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Valve continues tweaking the new 'Proton Experimental' for Cyberpunk 2077

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With Cyberpunk 2077 being the hot new thing in gaming, Valve and CodeWeavers are trying to ensure it can run nicely through the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer since it doesn't support Linux directly.

Valve recently set up a new branch of Proton named "Proton Experimental" along with the release of Proton 5.13-4. It appears to be the version of Proton where Valve will be adding in fixes quicker, and more newer features. Yesterday, December 14, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais mentioned the newest updates to Proton Experimental implements the Spatial Audio sound API which should fix Cyberpunk 2077 world sounds. Additionally there's more CPU performance improvements, which should help Path of Exile too.

Currently though, NVIDIA still has issues with it crashing and sometimes entirely locking systems on Linux. I tried it myself today thanks to a gift from a reader and the experience for me on an NVIDIA 1080 wasn't great. Ensuring to set my CPU into performance mode with High game settings it gave 30FPS and below, Medium gave a total freeze on the loading screen but a good 10FPS increase to between 30-40FPS in game when it does work (a little higher in more confined spaces).

Safe to say, you need a really high-powered computer for it right now, especially on Linux and not NVIDIA. That will change over time of course as CDPR optimize the game, as Valve optimise Proton and when NVIDIA sort the driver situation out. Even so, incredible it was working so soon with Proton on Linux.

Here's all the current additions in Proton Experimental:

  • Beginnings of Wine architectural work to reduce CPU overhead and improve performance in scenarios related to input and windowing.
  • Memory allocator performance improvements.
  • Implemented the Spatial Audio sound API, fixing Cyberpunk 2077 world sounds.
  • Updated vkd3d-proton to 2.1, fixing Cyberpunk 2077 facial animations.
  • Improvements for non-US keyboard layouts.
  • All other changes from 5.13-4.

As always you can find Proton info on GitHub and on our dedicated page.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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38 comments
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Shmerl Dec 15, 2020
Hopefully spatial audio updates will be added to upstream Wine too.
Shmerl Dec 15, 2020
They just released the game, surely it will be buggy (given the size of the game). They'll be fixing bugs for a year or more.


Last edited by Shmerl on 15 December 2020 at 10:49 am UTC
ikiruto Dec 15, 2020
RTX 2060 and Ryzen 1700 works without problems on Proton-Experimental with the settings in the screenshots and hex fix.

https://ibb.co/bJ0Z315
https://ibb.co/M75Ndt4
https://ibb.co/p3mMvqw

gamemoderun %command% --launcher-skip

Use a hex editor on the Cyberpunk2077.exe.
Replace "75 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08" with "EB 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08".
Replace "55 48 81 ec a0 00 00 00 0f 29 70 e8" with "c3 48 81 ec a0 00 00 00 0f 29 70 e8".



Last edited by ikiruto on 15 December 2020 at 10:54 am UTC
Ehvis Dec 15, 2020
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Quoting: ShmerlThey just released the game, surely it will be buggy (given the size of the game). They'll be fixing bugs for a year or more.

That part I was pretty much expecting though. The thing that worries me more is what people have to say about the game itself. Especially those that took the time to write a more in depth "negative" review. All of those basically say the same things. The main story is pretty good, but deviating from it is not. The RPG element is pretty much nothing and the whole open world is pretty much an empty backdrop. And that is a far cry from what cdpr promised it to be and no so easily rectified with a patch.
3zekiel Dec 15, 2020
Quoting: ikirutoRTX 2060 and Ryzen 1700 works without problems on Proton-Experimental with the settings in the screenshots and hex fix.

https://ibb.co/bJ0Z315
https://ibb.co/M75Ndt4
https://ibb.co/p3mMvqw

gamemoderun %command% --launcher-skip

Use a hex editor on the Cyberpunk2077.exe.
Replace "75 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08" with "EB 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08".
Replace "55 48 81 ec a0 00 00 00 0f 29 70 e8" with "c3 48 81 ec a0 00 00 00 0f 29 70 e8".

Do you know what this changes ? (the exe patch)
TheSHEEEP Dec 15, 2020
View PC info
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Quoting: GuestIt's almost sad, to see Valve stepping up with so much effort into something that's reportedly so buggy..
On PC, it is at least playable, though.
Enough so that many have/had a pretty great time with it despite the bugs.
rustybroomhandle Dec 15, 2020
This mod actually helps a lot with performance and some minor issues: https://github.com/yamashi/PerformanceOverhaulCyberpunk/tree/v0.2.1
Rooster Dec 15, 2020
Quoting: TheSHEEEP
Quoting: GuestIt's almost sad, to see Valve stepping up with so much effort into something that's reportedly so buggy..
On PC, it is at least playable, though.
Enough so that many have/had a pretty great time with it despite the bugs.

Yeah, but what's the point of buying it now, when you can just wait half a year and get a much better experience for less money?
Trias Dec 15, 2020
View PC info
  • Supporter
Quoting: 3zekiel
Quoting: ikirutoRTX 2060 and Ryzen 1700 works without problems on Proton-Experimental with the settings in the screenshots and hex fix.

https://ibb.co/bJ0Z315
https://ibb.co/M75Ndt4
https://ibb.co/p3mMvqw

gamemoderun %command% --launcher-skip

Use a hex editor on the Cyberpunk2077.exe.
Replace "75 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08" with "EB 30 33 C9 B8 01 00 00 00 0F A2 8B C8 C1 F9 08".
Replace "55 48 81 ec a0 00 00 00 0f 29 70 e8" with "c3 48 81 ec a0 00 00 00 0f 29 70 e8".

Do you know what this changes ? (the exe patch)

There are reports that Cyberpunk is not utilizing SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) in Ryzen CPU's (i. e, it using only half cores of the CPU, ignoring all "logical" cores). Didn't try it myself, but first string in Hex fix above is supposed to fix it. Not sure about what second string do...
whatever Dec 15, 2020
Quoting: RoosterYeah, but what's the point of buying it now, when you can just wait half a year and get a much better experience for less money?

FOMO
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