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Two bits of major news to cover for the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer, with some exciting major changes coming in with updates. Don't know what Steam Play Proton is? Go take a look at our dedicated page.

Firstly, if you have an AMD GPU and you don't mind grabbing the latest development code for the Mesa graphics drivers - Cyberpunk 2077 should actually work on Linux with the new Proton 5.13-4 release. Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais mentioned that CD PROJEKT RED allowed them some early testing time to get the work done for both vkd3d (the Direct3D 12 to Vulkan layer) and radv (the AMD Mesa Vulkan driver). As an NVIDIA GPU owner, this makes me quite jealous as it seems my only other current choice on Linux is Stadia or GeForce NOW (unofficially - until later in 2021).

Additionally, there's now also a new Proton Experimental branch available which has the start of major architectural changes to Wine. This brings with it a plan to reduce CPU overhead and improve performance in scenarios related to input and windowing. Seems Proton Experimental is an additional version of Proton, so you would install it along side the other versions currently available for this compatibility tool.

You can find the Proton changelog here.

Need help and / or tech support? Be sure to check out our dedicated Forum.

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256 comments
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ikiruto Dec 10, 2020
Quoting: LeopardBecause VK_VALVE_mutable_descriptor_type

extension is needed to avoid hangs. Without it ( which currently on RADV has ) game will hang regularly.

So it is not really playable on Nvidia.
Yes, it hangs. We are waiting for the driver from nvidia.
YoRHa-2B Dec 10, 2020
The Stadia port was done by QLOC fwiw, not by CDPR themselves.

I wonder how the hell they even made this broken mess of a game work on there. The only reason it doesn't work on Nvidia with vkd3d-proton right now is because it's so buggy that we need a Vulkan extension that works around these bugs by chance, since it more closely resembles native D3D12 behaviour than our previous implementation without that extension. It's that bad.


Last edited by YoRHa-2B on 10 December 2020 at 1:47 pm UTC
kon14 Dec 10, 2020
Quoting: BasianiYou are using very bad words against me. It's internet man, so shame to say bad words against them who you never will be see.

Just be quiet, don't say somenthing like that You're pulling way too many random numbers out of your ass for
ASS

I just say I don't care what you care RTX, DLSS or nothing, I'm saying that paying same as Windows users and got maximum 30% than they is the action of a weak-minded person.

While I do realize I might have slightly crossed the limit there, I still firmly believe it's justifiable, said phrase is barely all that offensive unless you're 7 or so...

You're still coming up with random performance percentages and that's just irritating since you've clearly never used Proton or even checked out side by side comparisons of it running DX12 games on Linux vs native.

I won't bother arguing with you over this and I'm sincerely sorry if I offended you above. Have a pleasant day.
Cybolic Dec 10, 2020
Quoting: scaine[...]As for Cyberpunk - it's a no from me. CDPR is just not a company I'm interested in supporting.
I'm in the same boat, but a friend of mine gave me the game as a gift yesterday so now I'm thinking I may as well give it a go to get the Linux numbers up if nothing else.
Storminator16 Dec 10, 2020
My last 2 cents because I'm finding reading a lot of these posts to be...I don't know...a trip down fantasy island: Proton & Linux support is never going to be what you want it to be. Your games may work, they may not. Not one of these corporations is going to spend the time future-proofing any of this, only contributors. Valve will have their limits, and their "limits" will involve monetary value. Back to where we already were, eh? I know the goal is to get Proton/Wine to "just work" but we aren't close to being there yet. So, the suggestion to "buy the game to show support" is a comment born out of sheer insecurity or a quest for validation from Windows gamers. Get out of the silo every once in a while and get a better perspective because it's silly. I'm going to come off sounding harsh, I'm too old to be pussyfooting with my thoughts here.

Some of you are investing waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much into this conversation. Not a popular opinion but like I said, my last 2 cents.

I'm playing it on Stadia or Xbox Series X. I have other battles to fight, this one freaking game surely isn't one. Keyword was "game".


Last edited by Storminator16 on 10 December 2020 at 2:20 pm UTC
Sojiro84 Dec 10, 2020
Black characters is fixed. I wasn't on the latest of latests of the mesa-git. After compiling it fresh everything works properly now.
x_wing Dec 10, 2020
Quoting: YoRHa-2BThe Stadia port was done by QLOC fwiw, not by CDPR themselves.

Well, that is probably a dead end for the future "Vulkan renderer" that many are expecting.

From a gaming experience or "Linux support", buying this game or RDR2 is more or less the same at this point.
Nocifer Dec 10, 2020
Quoting: Storminator16My last 2 cents because I'm finding reading a lot of these posts to be...I don't know...a trip down fantasy island: Proton & Linux support is never going to be what you want it to be. Your games may work, they may not. Not one of these corporations is going to spend the time future-proofing any of this, only contributors. Valve will have their limits, and their "limits" will involve monetary value. Back to where we already were, eh? I know the goal is to get Proton/Wine to "just work" but we aren't close to being there yet. So, the suggestion to "buy the game to show support" is a comment born out of sheer insecurity or a quest for validation from Windows gamers. Get out of the silo every once in a while and get a better perspective because it's silly. I'm going to come off sounding harsh, I'm too old to be pussyfooting with my thoughts here.

Some of you are investing waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much into this conversation. Not a popular opinion but like I said, my last 2 cents.

I'm playing it on Stadia or Xbox Series X. I have other battles to fight, this one freaking game surely isn't one. Keyword was "game".

That's cute, I was thinking something along those very same lines, but in reverse: I'm finding comments like this one a trip down the fantasy island, and I'm having a really difficult time accepting that they're written by people older than their teens.

Linux native support is never going to be what you want it to be as long as Linux gaming's market share sits under 1%. And that market share is going to remain under 1% as long as the companies behind AAA games don't make their games for Linux. And the companies behind AAA games will never start making their games for Linux unless they see a possible profit from it. And they won't see a possible profit from it unless Linux gaming's market share rises way above 1%. And the only way for Linux gaming's market share to rise above 1% is for Linux to have access to the vast catalog of games that were developed for Windows in the past; are being developed for Windows in the present; and will keep being developed for Windows in the foreseeable future; so that current Windows gamers can switch to Linux without losing their games.

See where I'm going with this? I sure hope you do.

So all you people advocating "the Linux way or the highway", if you prefer playing only Farmville, Super Tux Cart and the like just because they happen to run on Linux, or even worse prefer paying Google (talk about Linux-friendly, lol) to play your AAA games on Stadia, instead of getting your hands a little dirty to make your AAA games run on your Linux box in DIY fashion (which, as an aside, is really the Linux way, something you would know if you were old enough), then by all means do so. No hard feelings there. But please, do get out of your goddamn silo and face the reality that is, well, reality.

Sorry if I'm coming off sounding harsh, but I too am too old to be pussyfooting with my thoughts here.


Last edited by Nocifer on 10 December 2020 at 2:57 pm UTC
14 Dec 10, 2020
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Quoting: GuestWow, Linux gaming has really made giant strides lately! Some years ago we were just happy when a native AAA title like XCom 2 or Civ V got a native port. Nowadays native ports are out of the question and we are happy if a game *may* run ok in Linux using a compatibility layer tied to a specific store and only if you have a specific vendor gpu. Amazing progress!
Point taken, but it is also day 1 and when you want something, you sometimes have to put actual effort into it.
rustybroomhandle Dec 10, 2020
Quoting: GuestWow, Linux gaming has really made giant strides lately! Some years ago we were just happy when a native AAA title like XCom 2 or Civ V got a native port. Nowadays native ports are out of the question and we are happy if a game *may* run ok in Linux using a compatibility layer tied to a specific store and only if you have a specific vendor gpu. Amazing progress!

Bit wrong there.

The compatibility layer is not tied to a specific store. It's open source and there are even third party wine builds like wine-tkg and proton-ge that use it. You can use it to install and run games from non-Steam stores. Epic, GoG, Origin, UbiConnect etc. Yeah, sometimes games don't work, but you're supposed to check before buying.

Also, saying that native ports are out of the question is wrong. Plenty of native ports still coming out. Maybe not as many are AAA games, but it was naive to expect that to last soon as publishers realised there's no money to be made from Linux.

Proton/wine is better supported than a lot of native ports, too.
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