If you're playing games through Steam and haven't checked out Proton in a while, give it another try! The only game I haven't been able to get work on Ubuntu 16/18/20 is Fallout 3.
I completed Fallout 3 a few months ago on Ubuntu 20 under Proton (and Fallout: New Vegas). Try using Lutris's implementation of wine ± proton -- my GOG copy "just worked", much to my surprise. Including the mods, and mod managers!
If you continue to have trouble, drop me an email and I'll give you my configuration.
I very much second your sentiment about proton being "good enough". It's amazing! I have a less than stellar GPU -- a Radeon 570 -- and haven't found a single game that I can't play on 'ultra' settings at 1080p, including the in-development BG3.
After Apple's CSAM awfulness, my next laptop will be linux, ideally with a Zen processor, quite possibly running Manjaro and either KDE or i3.
There's only one ThinkPad with Ryzen that comes preloaded with Linux last I checked, but I'm hoping more come out soon since I really like ThinkPads. Either way, ThinkPads are worth a look since they play well with Linux, whether they come with Linux preloaded or not.
I'm also in the market (to replace my MacBook-esque XPS 13 Developer Edition), so if someone wants to suggest me a (other than ThinkPads) 13-14 inch laptop that will play well with Linux [not necessarily preloaded], let me know.
Don't like their rebadged Clevo hardware (I know they put a lot more effort than that, and I appreciate it, but the look is not for me). Other than that, IIRC they just came out with a Ryzen laptop and it's too big for my taste.
Don't feel bad - Fallout 3 (atleast from Steam) no longer works on Windows 10 either! Installed it the other day, googled after it failed to launch, and saw there's a few community efforts and hacks you can try to get it up and running. I gave up.
I would like to but the performance is a dealbreaker. If I'm on windows, I can expect to run latest titles at 60 fps on my 4 year old rig. That isn't possible on wine/proton.
Provided some garbage from either Microsoft or your hardware vendor isn’t sucking up all the I/O or CPU which has consistently been my experience the last few times I’ve suffered Windows.
If you continue to have trouble, drop me an email and I'll give you my configuration.
I very much second your sentiment about proton being "good enough". It's amazing! I have a less than stellar GPU -- a Radeon 570 -- and haven't found a single game that I can't play on 'ultra' settings at 1080p, including the in-development BG3.
After Apple's CSAM awfulness, my next laptop will be linux, ideally with a Zen processor, quite possibly running Manjaro and either KDE or i3.