Linux Gaming

I think comet is more about multiplayer in games that use the Galaxy API than achievements

The gog cloud save support I think was already in the Heroic Game Launcher for about a couple of years, I think I have my Cyberpunk 2077 saves on there, but honestly I'm not sure

Heroic is good, cloud saves are on Beta at the moment, on some (a lot) GOG games cloud saves aren't present. On the other hand some games do have the option. Heroic does allow you to configure a runner per game basis which is helpful in some situations.

If you do play the game on Heroic and it doesnt have cloud save, when/if you copy paste all the files or import it (copy/paste) to something that can run their client like Lutris/Bottles with galaxy all the achievements and saves are transferred and can be saved in the cloud. You do have to run the game at least once after transferring all those files to the client.

Cloud saves are already supported by Heroic ; Comet can already be used if you launch it yourself but will be integrated in the package in the future. Comet support online features and achievements. Heroic + Comet = Gog Galaxy

Not sure about that popularity comment, it's also available on Windows and I know of many people who have been using it for years instead of the crappy Epic Store. And yes, it works great for GOG.

Honestly, I can see that. I've just gotten used to Lutris over the years, even before Valve released Proton.

I mainly like Lutris as a tool to manage all of my games with easy ways to share common configuration steps between them. But I also see it going the way most Wine helpers went over the years. At first it works brilliantly for everyone. Then the pre-made configurations fail to work for edge cases or they fail when a game is updated. Eventually it's easier to configure everything by hand and then you don't need the tool anymore until the next one comes along.

But they started an initiative with Bottles, Heroic and other programs to make standardised configurations. Pair that up with Valve's efforts in Proton and the overall rising popularity of Linux gaming and we might get better and better tools down the line until they aren't needed anymore.

Yep, innoextract just unpacks the files, and I then place them into a folder in the home dir. Before I knew about innoextract I also just used WINE to run the installers, and then copied the installed files around. (btw, the apple pkg installers can also be unpacked by a combination of 7z and cpio - in case you just want to unpack one of the many GoG Dosbox games and don't have innoextract or WINE available)

I have a folder named ~/Games - and the individual games in subfolders there. In Steam's "add non-steam game" dialogue there's a "browse" button, and in that one I then select the .exe file of the game. That adds it to the library, and allows selecting Proton as compatibility tool in the preferences.

I am pretty sure the Steam Client reports which games you play to Steam's "presence" service, such that your Steam Friends can see what you are playing. I don't know if Valve gathers that data for other purposes (but would assume they do unless told otherwise). Also, some games that ship with Steam integration in their GoG installer (e.g. Loop Hero) will even track as you playing the Steam version - even if you don't own it there.

And yeah, there is no GoG Galaxy emulation in Steam of course, but I honestly don't care much about achievements. The lack of cloud support in non-Steam games is annoying though, as I also have a Steam Deck and those saves don't automatically synch...

I only did so because I had installed proton-ge. You know, "when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail" -type of thing. :D