I am looking for help on how to run closed source / pirated games on linux within a virtual machine. I would like to start by saying if I could walk into a shop and buy with cash, a game on a CD like in the old days I would. I have recently become very privacy conscious and until I figure out a way to anonymously and privately purchase things like this I am going to stick with pirating. Also, it is helping me to archive content as everything seems to be moving online and I want to stick with offline applications / media etc in my control.
Now, I am familiar with virtualbox but of course, it is no good for gaming. I have read about other applications that offer much better performance with support for GPU passthrough or similar (but how does this affect the security side of things when running pirated games). Forgive me, this is all quite new to me.
What I want is a virtual machine capable of gaming so that I can more safely run pirated games on linux. Also, I am very new to linux and some help in how I should actually go about running games on linux in the first place. I do not want to just install steam because it has closed source elements and being more privacy conscious now, I’m not sure I want to. Though I am aware I can use the proton layer to enable gaming support which I believe is fully open source. For my purposes lutris sounds like it may be the route to go. Thoughts on this welcome.
As a side note, I am thinking of signing up to GOG as they, to me, seem like a better alternative to steam where I can actually own a DRM free copy of a game that I buy. On a pirating note I thought locating signed, hash checked GOG installers to be a good option for security for dipping my toe into pirating games on linux. I am much, much more comfortable with detecting and removing malware in a windows ecosystem. Linux, completely foreign. So I am trying to be careful.
Once I get fully set up I plan to buy the games I enjoy on GOG, I think that will be the path I can be most comfortable with. At the end of the day I will own a DRM free copy of the game itself. That is the best I can do where I cannot get it on physical media I think. I already do this for CD’s and DVD’s etc.
Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
you can with GPU passthrough. not a simple process though, and not all hardware supports it.
plus you need a dedicated gpu for the VM.
It’s actually possible to do it with a single gpu but it’s trickier than if you had two. You can use libvirt hooks to stop all graphical processes (and log your gui session out), unload the kernel drivers for the gpu, and start the VM with the now unused primary gpu. Then do the reverse when the VM stops and you’re back to your login screen.
Pain in the ass, fickle as hell, most GPUs fuck up the Reset, in the end it is barely more practical than a dual boot.
sounds unpractical af
On machines with just one gpu it’s either that or no passthrough tbf
I set it all up as an automated step before a VM named “win” boots, and I can just start the vm and these steps happen on their own
oh for sure. upside is maybe it’s an easier and better documented process now a few years later from my last attempt.
might be worth it for the annoying anticheat games.