PCSX2 disables support for Wayland by default. GNOME in the spotlight

El article upon the release of WINE 8.21 began with the phrase "We all love Wayland." It was a way of expressing that it is where all the projects and, ultimately, the users are directed. But the truth is that not everyone loves Wayland. Although it works well in many scenarios, there are others in which it works a little worse, and this is what developers have complained about. PCSX2.

PCSX2 allows us to play our PlayStation 2 game ISOs, and the truth is that, thanks to its many available settings, it is surprising how well it can work on a regular, low-end computer. Its developers They disabled default support for Wayland, and at the end of October published information about this decision. What may catch many off guard is that part of the project's anger has a culprit: GNOME.

PCSX2 “is a complete disaster” on GNOME + Wayland

GNOME started using Wayland by default in 2017, but it took a little longer to be implemented by Linux distributions. For example, Ubuntu used it also with NVIDIA graphics in April 2022, and KDE will start using it by default in February 2024. There are years of difference between the movement from one desktop to the other, but the person PCSX2 developers complain about the most is GNOME.

In the description of the change, the first thing we read is that «disable Wayland, which is super broken/buggy in basically any scenario. KDE is not so buggy, GNOME is a complete disaster«. Going into the details, they explain that the stupid obsession with CSD in GNOME creates inconsistency; the inability to position windows makes saving the position of the windows not possible; problems with NVIDIA and a few more points.

Until they get their act together, which is unlikely since very little progress has been made in the last decade, keep it disabled. For Flatpaks, users can turn it back on with flatseal if they really want the shitty experience.

NOTE: : The original translation does not say about batteries. They use the word "shit", which although it is sweary and has asterisks, can also be translated as "things."

This is not an all-out attack on Wayland or GNOME. Only They prefer things to get better, and support is still available, although you have to make the change manually. Among the solutions, they propose using the flatpak version and reactivating Wayland with Flat Seal «If you really want the fucking experience» or use the KDE/Qt 6.6 runtime, among other things.

Completely right or only partly right?

I am a toy developer, junior, in its infancy, and I know what it can cost to adapt to the new when software already works. The change to Wayland is a difficult task, titanic from my point of view, and I believe that the PCSX2 developers they are partly right.

The distributions are also partly right: you have to push for change, or else it will never happen. From the words of the statement, it seems undeniable that above all GNOME has to step up, but those of PCSX2 have to do their bit.

I have tested PCSX2 in KDE + Wayland and I haven't seen ANY errors, at least in the AppImage (I prefer not to compile a program like that with so many dependencies). Yes, I have seen errors in another emulator, the PSP emulator (PPSSPP) in which I use Wayland... well, that is a "crappy" experience.

So, in the end, I think the best thing will be that the different distributions continue allowing you to choose between X11 and Wayland as until now for much longer, and users must know that there is this possibility to, for example, enter X11 if we want to enjoy the best experience with PCSX2. With the rest of the software, we will have to cross our fingers and pray that nothing leaves us hanging at the most inopportune moment. Now that all the desktops want to switch to Wayland, and it is not 100% perfect, it is what we have to do. That or always use X11 until it is no longer a possibility.