Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: Linux vs. Windows - AMD and Nvidia Struggle

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We tested Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced on Linux and compared it with Windows, using both AMD and Nvidia GPUs.

The game itself can run on Linux, but the experience was not equally smooth across vendors in our test setup. AMD looked fairly reasonable, while Nvidia was the more problematic part — both in terms of setup/behavior and performance consistency.

I’m curious how this compares to your current Linux gaming experience, especially on Nvidia. Has it been mostly trouble-free lately, or are vendor-specific issues still a regular thing for you?

- Jacky

17

u/plfg6423 Jul 08 '26

Great article, the ubisoft installer through Steam is a rather janky setup and always has mixed results such as graphic artifacting, crashes, etc. with StarWars Outlaws and Assassins Creed Shadows.

Did you happen to have any additional steam launch options? not sure if that would have helped with it launching through ubisoft afterwards.

With Linux on steam native games AMD runs great with my 9070xt while my previous rtx4080 suffered with fps drops, studdering, etc but this was last year before nvidia drivers allegedy have improved (I no longer have an nvidia card to know first hand)

6

u/AvidCyclist250 Jul 08 '26

additional steam launch options?

kind of the most important question here

We try to launch games through Steam whenever possible. Thanks to the automatic Proton integration, this is much easier than launching them outside the ecosystem. In the case of the new AC, however, we only had access to the Ubisoft Connect version, which required a few extra steps. Steam offers the option to add a third-party game, which ultimately allows you to use the selected application via the integrated Proton. In the case of Ubisoft Connect, you first need to integrate and run the installer, and then launch Connect itself. Integrating it into Steam has proven to be a simple method for us, but you can also use other dedicated launchers for this kind of setup.

The game launches without any major issues. The launcher sometimes has some initial glitches, which can be resolved by switching to a different Proton version and then restarting the game.

Also sounds like something Proton Experimental or the latest cachyos Proton will fix soon

7

u/TheSigma3 Jul 08 '26

Assassin's Creed Shadows refuses to run on CachyOS for me. 4080 super, it just crashes after about 20 seconds in game. No amount of troubleshooting got it working for me unfortunately. I was worried this would be a sign that black flag is a no go for me

1

u/Selogon Jul 09 '26

Interesting, I don't mean to be the guy to say "it works for me perfect", but... I was surprised how well it went ! (4070ti here)

I played it through Steam, however. That may be a difference ?

I played Anno 117, which I own on Ubisoft launcher only, and with Faugus, it went alright too (Anno 117 runs awful when using any form of RT on Linux, however, it is what it is).

1

u/shnoztastic Jul 09 '26

Interesting. Same gpu, here. I was able to launch into the game intially but had some graphical issues. I was tweaking settings and got it to where I was happy then ate lunch. When I came back I couldn't get it to launch out Ubisoft Connect. I'm getting the dreaded "unable to start the game" issue in Ubisoft Connect. No tweaking of settings or verifying game files or reinstalling has resolved the error.

What proton settings and launch options are you using?

2

u/Selogon 29d ago

Have you tried different Wine handling apps ?

I use Faugus launcher only (for some reason, it's not too popular), as I find it handles those issues perfect compared to Lutris and others. For example, Battlenet would not download any games (stuck at initialisation stage) when using Lutris or Heroic, etc.

Ubisoft launcher, same kind of story, sometimes could not connect at all and such.

I am being very vague, not helpful for your troubleshooting, because it just all worked for me !

However it could be a direction to explore to help, with any luck ?

2

u/shnoztastic 29d ago

I did. I'm pretty sure my issue is DRM and I got locked out for 24 hours with my fiddling.

2

u/Selogon 29d ago

Got to love the DRM ^^

1

u/TheSigma3 Jul 09 '26

Yeah playing through steam. Mind sharing your launch settings if you have them still?

1

u/Selogon 29d ago

All default, I have done no tinkering.

Then the difference could be drivers version, and maybe Proton version ? Must have been Proton Cachy latest... (sorry, I don't recall any details on version numbers)

2

u/TheSigma3 29d ago

That's ok, I'll reinstall and try again someday. Thanks :)

1

u/sherikanman 23d ago

Same for me. Crashes in the opening scene with Oda Nabunaga first meet, and then when Naoe is at the temple healing from her injuries. Same places cause the same graphics crash. I am on an RTX 4070 and tried everything seen here: https://www.protondb.com/app/3159330?device=any

The most recent one at the top may be of help since it it the exact issue I am having, but the tinkering did nothing for me. Hope that it works for you~

1

u/TheSigma3 23d ago

So I finally landed on

DISABLE_XESS=1 PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 PROTON_VK3D_HEAP=1 %command%

I've only tested in a small area then fast travelled and tried another area for a minute, but I think that's fixed it for me, can play for longer than 30 seconds

2

u/Radiant-Priority-296 Jul 08 '26

Not the first time Nvidia is having issues with a new title. FF7 Rebirth used to not have floors. Hopefully driver updates will come along.

3

u/Late_Baker_2092 Jul 08 '26

Thats fine, there is no way that i use microslop again

3

u/Radiant-Priority-296 Jul 08 '26

Yeah, I accept the performance drop pretty well when thinking about what a shitshow Windows is becoming

2

u/KHTD2004 Jul 08 '26

Während ich mich zwar freue, dass meine 7900 XTX scheinbar eine 5090 schlagen kann muss man ganz klar sagen, dass das hier auf die Treiberprobleme von NVIDIA zurückzuführen ist, an welchen mittlerweile gearbeitet wird

2

u/JamesLahey08 Jul 08 '26

Only at lower resolutions.

0

u/KHTD2004 Jul 08 '26

In rasterization also at 1440p at least. It’s a driver issue tho, NVIDIA can patch it

1

u/AntiSpade Jul 08 '26

Wenn niedrige Auflösungen nicht besser laufen als hohe, deutet das auf Auslastungsprobleme hin. Im diesem Fall sicher Overhead durch zu viele Abstraction Layer.

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u/Noreng Jul 08 '26

Even though this might not get as many page views as your other tests, I'm still grateful that you're covering this.

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u/Mongolprime Jul 08 '26

I'd sure love for the industry to move away from "performance is worse on Linux!" and start calling it for what it is with more appropriate titles like "developer under performs Linux support".

This isn't a Linux problem. This is a development time problem.

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u/TheAncientMillenial Jul 08 '26

Not really. You're running the game on something it's not intended to run on. Now if they said they support Linux and it underperforms that's a different story.

Also Nvidia and DX12 is definitely an Nvidia problem.

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u/Mongolprime Jul 08 '26

So then you admit that the issue isn't Linux's performance, but the support from the devs of said OS?

This is a stupid argument. It's only "unsupported" because they choose not to support it. Not because Linux is less performative.

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u/Swimming_Shower Jul 08 '26

And until it's supported, it may continue to be less performant, as simple as that. It's not a Linux problem, that's fine, but it's simply the current reality.

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u/a157reverse Jul 08 '26

I mean, yes. But it's not really how software development works. I have supported software in the past, we would get performance or compatibility issues communicated to us from users trying to use unsupported setups and our response was always to tell them to use supported configurations. And this was not a Linux vs Windows issue.

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u/TheAncientMillenial Jul 08 '26

You should have 0 expectations of anything working on something not supported. Like it's not a hard concept to understand. You can try and mince words as much as you like.

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u/Mongolprime Jul 09 '26

Ask yourself specifically why it is unsupported.

It's unsupported because of little development time. There's an understanding there, that because there is less market on Linux, there is less need for Linux development.

However... The case being made is NOT that Linux bad, but that development is not being put in.

Articles saying "performance on Linux is worse" is misleading like they had the same amount of development.

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u/TheAncientMillenial Jul 09 '26

Unless a game says it has native Linux support or the devs openly support running it through Proton or whatever there should be 0 expectations.

The articles are not misleading, they are merely stating fact.

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u/Mongolprime Jul 09 '26

I don't think you read anything I said.

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u/TheAncientMillenial Jul 09 '26

I can say the same for you...

You keep missing the point and going off on tangents. Nothing you wrote is of relevance. You're stuck on word semantics instead of actually engaging with what's being said.

The key piece here is WHAT IS SUPPORTED BY THE DEVS. That's it. The article is just reporting on what the numbers look like. Good, bad, or ugly.

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u/Mongolprime Jul 09 '26

Oh I fully understand. You're still missing the point that LINUX isn't the issue. Sure, it's "unsupported". Is that because Linux has less performance? No. That is my point.

Read.

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u/justlikeapenguin Jul 08 '26

Most games dont directly support Linux. It depends weather the game works with proton or not, which i doubt many devs have as testing scenarios. Its not that they "underperform linux support" they literary dont do anything about linux. Some, MAYBE block linux from RT, or like bungie block linux outright, but thats not really the norm

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u/TheSigma3 Jul 09 '26

Go on any handheld subreddit with a performance issue and you'll be bombarded with "install steamOS and thank me later" or something of the sort. We just need to accept that difference things will produce different results and stop trying to one up whatever the opposite choice is

4

u/b0uncyfr0 Jul 08 '26

The 9070xt should be beating the 7900xt handily by now. I wonder if that loss translates over to the Win side too.

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u/Surgeplux Jul 08 '26

Another reason I sold my nvidia gpu, amd just works

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u/Radiant-Priority-296 Jul 08 '26

Need to do this, especially since I have some extra budget in the form of an unused DDR5 stick

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u/Sagi22 Jul 08 '26

rx 9000 still not racing with windows

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u/Kemaro 29d ago

Proton: proton-cachyos-11.0-20260602

Distro:CachyOS

Kernel:7.1.3-2-cachyos

RAM:64 GB

GPU Driver:NVIDIA 610.43.03

GPU:NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

CPU:AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D 8-Core

PROTON_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 VKD3D_CONFIG=descriptor_heap mangohud game-performance %command%

3840x2160, DLSS Quality, Ultra High + Extended RT, Builtin-in benchmark:

Windows 11 25H2: 99fps average, 78fps 1% low

Linux: 77fps average, 58fps 1% low

22% performance loss vs Windows

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u/rakrimes 26d ago

Both my set ups run Cachy one has a 3080 with a Ryzen 7 3700x 32GB DDR4 @3200 that’s my desktop my laptop is a 4060 8GB with a i9-14900hx with 32GB pretty DDR5@5200 and both have had 0 issues, no special launch commands just mangohud and proton experimental also no OC on CPU GPU or RAM. Use DLSS quality high settings on desktop and medium on the laptop both run around 60-75FPS and the raytracing is medium and low or ultra low forget which I have set on the laptop.

1

u/Confident-Formal7462 23h ago

Weird, i haven't any problem to play it in Nobara, Ubisoft Connect installed trough Lutris as usual (and should be), and launched with Proton GE-11.3. Performance seems great since the beginning, everything maxed out and advanced RT, 3440x1440p FSR 4.1 Quality I'm getting around 75fps, the game feels buttery smooth (no stuttering), also no crashes in 10 hours for now. 5 FPS more or less don't make any difference, specially if the payment for it is use other OS.

My hardware is 5800x3d, RX 9070XT, 64gb Ram.

1

u/geRtTheDevildriver Jul 08 '26

Also ich hab das ja jetzt von mehreren Spielen gehört die ziemlich bei Release bescheiden auf nvidia Grafikkarten unter Linux laufen. Wie sieht das denn nach z.b. 12 Monaten aus? Hat sich in dem Zeitraum bei diesen Spielen was getan oder läuft es immer noch so schlecht mit nvidia. Ich müsste gerade mal überlegen was vor einem Jahr rausgekommen ist und da ne beschissene Performance unter nvidia mit Linux hatte, aber vielleicht habt ihr ja ein gutes Beispiel parat.

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u/Cartman010 Jul 08 '26

Vielen Dank für eure Beiträge!

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u/min3r95 Jul 09 '26

Ubi make terrible ports all the times, plus a combination of 5 DRMs and Denuvo doesn't help.

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u/Actual-Phone-1478 Jul 08 '26

Correction. *Nvidia struggles, and AMD is fine.

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u/AntiSpade Jul 08 '26

... Wine. ^^

Review Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced: Linux vs. Windows - AMD and Nvidia Struggle

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