As we speculated previously, Valve have now officially announced their new version of 'Steam Play' for Linux gaming using a modified distribution of Wine called Proton, which is available on GitHub.
What does it do? In short: it allows you to play Windows games on Linux, directly through the Steam client as if they were a Linux game.
What many people suspected turned out to be true, DXVK development was actually funded by Valve. They actually employed the DXVK developer since February 2018. On top of that, they also helped to fund: vkd3d (Direct3D 12 implementation based on Vulkan), OpenVR and Steamworks native API bridges, wined3d performance and functionality fixes for Direct3D 9 and Direct3D 11 and more.
The amount of work that has gone into this—it's ridiculous.
Here's what they say it improves:
- Windows games with no Linux version currently available can now be installed and run directly from the Linux Steam client, complete with native Steamworks and OpenVR support.
- DirectX 11 and 12 implementations are now based on Vulkan, resulting in improved game compatibility and reduced performance impact.
- Fullscreen support has been improved: fullscreen games will be seamlessly stretched to the desired display without interfering with the native monitor resolution or requiring the use of a virtual desktop.
- Improved game controller support: games will automatically recognize all controllers supported by Steam. Expect more out-of-the-box controller compatibility than even the original version of the game.
- Performance for multi-threaded games has been greatly improved compared to vanilla Wine.
It currently has a limited set of games that are supported, but even so it's quite an impressive list that they're putting out there. Which includes DOOM, FINAL FANTASY VI, Into The Breach, NieR: Automata, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and more. They will enable many more titles as progress on it all continues.
To be clear, this is available right now. To get it, you need to be in the Steam Client Beta.
There will be drawbacks, like possible performance issues and games that rely on some DRM might likely never be supported, but even so the amount of possibilities this opens up has literally split my head open with Thor's mighty hammer.
Holy shit. Please excuse the language, but honestly, I'm physically shaking right now I don't quite know how to process this.
Update #1: I spoke to Valve earlier, about how buying Windows games to play with this system counts, they said this:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.Hey Liam, the normal algorithm is in effect, so if at the end of the two weeks you have more playtime on Linux, it'll be a Linux sale. Proton counts as Linux.
I hope developers don't go thinking they shouldn't be making native Linux versions of their games. I think it's cool that Valve has worked on a solution to bring Windows games to Linux with the least amount of hassle, but developers might think that Valve/Steam will be responsible to support any issues raised from the compatibility layer, and with some many game engines out there, I think it'll be hard to manage.
Also, as miro suggested, I hope there's some tracking mechanism that still counts games played under Linux via the modified Wine as a Linux purchase.
What makes a successful gaming platform is its catalog. If people want to play a specific games, they will buy accordingly.
Now, will developers rely on it, I doubt so. Wine has many regressions depending on the version you're using, and developers know Linux gamers are quite tech-savy and want native games.
We clearly need more time to evaluate the impact of this decision, but more titles played more easily is always better, even if my personal opinion is that I want native titles badly.
Oh and it's not working yet so we can't even evaluate the tool for now.
QuoteHey Liam, the normal algorithm is in effect, so if at the end of the two weeks you have more playtime on Linux, it'll be a Linux sale. Proton counts as Linux.Excellent.
QuotePerformance for multi-threaded games has been greatly improved compared to vanilla Wine.
Are these patches applicable to upstream Wine? I'd be interested in trying them out.
Last edited by Shmerl on 21 August 2018 at 10:53 pm UTC
Quoting: liamdaweUpdate from Valve to me:
QuoteHey Liam, the normal algorithm is in effect, so if at the end of the two weeks you have more playtime on Linux, it'll be a Linux sale. Proton counts as Linux.Excellent.
Oh wow that is excellent good so this could be the move that makes devs think about native linux ports if they see a big enough profit margin mmmm
Quoting: GuestQUESTION: Once this goes stable, what's to stop every desktop gamer jumping to Linux, especially with bright new horizons like Mesa 18, RADV, and Linux completely smacking the pants off Windows with the new Threadripper?
Anti cheat softwares.
I think this is the major project that Wine developers were working on to fix this: https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44315
Last edited by Shmerl on 21 August 2018 at 10:56 pm UTC
legluondunet Aug 21, 2018
Last time I feel so excited it was the announce of the Steam client port on Linux or the first Tomb Raider Linux version.
But for the moment I didn't find the button to install Windows games on Linux....where is it lol
Oh my god there is Tekken 7 in the Whitelist!!! Where is this f..ing Steam play button???
Last edited by legluondunet on 21 August 2018 at 11:00 pm UTC
somebody1121 Aug 21, 2018
Maybe will see a rise in Linux usage on Steam, especially with the Chinese coffees since it will be cheaper to install Linux than buy a Windows license :)
Now if this can actually make injectors work for things like far mod for Nier...
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me