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Needing Game Launcher Advice (lemmy.zip)
submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by overcast@lemmy.zip to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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hey, I’m planning to turn a PC into a dedicated gaming device

I already chose my distro and DE, but I’m not sure about the game launcher, help me choose

I’m used to Bottles + RetroArch/Ludo, tried Lutris but didn’t feel that comfortable for me, didn’t try Heroic nor Meteorite

while both Bottles and RetroArch/Ludo have a grid/game UI, I’m planning on getting a joystick eventually, so a unified frontend with joystick support would be handy

Steam Game Mode seems okay but I would prefer something else if I can

Pegasus looks amazing, mature, customisable and supports multiple sources

OpenGamePadUI really caught my attention, minimal, relatively stable despite its age, multiple sources

but Im still not sure, help me choose

also, have you tried UMU? I’m still trying to get used to the UMU way instead of plain Wine

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[-] overcast@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago

Im trying to understand how UMU uses prefixes

plain Wine prefixes work just like a Windows drive, I just execute WineCFG or regedit or install more software in the same prefix if I need to

but UMU seems even more focused to the one program per prefix approach

I know it uses a read only runtime, but how does it use prefixes? Bottles doesn’t treat them like they do with Wine ones (allowing you to add shortcuts for different programs in the prefix for example, but Bottles offers you to use Game Files outside of the prefix too)

[-] popcar2@piefed.ca 4 points 6 days ago

Basically it creates a new prefix for every game you have. They're extremely similar to wine prefixes. You generally don't have to worry about them, but if you need to mess with them or install a program you can use Protontricks, which is also included in Heroic's menus.

[-] exupulosion@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

Heroic has an option in game settings "run exe on prefix" and also winetricks gui. UMU has its own proton version, you can use it if you need to

this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026
23 points (100.0% liked)

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