GE-Proton 8-25 released, should fix a bunch of early 2000s games

Crimson Skies kicks ass. 🏴‍☠️

Crimson Skies kicks ass. 🏴‍☠️

I had no idea it was released on platforms other than Xbox

Crimson Skies kicks ass. 🏴‍☠️

I had no idea it was released on platforms other than Xbox

Yeah, the original was on PC.

Does anybody have any idea if Valve is still working on a solution to this problem? All this ffmpeg stuff. It's great that GE-Proton exists, but it would be nice if you could just rely on vanilla Proton.

Does anybody have any idea if Valve is still working on a solution to this problem? All this ffmpeg stuff. It's great that GE-Proton exists, but it would be nice if you could just rely on vanilla Proton.

Isn't their solution basically mechanical, going through games one at a time redoing video files as something usable?

Is this one of those things where it matters if the file format is still patented?

I had an issue where videos wouldn't play in Resident Evil 5,does this update fix that?

I am having trouble figuring out how to get this to work (I am new to this).

I saw a report of a new version of proton (Ge-proton), and the article describes ProtonUp-Qt. But "Discover" doesn't find this, so the Steam Deck / KDE Plasma instructions are a non-starter for me.

I am KUbuntu, with plasma, and lts 22.04. Not wayland, yet (people have been recommending that I switch given X issues).

Steam Deck / KDE Plasma - Open the Discover store, in the search box (top left) type in "ProtonUp-Qt", click it and hit Install (top right).

Discover does not list this. Searching the web for "ProtonUp-Qt" lead me to a github page, an install link, and then appstream://net.davidotek.pupgui2 being passed to discover, which complains that it's not available in any repository (with ... grumble, an error message that cannot be copy/pasted.)

Can you help someone that is new to configuring / administering modern linux with this?

(The last time I had to deal with linux was 1999. I knew how to admin BSD back around 1992, mac OS's of various types from 2005-2019 [last version used there was 10.12], but modern linux is like a sea of chaos where the documentation seems dumbed down and/or hidden.)

I am having trouble figuring out how to get this to work (I am new to this).

I saw a report of a new version of proton (Ge-proton), and the article describes ProtonUp-Qt. But "Discover" doesn't find this, so the Steam Deck / KDE Plasma instructions are a non-starter for me.

I am KUbuntu, with plasma, and lts 22.04. Not wayland, yet (people have been recommending that I switch given X issues).

Steam Deck / KDE Plasma - Open the Discover store, in the search box (top left) type in "ProtonUp-Qt", click it and hit Install (top right).

Discover does not list this. Searching the web for "ProtonUp-Qt" lead me to a github page, an install link, and then appstream://net.davidotek.pupgui2 being passed to discover, which complains that it's not available in any repository (with ... grumble, an error message that cannot be copy/pasted.)

Can you help someone that is new to configuring / administering modern linux with this?

(The last time I had to deal with linux was 1999. I knew how to admin BSD back around 1992, mac OS's of various types from 2005-2019 [last version used there was 10.12], but modern linux is like a sea of chaos where the documentation seems dumbed down and/or hidden.)

ProtonUp-Qt is on flathub, so Discover does list it if you have Flatpak support installed/enabled, given that you mentioned you use *buntu, you most likely only have Snap enabled and need Flatpak packages installed.

I am having trouble figuring out how to get this to work (I am new to this).

I saw a report of a new version of proton (Ge-proton), and the article describes ProtonUp-Qt. But "Discover" doesn't find this, so the Steam Deck / KDE Plasma instructions are a non-starter for me.

I am KUbuntu, with plasma, and lts 22.04. Not wayland, yet (people have been recommending that I switch given X issues).

Steam Deck / KDE Plasma - Open the Discover store, in the search box (top left) type in "ProtonUp-Qt", click it and hit Install (top right).

Discover does not list this. Searching the web for "ProtonUp-Qt" lead me to a github page, an install link, and then appstream://net.davidotek.pupgui2 being passed to discover, which complains that it's not available in any repository (with ... grumble, an error message that cannot be copy/pasted.)

Can you help someone that is new to configuring / administering modern linux with this?

(The last time I had to deal with linux was 1999. I knew how to admin BSD back around 1992, mac OS's of various types from 2005-2019 [last version used there was 10.12], but modern linux is like a sea of chaos where the documentation seems dumbed down and/or hidden.)

I am also a Kubuntu user, you have to have Flatpak for this. It's not available either as a snap or deb. If I remember correctly you have to open Discover, go to settings and enable flathub. If I am wrong you can follow these instructions: https://flatpak.org/setup/Kubuntu


Last edited by Brokatt on 22 Nov 2023 at 7:42 pm UTC

I am also a Kubuntu user, you have to have Flatpak for this. It's not available either as a snap or deb. If I remember correctly you have to open Discover, go to settings and enable flathub. If I am wrong you can follow these instructions: https://flatpak.org/setup/Kubuntu

No you don't have to have Flatpak.

ProtonUp-Qt is available as AppImage.

https://github.com/DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt/releases

Does anybody have any idea if Valve is still working on a solution to this problem? All this ffmpeg stuff. It's great that GE-Proton exists, but it would be nice if you could just rely on vanilla Proton.

Isn't their solution basically mechanical, going through games one at a time redoing video files as something usable?

Is this one of those things where it matters if the file format is still patented?

quite sure it's a patent issue yes, Valve would be a nice juicy target for any patent troll.

It's not available either as a snap or deb.

While it isn't available as a Snap or a Debian package, it is available via Pacstall for Ubuntu-based distros since January ( DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt#83 ). There is an open issue for adding a Debian package ( DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt#69 ).

Historically, ProtonUp-Qt was not provided as a Snap due to some issues with strict file access ( DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt#3 ), but there was renewed interest and a new issue was opened afterwards ( DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt#123 ). Hopefully this is some useful background.

ProtonUp-Qt is also available via AppImage as another user mentioned, there are also two AUR packages, and of course it's available on Flathub.


Last edited by sonic2kk on 23 Nov 2023 at 12:05 am UTC

I am also a Kubuntu user, you have to have Flatpak for this. It's not available either as a snap or deb. If I remember correctly you have to open Discover, go to settings and enable flathub. If I am wrong you can follow these instructions: https://flatpak.org/setup/Kubuntu

No you don't have to have Flatpak.

ProtonUp-Qt is available as AppImage.

https://github.com/DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt/releases

My mistake. I don't use Appimage as if find it tedious to, find the file and right click, open in terminal, everytime I want to run them.

It's not available either as a snap or deb.

While it isn't available as a Snap or a Debian package, it is available via Pacstall for Ubuntu-based distros since January ( DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt#83 ). There is an open issue for adding a Debian package ( DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt#69 ).

Historically, ProtonUp-Qt was not provided as a Snap due to some issues with strict file access ( DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt#3 ), but there was renewed interest and a new issue was opened afterwards ( DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt#123 ). Hopefully this is some useful background.

ProtonUp-Qt is also available via AppImage as another user mentioned, there are also two AUR packages, and of course it's available on Flathub.

That's interesting, thanks for the info.


Last edited by Brokatt on 23 Nov 2023 at 8:32 am UTC

I am going to play Crimson Skies again! On the Steam Deck - woohoo!

Add mpegvideo codec to ffmpeg

I wonder what else this might fix. One of the problems I have with the original Gothic is that none of the videos play properly. And that game is from 2001...

I wonder what else this might fix. One of the problems I have with the original Gothic is that none of the videos play properly. And that game is from 2001...

Gothic uses Bink video so different problem I'm afraid.

I am also a Kubuntu user, you have to have Flatpak for this. It's not available either as a snap or deb. If I remember correctly you have to open Discover, go to settings and enable flathub. If I am wrong you can follow these instructions: https://flatpak.org/setup/Kubuntu

No you don't have to have Flatpak.

ProtonUp-Qt is available as AppImage.

https://github.com/DavidoTek/ProtonUp-Qt/releases

For both of these, flatpak and appimage, additional setting up through terminal prompt is required on Ubuntu. Obviously we would need a snap -and or a deb package for ProtonUp-QT.

Less and less people are willing to tinker nowadays on Linux such as Ubuntu and ones based on it. And as that, people just state "fuck it" if there is no simple couple of click install. Not good nor bad i suppose, just the way it's starting to be.

Gothic uses Bink video so different problem I'm afraid.

Ah, I see - thanks for the info.

My mistake. I don't use Appimage as if find it tedious to, find the file and right click, open in terminal, everytime I want to run them.

They are tedious for many, especially on Ubuntu: not only you have to setup the system to handle AppImages, after that downloading each AppImage package one has to chmod it too for running. Then again AppImages don't self update either, so this procedure has to be done every time getting a new version. So unnecessarily complicated and backwards IMO.

Flatpaks and snaps are more of a common handy ways, really.

Using "Gear Lever" can make managing your appimages a bit less hassle:
https://ostechnix.com/manage-appimages-with-gear-lever/
Installs and updates are drag and drop once you have downloaded them.

Using "Gear Lever" can make managing your appimages a bit less hassle:
https://ostechnix.com/manage-appimages-with-gear-lever/
Installs and updates are drag and drop once you have downloaded them.

So in other words 3rd party solutions are needed to make AppImages "less hassle" (which still obviously remains an unnecessery hassle because of AppImage design). I also hear that the AppImage main developer is stubborn, for example refusing Wayland support altogether. What... (correct if this is not true, sounds unbelievable).