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by heyoni 1046 days ago
I really want to try VFIO and ditch my windows install completely but I'm worried about anti cheats. Nice to hear there are steps you can take...

You have experience with this? If so, just wondering...are there linux distributions to avoid for VFIO? I'm between arch and NixOS, nothing too outside of the mainstream.
1 comments
bravetraveler 1046 days ago
It's definitely worth a whirl! Some anti-cheats are more effective at catching this than others.

I was using this as my method of 'Gaming on Linux' until Proton became a thing.

Lots of experience, indeed, though my memory hasn't aged particularly well. I even had SLi working with two RTX2080s! Hacked drivers and EFIGuard to bypass security things

Valorant was the one game I couldn't really manage.

Perhaps with more determination, but I lost interest rather quickly. Not that into the game and Proton really hurt my VFIO involvement; the timing was unfortunate.

There are some rote edits to the libvirt XML I can't recall. Both to get the nvidia driver to work (if applicable, look for 'code 43'), and to hide the VM state for anti-cheats.

You'll generally be well served by your distribution of choice with modern kernels and QEMU/libvirt.

I don't know Nix well, but from what I gather, you get to pick a lot... so it shouldn't be a problem. Arch is Arch, it'll be fine being so new!

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heyoni 1046 days ago
> Lots of experience, indeed, though my memory hasn't aged particularly well.

That's kind of hilarious because my aging thing is manifesting itself in making me unable to play more complicated games. Like, I wish I could get into dwarf fortress or the new baldur's gate but always feel fried and opt for a round of call of duty (and now diablo 4). Those games are require 0 reading, it's all instinct and nothing in the game happens without some audio-visual feedback...

The irony here is that I might take a deep dive into VFIO because call of duty is one of those games that will never work with Proton...I guess for you that was Valorant?

These must all be the side effect of having kernel level anti cheat programs running on Windows and very dedicated anti-cheating teams.

> I don't know Nix well, but from what I gather, you get to pick a lot... so it shouldn't be a problem. Arch is Arch, it'll be fine being so new!

I have a habit of setting up linux machines and forgetting the process. I'm hoping NixOS will help with that :D

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bravetraveler 1046 days ago
Don't worry, you're not alone! I have the same 'aging problem'

Though... I suspect it's a compound issue. Work is draining! Mindless fun is all I can handle, too :D

Kernel level anti-cheat is indeed the bane of Proton. Fortunately, VFIO can help there - giving a full trusty Windows kernel.

I long for a future where 'we' collectively reject these. I believe there are less-technically-invasive methods for dealing with cheaters than... essentially writing a driver and creating attack surface area.

NixOS should indeed - forcing you to write things down as you go!

I'm partial to Ansible for this, personally. You can automate quite a lot with it - there's a very healthy ecosystem of modules for almost anything you could imagine

If written well, it will work on any distribution. It's a fun challenge/art

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