a full screen program is running in KDE in other posts on the Internet. I'm glad that worked for you. And I certainly was not suggesting in my initial post that XFCE was the only way to go, but one that worked for me and the only one I tested besides Cinnamon. Thank you again for posting this information here. It does help us Linux gaming users understand what our options are that will work.
zektor

Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by zektor »

Not a problem! Gaming is of a major importance to me when it comes to switching over from a Windows world. I have tried Gnome 3 derivatives (terrible for gaming), Unity (even worse), Mate (ok I guess, but not as fluid), XFCE (much better due to low resources and the way it works I suppose) and KDE as forementioned. KDE works best for me, and I imagine it is because of my hardware. I do not have a powerhouse of a machine either. I am using a Pentium G3450, AMD 7770, 8GB of memory, and a Z97 based Gigabyte miniITX board in a small HTPC. It is just as smooth in KDE Mint as it is in Windows 8.1 (I dual boot).

This also goes for emulators. I use Retroarch and it runs superbly in KDE. The turning off of the desktop effects on full screen was the best option they could have provided. It gives the ability to use the desktop with nice effects, but completely disable those effects when full screen gaming for max performance. Sort of like how some games disable Aero in Windows when launched. But the approach of the OS to do that instead of relying on the game is a great one. Because of the performance I get I cannot leave Mint KDE. If you have a modestly fast computer it is certainly the way to go.
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by SMarais »

@grungy_me

Yes AMD proc are just a bit less performant than Intel that's all. I prefer the stability of the Intel now but I use to install AMD back in the 90's when AMD was above Intel in terms of quality and perf.

ATI are a huge problem to change on a desktop computer both Windows and Linux. As they are based on AMD technology the stability of the proc is not as good as Nvidia's. But to be honest I haven't had to install on in over a decade.
I have LM Running on all these computers
zektor

Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by zektor »

I would like to add my experiences as of late to this. I tried the XFCE version and by far that was the worst experience. Mainly because of screen tearing. I own a AMD 7770 and have tried the 13.35 driver that mint installs, as well as the 14.6 beta driver. Even with turning on "tear free" and disabling desktop composition XFCE still does a horrible job. I had this issue with XFCE years ago, and I guess it never went way.

I tested the Mate edition, same config. MUCH better, but Mate had oddball issues (like the Mate menu crashing and dissapearing) and was overall not feeling very stable. That is not game related of course, but turned me off quickly. But it did run games fine.

Cinnamon is a no go. Games performed poor here....not as bad as XFCE, but not good either.

Mint KDE performed the best. Flawlessly actually. It is the same experience here as it is in Windows 8 (which I have dual booted)


You mileage may vary depending on the games you play and what you are doing. I am mainly using Steam and Linux games through it, Mame, Mess and Retroarch. KDE is the desktop of choice for me. It is smooth and really really good :)
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

@zektor

Wow! So it sounds like it may depend on what your hardware configuration is as to what desktop environment works best. I'm glad you found KDE to work well for you. I've certainly heard other people over on reddit.com mention much the same as you so I'm not terribly surprised in that regard. But I am surprised XFCE worked way worse. Just out of curiosity, was this a fresh install of the XFCE version of LinuxMint, or did you just install the base XFCE desktop on the KDE install of LinuxMint?

Off topic:
I since have done some research and have discovered that the AMD proprietary graphic driver is the source of the frame rate limitation and over all lag problems I've been having in Papo & Yo. No matter how low I set the game resolution and disable the graphics settings features, it still runs at a low frame per second as the highest resolution with all graphical features turned on. This is apparently a quite a common problem with AMD graphic cards running in Linux. My AMD HD5770 is old and is the last supported generation in the AMD proprietary graphic driver. So it will be the next one to be cut off. So I'm upgrading to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 graphics card in the hopes that this resolves all of my graphical and gaming problems.
zektor

Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by zektor »

It was indeed a fresh install of Mint XFCE. It's really a shame as aside from that tearing it was an overall enjoyable desktop environment.

I think an Nvidia card is the best bet to be honest. I always went Nvidia and never had issues, but recently went to an ATI 7770 (HIS brand) due to the performance/power consumption/price, and it is overall a great card with some excellent performance in Linux Mint...but only some versions (Mate and KDE)

I think I would have better performance on a wider array of desktop environments with an Nvidia card though.

I have to say that LXDE did spendidly as well...maybe the best of all. But this was not a Mint release....as there is none anymore. I used LXLE for that.
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

I just confirmed yesterday that this problem is not isolated to computers with AMD graphics cards in them. My friend's laptop is an older Intel Core 2 Duo with integrated Intel graphics on the motherboard that I had previously installed LinuxMint 17 64-bit Cinnamon. I started installing the Roller Coaster Tycoon 2 plus both expansion packs via WINE v1.6.2 stable. Upon running it the screen re-sized the resolution and displayed the game screen with only the bottom right hand corner showing in the top left hand corner of the monitor. A pretty much identical problem I had with some games when I had Cinnamon installed. So I installed LinuxMint 17 64-bit XFCE on his laptop and that resolved the problem. The game plus both expansion packs runs perfectly in full screen mode.
Last edited by grungy_me on Mon Aug 25, 2014 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
phill1978

Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by phill1978 »

I left cinnamon as Vsync wasnt working properly. I tried a variety of things but even for a moderatley adept user like myself it wasnt working. I was using AMD opensource and AMD catalyst but the problem was AMD catalyst was much faster but wouldnt tie into the cinnamon desktop properly. So in the end (after a whole year of trying and waiting i bought a new and quite powerful Nvidia 760GTX and reinstalled cinnamon ... night and day err... no, the vsync still didnt work properly on the closed driver (also the expo bug exists where the wallpaper vanishes and just a grey background is there)

So my solution as always was to run KDE. KDE has many more features for controlling the Vsync, Effects and back end renderer. Sooner or later you find a combo that works. I even ran KWIn on XFCE and that is a great combo.

ProTip: For those running KDE Mint 17 .. even though its contrary to what you belive do not run the OpenGL renderer for proper vsync and about a 20% performance boost run " XRENDER : NATIVE : SUSPEND DESKTOP EFFECTS FOR FULLSCREEN "

this kills desktop vsync ( why o why cant Linux Vsync a desktop already thats really smooth when moving windows across the entire screen without a glitch on anything other than the Opensource drivers ?!?! , nobody other than coders or casuals use the opensource driver right now, anyone wanting to game on Linux has to suffer from god awful vsync problems)


Anyways. Hopefully Vsync will be sorted soon as Wayland / XWayland is not too far off and that offers perfect frames, albeit probably with a lower FPS but at least you will get vsync across the board.
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

@phill1978

Thanks for posting this information here. Great confirmation of problems with Cinnamon under different hardware. KDE certainly seems to be a good alternative for gamers if they don't like XFCE.
phill1978

Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by phill1978 »

grungy_me wrote:@phill1978

Thanks for posting this information here. Great confirmation of problems with Cinnamon under different hardware. KDE certainly seems to be a good alternative for gamers if they don't like XFCE.
FYI found out something.. Window edge tiling and fliping causes inconsistent performance on the cinnamon desktop, it also seems to effect full screen windows. Disable it and after a few or 5 seconds things get smoother.

its a reported issue but it will probably take years to actually get fixed.

hope this helps any cinnamon gamers.

thanks
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Re: LM-17 Cinnamon is not good for gamers.

Post by grungy_me »

@phill1978 - Thanks for this post that gives a possible work around while still using Cinnamon. I had also read things after I switched to XFCE that suggested that disabling the compositor in Cinnamon could fix this problem. But at that point I was done with Cinnamon so I haven't been able to test that theory.
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