Another Steam Client Beta is out, adds the ability to force Steam Play

I'm gonna try this with Tomb Raider 2013 and both Metro Redux.

For the next update, it will be useful to have a ProtonCFG button just below "Force the use of an specific Steam play compatibility tool".. Sometimes you need a 32bit prefix.. sometimes you need to install an specific library or codec

tested rise of the tomb raider and deus ex MKD

they did good but native won in ROTR deus performed almost the same as windows with DXVK

The Turok remaster has a pretty solid Linux port, but it doesn't include the editor. I can use the GoG version in Wine easily enough for mapping, but any time I want to upload to the Steam Workshop I have to boot into Windows to use the Steam version of the editor so it can hook up with my Steam account (I've tried running the Windows version of Steam itself in Wine before, but didn't have much luck). This one little edge case is pretty much the only reason I ever boot into Windows anymore, so it'll be really fantastic if I can just use Steam Play for this now.

There are plenty of games with broken linux ports. Usually they can be fixed by linking libraries or something like that, but there a tons of obscure indie linux games out there that just plain don't work.

The more interesting part of this update, I think, is the ability to easily set what version of proton is being used individually. Regressions do happen and it's nice to be able to override easily.

I still wish they would change it so that you can have the officially supported games in the "STEAMOS + LINUX" view, but be able to launch unsupported games via Steam Play from the "GAMES" view. Right now, you have to globally enable Steam Play, and then the Linux view has both supported and unsupported games in it. Plus switching between modes requires a client restart - annoying.

It's slightly less annoying with the current beta; you can leave the globally enabled Steam Play option off, and force Proton to be used for specific Windows games. But that still makes them show up under the STEAMOS + LINUX view.

The "0 byte downloads" aren't completely gone! Here's one easy way to trigger it:

1) Open the properties of a native game
2) Check the "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool" checkbox
3) Immediately, there is an update queued
4) Uncheck the box and close the dialog

You will now get a 0 byte download. At least in this scenario, it makes sense how you get that result.

With beta client, i can't download anything, it throws the error "Content servers unreachable".
I'm on archlinux...

tested rise of the tomb raider and deus ex MKD

they did good but native won in ROTR deus performed almost the same as windows with DXVK

So dxmd runs via proton? Last time i tried it did not.
And am i understood? Performance with poroton is the same as on windows? that would be a huge improvement over the slow feral port.

I love these QOL improvements. Gaming on linux really becomes a thing.. When Windows 7 reaches EOL next year i will propably stop dual-booting. Also Wine will be at v5.0 and who knows how will DXVK mature.. Exciting times. Hopefully Feral will still port AAA games which are ofc a better option.

i bet tomb raider 2013 and rise of the tomb raider will run even better now gonna have to test this

Do it, don't forget to post the results.

Great! Now i can try payday2 in vr!

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.

if 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.

Note from Valve:

If 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.

if 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.

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

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*.

Still 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.

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.

Counts as a Linux purchase on top of the convenience factor, plus the better performance in a number of cases.

Still 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.

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.

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...

Still 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.

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.

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?

I 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.

Still 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.

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.

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?

I 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