Valve are working fast to improve the Steam client this year, with another beta now available including an option that was highly requested.
Firstly, Steam Input gained support for the HORI Battle Pad and HORI Wireless Switch Pad. Additionally, Big Picture mode had two bugs fixed. The usual stuff there and nothing major, that is until you get to the Linux section of the beta changelog.
Users have been asking Valve pretty much since Steam Play arrived, to add a method to force a native game to use Steam Play instead. So now, if you've opted into the Steam beta client you will see this on the properties of a game (the bottom option):
Why is that so interesting and important? Well, honestly, some Linux ports get left behind for months and years and some really just aren't good. Additionally, some Linux games have multiplayer that's not cross-platform, this could also help with that. Not to downplay the effort a lot of developers put in, it's just how it is. The ability for users to control between the version from the developer and running it through Steam Play is a nice to have option.
Linux changes:
- Added the ability to force-enable Steam Play in per-title properties, including for native games
- Fixed incorrect scroll offset in the in-game overlay
- Reworked global Steam Play enable settings to only override the Proton version used by unsupported games
- Fixed a bug where the global Steam Play enable setting wouldn't prompt for a Steam client restart
See the announcement here.
While not noted, the Steam client now actually shows what version of Proton is used for each title. Here's Into the Breach for example:
I would have played more but fullscreen is broken for me and it's a whitelisted title…
One of the next big stages for Steam Play, will be actually showing it for whitelisted titles on store pages. I'm still very curious to see how Valve will be handling that. Valve might also want to update the Steam support page too, it's rather outdated.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
I do not know what are you talking about performance. I do not think performance is the reason I would like steamplay as an option. I would like it _as_an_option_ because some not really demanding "native" games are just broken because the developers have just lost interest supporting it on linux and the games use some stupid "technology" that dropped linux support. For example The inner world was some adventure to make it work, it was doable but still was not a nice experience. On the same time I am quite sure with steamplay it would work fine but you do not have that option now. So it would be nice as an option.
It is not like steamplay is forced upon us, it is that we are able now to force steamplay.
It is not like steamplay is forced upon us, it is that we are able now to force steamplay.
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Quoting: LeopardQuoting: Cr1ogenif they want to force Linux games to work with Steamplay because they do not use windows directly? I think it's a step backwards in the fight that Valve has been doing for Linux users
No , with this way Valve guarentees a good gaming experience for Linux users.
Example: A Linux user bought the MotoGPX3 game ( native VP port) but performance wise game is beaten by DXVK with a big margin.
So user can use Windows version without dealing Steam on Lutris.
Valve provides you choice and says " Use what you want"
Well, that's Valve. You make the choice how you want to get the best of the game, as long as you are using Steam.
I have mixed feelings, but I am actually kind of glad it is possible to force it. Because I like choice.
The best thing would be statistics that proof that the native renderer is better.
But the ultimate goal (to me) would be a platform agnostic game. Just look at the current windows API as a middleware layer that gets thinner and thinner.
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Note from Valve:
QuoteIf you had Steam Play enabled for all titles, the current Steam client Beta is likely to get confused about what tool to use. To fix, disable Steam Play for all titles temporarily, restart Steam, and re-enable.
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Quoting: Xaero_VincentQuoting: LeopardQuoting: Cr1ogenif they want to force Linux games to work with Steamplay because they do not use windows directly? I think it's a step backwards in the fight that Valve has been doing for Linux users
No , with this way Valve guarentees a good gaming experience for Linux users.
Example: A Linux user bought the MotoGPX3 game ( native VP port) but performance wise game is beaten by DXVK with a big margin.
So user can use Windows version without dealing Steam on Lutris.
Valve provides you choice and says " Use what you want"
True but Steam Play falls behind upstream Wine and Wine Staging, so Lutris and POL w/ Windows Steam client is still useful for games that need newer Wine versions. Hopefully Steam Play gets a Wine 4.x re-base shortly after it's release.
Yes. Please keep in mind though that purchasing and playing the first two weeks on Lutris/Windows-Steam will tell Valve that you are a Windows user. If you stay the first two weeks on Linux-Steam/Proton you'll help rising the statistics in favor of Linux.
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Having a choice seems like a good thing, though I hope that I'll rarely need the option to force Steam Play on a native Linux title in my library.
Last edited by jens on 18 January 2019 at 9:51 am UTC
Last edited by jens on 18 January 2019 at 9:51 am UTC
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Be aware that the moment you enable "SteamPlay" Steam starts to redownload the whole thing for Windows (as expected) overwriting the installed Linux version. No further confirmation or question _where_ this download should go. A switch back to the native version will probably result in the same thing.
It was probably a bad idea of mine to try this on ARK, that requires already the most of my SSD, first. Now Steam is stuck in an unpacking loop after disk usage went to 100%. Time to shovel other files away to free some space *sigh*.
It was probably a bad idea of mine to try this on ARK, that requires already the most of my SSD, first. Now Steam is stuck in an unpacking loop after disk usage went to 100%. Time to shovel other files away to free some space *sigh*.
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Quoting: GuestStill not sure how this is any better than just firing up Steam itself through wine. I could already "force" a game to use wine that way. And choose various wine settings. And use an up-to-date wine. And it's not limited to Steam games.Counts as a Linux purchase on top of the convenience factor, plus the better performance in a number of cases.
So is this all still just a convenience thing for some people? I don't see that personally. I'm otherwise confused by the sudden excitement and "now game xyz can be played" when it was already possible for quite some time.
Maybe it's just me seeing things a little differently.
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Quoting: GuestStill not sure how this is any better than just firing up Steam itself through wine. I could already "force" a game to use wine that way. And choose various wine settings. And use an up-to-date wine. And it's not limited to Steam games.
But it's annoying to set up. One click solution is the key word. That's the way to attract people that have no idea how to setup Wine and whatnot.
Quoting: GuestSo is this all still just a convenience thing for some people? I don't see that personally. I'm otherwise confused by the sudden excitement and "now game xyz can be played" when it was already possible for quite some time.
Maybe it's just me seeing things a little differently.
If you can't see the convenience factor, you might want to get your eyes checked out :P
And there is a lot of sudden excitement, because things now just work, not just because of Proton, but because of all the building blocks that Valve encouraged, DXVK, FAudio etc, networking issues fixed etc...
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: kuhpunktQuoting: GuestStill not sure how this is any better than just firing up Steam itself through wine. I could already "force" a game to use wine that way. And choose various wine settings. And use an up-to-date wine. And it's not limited to Steam games.
But it's annoying to set up. One click solution is the key word. That's the way to attract people that have no idea how to setup Wine and whatnot.
Quoting: GuestSo is this all still just a convenience thing for some people? I don't see that personally. I'm otherwise confused by the sudden excitement and "now game xyz can be played" when it was already possible for quite some time.
Maybe it's just me seeing things a little differently.
If you can't see the convenience factor, you might want to get your eyes checked out :P
And there is a lot of sudden excitement, because things now just work, not just because of Proton, but because of all the building blocks that Valve encouraged, DXVK, FAudio etc, networking issues fixed etc...
Wow, that wasn't condescending at all. Maybe you need to learn how to use your computer better?
How is any of what I said/wrote condescending?
Quoting: GuestI don't find needing a beta version and manually going through options in Steam for each game to use an outdated wine. Against just logging in from one shortcut or another.
That's because at the moment it's just a beta - that doesn't even need you to go through options and all that stuff.
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: kuhpunktQuoting: GuestQuoting: kuhpunktQuoting: GuestStill not sure how this is any better than just firing up Steam itself through wine. I could already "force" a game to use wine that way. And choose various wine settings. And use an up-to-date wine. And it's not limited to Steam games.
But it's annoying to set up. One click solution is the key word. That's the way to attract people that have no idea how to setup Wine and whatnot.
Quoting: GuestSo is this all still just a convenience thing for some people? I don't see that personally. I'm otherwise confused by the sudden excitement and "now game xyz can be played" when it was already possible for quite some time.
Maybe it's just me seeing things a little differently.
If you can't see the convenience factor, you might want to get your eyes checked out :P
And there is a lot of sudden excitement, because things now just work, not just because of Proton, but because of all the building blocks that Valve encouraged, DXVK, FAudio etc, networking issues fixed etc...
Wow, that wasn't condescending at all. Maybe you need to learn how to use your computer better?
How is any of what I said/wrote condescending?
Quoting: GuestI don't find needing a beta version and manually going through options in Steam for each game to use an outdated wine. Against just logging in from one shortcut or another.
That's because at the moment it's just a beta - that doesn't even need you to go through options and all that stuff.
A) re-read your own words. About getting eyes checked. Then consider how you might be coming across.
B) game options must be accessed. See the article for that information.
A) There's a :P - meaning I'm teasing/joking.
B) Only for specific cases, WHICH IS STILL IN BETA
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