Proton Experimental gets a small update and fixes Quake Champions crashes

Ready for some more testing? Valve has updated Proton Experimental once again with some new bits, including solving some crashes with Quake Champions. If you're not clear on what Proton and Steam Play are, be sure to check out our constantly updated dedicated page.

Part of the problem with Proton at times, is that developers don't often test for it and so games push out updates that then break the Windows version working on Linux with Proton. That happened again recently with Quake Champions after they added some new anti-cheat, which had caused it to be left broken for multiple weeks with Proton. The latest Proton Experimental as on July 19 notes if fixes "crashes in recent Quake Champions update.".

Pictured - Quake Champions, running again with Proton on Linux.

Hopefully this breakage is something that will happen less often with the upcoming Steam Deck.

Apart from that this Proton Experimental update also updates wine-mono to 6.2.2, and it brings in some development code from an unreleased version of DXVK which should make things a bit smoother overall.

Need to know how to actually use Proton Experimental? Here's a simple HOWTO (as it's not complicated!). Make sure it's installed by searching for it in your Steam Library, then select it from the Compatibility menu in the Properties section of a game. See our quick video below:

For an explainer in text form:

1. Search for Proton Experimental and install if not already.
2. Right click any game on Steam and go to Properties.
3. Select the Compatibility menu on the right side.
4. Ensure the "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool" is ticked.
5. From the dropdown box that appears select Proton Experimental.