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After a bit of a wait since the Wine 8.0 release, Valve has now released Proton 8.0, the latest version of their Windows translation layer for Steam Deck and Linux desktop. This is the tool that runs some of the most popular games around!

Plenty of the changes will have already been in Proton Experimental, but Proton 8 is the latest stable version that eventually the majority of Windows games will move over to use. According to the Twitter post from Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais, Proton Experimental will see an update this week too.

Now noted to be playable include:

  • Forspoken
  • Samurai Maiden
  • Dead Space (2023)
  • Creativerse
  • Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition
  • One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
  • Atelier Meruru
  • Atelier Lydie & Suelle ~The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings~
  • Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book DX
  • Blue Reflection
  • Atelier Rorona ~The Alchemist of Arland~ DX
  • Disney Dreamlight Valley
  • ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV
  • ToGather:Island
  • WARRIORS OROCHI 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition
  • Exceed - Gun Bullet Children
  • Gungrave G.O.R.E.
  • Chex Quest HD

Bug fixes and other improvements include:

  • Fixed 2K launcher failure caused by launcher update.
  • Fixed Arabic fonts in FIFA 21 and 22.
  • Improved CJK font support in many games including NOBUNAGA'S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit, Stardom 3 and Sword and Fairy 3.
  • Improved sleep/resume functionality on Steam Deck for Tiny Tina's Wonderland.
  • Improved multi-touch support.
  • Fixed native scrollbar being always visible in Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher.
  • Fixed A Plague Tale: Innocence and A Plague Tale: Requiem showing on-screen keyboard when starting the game on the Steam Deck.
  • Fixed rendering issues during cutscenes in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.
  • Fixed Japanese keyboard input in Final Fantasy XIV Online.
  • Fixed Football manager 2023 crashing when trying to return from a player profile.
  • Fixed experimental regression: Fall in Labyrinth started crashing on some setups.
  • Improved CJK characters rendering in many games including NOBUNAGA'S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit.
  • Fixed Life is Strange Remastered crashing at the end of chapter 2.
  • Fixed Alt+Tab not working on Gnome 43.
  • Improved force feedback compatibility for BeamNG and Forza Horizon 5.
  • Fixed regression with Mortal Kombat X performance.
  • Fixed OpenGL launch option for Youropa.
  • Fixed raytracing in Crysis Remastered.
  • Improved multiplayer support in Company of Heroes III.
  • Improved fullscreen support for The Last Blade 2.
  • Fixed regression: Minecraft Dungeons was hanging when disconnecting from multiplayer game.
  • Fixed Immortals Fenyx Rising missing/out-of-order audio lines in cutscenes.
  • Fixed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launcher flickering on Wayland.
  • Fixed Story Mode not working in Dead or Alive 6.
  • Enabled nvapi for many games.
  • Updated wine to 8.0.
  • Updated dxvk to v2.1-4-gcaf31033.
  • Updated vkd3d-proton to v2.8-84-g08909d98.
  • Updated dxvk-nvapi to v0.6.2.
  • Updated wine-mono to 7.4.1.

How to use it?

You can select Proton 8 in the Properties -> Compatibility menu of any game when you tick the box. See more in the Steam Play beginner's guide article. You can also search for "Proton 8" directly in your Steam Library to install it manually.

Note: it requires a GPU that supports Vulkan 1.3 (Steam Deck is fine).

Full changelog can be found on GitHub.


Update 18/04/23 - 18:36 UTC: Valve pushed out a hotfix to Proton 8 fix a crash on startup with Dark Souls games.

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17 comments

wit_as_a_riddle Apr 17, 2023
Linux gaming marches forward, Valve waving the flag, contributors in the thousands shoulder to shoulder in formation stepping together. Deck in hand, I cheer from the sidelines as they continue with steady progress.
Aeder Apr 17, 2023
Which of the alt-tab bugs did they fix? The one where you alt tab and then can't alt-tab back into the game? Or the one where if you stay alt-tabbed at some point all input stops responding?


Last edited by Aeder on 17 April 2023 at 8:41 pm UTC
mr-victory Apr 17, 2023
Which of the alt-tab bugs did they fix?
Fixed Alt+Tab not working on Gnome 43.

Must try ASAP with Apex Legends and Paradox Launxher.
tomaszg Apr 17, 2023
Seems EA launcher is still broken for me. Can't play Battlefront II since it dropped.
Belaptir Apr 17, 2023
Age of Empires 2 DE is broken on this release. If you try to open it, first you'll see a crash report, then an Xbox login window will appear, then turn completely white and won't go away, effectively blocking and preventing you from playing (I was playing with experimental before and this didn't happen).

Only way to get around this is to go offline to open the game.
pageround Apr 17, 2023
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  • Supporter
Age of Empires 2 DE is broken on this release. If you try to open it, first you'll see a crash report, then an Xbox login window will appear, then turn completely white and won't go away, effectively blocking and preventing you from playing (I was playing with experimental before and this didn't happen).

Only way to get around this is to go offline to open the game.

Oh no! Well, I'll be waiting for 8.1 in that case. Glad I can still run AOE2:DE in an older version of proton.
gbudny Apr 18, 2023
Age of Empires 2 DE is broken on this release. If you try to open it, first you'll see a crash report, then an Xbox login window will appear, then turn completely white and won't go away, effectively blocking and preventing you from playing (I was playing with experimental before and this didn't happen).

Only way to get around this is to go offline to open the game.

Oh no! Well, I'll be waiting for 8.1 in that case. Glad I can still run AOE2:DE in an older version of proton.

Are new versions of Proton could break the compatibility with different games more frequently than new versions of Wine?
jordicoma Apr 18, 2023
Update: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/releases/tag/proton-8.0-1c
Proton 8.0-1c released
I don't know if its the same as 8.0
TheRiddick Apr 18, 2023
wonder if they rolled out the reshade freeze up glitch fix with this release. (only happened in some games like anomaly, kenshi to name a couple)
scaine Apr 18, 2023
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  • Mega Supporter
So... is Proton experimental now based on Proton 8, or is it still at 7? I'm not sure how I'd check?

Edit - Based on this, it looks like it's still v7.


Last edited by scaine on 18 April 2023 at 10:30 am UTC
AsciiWolf Apr 18, 2023
  • Supporter Plus
It looks like I have found a small regression. Some games do not detect the correct system language anymore when using Proton 8.0. Instead, they default to using English locale. But maybe this is somehow related to the Flatpak Steam I use or the new Sniper runtime.


Last edited by AsciiWolf on 18 April 2023 at 10:46 am UTC
Liam Dawe Apr 18, 2023
So... is Proton experimental now based on Proton 8, or is it still at 7? I'm not sure how I'd check?

Edit - Based on this, it looks like it's still v7.
As mentioned, there will be an Experimental update later this week :)
Liam Dawe Apr 18, 2023
Update: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/releases/tag/proton-8.0-1c
Proton 8.0-1c released
I don't know if its the same as 8.0
That's just the tag for this release.
scaine Apr 18, 2023
View PC info
  • Contributing Editor
  • Mega Supporter
So... is Proton experimental now based on Proton 8, or is it still at 7? I'm not sure how I'd check?

Edit - Based on this, it looks like it's still v7.
As mentioned, there will be an Experimental update later this week :)

It was mentioned! Reading comprehension fail! I was too excited by the lovely big list of changes!
Purple Library Guy Apr 18, 2023
So... is Proton experimental now based on Proton 8, or is it still at 7? I'm not sure how I'd check?

Edit - Based on this, it looks like it's still v7.
As mentioned, there will be an Experimental update later this week :)
Ah, but will it be a solid Experimental update or just an experimental Experimental update?
Liam Dawe Apr 18, 2023
Update 18/04/23 - 18:36 UTC: Valve pushed out a hotfix to Proton 8 fix a crash on startup with Dark Souls games.
hardpenguin Apr 20, 2023
Happy upgrades!
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