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ProtonDB is the go-to for a lot of people to see how games run on Linux desktop and Steam Deck, and while its rating system is far from perfect it's nice to have. A recent upgrade also makes it a lot nicer to browse.

When the Steam Deck released ProtonDB added dedicated Steam Deck reports to game pages, which ended up making it quite a mess - especially for PC players where every page would have you scroll and scroll until you go to the desktop Linux reports — but no more!

Now there's a nice tabbed selection between them, you can link to the specific platform and it will remember your selection. Much much better. Example from the Cyberpunk 2077 listing:

Here's all that's changed for ProtonDB:

  • There is now a tabbed submenu above reports on game pages.
  • In this menu, you can now filter by PC, Steam Deck, or a combined list.
  • Steam Deck reports now paginate and you can view beyond the first list of 40 reports.
  • When you select an item in the device submenu, the URL is updated and can be shared to send someone directly to reports corresponding to your selection.
  • Your selection is remembered and all future game pages will default to your selection unless the URL specifies otherwise.

Good to see some needed upgrades! 

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Proton, Misc
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14 comments

emod Aug 16, 2023
Good, It was a little annoying having to scroll every time to get to the PC reports.

It would be great if the next step is adding filters of Native, Platinum, Gold, etc. in the Explore view,
StoneColdSpider Aug 16, 2023
Awesome news..... I use ProtonDB a lot when looking at games to buy in the Steam Sales.........

In a future update I would like to see a system to lessen the weight of really old reports........ when a game came out and it was borked but is now working fine the out of date bork reports still seem to bring the overall rating down...... Sometimes even to bronze levels........ This makes it really hard when using ProtonDB as you really have to open up the games page and look at the actual reports as you cant really trust the "rating" the game has on face value...........

For example...... Look at WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship.....
It works great now at least on my system..... But 2 and 3 years ago it didnt seem to work at all...... And those now out of date borked reports seem to still weigh the overall rating down to "Silver".........
Pikolo Aug 16, 2023
Awesome news..... I use ProtonDB a lot when looking at games to buy in the Steam Sales.........

In a future update I would like to see a system to lessen the weight of really old reports........ when a game came out and it was borked but is now working fine the out of date bork reports still seem to bring the overall rating down...... Sometimes even to bronze levels........ This makes it really hard when using ProtonDB as you really have to open up the games page and look at the actual reports as you cant really trust the "rating" the game has on face value...........

For example...... Look at WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship.....
It works great now at least on my system..... But 2 and 3 years ago it didnt seem to work at all...... And those now out of date borked reports seem to still weigh the overall rating down to "Silver".........
That's an interesting idea, but they'd have to weight it by hardware variety. So if there was an Nvidia driver report of borked and an amdvlk report of platinum, that should probably average to silver. If there is a newer report saying it's now silver on Nvidia, it might bump it up to Gold.


Last edited by Pikolo on 17 August 2023 at 3:52 pm UTC
Zappor Aug 16, 2023
Oh that's fantastic!
Samgarr Aug 16, 2023
Finally!
Ehvis Aug 16, 2023
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Nice! That was a big nuisance.

For example...... Look at WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship.....
It works great now at least on my system..... But 2 and 3 years ago it didnt seem to work at all...... And those now out of date borked reports seem to still weigh the overall rating down to "Silver".........

Applies the other way around as well. Some games update and stop working and reports of previous versions keep the rating high long after the time it started to fail. A reduced weight for older reports or older proton versions would definitely help.
Liam Dawe Aug 16, 2023
Nice! That was a big nuisance.

For example...... Look at WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship.....
It works great now at least on my system..... But 2 and 3 years ago it didnt seem to work at all...... And those now out of date borked reports seem to still weigh the overall rating down to "Silver".........

Applies the other way around as well. Some games update and stop working and reports of previous versions keep the rating high long after the time it started to fail. A reduced weight for older reports or older proton versions would definitely help.
Yeah, there's a lot of issues like that. Which is on top of lots of reports that are clearly just wrong. I hope eventually they do some moderation and cleaning up of reports directly.
Pengling Aug 16, 2023
Good to see - ProtonDB is my first go-to for ratings*, and also for user-tips to get slightly-problematic games to behave themselves.

*Not just for desktop Linux, either, but for my future Steam Deck as well, since we all know by now that Valve's Steam Deck compatibility-ratings aren't always accurate.


Last edited by Pengling on 16 August 2023 at 12:05 pm UTC
Ehvis Aug 16, 2023
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Yeah, there's a lot of issues like that. Which is on top of lots of reports that are clearly just wrong. I hope eventually they do some moderation and cleaning up of reports directly.

ProtonDB reports are much like Steam reviews. They can be very useful, but you have to actually read them.
whizse Aug 16, 2023
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ProtonDB can be useful, and I'm glad to see improvements, but my main source (besides the deck ratings) will always be the issue tracker on GitHub.

It's usually a lot more current, provides better workarounds, and it's also where the Valve devs hang out.

Thankfully though, Proton support is so comprehensive I take it for granted. In the last sale I actually forgot the check the games bought beforehand. Unsurprisingly, they all worked.
Pengling Aug 16, 2023
Thankfully though, Proton support is so comprehensive I take it for granted. In the last sale I actually forgot the check the games bought beforehand. Unsurprisingly, they all worked.
I did this too but had one that wouldn't work right off the bat (d'oh, my bad!), but found a workaround on ProtonDB.
Eike Aug 16, 2023
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Nice! That was a big nuisance.

For example...... Look at WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship.....
It works great now at least on my system..... But 2 and 3 years ago it didnt seem to work at all...... And those now out of date borked reports seem to still weigh the overall rating down to "Silver".........

Applies the other way around as well. Some games update and stop working and reports of previous versions keep the rating high long after the time it started to fail. A reduced weight for older reports or older proton versions would definitely help.

A "trend" rating could be helpful.
Liam Dawe Aug 16, 2023
Nice! That was a big nuisance.

For example...... Look at WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship.....
It works great now at least on my system..... But 2 and 3 years ago it didnt seem to work at all...... And those now out of date borked reports seem to still weigh the overall rating down to "Silver".........

Applies the other way around as well. Some games update and stop working and reports of previous versions keep the rating high long after the time it started to fail. A reduced weight for older reports or older proton versions would definitely help.

A "trend" rating could be helpful.
It does have that, with a squiggly arrow on the rating at times. Needs to be made clearer though.
14 Aug 19, 2023
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FINALLY!
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