The fundamental problem is that a web engine is one of the most massively complex pieces of software that we currently use. There are a ridiculous number of standards and behaviors that a modern web browser needs to implement, as well as a whole host of security implications that need constant updating. It’s not like the majority of other software projects, where a determined solo dev or even small group can strike out on their own. It really requires a team of dozens or hundreds of developers putting in consistent effort, which basically means a corporate entity.

XFCE or LxQT > MATE in my opinion, but if I was trying to make a lean system I would just use a tiling wm, probably sway.

Yeah, I’m definitely in favor of banning the edgy kids who use fascist imagery on the platform, but Pepe is not and has never been that. Just because some assholes tried to appropriate it for a few months doesn’t mean everyone else should just surrender it to them.

NTFS drives can be used by both Windows and Linux (you might need to install a driver for the latter but most user-friendly distros include them out of the box). So yes, if you have storage drives you’ll still be able to access them from both sides.

There can be weird issues sometimes with this setup, usually as a result of Windows freaking out because Linux modified some file, but it’s rarely anything severe. Personally I just flipped all my drives to Linux filesystems because they’re nicer for several purposes and I am actively trying to avoid ever using Windows again at this point.

There’s a third party alternative to the Epic launcher called Heroic, works pretty great. Also apparently Roblox works with something called “Sober” – no idea what that is just regurgitating other comments.

Usually the bootloader is only on one drive regardless. Keeping them on separate physical drives can be nice for simplicity but there’s no reason you can’t put them on the same drive.

Check all the games on ProtonDB, but from what you listed that should all be pretty easy to get working on Linux. 95% of Steam games just work out of the box, with most exceptions being competitive MP games with aggressive anti-cheat. If it’s not a steam game, it’s still likely pretty easy to run, but you might have to use a third party launcher or something depending on what storefront it’s from.

Tekken.

It’s gonna be way less hassle to just use Linux. The gaming situation is so vastly improved from 6 or so years ago, and the vast majority of games just work, with a large amount of the rest only needing minor tweaks.

The big exceptions are in competitive gaming, and even there it’s pretty much limited to proprietary & intrusive anti-cheats that I wouldn’t have installed on my Windows computer anyway; Riot’s Vanguard and FACEIT are probably the two big ones. Also Fortnite – even though EasyAntiCheat does work fine with Linux, Epic has chosen to explicitly not support it. If you do play one of those few games – or use other proprietary software like the Adobe suite that also won’t work – a dual boot should be fine, it only takes maybe two minutes to swap over and unless you have two beefy GPUs you’ll be limited in a KVM setup.

Based on this post I’m gonna say take it slow with a dual boot or live installation, if at all. You mention a lot of IMO fairly minor and subjective look and feel type criteria that indicate that you’ll be quite bothered by minor changes. Using Linux is going to involve major changes. If you’re not willing to leave your comfort zone and relearn a few things, might as well stay on Windows.

I have no context here, but isn’t getting a similar level of pushback from the community under a second alias evidence of some of it being justified? Or did people somehow discover it was the same person and then the abuse started?

I agree that the exclusivity is a bummer, but on the other hand multiple games exist today that would not without Epic’s funding. I just don’t buy games on the Epic store (everything I own on there was from a free giveaway). When they come to Steam, I get to buy them on my platform of choice, and the injection of capital means they’re much further along than they would be otherwise, if they would even exist without the funding. I just think of it as an Early Access period.

Yes, from an objective standpoint I would of course prefer an open cross-platform standard, but while it’s the sort of thing I could see Steam adopting and even contributing to, Epic definitely wants the lock-in. And while Epic would obviously love to be a monopoly, as long as they have less market share than Steam, they’re an anti-monopolistic force as a direct competitor to Steam.

In this scenario, boycotting games that include the EOS SDK is a pointless gesture and the only reason to do so is if you’re worried about the telemetry in the SDK, which from the documentation and from Satisfactory dedicated server logs is pretty minimal unless you log into Epic through the game. It sounds like your main issue is the exclusivity, which has nothing to do with the SDK, and would be effectively “voted against with your wallet” by just not spending money on the Epic store. But as long as Epic keeps offering significant chunks of cash for timed exclusivity, it will remain an extremely attractive deal for any game without significant pre-relrase hype.

But… you’re basically arguing for more exclusivity by effectively boycotting the majority of products that choose to release on the Epic store, as most of them will include EOS functionality. Why is steamworks fine?

I’m a valve fanboy but they’re only company that’s even got a prayer of monopolizing the PC games market. Epic is if anything an anti-monopolistic force here – the Unreal Engine is the Epic product that’s threatening market dominance.

DLLs are libraries that get called by the binary. So deleting the DLL stops any calls from executing, but the code still contains calls to the SDK.

Go ahead and boycott any game that uses EOS, but it’s a weird hill to die on.

RoR is likely turning off some of the functionality but the EOS SDK is still used in the binary. I’m assuming here, I don’t know the specific implementation, but if there’s a check box and you don’t need to restart the whole game after checking it, there’s no way it’s somehow removing EOS from the program. It likely just disables various functionality, but I bet it’s still making a couple calls to verify the existence of the EOS network, just like Satisfactory does.

Games (and programs in general) have to be built with support for any environments they want to run on. If you want to release your game on multiple storefronts and take advantage of their built in social functions, you need to build in support for those functions, even if they won’t be used in some cases.

I mean if you don’t log in, at least the dedicated server only makes two calls to EOS. The SDK is in the game, sure, but if you’re not logging in to Epic then I don’t really see the threat. It seems like classic sinophobia to be totally blasé about any data Steam (or Coffee Stain) want to collect, but to avoid the entire product because Tencent might be able to associate your IP with the fact that you own the game.

I mean, it’s there so the game can utilize Epic’s online services, like achievements. Doing so requires the use of the EOS SDK. So it’s not like they can just include a check box to disable the functionality; that would require an entirely separate release of the game. It’s already not doing anything besides making sure the EOS server exists unless you’re engaging with Epic systems. At least that’s the case for dedicated servers, but I would assume that it’s the same if you only select Steam multiplayer (or single player mode).

You don’t have to install the launcher to play games that use EOS. You don’t have to make an account unless you want to log into Epic, which is not necessary to play the game (unless of course you bought it on the epic store).

The only arguably bad thing about EOS’ inclusion is that it can collect some telemetry about you, which Epic currently claims to be pretty sparse.

You don’t have to log in to Epic unless you want to play with Epic users.

But… Why? I don’t understand why you would be okay with using a company’s engine but not their online services. Is it a privacy issue? You don’t even have to log in to Epic unless you want cross platform play.