This is the easiest way I found to install Steam/Overwatch 2

I feel like some people are jumping through hoops to get this working, so I figure I'll share what worked well for me.

System: MSI B150 M3 gaming motherboard, Intel i7 7700K @4.2 GHz, 16GB Gskill DDR4 RAM, Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB SSD, Asus ROG STRIX GTX1060 6GB GPU

OS: Ubuntu Studio 22.04 LTS desktop, KDE Plasma enviornment

[First] Install Nvidia graphics driver:

Check the available drivers for the GPU. In a terminal:

sudo ubuntu-drivers list

My output was:

nvidia-driver-470-server, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-470-server-lowlatency-hwe-22.04)nvidia-driver-470, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-470-lowlatency-hwe-22.04)nvidia-driver-535, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-lowlatency-hwe-22.04)nvidia-driver-418-server, (kernel modules provided by nvidia-dkms-418-server)nvidia-driver-545, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-545-lowlatency-hwe-22.04)nvidia-driver-525, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-525-lowlatency-hwe-22.04)nvidia-driver-450-server, (kernel modules provided by nvidia-dkms-450-server)nvidia-driver-390, (kernel modules provided by nvidia-dkms-390)nvidia-driver-535-server, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-535-server-lowlatency-hwe-22.04)nvidia-driver-525-server, (kernel modules provided by linux-modules-nvidia-525-server-lowlatency-hwe-22.04)

Check which (if any) version you are currently running:

cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version

My output:

NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 545.29.06 Thu Nov 16 01:59:08 UTC 2023GCC version: gcc version 12.3.0 (Ubuntu 12.3.0-1ubuntu1~22.04)

with "nvidia-driver-545" being the newest. Install it if needed:

sudo ubuntu-drivers install nvidia-driver-545

(or whichever driver was newest in the list)

Confirm if you like with the same command as above:

cat /proc/driver/nvidia/version

[Second] Increase the maximum number of RAM maps per process. This helps prevent crashes due to running low on memory.

Check current map max count:

sysctl vm.max_map_count

My output:

vm.max_map_count = 65530

Check total available memory (RAM) in kB:

grep MemTotal /proc/meminfo

My output:

MemTotal: 16310096 kB

Now divide the MemTotal in kB by 16, and that is the max map count you can set. For my example, 16310096 kB divided by 16 = 1019381.

Set the max map count (substitute "1019381" with your correct max map count from above):

su rootecho 1019381 > /proc/sys/vm/max_map_count

Confirm the new setting:

cat  /proc/sys/vm/max_map_count

This is not persistent between boots, so simply rebooting would reset it. This also means you need to set the max map count each time you boot. (Will update once I get that done)

[Third] Install Steam from the official website: go to https://store.steampowered.com/about/ and click the green "Install Steam" button at top right. This installs Proton and everything else necessary.

Launch steam once finished.

Go to menu Steam > Settings > Compatibility , switch on "Enable Steam Play for all other titles" , "Run other titles with" should be set to "Proton Experimental".

Then install Overwatch 2 or whatever through the Steam software you just installed.

I personally set Overwatch's in-game settings all to lowest, except for antialiasing which I set to max. This gives me unexpectedly smooth performance at 2560x1440 resolution. FPS in matches is usually stable-ish at 140-145 with dips into the 120s when a lot is going on in the game. Varies between running quite acceptably, and smoother than I ever saw this card do on Windows. *Make sure Overwatch is set to exclusive fullscreen mode. Windowed / borderless windowed gave me a reduction of ~40 FPS consistently. In-game latency (network lag) has been 50-80ms.

I've played 150 games with a total of 2 crashes, and that was before I found how to increase the max memory map count. I have never once been distracted by my system's performance, I can just play. It does like to freeze sometimes if you just chill on the main menu screen for a bit - I just go into any other menu to go afk.

So it's really not all that difficult, and what I consider to be modest hardware gets you pretty far. Best of luck to you!