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.
Quoting: chancho_zombieQuoting: Whitewolfe80Quoting: chancho_zombiehi I need some help, I can't find the option to install Tropico 4 my beta client is up to date.
where are the steam play options? can't find them.
See page 5 screenshots of what you need to check
thanks for the answer, I don't have that option, maybe they have not rolled out the latest beta in my location.
Have you opted into the beta to enable it should see under settings then account you will need to opt into the beta restart steam if its not coming up for you try disabling beta opt in then renabling it seems to work for most people on this thread.
Quoting: chancho_zombieQuoting: Whitewolfe80Quoting: chancho_zombiehi I need some help, I can't find the option to install Tropico 4 my beta client is up to date.
where are the steam play options? can't find them.
See page 5 screenshots of what you need to check
thanks for the answer, I don't have that option, maybe they have not rolled out the latest beta in my location.
A new update just rolled out.
QuoteThis update was re-released at 4PM PST to include a crash fix in the settings UI, and Steam Play tools not appearing for some users.
A second update has been released containing the same changes listed below.
Downloading Doom now, should be fun.
Edit: I should probably clarify, I tried the newer free to play Magic Duels, 2012 and the other one listed probably work.
Last edited by cc2600 on 22 August 2018 at 1:06 am UTC
My first thought is Windows is gone from all of my machines forever, starting with the HTPC I use to play Rocksmith 2014 on.
Thank you Pierre-Loup, Yorha2B, and the rest of the Linux/graphics team at Valve,... doing such great work.
Bloody hell, that reminds me, I need to renew my CodeWeavers subscription.
Quoting: mirooh well, I am really not that happy as most people.
from now on I'm really afraid that too many publishers will use this as an excuse not to provide native linux builds in case it runs "well enough" with proton/wine.
since this is now to be built-in, most people will not have to understand what wine even is, they will take the running binary for granted. hence what is to expect is less performance and continuous direct x instead of opengl or vulkan
this would totally be acceptable for older/legacy titles, but I really think too many will jump on that train that it runs with proton and that there is no need to compile it for linux.
we'll see.
You are not serious right ? While there is less then 1% linux gamers self respecting publisher never will put money and effort to do anything for linux. Especially when the community is full with outraged retards and haters that constantly make death threats, I still remember witcher 2. The issue with linux gaming is not the porting but the support. It doesn't make sense. For that reason just be thankful to Valve for supporting us even when it doesn't make sense, even when people preferred gog for some reason.
Yaumeister Aug 22, 2018
Now if I can just get the A-train games to work I'm golden :D
Quoting: GuestI thought about Skyrim but even if i heard it worked with proton i still wouldn't buy it. I will support those who bring Linux native games.That's my feeling too. My “five-year rule” stays. It's still Wine, just more convenient.
I think that's (more or less) Valve's attitude as well. Yes, maybe this will lead some developers to think Linux support isn't worth it, but it's important to note that they can't advertise it as SteamOS compatibility. And as far as I can make out, publishers themselves can't even advertise Steam Play support - i.e., being on the whitelist - itself; that's Valve's perogative. So actually, I'm not sure it changes much except making life a bit easier for us Linux users.
As an aside, I'm quite gratified to see that this seems to be almost exactly what I said they should do a few months back when we were all discussing whether Wine should be integrated into Steam: i.e., rather than blanket integration, make it an option for devs who genuinely can't support Linux for whatever reason, with Valve overseeing some kind of quality control so that people can't just dump stuff on Steam expecting it to work. Yes, in reality they've given us the “unverified” option, but it's made pretty clear that it's not the default.
QuoteBut i have a few win games from bundles i will try...Same here.
Pro tip: my WINEARCH defaults to win32. Putting “WINEARCH=win64 %command%” in the launch options helps. D'oh! Don't have any sound for some reason. I'll have to look into that, but it's getting late now...
InverseTelecine Aug 22, 2018
For the past year or so the future of Linux gaming has looked very bleak. After Steam Machines failed to take off, then the Nintendo Switch started to be "the place" for indy games, and finally Linux seemed to be bottoming out in the Steam user surveys (just because of new Chinese windows users, but still it was not a good sign). After all that, I was honestly surprised about how many game releases we still got, but still, the "onward and upward" momentum was lost. We were holding steady at best, but were not gaining ground anymore. I thought a decline was inevitable. This could turn that around. This could be some hope for us.
It is true that this may discourage native development to some extent, so it might not be perfect, but let's be honest; we should be more worried about the future of Linux gaming, not the future of "perfect" Linux gaming. This could be what gives Linux gaming a future, and I will be happy for any future for Linux gaming.
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