Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

The main pain point I have with SteamOS is game compatibility, in particular with older games (90s/2000s).

Maybe 60% of games work and it's such a headache trying to get it working, if it can be fixed at all.

Modern games however tend to work really well.

I mean, I keep a physical vintage winXP machine around for games of that vintage because I find they don't tend to play super nice with modern hardware on windows either. I haven't switched my main personal desktop away from win10 yet due to compatibility with my Cad program, but playing games from that vintage was a nightmare IME. I dunno, maybe I'm unlucky with my selection not playing nice, but I found it way easier to just have a decent 2000's vintage PC hooked up with a KVM to my 3rd 1080p monitor for that. Bonus is that, since I'm playing those games for nostalgia anyway, it's better running them under XP anyway. I haven't gone as far as hooking up a CRT, just due to the space. But the second desktop is tucked away under the desk, so the only real downside is having a low red monitor hooked up. No big loss there, the tertiary monitor is mostly for slack and a media player otherwise so it doe3need to be nicer. Just something to consider, since PCs of that vintage aren't that expensive unless you want a high-end example.

I've actually found the opposite in my experience, though I would assume it's very much case-by-case. A recent example was Hyperbowl, a turn of the century game that broke on every version of Windows post-XP. Works fine on Linux with recent Proton and dgvoodoo2, though.

There's also DOSBox (which is quite capable at running win9x now, with Voodoo emulation) and 86box to fill those compatibility gaps too.

Can't say that Windows 11 compatibility on this regard is any way better. Anything pre Dx-9 is somewhat broken one way or another.

I've recently found about Dreamm[1] by AAron Giles (a well known emulator developer) which is basically a very lightweight os-indipendent reimplementation of some windows and directx calls specifically for some Lucasarts games written during that time period, It would be nice to see a similar project expanding in such direction without having to reinvent Wine and/or Proton.

https://dreamm.aarongiles.com

I would have to disagree. Those same games that didn't work on SteamOS worked flawlessly on Windows 11.

It's definitely game-dependent. In a few cases I've found it was easier to rebuy a game on GOG, like Dino Crisis or '98 Resident Evil 2 (whose re-releases indeed run on win11 flawlessly while they're quite problematic on Proton) rather than messing with their original cd/dvds.

On the other hand the Sega arcade ports from the same time period (Sega Rally 1&2, Daytona USA Deluxe, Manx TT Superbike Virtua Striker, etc.) are definitely less problematic on Wine/Proton rather than Win11.