A busy weekend ahead perhaps? Steam Play Proton 6.3-5 is out now

It's good to see Proton going from strength to strength, but I still play mostly native Linux; both as a matter of principle and because there are so many good titles available.

I wonder if Borderlands 3 works with this version.

Quoting: DorritIt's good to see Proton going from strength to strength, but I still play mostly native Linux; both as a matter of principle and because there are so many good titles available.

I've mentioned my sliding scale before, but I'll quickly run through it again.

A game that isn't native and doesn't work in Proton is worth nothing (obviously).

A game that isn't native and accidentally works in Proton is worth maybe 10%. It could stop working at any time.

A game that isn't native but deliberately works in Proton (so the developer tests in Proton and fixes their game if it stops working) is worth something like 50%.

A native game is worth full price.

The games that I buy (or wishlist) all count as Linux sales, so the dev gets feedback that there's a market. The sliding scale incentivises better support from the dev. More tux more bucks.

I'll also add that I've already got more games than I've got time to play, and a relatively long wishlist, so the non-native games also get pretty low priority.


Last edited by CatKiller on 25 June 2021 at 8:28 pm UTC

QuoteResident Evil 2 (2019)

I still can't believe how well optimize CAPCOM made this game, compared to the high dpi mouse bug Re6 had for me, it doesn't even look like it was made by the same company.

Now if they could get rid of their fetish for using Media Foundation components them I would be glad

Quoting: CatKillerA game that isn't native but deliberately works in Proton (so the developer tests in Proton and fixes their game if it stops working) is worth something like 50%.

I'm honestly curious, mostly because of how I often see people claim that's all we need/don't need native ports, are there any devs that have actually done that? As in actually support the game through Proton and bill Linux as officially supported, not them just saying to give it a try or that people got it working.

Quoting: Raaben

Quoting: CatKillerA game that isn't native but deliberately works in Proton (so the developer tests in Proton and fixes their game if it stops working) is worth something like 50%.

I'm honestly curious, mostly because of how I often see people claim that's all we need/don't need native ports, are there any devs that have actually done that? As in actually support the game through Proton and bill Linux as officially supported, not them just saying to give it a try or that people got it working.

No Man's Sky is the well-known one: they've had specific things in their changelog about fixing things for the game in Proton.

Every game, if you look at their Steam forum, will have a thread of people asking for Linux support. If a dev responds there you can get an idea about their familiarity and testing regime. Some just wash their hands of the whole thing, but others are more supportive.

Some devs will chime in on Proton's github, or there'll be feedback there from another channel.

Having devs engaged like that, and proactively looking for solutions even if they aren't quite ready to make the step to fully supporting a native build, is still worthwhile, I think. Not full price worthwhile, to me, but significant.

The only mechanism currently for having front page Store support for something running through Proton is to have it whitelisted, which means that Valve's taken over support instead of the dev. Testing in Proton and having a not-entirely-supported-but-tested Linux build available don't show on the Store page. Perhaps we'll get another category if Valve release their rumoured handheld. Unfortunately, the "we just hit the export to Linux button but don't actually test anything at all" does show on the Store page, and those aren't games that people should buy.

I picked up Dorfromantik yesterday and it ran fine with Proton—didn't even have to pick a specific version, it just automatically fired up. Definitely a lovely and stress-relieving game.

As always, amazing update, thankyou everyone who worked on it and thankyou Valve for the continued support.

Update - 26/06/21: Proton Experimental also saw an update. It pulled in the updates from 6.3-5, plus it also mentions "support for Nvidia DLSS" and that "Resident Evil Village, Forza Horizon 4, and Anno 1404 - History Edition are playable".

This version breaks GRID (2019)

Quoting: CatKillerA game that isn't native and doesn't work in Proton is worth nothing (obviously).

A game that isn't native and accidentally works in Proton is worth maybe 10%. It could stop working at any time.

A game that isn't native but deliberately works in Proton (so the developer tests in Proton and fixes their game if it stops working) is worth something like 50%.

A native game is worth full price.

What about a native game that works better in Proton?


Last edited by axredneck on 26 June 2021 at 9:35 pm UTC

Quoting: axredneckWhat about a native game that works better in Proton?

What about it? Assuming it's not the fraudulent case, where they sell you a Linux game but don't actually test or support it (which you shouldn't buy), but a standard fully-tested and fully-supported native product (which is worth full price) then your choosing to run it in Proton is no one else's business.

What one needs, as the buyer of a product, is to know that the supplier is going to try their hardest to make sure that the product is fit for purpose, and to have recourse if it isn't. If a dev never tests on the platform you're using they can't do the former, and if they can shrug off complaints because your platform is unsupported you don't get the latter. Which makes their product not worth as much.


Last edited by CatKiller on 26 June 2021 at 10:50 pm UTC

FYI: according to recent comments on GTA 5's proton issue, Self Radio now works in Proton Experimental:
* Place MP3's in compatdata/271590/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/My Documents/Rockstar Games/GTA V/User Music
* Seems to crash if you put in more than 600mb worth of music

Quoting: CatKillerA game that isn't native and accidentally works in Proton is worth maybe 10%. It could stop working at any time.

I also believe that buy a "new" game because it works well on proton is nuts. It works today, it's easy anti cheat tomorrow. Eventually though new games become old games. Old games -> no more development cycles. No dev cycles -> no (or close to null) risk of proton breaking.

For AAA games often it's just a matter of waiting like 1 year or so until the project goes support mode. With their obsene day 1 prices, waiting it's not a bad idea anyway.

Quoting: Mal

Quoting: CatKillerA game that isn't native and accidentally works in Proton is worth maybe 10%. It could stop working at any time.

I also believe that buy a "new" game because it works well on proton is nuts. It works today, it's easy anti cheat tomorrow. Eventually though new games become old games. Old games -> no more development cycles. No dev cycles -> no (or close to null) risk of proton breaking.

Yep. By the time a game gets to 90% off, devs are unlikely to still be making breaking changes.