A few days after upgrading my GPU, Cyberpunk 2077 began to feel like a different game entirely. The jump in performance was not subtle. Where the previous setup constantly demanded compromise, this one finally allowed the opposite—pushing settings upward instead of pulling them back.
Frame generation was the first thing to go. It had served its purpose before, smoothing over limitations, but now it felt unnecessary. With it disabled, the image became more honest. Not artificially reconstructed, not enhanced after the fact—just the raw output of the engine, with all its intended detail intact.
There were still trade-offs. Resolution had to be reduced slightly, and upscaling remained part of the equation. But this time it was used differently—set to preserve image quality rather than maximize performance. Everything else was pushed to the limit. Lighting, reflections, shadows—every visual setting dialed up.
The result was stable enough to enjoy. Frame rates hovered comfortably above what the display could even show. The experience was smooth, consistent, and visually rich in a way that made it easy to forget about settings altogether.
For a while.
After several days, once the technical side stopped demanding attention, a different kind of curiosity began to take over. The game itself had not changed—but the perspective had. There was no longer any urgency to progress quickly or to optimize performance further. The focus had shifted toward the environment, the atmosphere, the small visual details that define the world.
And inevitably, that led to the next step.
Modding.
Cyberpunk 2077 was built with extensibility in mind, and over time a vast ecosystem of modifications has grown around it. Some alter gameplay systems, others refine the interface, and many focus purely on visual improvements. What stood out immediately was not just the number of available mods, but how straightforward their installation process is—even on Linux.
Running the game through Steam using Proton might suggest additional complexity, but in practice the process remains remarkably close to Windows. Most modifications are distributed as simple archives. They do not require installers or special tools. Instead, they rely on a predictable directory structure inside the game’s installation folder.
Reaching that folder is the first step that feels unfamiliar.
On Ubuntu, especially when using a Flatpak version of Steam, the path is slightly hidden:
~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Cyberpunk 2077/
Inside, the structure that matters most is straightforward:
archive/pc/mod/
If the mod directory does not exist, it simply needs to be created. From that point forward, most mods follow the same pattern—placing .archive files directly into this location.
Before that, however, one important detail needs attention. Because the game runs through Proton, it relies on a compatibility layer that mimics a Windows environment. Some mods expect certain Windows components to be present, and this is where Protontricks becomes useful.
Installed via Flatpak to ensure an up-to-date version, it allows additional libraries to be added to the game’s environment. A single command is often enough to prepare everything required:
flatpak run com.github.Matoking.protontricks 1091500 vcrun2022 d3dcompiler_47
With that in place, the process becomes almost minimalistic.
A mod is downloaded.
The archive is extracted.
The files are placed into the correct directory.
No further configuration is usually necessary.
The next time the game launches, the change is already there.
What makes this approach notable is not its complexity, but the absence of it. There are no layers of abstraction hiding the process. The files are visible, the structure is clear, and each modification becomes easy to trace, adjust, or remove.
Over time, this simplicity becomes a strength. It encourages experimentation. Trying a new mod carries little risk, and reverting changes is as simple as removing a file. The system remains transparent, and control stays with the user.
In this context, modding stops being an advanced or optional feature. It becomes a natural extension of the experience.
Running Cyberpunk 2077 on Ubuntu through Steam and Proton does not limit that experience—it reshapes it slightly, but without removing any of its possibilities.
What begins as a hardware upgrade gradually turns into something else: a process of refining, adjusting, and reshaping the game to match personal expectations.
And at that point, the question is no longer whether the game runs well.
It becomes how far it can be taken.