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: GuestWhat possible motive will there be to do Linux-native when all the work is being done by someone else??
I know a lot of Windows Gamers that would love to switch to Linux if their current Windows games would run on linux.
And who knows how many of them are in the wild?
When linux gets a higher playerbase I could imagine that most developers will start to develop on vulkan and not directx.
Quoting: GuestQuoting: GuestOn the long run, companies will recognize Linux more as a real market share even though they the companies dont have to do anything in terms of technical development because of Wine.Why would they want to do that? If Steam/Wine/whatever takes care of it non-natively, they will never have do any better. What possible motive will there be to do Linux-native when all the work is being done by someone else??
Because of this Linux market share recognition, chances are that they will want to support natively Linux so they make sure that their games run well on Linux also (not just with the Wine compatibility layer).
You're missing a point:
That is a compability layer and because of that it will have caveats and it is not entirely possible to have great compability.
Once the user base is there and there is an highly acclaimed upcoming AAA that won't work with Proton ; user base will do the pressure.
Because they have already docked into Linux shores and loved it , nuked Windows ; they won't do that installing Windows again. They will start to pressure then when it is announced.
So either that company will do a native Linux port or making sure that game works great with Proton.
Quoting: GuestQuoting: GuestOn the long run, companies will recognize Linux more as a real market share even though they the companies dont have to do anything in terms of technical development because of Wine.Why would they want to do that? If Steam/Wine/whatever takes care of it non-natively, they will never have do any better. What possible motive will there be to do Linux-native when all the work is being done by someone else??
Because of this Linux market share recognition, chances are that they will want to support natively Linux so they make sure that their games run well on Linux also (not just with the Wine compatibility layer).
I agree.
Only time will tell.
Quoting: NonjuffoMaybe 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.
I guess you are right.
Now that wine/proton is buildin into steam, I for my part will start buying Windows games for which I've waited for tooooooooo long for native linux port.
I will wait for a cheap sale and buy them with a good feeling as they will count as a linux purchase.
Quoting: johndoeI'm really excited what the next steam hardware survey will tell!?No idea how Steam hardware survey reports are processed by Valve but survey raw data has couple places that clearly indicates that Steam has been started via wine.
For example data collected by Valve from the last my survey:
Manufacturer: The Wine Project
Model: Wine
Operating system: Windows 7 (64-bit)
Wine version: wine-3.11 (Staging)
So it depends how Valve was processed it... Add to Windows? Or Linux? Or "Other"? Or reject completely as "false data"?
If they were adding it to Linux (like they should) - then Linux percentage probably will increase but probably not much. If they rejected such data in the past - perhaps Linux will gain quite big increase in statistics - perhaps even more than 1% usage! ;)
To be realistic: 10% Linux market share is not possible even if Proton will excellent support all Windows Steam games. "Average PC gamer" is not technically advanced enough to install Linux. And what for? To play games that already are working on Windows?
Unless... Valve will back to SteamMachine initiative. Steam PC that is easy to use as console could attract "average gamers" easily - console ones especially.
Quoting: dannielloSo it depends how Valve was processed it... Add to Windows? Or Linux? Or "Other"? Or reject completely as "false data"?
As Liam already communicated with Valve - IT WILL COUNT AS LINUX PURCHASE.
Last edited by johndoe on 22 August 2018 at 12:52 pm UTC
Quoting: johndoeQuoting: dannielloSo it depends how Valve was processed it... Add to Windows? Or Linux? Or "Other"? Or reject completely as "false data"?
As Liam already communicated with Valve - IT WILL COUNT AS LINUX PURCHASE.
Purchases yes, but the hardware survey is a completely separate thing.
Quoting: NonjuffoIf you run your Windows games via this Proton thing you'll do it from the native Steam client. Therefore when you see the hardware survey, it will report you being on Linux.Quoting: johndoeQuoting: dannielloSo it depends how Valve was processed it... Add to Windows? Or Linux? Or "Other"? Or reject completely as "false data"?
As Liam already communicated with Valve - IT WILL COUNT AS LINUX PURCHASE.
Purchases yes, but the hardware survey is a completely separate thing.
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