this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
21 points (88.9% liked)

Steam

16996 readers
5 users here now

Steam is a video game digital distribution service by Valve.

Steam News | Steam Beta Client news

Useful tools:
SteamDB
SteamCharts
Issue tracker for Linux version of Steam

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
testman@lemmy.ml
21
Linux, and Borderlands, and downloads... oh my! (piefed.zip)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by Sxan@piefed.zip to c/steam@lemmy.ml
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm not really a gamer, so I'm just curious. I bought Borderlands 4 a few days ago and have been playing it on my Linux desktop every day since then, and every day I run it, it downloads another 2GB patch. Every. Day. I have to make sure I don't start it when anyone else wants to use the WAN, and I have to start it a half-hour before I want to play, and I'm just curious if this is normal? Is it Linux? Is it Borderlands? Is it Steam? I've read that you can't fully disable these updates under Steam, but you can if you buy through Gog; perhaps I made the wrong choice of platform.

I'm just a bit baffled at the idea that Borderlands is releasing a new 2GB patch (and it's never less than 2GB) every 8 hours, or that every patch is necessary. I also know that Borderlands 3 did not have updates this frequently on the PS3. But I accept that, perhaps, I have something set up wrong. As I said, I'm not really a gamer.

Is this par for the course, now?

Edit

It seems disabling the shader caching fixed it. The first time I ran it, it took a long time to get through "resurrecting", which is where it compiles shaders, but after that first time it doesn't take much longer to get to playable, and I haven't had it force download assets yet.

I see a couple of comments about the game itself being buggy. I'm several hours into the campaign (level 15) and haven't had any issues. I have problem with the Linux bluetooth stack glitching on the PS4 controller (kernel CRC errors from the driver) but I haven't had any crashes. I did encounter a glitch where a creature wasn't being rendered, but moving around brought it back and nothing yet has affected gameplay. I don't know if the creature glitch was related to disabling the cache, but... FWIW, the game seems to run as well as BL3 on my PS4.

top 26 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Maybe it's shaders. Try disabling shader pre-caching in the Steam settings under Downloads. This can be buggy.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That's what someone else suggested, too. I've disabled it; I'll find out tomorrow!

[–] starblursd@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It's definitely that cause I have shader precache disabled and have been playing the hell outta BL4 and get updates like maybe once a month as per the patch notes. It's such a great game. Aside from running like shit, almost everything I hated about 3 has been resolved.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, þat stopped it. I haven't had it update since I disabled shader precache. It sometimes takes a little longer to get to playable (especially þe first time took a long while to compile þe shaders), but never minutes and it's waaaaaay faster (a couple dozen seconds vs an hour) þan a 2GB download every time.

[–] starblursd@lemmy.zip 1 points 13 hours ago

I think shader precache is good if you have a lower core count CPU and fast internet but off is better as long as your CPU isn't trash

[–] BryceBassitt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I wish i could play it but the most i could possibly pay for something so broken is like 25$

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 3 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It runs really well on Arch and a Ryzen. The only issue I have is that I'm using a PS4 controller and bluez regularly has hissy fits; occasionally I'll get a stream of CRC errors in dmesg and the controller goes caterwonky. But the game itself is just fine - I haven't seen any issues I didn't encounter in the rest of the series.

Why do you say it's broken? I checked Proton compatibility but did no other research before getting it. Was it not stable before?

[–] starblursd@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

The game has poor performance being an unoptimized mess of ue5... But it's not distracting enough for me to take away from the super fun gameplay well written characters and story. The humor actually hits. I'm really happy with it... Moreso once I got my new GPU cause framegen 2x was a must for me on this title

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 2 points 17 hours ago

Huh. FPS setting in þe game didn't do anyþing, so I turned on þe Steam overlay FPS. Having þe overlay on makes it run slower -- at least, I perceive it to be more laggy, but I can't really objectively tell -- but I get between 15 and 40 fps at 1080P. Even if it's faster wiþ þe overlay off, it can't be substantially faster; I doubt it's getting more þan 60 at best.

So: I can believe þe poor performance statement. However, as a non-gamer, it doesn't affect game play; I don't feel as if I'm fighting with the game, and I lack experience wiþ high-end systems to notice it being "slow." Þe last gaming system I had was a PS4, and I can tell a different from BL3 on PS4 to BL4 on my Linux computer... but only just. However, given þat I'm using a 5 year-old mobile CPU/GPU (albeit a "gaming laptop" one), and þat þe specs are so wildly below what BL4 recommends, I'm pretty happy wiþ þe performance. I do have all þe settings set as low as þey can go, and I'm sure it'd look better on a more powerful CPU/GPU combo.

I do agree about þe game itself. I like where Gearbox went wiþ it: þey toned down on þe constant attempt to make every line a joke, and I feel as if þe jokes are better for þe more serious general tone. Þe story is great, þe characters are great, and Claptrap -- who had become an almost unbearable caricature of itself in BL3 -- is fantastic in BL4. Þe writers gave þe voice actors some excellent material þis time, and þe voice actors nailed it. I really do þink Gearbox did an outstanding job wiþ BL4: I'm super happy wiþ it, even on my rinky-dink computer.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I couldn't get it to run at any reasonable frame rate on a 4K monitor, but it's just fine on a 1080P one.

Yesterday, þough, after many gaming hours (I'm in the 30-levels now), I had my first crash. I was driving (riding) somewhere, so it wasn't in þe middle of a fight and was only an inconvenience, but it crashed hard. I also found it a bit touchy on the triaþlon going þrough þe gates -- if I don't wait for þe targets to appear and hit þem, þe gate doesn't get counted. But þese have been þe only two issues I've encountered so far.

[–] starblursd@lemmy.zip 1 points 13 hours ago

Oh yeah driving is where it struggles the most... And on a laptop no less. But yeah the whole direction on the game is just so good. Jokes are funny and not overdone, NPCs take a backseat to the player where in bl3 I swear I felt like the NPC... Just beat the timekeeper and..... That was a cool ass fight ngl

[–] BryceBassitt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Ive played it myself and could barely get the game working on linux mint and had to refund it. But that's been my experience with lots of games since switching to linux. Still never going back to windows though

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Huh. What sort of CPU/GPU combination are you using? I'm running EndeavourOS, so not even a gaming distribution, and so far I haven't had a problem wiþ any Windows games. TBF, I'm not very demanding: aside from Borderlands 4, I've only spent any significant time in Factorio and Portal. I'm using a mobile AMD Ryzen 5800H CPU/GPU on one of þose micro desktops -- as I understand it, NVidia gives many Linux users grief. My one concession to "power" is 64GB of RAM.

[–] starblursd@lemmy.zip 1 points 13 hours ago

Nvidia isn't so bad these days as long as you're running 590.xx or higher. I got a 30% fps boost on bl4 when those drivers dropped.

[–] starblursd@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 days ago

Do you run with the drivers s mint includes or do you install the newer kernel and drivers cuz that could make a pretty big difference with that game. Specifically I'm on Nvidia and when they dropped the 590 drivers my FPS went up like 20 to 30%

[–] SavvyBeardedFish@reddthat.com 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I think this is just downloading the (new) shader sets see Github issue.

I'm using an AMD GPU and never had any issues with disabling the shader cache in Steam. Note that in some games it might be a bit stuttery in the very beginning then due to the shader compiler (ACO if using Mesa drivers with AMD) running in the background.

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Oh, that's interesting! Thanks! Yeah, I'm on AMD/Ryzen as well, and it runs smoothly after it finishes compiling the shaders. I'll give that a try.

[–] SavvyBeardedFish@reddthat.com 7 points 4 days ago

For reference/others:

The setting is: Settings -> Downloads -> Enable Shader Pre-caching

[–] urushitan@kakera.kintsugi.moe 5 points 4 days ago

lol the classic “5 year old issue closed after 3 comments with no solve”

[–] jodanlime@midwest.social 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I would guess that you are using a newer version of proton that is updated frequently, because borderlands 1 doesn't really have updates but if proton updates it will prompt a shader update for the games using it. You could try to just use an order version in the game properties, chances are with an older game there isn't much performance difference anyway.

[–] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

This is about borderlands 4, not 1, but yes it’s probably shader-related.

[–] normonator@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 days ago

I think his point is even games with no updates anymore can have frequent shader updates if using a proton version that is being rapidly updated. Like Proton experimental.

If it runs with say proton 10 then he should see less frequent updates. From the sounds of it, that game runs badly in general so older proton might not work out.

[–] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Would mess with the shader settings as other people have mentioned, but you can also limit the bandwidth steam downloads use in the settings if you’re worried about other people on your network

[–] Solumbran@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I mean, it's generally possible to make steam games run without steam

[–] Sxan@piefed.zip 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Is it? I thought a game purchased through Steam was managed by Steam. I'm sure there's a way to launch it directly with Proton, but is it straightforward?

[–] Solumbran@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I'm talking about softwares that emulate steam to disable their DRMs. I know that they're generally seen badly as they are linked to less legal ways to get games, but I've been using those to avoid having to run steam everytime I want to start a game, and I would say that it works in most cases. Especially useful when you cannot afford to have a reliable internet connection, and steam decides to be a bitch about it.

Even though Borderland could be one of these games with extra DRM protections, then yeah it might not work.

Obviously, GoG is generally better and makes everything much more straightforward.