GameMode is a daemon/lib combo for Linux that allows games to request a set of optimisations be temporarily applied to the host OS and/or a game process.
GameMode was designed primarily as a stop-gap solution to problems with the Intel and AMD CPU powersave or ondemand governors, but is now host to a range of optimisation features and configurations.
Currently GameMode includes support for optimisations including:
CPU governor
I/O priority
Process niceness
Kernel scheduler (SCHED_ISO)
Screensaver inhibiting
GPU performance mode (NVIDIA and AMD), GPU overclocking (NVIDIA)
Custom scripts
GameMode packages are available for Ubuntu, Debian, Solus, Arch, Gentoo, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Mageia and possibly more.
Issues with GameMode should be reported here in the issues section, and not reported to Feral directly.
Requesting GameMode
For games/launchers which integrate GameMode support (see list later on), simply running the game will automatically activate GameMode.
For others, you must manually request GameMode when running the game. This can be done by launching the game through gamemoderun:
gamemoderun ./game
Or edit the Steam launch options:
gamemoderun %command%
Note: for older versions of GameMode (before 1.3) use this string in place of gamemoderun:
Please note the backslash here in \$LIB is required.
Configuration
The daemon is configured with a gamemode.ini file. example/gamemode.ini is an example of what this file would look like, with explanations for all the variables.
Config files are loaded and merged from the following directories, in order:
/usr/share/gamemode/
/etc/
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME or $HOME/.config/
$PWD
Note for Hybrid GPU users
It's not possible to integrate commands like optirun automatically inside GameMode, since the GameMode request is made once the game has already started. However it is possible to use a hybrid GPU wrapper like optirun by starting the game with gamemoderun.
You can do this by setting the environment variable GAMEMODERUNEXEC to your wrapper's launch command, so for example GAMEMODERUNEXEC=optirun, GAMEMODERUNEXEC="env DRI_PRIME=1", or GAMEMODERUNEXEC="env __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only". This environment variable can be set globally (e.g. in /etc/environment), so that the same prefix command does not have to be duplicated everywhere you want to use gamemoderun.
GameMode will not be injected to the wrapper.
Apps with GameMode integration
Games
The following games are known to integrate GameMode support (meaning they don't require any additional configuration to activate GameMode while running):
DiRT 4
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia
Total War: ROME REMASTERED
Total War: Three Kingdoms
Total War: WARHAMMER II
Total War: WARHAMMER III
Others
Other apps which can integrate with GameMode include:
GNOME Shell (via extension) - indicates when GameMode is active in the top panel.
Lutris - Enables GameMode for all games by default if available (must have both 32- and 64-bit GameMode libraries installed), configurable in preferences.
RetroArch - is a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players.
Development
The design of GameMode has a clear-cut abstraction between the host daemon and library (gamemoded and libgamemode), and the client loaders (libgamemodeauto and gamemode_client.h) that allows for safe use without worrying about whether the daemon is installed or running. This design also means that while the host library currently relies on systemd for exchanging messages with the daemon, it's entirely possible to implement other internals that still work with the same clients.
See repository subdirectories for information on each component.
Install Dependencies
GameMode depends on meson for building and systemd for internal communication. This repo contains a bootstrap.sh script to allow for quick install to the user bus, but check meson_options.txt for custom settings.
Ubuntu/Debian (you may also need dbus-user-session)
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