Valve adds support for games using CEG DRM through Steam Play Proton

just a quick fyi: proton-ge added this commit for the proton-side of CEG support. if there are games that use CEG that require fixes in proton-ge (like Black Ops II), these should* run with the next release of proton ge (or now if you build it yourself).

*i haven't finished building it yet, but i have high hopes, since it works in lutris with wine-ge-custom and only needed the CEG support to run in steam proton


Last edited by lectrode on 29 October 2021 at 6:32 pm UTC

Quoting: BeamboomBut three of those titles (Bioshock, Hitman, Saints Row) are Linux native and have always worked?

And Civ 5. Or at least, it had a Linux version by the time I switched in 2014, don't know if it had it from launch. But hey, more Proton compatibility is always good.

Not all CEG titles work so far. It seems Valve announced only the working ones.

• Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light — works, takes a lot of time to start


• Warhammer 40000: Space Marine — doesn't work


• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified — doesn't work


• Darkness II — starts, shows cinematics and crashes. Didn't start before.

Last edited by chelobaka on 29 October 2021 at 7:10 pm UTC

Has anyone tried Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition?
I hope it comes soon in a stable version or in proton-ge

EDIT oops, I was preceded by chelobaka


Last edited by Torqachu on 29 October 2021 at 6:59 pm UTC

Just tried GRID 2 it launches now but crashes when i select and start a profile and just cause 2 launches to a black screen using proton experimental so hopefully more work can be done. Also for some reason now there is a window that now pops up randoms thats called steam client service and when it launches it spins up my bluray drive and i loose control of what im doing really annoying happens almost every 30 seconds

Just Cause 2 is working

Lords of the Fallen is also working (just quick test)

Quoting: BeamboomBut three of those titles (Bioshock, Hitman, Saints Row) are Linux native and have always worked?

mmm yes, but they work fatal, Bioshock Infinite always have performance problems in my GTX 1060, in Windows I easily run it in Ultra 60fps, not here.

With Proton I get a very similar performance to Windows with a bit of stutter (shader cache) but it is 99% playable, much better than the native one.

and the MW2 already worked, I doubt that it had CEG, the one that did not work was MW3, which I already made a video of its but with a bad performance, I think a regression of Wine, Just Cause 2, Kane & Lynch 2 among others already they work well

Quoting: alejandro-bringasmmm yes, but they work fatal, Bioshock Infinite always have performance problems in my GTX 1060, in Windows I easily run it in Ultra 60fps, not here.

With Proton I get a very similar performance to Windows with a bit of stutter (shader cache) but it is 99% playable, much better than the native one.

Back then I always said that I suspected those "ports" from Feral to in reality be more of a "wrapped" than "ported" game. I stand by that. I think they had their own "wine-like" layer they applied to the games, where the "porting" were merely customisations for that wrapper.
Yes, I know there are Linux binaries, but noone knows what goes on in there.

Quoting: chelobakaNot all CEG titles work so far. It seems Valve announced only the working ones.

• Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light — works, takes a lot of time to start


• Warhammer 40000: Space Marine — doesn't work


• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified — doesn't work


• Darkness II — starts, shows cinematics and crashes. Didn't start before.

The last three are the ones I was about to try... You saved me time.

Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: alejandro-bringasmmm yes, but they work fatal, Bioshock Infinite always have performance problems in my GTX 1060, in Windows I easily run it in Ultra 60fps, not here.

With Proton I get a very similar performance to Windows with a bit of stutter (shader cache) but it is 99% playable, much better than the native one.

Back then I always said that I suspected those "ports" from Feral to in reality be more of a "wrapped" than "ported" game. I stand by that. I think they had their own "wine-like" layer they applied to the games, where the "porting" were merely customisations for that wrapper.
Yes, I know there are Linux binaries, but noone knows what goes on in there.

Bioshock Infinite is a Virtual Programming port, and they used "eON", which is their proprietary Wine-type solution. Feral had their compile-time D3D translation layer, a bit like Valve's ToGL, but they never simply wrapped Windows binaries and called it a day. And I'm not sure all of their ports used that translation tech anyway.

Also, the few VP ports I bought might not have performed perfectly, but they did the job (even Witcher 2 after a few updates), and I had fun playing the games. Wrapped ports can make Linux look bad in comparison, but they're better than nothing as long as they're properly supported on Linux.


Last edited by tuubi on 29 October 2021 at 8:41 pm UTC

Now they need to fix the WMF issue...

Quoting: ShinyaOsenJust tried GRID 2 it launches now but crashes when i select and start a profile and just cause 2 launches to a black screen using proton experimental so hopefully more work can be done. Also for some reason now there is a window that now pops up randoms thats called steam client service and when it launches it spins up my bluray drive and i loose control of what im doing really annoying happens almost every 30 seconds

its working ritght now

Quoting: chelobakaNot all CEG titles work so far. It seems Valve announced only the working ones.

• Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light — works, takes a lot of time to start


• Warhammer 40000: Space Marine — doesn't work


• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified — doesn't work


• Darkness II — starts, shows cinematics and crashes. Didn't start before.

The Darkness II its working fine for me

"Darkness II — starts, shows cinematics and crashes."

Same here

Quoting: chelobakaNot all CEG titles work so far. It seems Valve announced only the working ones.

• Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light — works, takes a lot of time to start


• Warhammer 40000: Space Marine — doesn't work


• The Bureau: XCOM Declassified — doesn't work


• Darkness II — starts, shows cinematics and crashes. Didn't start before.

All above titles work with Proton Experimental bleeding-edge beta.


Last edited by chelobaka on 30 October 2021 at 11:27 am UTC

Quoting: tuubiWrapped ports can make Linux look bad in comparison, but they're better than nothing as long as they're properly supported on Linux.

Better than NOTHING, true. But they most definitely made Linux look real bad.

I even think it was misleading back then to call such releases "ports" at all. But no point in beating a dead horse further. 😊👍

Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: tuubiWrapped ports can make Linux look bad in comparison, but they're better than nothing as long as they're properly supported on Linux.

Better than NOTHING, true. But they most definitely made Linux look real bad.

I doubt it had any lasting effect on anything though. Linux is doing fine. And I would never have bought and enjoyed those games if the ports didn't exist, so it's a bit hard to really agree with this line of thought.

Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: tuubiWrapped ports can make Linux look bad in comparison, but they're better than nothing as long as they're properly supported on Linux.

Better than NOTHING, true. But they most definitely made Linux look real bad.

I even think it was misleading back then to call such releases "ports" at all. But no point in beating a dead horse further. 😊👍

They were not without issues, but overall they worked very well. At times issues reported for those ports were in fact the original game issues, (like the stutter in BI when loading new areas).
But most importantly, those ports came when we badly needed them. We are spoiled today with everything running with Vulkan/DXVK/Proton etc, but back then we only had a handful of porters that did what they could with the tools of the time and OpenGL.
Whatever the today status, those porters, VP/Aspyr/Feral/etc deserve our (at least mine) gratitude, they kept the Linux gaming going as best as they could.

Quoting: tuubiI doubt it had any lasting effect on anything though. Linux is doing fine. And I would never have bought and enjoyed those games if the ports didn't exist, so it's a bit hard to really agree with this line of thought.

Oh as did I. And nobody remembers the travesty around that anymore.

But if those "ports" were the alternative way forward for gaming on Linux, there is no end to the appreciation we should feel for Steam Play/proton. To put it mildly.