Valve officially confirm a new version of 'Steam Play' which includes a modified version of Wine

I'm liking this. There appears to be a common problem with sound. I can't get all the sound on mass effect 1 other than the intro swoosh sounds. Skyrim works lovely other than the standard freeze on quit which we are used too. No mans sky works great. Interestingly when I switch to 4k resolution on Ubuntu then run it I get a black screen with sound. Anyone getting sound but no video try out 1080p. Exciting. I deleted the wine install. If it keeps working well the windows partition is on borrowed time.

Kosh? Is that you?
Aren't you going to say "...and so it begins"? :)


Last edited by Boldos on 23 Aug 2018 at 2:04 pm UTC

Linux only has to be the second biggest and we still get the AAA titles, the creative suites, Fusion360, etc. We'll be large enough to be catered to like the Apple cult. That's all we need.

I wonder about that. Perception is a hell of a drug. Even if Linux earns more share than Mac on the desktop, I wouldn't be surprised if it remains marginalized for a good while because it's free and liberating (vs Apple's high-paying consumers who are used to being restricted and led by a leash) and associated with nerds (vs Apple's image of luxury and style). I'm not saying we won't get there, mind you, but I'm not at all certain that being the second largest userbase will cut it on its own.

Looks likes this is happening a bunch of people have been requesting a Linux port of City of Brass; the developer finally replied with a link to the announcement of Steam Play.

On the other hand, that doesn't have to be the end of the conversation. People can try it on Proton, find out what doesn't work, and report back to the dev. Knowing that they only need to fix a few issues that can't be handled by a default compatibility layer and seeing first-hand how many users are trying to play their game, what's to say the dev won't cave in and finally put some time into making their game more compatible with Linux, even if they don't truly port it? If they do, not only is it good news for their existing players who run Linux, but it puts the OS on their mind for future releases. Even if they won't port, they might consider choices that make their games more compatible with Steam Play, such as Vulkan. The snowball effect could be interesting.

This is an opportunity for Linux gamers to advocate the platform and work hand in hand with devs.

Looks likes this is happening a bunch of people have been requesting a Linux port of City of Brass; the developer finally replied with a link to the announcement of Steam Play.

I did what I can [External Link].

I'm liking this. There appears to be a common problem with sound. I can't get all the sound on mass effect 1 other than the intro swoosh sounds. Skyrim works lovely other than the standard freeze on quit which we are used too. No mans sky works great. Interestingly when I switch to 4k resolution on Ubuntu then run it I get a black screen with sound. Anyone getting sound but no video try out 1080p. Exciting. I deleted the wine install. If it keeps working well the windows partition is on borrowed time.

I have to confirm, that running some of the games on 4K is problematic...
...that is why it feels like I'm almost the only guy on the planet, for whom Doom is not working out of the box... (and yes, before you ask - I have a pretty standard config of Ubuntu 18.04 with GTX 1060 on 396.51). But after several tries/fights I won and I can shoot the whole Mars hell into oblivion.
Crysis is also reported to run ok, but on my 4K it is again a nogo..

Reading Lin_Soldar's comment made me realize that I might be able to play games that I got in my humble monthly bundles... Games that I never claimed because they are Windows only... I guess I will have to update my humble inventory. :)


Last edited by Mohandevir on 23 Aug 2018 at 4:20 pm UTC

I'm liking this. There appears to be a common problem with sound. I can't get all the sound on mass effect 1 other than the intro swoosh sounds. Skyrim works lovely other than the standard freeze on quit which we are used too. No mans sky works great. Interestingly when I switch to 4k resolution on Ubuntu then run it I get a black screen with sound. Anyone getting sound but no video try out 1080p. Exciting. I deleted the wine install. If it keeps working well the windows partition is on borrowed time.

Kosh? Is that you?
Aren't you going to say "...and so it begins"? :)

We have always been here


Last edited by musojon74 on 23 Aug 2018 at 5:17 pm UTC

I managed to break Proton earlier, after a "quick" reinstall of Proton I can get back to testing games.

Borderlands, works perfectly
All the original Doom games up to Doom3 ROE working perfectly with the usual cfg tweaks for screen resolution
Torchlight, works but crashes if you try to delete save games.
Unreal Gold, working perfectly.

I managed to break Proton earlier, after a "quick" reinstall of Proton I can get back to testing games.

Borderlands, works perfectly
All the original Doom games up to Doom3 ROE working perfectly with the usual cfg tweaks for screen resolution
Torchlight, works but crashes if you try to delete save games.
Unreal Gold, working perfectly.

There is actually a linux native version of Torchlight. However, it is only available through Humble Store. (I have it from an old bundle.)

There is actually a linux native version of Torchlight. However, it is only available through Humble Store. (I have it from an old bundle.)

I got that version from Humble Bundle, many moons ago too, best of both worlds. :D

ps I can now add Neighbours from Hell & Neighbours from Hell 2 to the list of working games.


Last edited by lucifertdark on 23 Aug 2018 at 5:55 pm UTC

Just wow :)

I'm curious to see how this is gonna reflect on the Steam HW survey... So far Linux gamers playing on wine have always counted as windows. Now they're apparently properly counted as Linux. So maybe we see a spike there too.

just randomly installed a windows only game, that is not officially supported and it as just working fine: Professional Faermer 2014

Sadly I couldnt find another game in my lib, that worked, among the ones I tried:
- GTA 4
- Burnout Paradise
- Heroes 6 (ofc this thing is even download the crappy Upaly cielnt for it)

UPDATE:
hmm I have just checked again, and Burnout Paradise works flawlessly now :)


Last edited by fenevadkan on 24 Aug 2018 at 11:23 am UTC

just randomly installed a windows only game, that is not officially supported and it as just working fine: Professional Faermer 2014

Sadly I couldnt find another game in my lib, that worked, among the ones I tried:
- GTA 4
- Burnout Paradise
- Heroes 6 (ofc this thing is even download the crappy Upaly cielnt for it)

That is surprising, Burnout Paradise works pretty effortlessly in vanilla wine. Well, in staging at least.

Mmmm... Someone dusted off Carmack's 2013 declaration... I found that interresting, given the actual context:

https://boilingsteam.com/carmack-the-wise/ [External Link]


Last edited by Mohandevir on 23 Aug 2018 at 11:18 pm UTC

First week beta release, so that it works at all is awesome. If this situation hasn't changed in six months we need to be concerned. But for now :

Not Working for Me:
Far Cry 2(buggy but started on with display options set LOW. Minecraftesque foliage. Technically playable, but no.)
Far Cry 3
Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY
RWBY: Grim Eclipse(installs, boots, runs, doesn't display character models in game making it unplayable)
Alan Wake
Bioshock Remasterd
Call of Juarez Gunslinger
Deadpool
Warhammer 40K Space Marine
GUN
Strider
Transformers: Devastation
Mafia II

Working:
F.E.A.R.
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
LEGO Batman: The Videogame(audio bug that loops five seconds of the audio track over and over)
Strike Suit Zero: Directors Cut
Sid Meier's Pirates!


Last edited by jarhead_h on 24 Aug 2018 at 12:47 am UTC

Hellbound [External Link], the FREEtoPlay game by the Argentinian team Saibot Studios, creators of Doorways, works and play via Proton...



But it crash when exit the game..


Just to refresh the info:
THIS is the "live" version of the tracking document, and it has grown 1,5 times from yesterday (to roughly 2600 test entries as of this morning; so pretty impressive so far):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DcZZQ4HL_Ol969UbXJmFG8TzOHNnHoj8Q1f8DIFe8-8/edit#gid=0 [External Link]


Last edited by Boldos on 24 Aug 2018 at 7:16 am UTC

Just to refresh the info:
THIS is the "live" version of the tracking document, and it has grown 1,5 times from yesterday (to roughly 2600 test entries as of this morning; so pretty impressive so far):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DcZZQ4HL_Ol969UbXJmFG8TzOHNnHoj8Q1f8DIFe8-8/edit#gid=0 [External Link]

Thanks for the link, I added my first game to the list this morning (hasn't shown up yet though), FLOCK! works perfectly with no tinkering whatsoever.

Just to refresh the info:
THIS is the "live" version of the tracking document, and it has grown 1,5 times from yesterday (to roughly 2600 test entries as of this morning; so pretty impressive so far):
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DcZZQ4HL_Ol969UbXJmFG8TzOHNnHoj8Q1f8DIFe8-8/edit#gid=0 [External Link]

This generated view [External Link] loads a lot faster and it's cleaner without the useless editor bits. It seems to update every 5 minutes so it's live enough.

I'm liking this. There appears to be a common problem with sound. I can't get all the sound on mass effect 1 other than the intro swoosh sounds. Skyrim works lovely other than the standard freeze on quit which we are used too. No mans sky works great. Interestingly when I switch to 4k resolution on Ubuntu then run it I get a black screen with sound. Anyone getting sound but no video try out 1080p. Exciting. I deleted the wine install. If it keeps working well the windows partition is on borrowed time.

I have to confirm, that running some of the games on 4K is problematic...
...that is why it feels like I'm almost the only guy on the planet, for whom Doom is not working out of the box... (and yes, before you ask - I have a pretty standard config of Ubuntu 18.04 with GTX 1060 on 396.51). But after several tries/fights I won and I can shoot the whole Mars hell into oblivion.
Crysis is also reported to run ok, but on my 4K it is again a nogo..

Hum, since you didn't tell before I asked, have you reported your findings on Valve's Proton Github? DOOM is supposed to be supported :D

I'm curious to see how this is gonna reflect on the Steam HW survey... So far Linux gamers playing on wine have always counted as windows. Now they're apparently properly counted as Linux. So maybe we see a spike there too.

No, wine gamers are NOT going to be counted as Linux. However, Proton users obviously run the native client, so players that previously used wine to run steam, but now use the native Steam + SteamPlay ARE going to be counted as Linux :)

Hopefully someones builds a few libraries to easily use the native Steam API with regular wine/wine staging. I foresee this happening soon enough :)