Support us on Patreon
PayPalAs 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.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
I think this is certainly going to make it very hard for Feral and VP to continue to offer their service on the Linux platform.
Ultimately for Linux gamers, this may be the best thing though.
Nah , dedicated Linux users were mostly buying Linux compatible games anyway and they know the difference of SteamPlay titles vs Feral , VP backed titles.
This move is mostly for newcomers. They wouldn't pay to you anyway if they keep staying on Windows. These are your possible customers.
4 Likes, Who?
TheRiddick Aug 22, 2018
It might be hard on Feral and VP, or it might be a godsend.
If more gamers move to Linux then more developers are simply just going to make a native build for their game as to have better quality control, which might mean they offload the work to Feral and VP to do, officially.
Time will tell. The issue I have atm is some Linux ports of games like ARMA3 are lagged behind windows updates, and the game is heavily built around an online community!
If more gamers move to Linux then more developers are simply just going to make a native build for their game as to have better quality control, which might mean they offload the work to Feral and VP to do, officially.
Time will tell. The issue I have atm is some Linux ports of games like ARMA3 are lagged behind windows updates, and the game is heavily built around an online community!
2 Likes, Who?
Stupendous Man Aug 22, 2018
This is great news to me: it means I can finally play all those old games I have and the ones I got from bundles.
I most likely won't buy non-native games in the future though, it's just a little too risky. Who knows if they'll still work tomorrow?
I guess I'll be firing up Civ 4 and Skyrim this afternoon :-)
I most likely won't buy non-native games in the future though, it's just a little too risky. Who knows if they'll still work tomorrow?
I guess I'll be firing up Civ 4 and Skyrim this afternoon :-)
2 Likes, Who?
Guess what will happen when Steam refuses to launch after the Windows™ Update? My bet they will run towards Microsoft® and Valve® with their sticks and stones and demands to "fix it back". And what happens next? Microsoft® won't budge and Valve will be unable to do anything. So, enraged gamers will switch to "Microsoft Store" (no choice, because otherwise they will have to switch to Linux and, believe me, it terrifies most of them). Gamers can hate Microsoft® however they want, but they depend on Windows™ (most of them have to do their school homework on it) and will take whatever Microsoft® throws at them.
Guess what will happen when Steam refuses to launch after the Windows update, people will run towards Microsoft and Valve with their stick and stones and demand to "fix it back", they will then google to fix the problem and then they will read proclamation from Valve that Microsoft changed API and there is nothing they can do. However, they can enjoy all their games on SteamOS or one of the many distribution, with link to installation and everything.
I will guess that many players and many devs are more invested in their games then in the underlying OS and there will be HUGE overnight switch. Most people are merely USED to Windows and don't see other alternatives as viable due to mostly cultural reasons (nerds & Linux), but they usually hate Microsoft.
10 Likes, Who?
TheRiddick Aug 22, 2018
Unfortunately allot of games have online components these days and if you just did DRM free then it all falls apart very quickly.
But for single player games I definitely see DRM as a unneeded evil! let's face it, EVERY game gets pirated now anyway, DRM is just not effective and the ones that have been for short periods of time (months) have resulted in SHOCKING performance and hassles for legitimate players that the game tanks in sales... how retarded is that!
I can think of a few ass games that tried that :), also anything on the MS Store is likely to have HEAVY DRM!
But for single player games I definitely see DRM as a unneeded evil! let's face it, EVERY game gets pirated now anyway, DRM is just not effective and the ones that have been for short periods of time (months) have resulted in SHOCKING performance and hassles for legitimate players that the game tanks in sales... how retarded is that!
I can think of a few ass games that tried that :), also anything on the MS Store is likely to have HEAVY DRM!
2 Likes, Who?
TheRiddick Aug 22, 2018
I think MS is just going to keep buying out paying developers to go with their MS Store exclusively... I don't even bother with it, not sure what gamers are?¿
0 Likes
I'm really excited what the next steam hardware survey will tell!?
2 Likes, Who?
However, they can enjoy all their games on SteamOS or one of the many distribution, with link to installation and everything.However they can sometimes enjoy
Here you go!
Or somehow WINE became stable and is not breaking compatibility with games from release to release? I doubt it.
Even Valve®-branded (notice that Valve is actively erasing everything indicating Linux connection?) WINE is still WINE -- an eternal beta-version with lots of stubs and "fix-me"s and performance regressions. I think gamers will prefer quality, fresh blockbusters and "moar FPS" like they ever were.
Last edited by Alm888 on 22 August 2018 at 11:19 am UTC
0 Likes
I love that this is happening.
A small gripe... it is (so far) not configurable. So when Dark Souls doesn't play the movies, I can't apply the fix I know from experience.
But my guess is with all the resources they've put into making DX11 and DX12 work, they're much more concerned with newer games going forward, which is a good thing.
You could open a bug on proton github and mention the fix.
1 Likes, Who?
Edit: Never mind.
Last edited by sub on 22 August 2018 at 11:29 am UTC
Last edited by sub on 22 August 2018 at 11:29 am UTC
0 Likes
It would be nice battleye to work on steamplay.
I personally tried No Man’s Sky and Trackmania Nations Forever and they work better than on wine and snap.
My problem remains Arma3 because the experimental port isn’t up to date with patch and doesn’t have workshop and launcher.
I personally tried No Man’s Sky and Trackmania Nations Forever and they work better than on wine and snap.
My problem remains Arma3 because the experimental port isn’t up to date with patch and doesn’t have workshop and launcher.
0 Likes
My thoughts on how Feral or Aspyr are gonna be hit by this are that, maybe instead of full fledged ports they could offer a services that helps tweak the game to work with proton?
Plenty devs will give it a go, and if the game already runs reasonably well, but need tweaking, they could hire those companies to do so, since they have the experience.
Plenty devs will give it a go, and if the game already runs reasonably well, but need tweaking, they could hire those companies to do so, since they have the experience.
2 Likes, Who?
Tried to start "Divinity - Original Sin" yesterday and realized, that it's not working anymore with the divos-hack shim:(
Does anybody know if it is possible to install the windows version instead the linux one?
Does anybody know if it is possible to install the windows version instead the linux one?
0 Likes
Hmm , so Russian are pretty uniterested then.More like Microsoft®-centric. Everything microsoft, no matter how bad it is (Silverlight for the corporate site? Sure! .NET for free MathCAD alternative? It couldn't be any other way! Taxes -- the federal site will work only with MS IE 6.0. Bank accounting? You've got the idea…), is treated as a fscing standard and all attempts to point to alternatives are met with ferocious hostility. Like the life depends on it. Twenty years of free Windows (1990-2010) had quite potent impact.
https://www.donanimhaber.com/ekran-karti/haberleri/F1-2017-oyunu-Linuxa-geliyor.htmHere, if it is not for Windows, it does not exist. Period. Almost nobody knows Vulkan versions (feral-ports) of some games exist.
https://www.donanimhaber.com/ekran-karti/haberleri/AMD-RX-480-ile-DOOM-Vulkan-testi-28e-varan-performans-artisi.htm
About Cemu:LOL!
No actually. Many people using Cemu for Zelda BOTW and using an AMD cards on Windows , created Linux partitions to run Cemu into Wine with Mesa OGL drivers. AMD Windows OGL drivers are such a disaster.
So, Wii U emulator… (didn't dig into Wii U emulation myself) Does it have only OpenGL renderer and no DirectX? Very weird, especially for a Windows™ exclusive emulator!
1 Likes, Who?
The code has not been tampered with no code injection has taken place they havent(sic) re written direct x to get it to work so they shouldnt(sic) have any legal grounds.Yeah, sure. This didn't stop Oracle® from suing Google® for its Java™ API implementation.
Stop with the FUD. Even if they sue they won't get anywhere. WINE infringes on no copyright, plus it has existed for 2 decades, legally they have lost the right to pursue anything now.Even if a court ultimately rejects all claims, this can take ages and Valve®'s reputation will be tarnished. And, more importantly, the court can forbid any Valve®'s economical activity in the US of America during the process in order to prevent any possible further violations. By the time Microsoft® will be forced to pay reparation it will be useless because Valve® will be bankrupt.
And please, don't shoot the messager. I don't work for Microsoft®; all I want is for people to stop drinking Valve®'s kool-aid. Why are most people assuming Microsoft® won't retaliate? Be it a legal process or constant and rapid API changes in order to break compatibility? All of the previous Microsoft®'s history suggests otherwise.
Also sorry i missed this before you honestly think a corporation the size of valve did not lawyer up to find out if this was legal before they sank a dime into development of dxvk they dont order pens from a new supplier without checking it out. Its called due diligence if Valve were stupid enough to plough ahead and not think of every possible angle people could come at them not to mention sinking cash into the project, valve are many things stupid is not one of them.
5 Likes, Who?
I'm really excited what the next steam hardware survey will tell!?
Maybe in January or so when this feature is out of beta(?) and the usage has stabilized. Doesn't Steam hardware survey emphasize new installs to a point that the results would be heavily skewed in favor of Linux from people that did just some quick tests? Unless the fix they did for cybercafes solved this behavior. In the short term it would certainly show if there is increased interest in Linux gaming due to this new feature (interesting data by itself though). I just don't think it would be a good indicator of actual marketshare in the next few months.
1 Likes, Who?
Do I need to install DXVK? Because I cannot install any Windows game despite having the Steam Beta Client.
0 Likes
Do I need to install DXVK? Because I cannot install any Windows game despite having the Steam Beta Client.
No , you don't have to. Go to Steam Settings-Steam Play.
Then restart client.
0 Likes
I knew I was missing something.Do I need to install DXVK? Because I cannot install any Windows game despite having the Steam Beta Client.
No , you don't have to. Go to Steam Settings-Steam Play.
Then restart client.
Thank you.
0 Likes
thelimeydragon Aug 22, 2018
Gianna Sisters (That promised HIB Linux port that never came) - Didn't run for me
Crayon Physics Deluxe (Linux version never released on Steam) - ran for me
Draw a Stick Man: Epic (Linux version never released on Steam) - Didn't run for me
Crayon Physics Deluxe (Linux version never released on Steam) - ran for me
Draw a Stick Man: Epic (Linux version never released on Steam) - Didn't run for me
0 Likes
See more from me