


Also tested on my laptop
After trying War Thunder on my desktop, I gave it a spin on my laptop as well. Same great experience overall! Using the standard client (about 60GB instead of the ultra-quality models) and running on medium settings. No special launch parameters needed - just installed and played. Gets over 120 FPS consistently on my 144Hz laptop screen in pretty much any situation. Never drops frames, no stutters, zero crashes. Really impressed that it runs this smoothly on laptop hardware too. Runs perfectly without any tweaking needed!

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia gamemoderun mangohud %command%
The game works flawlessly out of the box. Performance and optimization are excellent, even on absolute maximum graphics settings. The full client with ultra-quality models (approximately 120GB) runs perfectly. No special configuration required for the native Linux version. The game installs and runs without any issues. The only limitation at the moment is that ray tracing features are not available in the native Linux version. According to the developers, these features will be added to the Linux version at a later date. War Thunder is one of the best native Linux games available. The experience is outstanding with no performance issues, crashes, or significant limitations that affect gameplay.

MANGOHUD=1 MANGOHUD_CONFIG=position=top-right %command%
Game freezes at the beginning of a match for like 2 seconds then runs perfecty

It's very playable on X11.
occasionally the screen flashes white
I had to use my WM's fullscreen instead of the in game one, but only on some Wayland compositors (namely Hyprland).
It's not a native Wayland game which probably explains this.
Frequently crashes on Wayland so I have been forced to play on X11 for the time being.

Native version runs without any issues
No problems with native, constant crashes with proton

If multiple monitors, curser leaves fulscreen game
Lags at beginning of the match
Borderless Windowed not working
Mousecursor leaves game and goes to other monitors
Game crashes after match when playing midtier ground realistic
gamemoderun %command%
It's complicated. This is a follow-up on my report two weeks ago (I can't seem to find an option to edit my post). I had over 6000 hours with War Thunder on Windows (mostly Air AB). Never any (major) issue. Then I switched full-time to Ubuntu, then Fedora Workstation and now I'm on Fedora KDE. The only problem with this game on Linux appears to be my mouse (Logitech G502 Proteus Spectrum), which has a dual scroll wheel. I've come to notice that whenever I use it in an unlocked state (free scroll), I'm getting random input drift - my camera view tends to shift or jump and make me lose focus on an enemy. Sometimes even my guns stop working. However, if I lock my scroll wheel, everything works normal. So yeah, the game works fine natively on Linux, but my mouse behaves weirdly. It's probably a driver issue and Logitech's fault.

Works just fine on Proton Experimental

Cant enter matches, only main menu
it seems that since the february 27th update they have broken proton and native support both of these create a crash when joining games, although the main menu worked fine.
i was able to play one 7v7 Air RB match and each match after that my game crashed.

Feb 2025 Update - Broken
unset LD_PRELOAD; gamescope -W 3440 -H 1440 -r 144 -e --fullscreen --borderless --force-grab-cursor -- gamemoderun %command%
The Feb 27th update broke both Native Linux and Proton game modes.
- Crashes when loading into a match on Proton, crashes ~5 minutes into a match on Native.
- In the previous update, the game was crash-happy, but not (usually) during matches. It was playable, if annoying.
I believe the current crashes will be fixed in future updates, but this level of update-to-update instability seems to be the norm for this game on Linux.

Works completely native with zero issues right out of the box!
Keep in mind that DLSS and the other Nvidia features don't seem to be supported. But besides that its great!

Bugs I've been experiencing are gamebreaking. The game played perfectly fine on Windows.
I made a bug report on the developer's website but it's a known issue so it was merged with a similar report which is unresolved for over a year and counting.
I've experienced it in Ubuntu 24.04 and now in Fedora 41. I even tried switching from Wayland to a Xorg session but it didn't help.
Running out of ideas.
My guns (LMB) sometimes stop firing. I have to lift my finger and press LMB again.

unset LD_PRELOAD; gamescope -W 3440 -H 1440 -r 144 -e --fullscreen --borderless --force-grab-cursor -- gamemoderun %command%
Realistic (Ground, Air, and Naval)
- Crashes during the match ~90% of the time
- Freezes for ~10 seconds at the start of every battle (https://community.gaijin.net/issues/p/warthunder/i/Gzuh9IYe7yLp)
Other
- Crashes on the scoreboard/rewards screen of every mode (after the match) ~90% of the time
- Crashes on boot ~10% of the time (Gamescope seems to fix this)
Enjoyable (if annoying) if you only play Arcade. Unplayable if you want to play Realistic.

Unplayable. Huge performance loss issues and freezing. Game ruining bugs like your mouse sometimes being pinged off to the distance.
Resetting etc. game config files does not help.
Have issues with new installations/config file, where the maximum resolution is 1920x1200 - have to manually change in game config files.
Sometimes the game pings my cursor to a random direction. Game issue - experienced a similar bug back in 2020 on Windows 10 on completely different hardware.
UNPLAYABLE as of 25th January, when Battleye was added.
Since Battleye, there has been major freezing at the beginning of matches. Since the beginning of February, this game has MASSIVE performance loss. To the point the GPU is barely used. Some numbers: Previously, on SSAA 4x + Max settings + Max client + 1440p I was getting 130 FPS in Ground RB. Nowadays its closer to 49 - 79 FPS. Removing SSAA 4x does nothing for FPS either, getting 130 FPS where I should be getting 400+.
These are 100% GPU intensive graphics, yet my CPU is reaching 100% on a core/thread, which I assume is a culprit or symptom. Updating kernels will change nothing. Experiencing similar problems on a different PC.
Distant terrain flickered once per game session/test drive
gamemoderun %command%
Exiting the game makes it freeze and never close. The game has to be closed by pressing stop in Steam.

Si usas Steam y no tenes cuenta de Gaijin igualmente tendrás de una experiencia buena
El juego por Steam apenas me va en medio con bajones de 30/40 fps
Al inicio de cada partida se tilda por un tiempo bastante significativo
Probé usando el launcher oficial en vez de steam y no solo no se cuelga más al incio de las partidas, sino que puedo jugar en gráficos altos sin problemas ni bajones de fps. Lo testeé en mapas que antes me daban bajones de fps.

Just install the game through steam, and enjoy. one of the very few games that require any real tinkering.
Will freeze at that start of a match when choosing a vehicles but only for a couple of seconds.
Great first game to try when I just recently swtiched to linux :)

May have lag when join the game
When join a winter match with the snow effect will crash the game break the GPU display and need to restart the computer to fix the gpu display
Use the Steam linux runtime some how fix the bug and make it stable........

Don't run it natively if x11 is an issue for you, it will flicker a lot

mangohud %command%
some time the game randomly freeze at the beginning of a match, game also freeze in wayland while trying to close it
cant rotate spactator camera 360°

Launching game from steam causes freezes on every round, starting from stand alone launcher fixes most of this issue
Better to launch stand alone not from Steam.

Game runs just like it does on Linux just needed one command to remove stuttering and its perfect!
LD_PRELOAD="" mangohud %command%
I normally avoid this game, due to not being a fan of its in game purchasing system. But I got some friends that I play it with from time to time, just glad it works OOTB on Linux

CachyOS with hyprland's own customization, no problems with multiple monitors, cursor doesn't go outside the monitor.
unset SDL_VIDEODRIVER LD_PRELOAD; mangohud game-performance %command%
Every time the game starts, the game freezes for a few seconds, thus ruining the gaming experience. Gamescope does not fix the freezing problem, it has less performance.
FPS drops dramatically to a lower value compared to the gaming experience on windows 11, but higher than on windows.
It works but i needed to use gamescope or else the mouse would behave wierdly when alt tabbing
gamescope -W 1920 -H 1080 -r 60 --force-grab-cursor -e -f --borderless --mouse-sensitivity 1.6 -- %command%

Native version plays at cinematic 24 fps. Switching to Proton Experimental fixed the issue.

Crashes way too frequently (native and Proton) to be considered playable.
Game crashes every 5min.
Unplayable due to regular crashes, can't finish a match.

I built my own version without steam, much better than steam with proton or linux runtime.
I wrote a custom wrapper script and derivation that will soon be available in the nix pkg manager under version 24.11 (current) and i will make a version available through backports as well.
This runs natively on NixOS and should run natively on any linux distro using the nixpkg manager. Install the nix pkg manager, and then install pkgs.WarThunder as a system package and execute it as a normal user either from terminal like WarThunder or from the dekstop executable made available through the drv.
You can get it now through my github in the demon branch, https://github.com/Mephist0phel3s/nixpkgs and install the default.nix as a local drv before its officially released and play normally. Please report any bugs to me @ https://github.com/Mephist0phel3s/nixpkgs/issues
This version runs significantly better than the port available through steam, and if you already have a steam account, link it with gaijin and then run this game through the client and sign in through steam.

When playing aircraft I don't hear any shooting sounds
Works perfectly

LD_PRELOAD="" %command%
WT randomly starts stuttering while playing. It started happening after the UI overhaul. Using the LD_PRELOAD Launch Option seems to have completely fixed it. I haven't had any stutters since adding it.
I stole the fix from Counter-Strike 2 players using Vulkan on Linux who also had stutter issues. I figured, since both CS2 and WT are Native Vulkan games the same fix might work. And it did. No more stuttering.

mangohud %command%
At last, now on multimonitor system, mouse cursor lock in game. Gamescope not needed any more.

No longer launches after latest update
gamemoderun %command%
Mouse dragged to top right on native. Before the latest update it would crash 90% of the time after a match on GE. After the latest update it fails to launch

gamemoderun gamescope -W 2560 -H 1440 -r 165 --force-grab-cursor --borderless -- %command%
sometimes gameworld goes all white and then i have to wait 5-10 seconds for it to "settle"
mouse will leave bounds when not using gamescope
crashes almost every game as of the last few updates, no solutions from the forums or protondb worked, tried wayland/x11, nothing helped.
multiplayer matchmaking works perfectly fine.
i wish it wasn't so, but as of the past few months the game is near unplayable due to crashing.

Continuous improvements have been made over the past year
The only issue is that it opens on the wrong monitor, but I can just meta-drag it over to the one I want and it works fine
There continues to be an issue of the brightness going through the roof on occasion, rendering the game unplayable for a couple of seconds. It appears to be fixable mostly by moving, probably due to rendering new polygons and the lighting being recalculated or something.
I am really happy with the updates warthunder has been getting particularly surrounding its Linux playability. When I'd first tried it, there were issues with the cursor not getting contained, and crashing under wayland, but now it works flawlessly under wayland, and the cursor stays bounded.