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.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: legluondunetI laughed, the best laughing issue I did read:Good to read that it worked without issues :)
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/390
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Comandante Ñoñardo Aug 24, 2018
Quoting: legluondunetI laughed, the best laughing issue I did read:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/390
HAHAHA!
Well.. In fact the "native" Linux version of Bioshock Infinite is indeed a Windows XP build running via EON wrapper.
I found that when I did a benchmark. Reading the result file, the OS listed is Windows XP.
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Quoting: PieOrCakeCrysis 2 Maximum Edition: Some intial mucking about with resolution and windowed/fullscreen, but got it working well.
How did Crysis launched for you? I can't even see any signs of it launched except the words saying launching on steam and then again I can press play.
Very strange
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Quoting: SalvatosQuoting: oldeschoolLooks 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.
This is something that I had considered - at what point do devs start start feeling peer pressured to help Valve fix lingering compatibility issues with Wine? I mean, I haven't seen a single UPlay title work with Steam Play. Or a 2K big release. Or a great deal of Rockstar titles(esp the newer ones). When do they start feeling eveybody's eyes on them because they are the odd ones out? Blizzard and EA have already passed on Steam, so this won't affect them, but everybody else is flat out dependent on Steam for their PC sales. Valve is not FORCING devs to do anything, but all of a sudden anybody that doesn't help Valve get a game working with this suddenly starts to look bad.
So right now they help get their stuff working with Steam Play. Down the line they include a Vulkan option for their titles where earlier that would be unthinkable.
Last edited by jarhead_h on 24 August 2018 at 6:23 pm UTC
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I actually didn't buy many non-Linux games over the last few years.
So, from my library if i check the games i want (and can) play :
Grim Dawn
Low Magic Age
Siralim 3 (but anyway it will come to Linux soon)
And the ones i cannot :
Battletech
So, from my library if i check the games i want (and can) play :
Grim Dawn
Low Magic Age
Siralim 3 (but anyway it will come to Linux soon)
And the ones i cannot :
Battletech
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Quoting: tonRTotally Linux newbie questions... Should I try it?Well, currently downloading The Sims 3. I will test it on Saturday evening or Sunday, depends on my laziness...
Very tempting to play The Sims 3....
Add: Just The sims 3 vanilla without countless of DLCs
Last edited by tonR on 24 August 2018 at 7:25 pm UTC
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Quoting: GuestHow is Tekken 7 running for you guys? For me it has pretty bad performance which is a shame for a fighting game, sits around 40-50fps most of the time, and I don't think I'm hardware bound because gpu and cpu usage still seem low and lowering settings does nothing either
Funny enough though, Killer Instinct (Which I think is a better fighting game anyway) fully works maxed out at 1080p using Proton, and its not even on the short list of games they're providing support for like Tekken 7 is.. And even more so, it's published by Microsoft and no doubt VERY heavily built on DirectX
Yet Tekken 7 uses Unreal Engine 4, also tried Snake Pass another UE4 game and performance seemed worse then last time I tried it using Lutris+DXVK and Wine, same goes for Grip which also ran fine using standard wine and DXVK... Yet on Proton it literally was going down to 6fps in-game
Seem to be having some bad luck with UE4 games so far, which I find surprising
Edit: Tested various other games as well, including Super Bomberman R (which seems to work flawlessly from the short time I spent on it).. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy sadly crashes after I press A on the "Press A to continue" screen, Quake Champions crashes straight after the initial screen, Resident Evil REmake just shows black screen (expected this one due to lack of WMP9 which is required in winetricks for it to work properly)... Duck Game doesn't load and just insta-crashes (again expected, as Duck Game requires XNA which can be installed using winetricks in normal wine)
Plan on doing alot more testing.. But more importantly I hope mrdeathdj is doing some testing of his own xD
Hi
I try testing tekken 7 but is so expensive* (dont have enough money)
*Normally bandai namco - tecmo koei is expensive games
^_^
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Quoting: tonRYou could have checked the compatibility spreadsheet to avoid wasting your time and bandwidth. (Three reports that it does not work.)Quoting: tonRTotally Linux newbie questions... Should I try it?Well, currently downloading The Sims 3. I will test it on Saturday evening or Sunday, depends on my laziness...
Very tempting to play The Sims 3....
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Mohandevir Aug 24, 2018
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: tonRYou could have checked the compatibility spreadsheet to avoid wasting your time and bandwidth. (Three reports that it does not work.)Quoting: tonRTotally Linux newbie questions... Should I try it?Well, currently downloading The Sims 3. I will test it on Saturday evening or Sunday, depends on my laziness...
Very tempting to play The Sims 3....
Aaaah! EA games... #Facepalm ;)
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Quoting: MohandevirQuoting: tuubiQuoting: tonRYou could have checked the compatibility spreadsheet to avoid wasting your time and bandwidth. (Three reports that it does not work.)Quoting: tonRTotally Linux newbie questions... Should I try it?Well, currently downloading The Sims 3. I will test it on Saturday evening or Sunday, depends on my laziness...
Very tempting to play The Sims 3....
Aaaah! EA games... #Facepalm ;)
Quoting: tuubiAhh.. Thank for your headup guys. Already downloaded 4GB!Quoting: tonRYou could have checked the compatibility spreadsheet to avoid wasting your time and bandwidth. (Three reports that it does not work.)Quoting: tonRTotally Linux newbie questions... Should I try it?Well, currently downloading The Sims 3. I will test it on Saturday evening or Sunday, depends on my laziness...
Very tempting to play The Sims 3....
According to compability spreadsheet, all were tested on NVidia GPU. I'm using low-end AMD GPU. I will try it and give the responds here soon..
Went back to sleep, nite...
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