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https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode

Optimise Linux system performance on demand
https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode

linux videogames

Last synced: 26 days ago
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Optimise Linux system performance on demand

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README 

        
# GameMode

**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)

* CPU core pinning or parking

* 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, 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`:

```bash

gamemoderun ./game

```

Or edit the Steam launch options:

```bash

gamemoderun %command%

```



Note: for older versions of GameMode (before 1.3) use this string in place of `gamemoderun`:

```

LD_PRELOAD="$LD_PRELOAD:/usr/\$LIB/libgamemodeauto.so.0"

```

**Please note the backslash here in `\$LIB` is required.**



---

## Configuration



The daemon is configured with a `gamemode.ini` file. [example/gamemode.ini](https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode/blob/master/example/gamemode.ini) is an example of what this file would look like, with explanations for all the variables.



Configuration files are loaded and merged from the following directories, from highest to lowest priority:



1. `$PWD` ("unsafe" - **`[gpu]` settings take no effect in this file**)

2. `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME` or `$HOME/.config/` ("unsafe" - **`[gpu]` settings take no effect in this file**)

3. `/etc/`

4. `/usr/share/gamemode/`



---

## 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.



---

## Development [![Build and test](https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode/actions/workflows/build-and-test.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode/actions/workflows/build-and-test.yml)



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`)



```bash

apt install meson libsystemd-dev pkg-config ninja-build git libdbus-1-dev libinih-dev build-essential

```



On Ubuntu 18.04, you'll need to install `python3` package and install the latest meson version from `pip`.



```bash

python3 -m venv .venv

source .venv/bin/activate

pip install meson

```



Later you can deactivate the virtual environment and remove it.



```bash

deactivate

rm -rf .venv

```



#### Arch

```bash

pacman -S meson systemd git dbus libinih

```

#### Fedora

```bash

dnf install meson systemd-devel pkg-config git dbus-devel

```

#### Gentoo

Gentoo has an ebuild which builds a stable release from sources. It will also pull in all the dependencies so you can work on the source code.

```bash

emerge --ask games-util/gamemode

```

You can also install using the latest sources from git:

```bash

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="**" emerge --ask ~games-util/gamemode-9999

```



### Build and Install GameMode

Then clone, build and install a release version of GameMode at 1.8.2:



```bash

git clone https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode.git

cd gamemode

git checkout 1.8.2 # omit to build the master branch

./bootstrap.sh

```

To test GameMode installed and will run correctly:

```bash

gamemoded -t

```



To uninstall:

```bash

systemctl --user stop gamemoded.service

ninja uninstall -C builddir

```



### Pull Requests

Pull requests must match with the coding style found in the `.clang-format` file, please run this before committing:

```

clang-format -i $(find . -name '*.[ch]' -not -path "*subprojects/*")

```



### Maintained by

Feral Interactive



See the [contributors](https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode/graphs/contributors) section for an extended list of contributors.



---

## License



Copyright © 2017-2025 Feral Interactive and the GameMode contributors



GameMode is available under the terms of the BSD 3-Clause License (Revised)



The "inih" library is distributed under the New BSD license