Gaming

Run these commands as your regular user after installation. Start with the graphics driver packages, including the matching 32-bit driver packages for Steam. Enable multilib in /etc/pacman.conf and run sudo pacman -Syu before installing 32-bit packages.

Steam and Lutris

sudo pacman -S steam lutris

When pacman asks for a Vulkan driver provider, select the one matching your GPU. On hybrid systems, install the drivers needed by both GPUs.

Use Steam's supplied Proton first. Select a compatibility tool in a game's properties when needed. Lutris manages runners for games outside Steam; use its current runner integration rather than a separately downloaded nightly Wine package. See Steam and Lutris.

If a game specifically needs GE-Proton, ProtonUp-Qt can install it for supported launchers. protonup-qt is an optional AUR package:

paru -S protonup-qt

Use yay instead if that is your installed helper. The old Wine-GE project is archived; its upstream README points to the umu-based approach for running GE-Proton outside Steam. Follow your launcher's current integration.

Standalone Wine

For Windows applications outside a managed launcher:

sudo pacman -S wine

wine-staging is an alternative when an application needs staging patches. Current Arch Wine packages use the new WoW64 mode, so do not copy old lists of dozens of lib32-* Wine dependencies. Steam's 32-bit graphics requirements still apply separately.

Existing 32-bit-only Wine prefixes may need recreation for the WoW64 transition. Back up saves and application data before replacing a prefix; do not delete it blindly.

Modern Wine supports NTSync, and Arch packages supply its module-loading integration. Different Proton or Wine runners can use different synchronization implementations. Keep system-wide file-descriptor limits at their defaults unless a specific runner documents a need to change them. See Wine synchronization primitives.

Optional performance tools

GameMode can temporarily change selected system settings while a game runs:

sudo pacman -S gamemode lib32-gamemode

For Steam games, set the launch option to gamemoderun %command% if you want to use it. See GameMode for configuration and testing.

For supported GPU monitoring and controls, LACT is available in the official repositories:

sudo pacman -S lact
sudo systemctl enable --now lactd.service

Check hardware support before changing power, voltage or clock settings. NVIDIA users can also install nvidia-settings, although some controls are unavailable in Wayland sessions.

Optional kernels

The standard Arch kernel is a suitable starting point. If you want to compare linux-zen, keep linux installed as a recovery option:

sudo pacman -S linux-zen

External modules need matching headers, such as linux-zen-headers. For Turing-or-newer NVIDIA hardware using the current driver, switch to nvidia-open-dkms and install headers for every installed kernel. Let pacman handle the conflicting prebuilt module package in the normal transaction. Legacy GPUs require their matching legacy DKMS branch; do not force-remove dependencies.

Regenerate initramfs images and check for module build errors:

sudo mkinitcpio -P

With GRUB:

sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

With systemd-boot, copy your working /boot/loader/entries/arch.conf to arch-zen.conf, retain its root/encryption options, and change the title, linux and initrd lines to:

title Arch Linux Zen
linux /vmlinuz-linux-zen
initrd /initramfs-linux-zen.img

Check bootctl list and the files in /boot before rebooting. Keep the original entry available.

More hardware-specific guidance is in Gaming.