Let me start by saying I think Linux Mint is one of the top 5 greatest distros of all time. It is an absolutely essential starting point for many people and their work is responsible for much of the user-friendliness you see in the world of Linux today. It is stable, has a nice aesthetic, “just works”, and doesn’t make you update constantly.
These things are great but they are the very things that make Linux Mint unsuited for online gaming. Is this a bad thing? No!! It’s just not a distro made for gaming purposes. It’s like showing up to a monster truck drag race in a Ferrari. I cannot count on my two hands how many times I have provided support to a user, to find their issue was outdated libraries due to using Linux Mint. It happens all the time. Go look at any game on ProtonDB that is currently working, and you’ll find 1-2 “not working” reports and they are always on either Debian on Mint.
I understand why we see it so often, because Linux Mint is awesome and users want to play their games on it. But if I suggested Hell Let Loose to a friend using Linux Mint right now, the first distro suggested for gaming in our FAQ, he wouldn’t be able to play because of his choice of distro. Making rolling distros look like a fortress in 2023 and suggesting Mint for gaming will only set new Linux users up for disappointment.
Not sure if you missed a “not” word there, but to be clear:
Ubuntu (and therefore Mint) is not running old nvidia drivers. My aptitude upgrade install the latest nvidia drivers, the same version available for download from nvidia’s website (not sure if that was within a couple of weeks, days or hours, but the latest version came out on October 31st and that’s what I have installed now)
okay, depends if you consider 535 newest, i’m currently running 545 which fixes a bunch of issues but it doesn’t change the fact that what OP is saying generally holds true
I have had the same experiences on debian that the OP is describing. It’s nice that things work for you but there are certain distributions like fedora and debian which I’ve had all around terrible experiences with in gaming. mint is a great OS but rolling release is just better generally when it comes to being a linux gamer in 2023