Proton 5.0 for Steam Play released - it's a huge update (updated)

CodeWeavers and Valve today released the big one many have been waiting for! Proton 5.0 for Steam Play is now live.

Looking to get started with Steam Play on Linux? Have no idea what it is? Be sure to check our previous beginners guide for some tips and explanations. We'll be keeping that up to date with any major changes.

This is a big jump too, with Proton moving from Wine 4.11 to Wine 5.0 bringing thousands of changes and likely increased compatibility once again. According to what's been said in the changelog, at least 207 patches from Proton 4.11 were either integrated directly into Wine upstream or aren't needed now.

Since Proton 5.0 brings in the latest DXVK v1.5.4, it also enables Direct 3D 9 to Vulkan by default now too. FAudio was also updated to 20.02, there's also improved surround sound support for older games and improved Steam client integration makes more games with Denuvo playable (Just Cause 3 now works but no saving, Batman: Arkham Knight, Abzu + more).

Overall, a very exciting update for getting more Windows-only titles playable easily on Linux through the native Steam client. Enabling more people to try out Linux and not lose access to their vast library of games.

Full changelog can be found here.

Note: If Proton 5.0 doesn't appear, you can try reloading Steam. It will also download it when you first load a game with it forced as the version for it.

Update 13/03/20 Proton 5.0-2 is out as a minor release:

• Fix frequent crash introduced in Proton 5.0-1 related to video and audio playback.
• Fix Planet Coaster crash on launch.
• Fix Subnautica graphical issue.