Gamescope (Linux-specific)

what is 'gamescope'?

Gamescope is something only Linux has. It is a microcompositor from Valve that is used on the Steam Deck. Its goal is to provide an isolated compositor that is tailored towards gaming and supports many gaming-centric features such as:

1. Spoofing resolutions.
2. Upscaling using AMD FidelityFX™ Super Resolution or NVIDIA Image Scaling (gain fps).
3. Limit framerates / support tearing / use open-VR on all you installed through heroic
4. ProtonGE: bundeled FSR / FSHack is gone? simply use Gamescope.

Gamescope inside of Heroic-App

(specific per game/app)

There is a plan to have a Gamescope setting in Heroic, while that is implemented, you can still use it with Heroic following the steps bellow:

1. Install Gamescope in your system.
2. In Heroic, open the game settings and go to the Other tab.
3. On the Advanced Options (Environment Variables), put the Gamescope command line you want to use followed by two dashes in the end, for instance: gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -W 3440 -H 1440 -b --.
4. If you have other variables, make sure you add it add the end of the input like: DXVK_HUD=full gamescope ... --
5. For now, enabling mangohud or gamemode might make gamescope not work, so try with those options enabled first.

'gamescoped' Heroic

(all apps / games started through hgl also started through gamescope (including FSR-/hotkey-/etc.-capabilities)) (no window borders anymore)

0. Install Gamescope in your system.

'gamescoped' Heroic - as seperate app

1. edit '~/.local/share/applications/Heroic-Deck.desktop'

[Desktop Entry] Categories=App-Starter; Comment=An Open Source alternative to the Epic Games launcher Exec=env GDK_BACKEND=wayland gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -f -Y -R --RT --force-grab-cursor --prefer-vk-device --adaptive-sync --sharpness 15 -- /opt/Heroic/heroic --ozone-platform=x11 --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform,WaylandWindowDecorations GenericName=gs_hgl Icon=heroic MimeType= Name=_Heroic_Games Path= StartupNotify=false StartupWMClass=Heroic Terminal=false TerminalOptions= Type=Application X-KDE-SubstituteUID=false X-KDE-Username=

• { Hint 1: 'Exec-'line, '/opt/Heroic/heroic' is Debian/Ubuntu-specific, should be streamlined to your distro }
• { Hint 2: 'Exec-'line, for better compatability (f.e. if you want to start other electron-based apps through hgl) you could append '--use-angle=vulkan'}

2. 'Heroic-Deck' should be there as new app, look into ~/.local/share/applications/ to start it manually

'gamescoped' Heroic - as 'login-session'

use Heroic as streamlined gaming-ui or as a beamer- or smartphone-ui with capability of installing native linux-apps by simply 'login' to heroic after you powered on (through sddm, gdm etc., possibly password-free, f.e. through editing sddm-config)

1. edit '/usr/share/wayland-sessions/Heroic-Deck.desktop' Exec=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexec/plasma-dbus-run-session-if-needed kwin_wayland --drm /usr/share/bin/heroicdeck Name=Heroic-Deck 1080p (Wayland) Name[de]=Heroic-Deck 1080p (Wayland) Comment[de]=Heroic-Deck X-KDE-PluginInfo-Version=5.27.3

• { Hint: 'Exec-'line, --drm could be accompanied / replaced by --xwayland --drm --x11-display }

2. edit '/usr/share/bin/heroicdeck' #!/bin/bash /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libexec/org_kde_powerdevil & qdbus local.org_kde_powerdevil /org/kde/Solid/PowerManagement/Actions/PowerProfile setProfile performance #older hardware: use lower base-resolution (f.e. 1920x1080 here) for more fps #kscreen-doctor output.DP-#.mode.# #kscreen-doctor output.DP-#.scale.# env GDK_BACKEND=wayland gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -f -Y -R --RT --force-grab-cursor --prefer-vk-device --adaptive-sync --sharpness 15 -- /opt/Heroic/heroic --ozone-platform=x11 --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform,WaylandWindowDecorations

• { Hint 1: 'env'-line, if you want 720p for fps reasons, use '-w 1280 -h 720' (or something else)}
• { Hint 2: 'env'-line, for better compatability (f.e. if you want to start other electron-based apps through hgl) you could append '--use-angle=vulkan'}
• { Hint 3: 'env'-line, '--force-grab-cursor' / --prefer-vk-device needs a relatively new gamescope binary, '--force-grab-cursor' is needed if you 1. use ozone though wayland 2. use antimicrox 3. want to control a hgl-started electron-based-app through antimicrox}

gamescoped hgl & gamemode (& NICE-capability)

for using gamescope properly with gamemode (and a NICE-capable kernel), just simply 'sudo setcap 'CAP_SYS_NICE=eip' /usr/games/gamescope'

gamescoped hgl & firejail

just put in your firejail-code into the line, f.e. (simplified) gamescope -f -- firejail --noprofile --/opt/Heroic/heroic

• { Hint: Heroic and apps started through it sometimes need a lot of 'caps', you have to manually sort them out if you want to set --caps for firejail (benefit: not all steam needs are needed here) }