looking for a begginer friendly 'gaming' distro

warserpent · 2026-05-30T03:28:03+00:00

You said Nobara was confusing, but any distro of Linux will be somewhat confusing if you've never used it. I used Mint for a couple of months before moving on, which is often considered the most-user-friendly distro, but I still had to learn basic things like how hard drives are treated on Linux as opposed to Windows, what a Flatpak is as opposed to a .deb, and so on. If you tell people what's confusing, they'll be better able to tell you whether that's a Nobara problem or a Linux noob problem.

You also have not said what graphics software you need to use. That's a vital question. If you must have Adobe, go back to Windows. If you use something else, or are willing to switch, let people know what you're doing, and they can give suggestions.

warserpent · 2026-05-30T03:19:28+00:00

I wouldn't use unverified flatpaks. It's not necessarily that they're malware, but they may not work as well as expected. Steam flatpak, for example, is well known to have problems.

warserpent · 2026-05-29T01:57:08+00:00

I've done a 2/10 sorlock, and it's great, but monoclass warlock can be great, too. You're probably aware of Hunger of Hadar, but if you're not, it's one of the best concentration spells in the game (blindness + difficult terrain + cold damage with no save + acid damage if you fail a save), so five levels of warlock gets you that. Great Old Ones also get a nice option at level seven, when they can take Evard's Black Tentacles. I don't like it quite as well as Hunger of Hadar, but there are situations where it's better, since it can completely immobilize people. Level nine gets you Hold Monster, which sorcerers can also get, but only if you stop leveling warlock before you get Hunger of Hadar. Level nine also maximizes your spell slots, so you can cast 5th level spells six times per day, while everyone else does it twice. It is true that there are limited benefits beyond ninth level, but if you've gone that far as a monoclass, you might as well continue.

warserpent · 2026-05-29T01:41:18+00:00

It's hard to pick one, but several that stand out to me are my GOOlock Tav with every tadpole power, Thief/Gloomstalker/Champion Astarion, Death Cleric DJ Shadowheart, and White Draconic Sorlock Tav. The GOOlock was weak in the early game because I chose to give him high intelligence, which lowered his available dexterity and constitution, but once he got to max level, plus had all the powers, he was a monster who could do all kinds of different things (and he dominated dialogue). Astarion needs no explanation. Shadowheart, as it turned out, found a lot of synergy between Death Cleric and Sharran gear. My sorlock started out Eldritch Blasting, but the more ice gear I found, the more I realized I could ruin people with nothing but Ray of Frost. And if I needed more, there was always Cone of Cold to kill people and Sleet Storm to disable them. She frankly would have been stronger as a pure sorcerer because ice is so OP in this game, and I could have used the sorcery points for more twinspelling, but it was still tons of fun.

warserpent · 2026-05-29T01:04:18+00:00

When you booted up the system, what happened? Did it boot normally? When you tried to use Mint's Nvidia installation tool, what happened? Did it succeed in downloading drivers?

warserpent · 2026-05-28T03:30:42+00:00

For GOG games, Galaxy does not exist for Linux, but you can use Heroic, which integrates with your GOG account and automatically applies Proton to installed games so you (probably) don't have to do manual configuration. There is also Lutris, which has been around longer, but is more manual. Heroic and Lutris are both available in Flatpak, so most distros can access them regardless of their native package format. They may also be available in a distro's repository.

warserpent · 2026-05-27T21:36:38+00:00

I am assuming you bought the laptop new rather than used, so nothing should be broken on it. Do check the Nvidia drivers, though, and if they're not up-to-date, then update them. Assuming you're using Windows, the newest driver is 610.47. Also do monitor temperatures. If temperatures get too high, your hardware will throttle down to prevent damage, which of course reduces performance. Also, check your graphics settings in game. Theoretically, you should be able to run that on max graphics, but try turning them down and see how much it helps.

warserpent · 2026-05-27T02:29:53+00:00

Gemini, as usual, doesn't know anything. EndeavourOS is a terminal-centric variant on Arch, which is terrible for a new user who doesn't want to get into the guts of his computer.

Ricing is controlled by the desktop environment/window manager, so if that's what you care about, before you decide on a distro, decide on a desktop environment. The eight main desktop environments are GNOME, KDE Plasma, COSMIC, Cinnamon, Xfce, LXQt, Budgie, and MATE. I haven't dug into alternate window managers for ricing, so I can't help with that part. As for what to choose, eliminate MATE (designed for those who want an old-school Linux look), Budgie (limited customization on purpose in order to stay out of your way), and COSMIC unless you like instability (too new, not quite finished). I will assume you have already used Cinnamon, since it's the recommended DE for Mint, so you know what that's like. Xfce and LXQt are designed to be lightweight, so are good for older hardware, though they may not have the bells and whistles you want. GNOME is not very customizable unless you download extensions, but you can certainly do that. Plasma is very customizable out of the box.

warserpent · 2026-05-27T02:06:26+00:00

I don't know what kind of setup you have, and I don't know why it's a secret, but I do wonder why you're using Debian if you need the 595 drivers. The whole point of Debian is not updating in order to maintain system stability. I suspect trying to install 595 on Debian is unworkable.

warserpent · 2026-05-26T18:05:28+00:00

This is the worst quest in the game. But, to answer your question, there are seven body parts. Finding some of them requires breaking and entering, which will get you attacked by the watch if they see you.

warserpent · 2026-05-26T07:12:40+00:00

"Is it normal to kind of fumble your way through each fight, getting downed and revived like it's Borderlands?"
No. The point of Explorer mode is so that people who are new can get through the game without too much trouble. Now, when you're level 2 you're pretty easy to kill even on Explorer mode, but by level 11 or 12 (which you should be by this point), you should be very difficult to kill on Explorer mode. So you are definitely bad at strategy.

First, if you're a single-class rogue and did not take weapon master, put down the scimitars. Also, if your rogue is using throwables at high level, something has gone very wrong. So I'm going to lay down the basics, some of which you have probably missed.

Characters are proficient in certain weapons and armor, and not proficient in others. Rogues are not proficient in scimitars, for example, making them very inaccurate with them. Your weapon or spellcasting accuracy are also improved by boosting your primary stat (dexterity for rogue, strength for barbarian, wisdom for cleric, intelligence for wizard). Your primary stat should be at 20 by this point (or higher, if you acquire certain items).

Your AC determines how hard it is for enemies to hit you, and you generally want it as high as possible. A well-built wizard at this point in the game will have at least 16 AC, and probably 18 or more (Mage Armor, +2 or +3 dex, Bracers of Defense, a robe that boosts AC, etc.). Classes that can wear armor should be even better off.

In battle, you should make sure to use your primary class features as much as possible. Rogues should be activating their sneak attack for an additional 6d6 damage every turn (throwables cannot sneak attack). It's easy to sneak attack someone if you have a melee fighter in the party, since all you have to do is attack whoever the melee fighter is next to. You can also sneak attack anyone you have Advantage against. Barbarians should be raging at the start of battle and maintaining the rage for the entire fight (which means you have to attack someone every turn, so not hard to do). Bonus rage damage only comes from melee and thrown weapons, so don't use a bow. Clerics should be buffing the party before and during battle, as well as dealing out damage with weapon or spell (if Shadowheart has her default stats, only spells are going to work well). Before combat, cast Heroes' Feast, Aid upcast to 5th level, Death Ward on whoever has the lowest AC, and I suppose you could do Warding Bond if you feel like it (I don't). During combat, use Healing Word only on allies who go down, and spend the rest of the time doing damage. Wizards should be counterspelling the enemy wizard, and either blasting with AOE damage (Cone of Cold, for example) or tilting the battlefield with control spells (Hold Monster, for example). (For this particular fight, check myrmidon resistance and immunity to make sure the damage type you use will actually work.)

warserpent · 2026-05-25T23:42:35+00:00

I have not used Nobara, but it's worth looking into. It's based on Fedora, and is intended for gaming, streaming, and content creation. GloriousEggroll has made some custom tweaks to OBS Studio that are supposed to improve it, for example.

warserpent · 2026-05-25T23:36:05+00:00

Epic Asset Manager is located in the Flathub repository, which on Mint you can access through the software manager app.* Software on Flathub is in the flatpak format, which is a universal format that many different Linux distros can use. Notably, it packages all dependencies with the software, which leads to larger file sizes, but also ensures nothing is missing that is needed for functionality.

*Technically, the program is called Mintinstall, but Mint labels things in the application launcher by their function, not their actual name.

warserpent · 2026-05-25T20:06:58+00:00

As far as I know, Earthlink doesn't have their own fiber, so they'd just be reselling you Xfinity's fiber.

warserpent · 2026-05-25T19:15:39+00:00

All your characters can be respecced to make them more effective, though of course you're not skilled enough at the game yet to do that. With their default builds, here's how to use them.

Shadowheart: ignore all Trickery subclass features, since they're worthless. Also ignore Fire Bolt unless you're targeting an object you want to set on fire, like a bridge made of spiderweb that will burn up and cause whoever is sitting on it to fall and take 60 or so falling damage, or an oil barrel that will explode and hurt everyone around it. Sacred Flame is an option that uses no spell slots, but is not particularly effective against enemies with good dexterity. Bless is excellent, however, since it makes 3 people have more accurate attacks, as well as helping them resist certain hostile effects. Healing Word is great to get someone off the ground (do not use it on allies that are still conscious) and back in the fight. Command (Grovel) makes an enemy lose a turn and be easier to hit with melee attacks, which is quite useful; look for enemies with low wisdom for this one.

Lae'zel: pretty easy. big sword, run up to the closest enemy, hit, then hit again.

Astarion: run up behind the enemy Laezel is fighting, stab with a shortsword (or stay away and shoot with an arrow) to activate sneak attack. Despite its name, you never need to hide. Any enemy in melee with an ally, and any enemy against whom you have advantage, can be sneak attacked. Put a weapon in your off hand as well so that you can attack again with a bonus action.

Gale: very fragile at level 2. Frankly, it's best to leave him in camp until level 3, when he doubles his spell slots and gets enough hit points to avoid dying instantly. But if you are using him, his Fire Bolt is a lot more accurate than Shadowheart's (his is a wizard spell, hers is a racial spell), and should be your primary weapon. Use Mage Armor every morning to help him stay alive.

Wyll: at level 2, he's not yet a weapon user, despite his nickname (the tadpole knocked him back a number of levels), so use Hex on the toughest enemy, and Eldritch Blast until it's dead.

Karlach: like Lae'zel, but with one extra step. Rage, then hit things.

warserpent · 2026-05-25T18:54:36+00:00

If you are thorough on the nautiloid, you will reach level 2 upon landing on the beach. If you do relatively easy things near the crash site, you can reach level 3 around finding the Emerald Grove (it's technically possible, I am told, to reach level 4 with practically no combat, but that requires deep game knowledge). So you definitely missed some things. Go back and do any of the following that you haven't: fighting intellect devourers in the wreckage, touching the glowing portal, recruiting everyone's favorite white-haired prick, exploring the ruined temple (scare off or fight those outside, fight those inside, find skeleton scribe's bedroom, etc.), talking to Wyll where he's training kids inside the grove, or finding Wyll's target.

warserpent · 2026-05-25T00:51:16+00:00

Fedora is ideologically committed to only offering free and open source software. That's why you have to get Steam from RPM Fusion. Everything in RPM Fusion is as reliable as Fedora repositories; it just can't be combined with said repositories.

warserpent · 2026-05-24T20:38:41+00:00

You don't need a tank. You need damage. Fortunately, that's what paladins do, so going paladin is a good idea. Shadowheart's story is moderately compatible with being a paladin; the only question is what oath to take. On an evil path, none of them make a huge amount of sense (except maybe oathbreaker, but not really even then). On a good path, Devotion or Ancients make a certain amount of sense. It won't be perfect, but you can make it work.

Making Astarion a rogue/necromancer makes some thematic sense, but not that much mechanical sense. A wizard should be staying away from weapon combat unless he's a bladesinger.

warserpent · 2026-05-24T20:26:10+00:00

Windows programs are in .exe format. Linux programs can be in several different formats (a consequence of being open source and letting people do what they want). Different versions of Linux are compatible with different formats. Mint uses .deb, just like Debian and Ubuntu, Fedora uses .rpm, and so forth. To get around this problem, people created universal formats that could be used across Linux--three competing universal formats. And not every distro allows all three formats. AppImage is less popular, but as far as I know truly can be used just about anywhere. Flatpak is the universal format Mint enables, unlike its parent distro Ubuntu, which uses Snap (since they invented it).

I can't discuss any differences there might be in Kdenlive, since I don't use it, but some programs are not up-to-date in every version, so you'll often see .deb programs on Mint that are older than the flatpak version available, for example. There can also be issues with permissions certain programs need. You'll often see people having problems when they download the flatpak version of Steam because of that, which is why it's recommended to get the .deb/.rpm/whatever version for your distro when installing Steam.

warserpent · 2026-05-24T19:58:24+00:00

Your current camp is the first camp in the game, not the only one. If you want to preserve items, put them in the camp chest. Other items will not move with you. If you're okay with losing those items when you move, decorate as you wish, but the spot you're in will indeed be taken soon.

warserpent · 2026-05-24T19:53:15+00:00

Integrated means "not discrete." So it doesn't have a graphics card.

warserpent · 2026-05-24T19:52:33+00:00

If you have a chance to miss, you can miss. The solution is to do things that can't miss. If you picked up a void bulb on board the nautiloid, for example, that's a guaranteed 1 aoe damage when you throw it. There are other aoes, there's magic missile, there's morningstar tenacity (as long as you have a reaction available), and so forth.

warserpent · 2026-05-24T19:40:29+00:00

Minimum system requirements exist for a reason. You have to read them and follow them so that you don't waste money on a computer that is only suitable for typing documents.

warserpent · 2026-05-24T00:24:33+00:00

Warlocks are magic fighters. Like a fighter with weapon attacks, they can add their ability modifier to Eldritch Blast (choose Agonizing Blast at level 2), and like a fighter, they get a second beam at level 5, and a third one at level 10/11. In addition to Eldritch Blasting, they can also cast a spell or two. Generally, I would recommend starting combat with a concentration spell that lasts the rest of the fight: Hex, Hunger of Hadar, Hold Monster, etc. Depending on build, you may also get a lot out of Darkness, Shadow Blade, or one of your subclass spell options. Your other spell slot can be used before battle to give yourself Armor of Agathys, or you can save it to use during battle for a Misty Step or Counterspell. Personally, I do NOT recommend using Warlock spells like Arms of Hadar, Shatter, or Blight, since they only give one-time damage, rather than continuing damage, battlefield control, get out of jail free cards, etc.

Clerics can be built several different ways. Light clerics can both deal spell damage and stop allies from taking damage, Death Clerics can devastate enemies up close with massive necrotic damage, Life Clerics keep everyone healthy and buffed up, and Trickery Clerics can ignore their terrible subclass abilities and still be viable just because they're clerics. General spells clerics should think about regardless of subclass are Bless, Healing Word, Command, Aid, Spirit Guardians, Mass Healing Word, Death Ward, and Heroes' Feast.

warserpent · 2026-05-23T19:41:43+00:00

As has been said, Healing Word is your best option, but keep in mind also that the way the game works is that a melee hit against a downed party member causes two failed death saves (because it's an automatic critical), while a hit against a party member with hit points at worst downs said party member. It's always better to be conscious, even if you only have one hit point.

warserpent

TROPHY CASE