As we speculated previously, Valve have now officially announced their new version of 'Steam Play' for Linux gaming using a modified distribution of Wine called Proton, which is available on GitHub.
What does it do? In short: it allows you to play Windows games on Linux, directly through the Steam client as if they were a Linux game.
What many people suspected turned out to be true, DXVK development was actually funded by Valve. They actually employed the DXVK developer since February 2018. On top of that, they also helped to fund: vkd3d (Direct3D 12 implementation based on Vulkan), OpenVR and Steamworks native API bridges, wined3d performance and functionality fixes for Direct3D 9 and Direct3D 11 and more.
The amount of work that has gone into this—it's ridiculous.
Here's what they say it improves:
- Windows games with no Linux version currently available can now be installed and run directly from the Linux Steam client, complete with native Steamworks and OpenVR support.
- DirectX 11 and 12 implementations are now based on Vulkan, resulting in improved game compatibility and reduced performance impact.
- Fullscreen support has been improved: fullscreen games will be seamlessly stretched to the desired display without interfering with the native monitor resolution or requiring the use of a virtual desktop.
- Improved game controller support: games will automatically recognize all controllers supported by Steam. Expect more out-of-the-box controller compatibility than even the original version of the game.
- Performance for multi-threaded games has been greatly improved compared to vanilla Wine.
It currently has a limited set of games that are supported, but even so it's quite an impressive list that they're putting out there. Which includes DOOM, FINAL FANTASY VI, Into The Breach, NieR: Automata, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and more. They will enable many more titles as progress on it all continues.
To be clear, this is available right now. To get it, you need to be in the Steam Client Beta.
There will be drawbacks, like possible performance issues and games that rely on some DRM might likely never be supported, but even so the amount of possibilities this opens up has literally split my head open with Thor's mighty hammer.
Holy shit. Please excuse the language, but honestly, I'm physically shaking right now I don't quite know how to process this.
Update #1: I spoke to Valve earlier, about how buying Windows games to play with this system counts, they said this:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.Hey Liam, the normal algorithm is in effect, so if at the end of the two weeks you have more playtime on Linux, it'll be a Linux sale. Proton counts as Linux.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: SalvatosQuoting: hummer010I don't think this was as far out of reach as you think. Lutris has already made great strides in being a game client that automated installs for WINE based games. Obviously, Lutris can't have as tight an experience as Steam can for Steam games, but it's still quite good. Lutris had already given me that same experience you've just had, where you start playing games you wanted to play, because it's suddenly easy to play them.Having never used the former, how does Lutris differ from PlayOnLinux? Although PoL was supposed to simplify Wine, relying on a small team to prepare and update packages for every program out there still meant that a lot of the time what you were looking for wasn't in the library of preconfs or didn't work anymore. Proton being run by Valve/on Steam has the advantage of more dedicated support and a much larger audience to report issues and suggest fixes; and already it seems to run a lot of games very well out of the box, instead of holding your hand while you jump through hoops but not actually removing the hoops (like PoL).
Don't get me wrong, I think SteamPlay + Proton is a complete game changer, but I agree with mirv, we'd have got pretty close to the same experience eventually without Valve.
Similar, but different. Lutris is, at the forefront, a game client. You add games to it, and then you can access all your games, just like the Steam client (I actually prefer the interface of Lutris). Lutris can connect to your Steam account, and automatically import all of your steam games. Supposedly, they are working on doing the same thing with GOG. Lutris, will then manage the installation of the games, whether they are native from Steam, GOG, or otherwise. If it's a Windows game, Lutris will also install WINE. It can also manage games from a whole slew of emulators as well. Once the games are installed, you can run them from Lutris. Ultimately, it's a bit like an open source Steam client, without the backing of the steam library.
Sadly, on the WINE front, it is very similar to PoL, that the install scripts are maintained by a handful of people.
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Mohandevir Aug 30, 2018
Quoting: SalvatosQuoting: hummer010I don't think this was as far out of reach as you think. Lutris has already made great strides in being a game client that automated installs for WINE based games. Obviously, Lutris can't have as tight an experience as Steam can for Steam games, but it's still quite good. Lutris had already given me that same experience you've just had, where you start playing games you wanted to play, because it's suddenly easy to play them.Having never used the former, how does Lutris differ from PlayOnLinux? Although PoL was supposed to simplify Wine, relying on a small team to prepare and update packages for every program out there still meant that a lot of the time what you were looking for wasn't in the library of preconfs or didn't work anymore. Proton being run by Valve/on Steam has the advantage of more dedicated support and a much larger audience to report issues and suggest fixes; and already it seems to run a lot of games very well out of the box, instead of holding your hand while you jump through hoops but not actually removing the hoops (like PoL).
Don't get me wrong, I think SteamPlay + Proton is a complete game changer, but I agree with mirv, we'd have got pretty close to the same experience eventually without Valve.
Quite my experience too. I've had no success with Lutris for the many games that I tried it (always stuck somewhere during installation and/or download times were aweful). It wasn't much better with PlayonLinux (LotRO kept on crashing even if it works ootb with a vanilla wine-stable). The best solution all-round was to tweak the wineprefix myself, but it's time consuming. Setting up 20+games without any guarantees of success is kind of unpleasant and I have much less time then I used to have for this kind of stuff. SteamPlay is a no-brainer compared to that.
That's just my personal experience, though.
Edit: Typo.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 30 August 2018 at 6:47 pm UTC
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QuoteSetting up 20+games without any guarantees of success is kind of unpleasant and I have much less time then I used to have for this kind of stuff. SteamPlay is a no-brainer compared to that.
But, is SteamPlay any better? Unless you're playing one of the whitelisted games, there's no guarantee of success either. So far, I've got 3 working games out 5 attempted with SteamPlay, and 2 of the three worked perfectly with Lutris too.
Last edited by hummer010 on 30 August 2018 at 6:48 pm UTC
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Mohandevir Aug 30, 2018
Quoting: hummer010But, is SteamPlay any better? Unless you're playing one of the whitelisted games, there's no guarantee of success either. So far, I've got 3 working games out 5 attempted with SteamPlay, and 2 of the three worked perfectly with Lutris too.
Didn't pretend that, but all I have to do is install, try and if it doesn't work just delete it all. I do not have to meddle with wine on my own, maybe making mistakes on the way, typing 60 characters long commands. It's much more "plug & play". And I'm not even talking about Steam integration and Steam controller support, that, as of now, works great. Also, I do not have to redo my Steam configs everytime I switch between the wine and the native version of steam.
Still... The Witcher 3 refused to install on Lutris... The script on PlayonLinux is way outdated (Wine 2.?? + no DXVK) and on SteamPlay it's plug & play. I don't know what else to say. That's my experience.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 30 August 2018 at 6:58 pm UTC
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Mohandevir Aug 30, 2018
Quoting: GuestEven with a whitelisted game, you have no total guarantee. :D
Really curious to try these and see by myself... My setup is Ubuntu 18.04 + Nvidia 396.54. I respect Valve's minimum requirements. I'm waiting for a sale to test Doom, Nier:Automata and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. The only Whitelisted game I tested is Fallout Shelter and it runs great.
Edit: I would like to see a filter, in the google docs, to classify the tests per system configurations so that we may relate to similar configurations while trying to see if a game will work or not on our own systems.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 30 August 2018 at 7:44 pm UTC
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Quoting: GuestI keep seeing Linux people saying this and it's utter nonsense.
What they mean is that Windows 10 is causing more people to switch. We can see it all the time. But of course most won't switch even if MS will feed them complete garbage.
Last edited by Shmerl on 31 August 2018 at 1:20 am UTC
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lucifertdark Aug 31, 2018
Quoting: MohandevirMy system is also Ubuntu 18.04 & Nvidia 396.54, lots of games that haven't been white listed are working for me. Fallout 3 & New Vegas, Far Cry 1&2 Bioshock Remastered, ALL of the Deus Ex games (Mankind Divided is Native), Borderlands, try some you might find a few more that work perfectly for you.Quoting: GuestEven with a whitelisted game, you have no total guarantee. :D
Really curious to try these and see by myself... My setup is Ubuntu 18.04 + Nvidia 396.54. I respect Valve's minimum requirements. I'm waiting for a sale to test Doom, Nier:Automata and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. The only Whitelisted game I tested is Fallout Shelter and it runs great.
Edit: I would like to see a filter, in the google docs, to classify the tests per system configurations so that we may relate to similar configurations while trying to see if a game will work or not on our own systems.
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lucifertdark Aug 31, 2018
Quoting: GuestWindows 10 is garbage & just gets worse by the day, I refuse to have anything to do with it & everyone I know outside of GamingOnLinux wants it gone from their systems as well, I've had people ask me to help them through installing Ubuntu to get away from Windows altogether, Windows IS dying!Quoting: lucifertdarkWindows as a gaming platform is rapidly going away thanks to Windows 10, Valve know this & that's why they are putting all their efforts into Steam OS & Steam Play.
It really isn't. I keep seeing Linux people saying this and it's utter nonsense.
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lucifertdark Aug 31, 2018
Lutris is PlayOnLinux+, it does exactly what PlayOnLinux does but with a bit more polish & with the added advantage of Steam library integration, it's nice but Steam Play is possibly going to kill them both off, why would you need them for Steam games if Steam does it for you already? the only reason they may survive is for GOG games
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Quoting: GuestBesides, if proton was only a hedge against Microsoft they would probably announce plans to port it on Mac too.Given that there are some Mac bits in it, and given that it builds on Mac, there might even have been initial plans for that. But tbh I don't really see the point of going from one platform that is slowly becoming a walled garden to a different platform that already is one.
Especially if that platform randomly deprecates Graphics APIs which are dearly needed for Windows compatibility, or don't support them in the first place. As of right now, D3D11 just can't be supported at all, it lacks the OpenGL features to run wined3d, and looking at Metal, I'm not sure if DXVK->MoltenVK->Metal will ever work. When you hit issues while porting a game with source access, you can change how certain things are done, but a translation layer doesn't have that freedom and having two such layers won't exactly help reduce the number of issues.
Just my personal opinion of course.
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