[anon9001]

Here's a KMS server emulator, all open source: https://github.com/Wind4/vlmcsd

If you want to skip straight to the piracy, here's an open source package for you, complete with keys, hosted ironically on Microsoft servers, that uses vlmcsd: https://github.com/ekistece/vlmcsd-autokms

It's a pretty clever hack. It runs the KMS emulator locally and fakes the network connection with a TAP device from OpenVPN. Works perfectly.

[michaelmrose]

Why not just run Linux

[r00fus]

Likely games - which are probably also pirated.

[baot]

Ironically, the last time I needed Windows to run a game was because of Denuvo. I wouldn't have needed it if I'd pirated it.

[zsrxx]

It does not have Win32 or DirectX, for starters

[kelnos]

Sure it does: wine. Whether or not it works (and works performantly enough) for what any given person needs it for is another matter, of course.

[Draiken]

Honestly I think it's sad how much the community still underestimates gaming.

I tried using wine or even using Steam directly on Linux, but playing any game with 30-40% less performance is ridiculous.

If you really like games, Linux is unusable for anything big.

I've had to dual boot Windows for the last 10 years just to play a game without stuttering, lag, huge FPS drops, etc.

Nothing would make me happier than being able to only use Linux, but until the community takes gaming seriously, people are forced to use Windows.

[kelnos]

Sure, if you want to run a recent game, or one that's graphics-intensive, yeah, it might not run well enough for you on wine, and you'll need to dual-boot.

Personally, I don't have that kind of problem, and I suspect I'm not alone. Of the games I play that don't have Linux ports, they run well enough under wine, even on my (recent) laptop with Intel graphics. But I'm a pretty casual gamer, and honestly find it rare that I just must play the type of games that require a high-end Windows rig.

[Zardoz84]

what setup do you have ? Because I play on Linux and I don't appreciate any performance drop. For example, Stellaris and Doom fly's on my machine.

[Draiken]

NVIDIA GTX960 with an i7 and 16 GB of memory. That's not the issue.

I'd argue if it was the issue, even Windows wouldn't let me play any of these games with reasonable performance.

[michaelmrose]

Here is the 64 dollar question. What GPU driver?

[Draiken]

I have an NVIDIA GTX960.

When playing CS:GO (a relatively old game) I have stuttering, drastic FPS drops and more :(