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Valve adds support for games using CEG DRM through Steam Play Proton

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If you have the latest version of Proton Experimental, Valve just recently put up a new Steam Client Beta (October 28) too which allows playing Windows games on Linux that make use of their older CEG DRM. This is quite a big one actually, as it was a total showstopper for numerous games. Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais said on Twitter it's only "initial" support and to post any you test on the official GitHub bug report for it.

Some of the titles that may now work include:

  • Aliens vs. Predator (2010)
  • Bioshock Infinite
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
  • Hitman: Absolution
  • Just Cause 2
  • Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light
  • Mafia II
  • Saints Row: The Third
  • Sid Meier's Civilization V
  • Sniper Elite V2
  • The Typing of The Dead: Overkill

Plenty more have CEG DRM, so it will take time for all of them to be tested and reported on. Some titles probably still won't work with other issues present but it's getting another step closer. At least those that actually load up in some way now can see additional testing and work with Proton.

A new black Steam client service window will pop up when Steam goes to sort the CEG, eventually that should be hidden from users - so for now it's normal.

Giving a few titles a run myself this morning I was able to test that Saints Row: The Third, Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 seem to work well now.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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afettouhi Oct 29, 2021
F.E.A.R. 3 also uses CEG DRM if I remember correctly.
gradyvuckovic Oct 29, 2021
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: whizse
Quoting: GuestOut of curiosity, is there a commit or patch somewhere to go along with this?
All I could spot was this:
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/commit/6fdc1b54bc62ea54e573370a49e7d3b2d606ab3f

Nothing as far as I can see on the proton-wine side. But I assume most of the work needed was done on the Steam client.

Makes sense I suppose. Still a little annoying: anything to fix it is not going to be open sourced, and running Steam through wine directly (this is what I still do on rare occasions) means it probably still won't work. DRM is just plain evil.

Can confirm what Liam said.
This actually wasn't an issue for running Steam via Wine, and these games were playable via Lutris I read more than once, and could be made playable by installing the games via Steam running in Wine and copying over the files, or just pirating the game.. in fact they worked in almost every context except via Proton directly from Steam. Which is ironic since the DRM in question is CEG which Valve made themselves.

The whole situation was kinda funny really, but it's been finally fixed up.
Stoney_Fish Oct 29, 2021
Tried Sniper Elite V2 and Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light

both gave :
The Steam servers are too busy to handle your request for ....... Error Code (2)

When it works it will be great, much better than dropping in a cracked exe.

Update : Realized I was not forcing Experimental setting on the games.

Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light - is working

Sniper Elite V2 - brinks up a launcher window with a play button, then it crashes.


Last edited by Stoney_Fish on 29 October 2021 at 5:41 pm UTC
elmapul Oct 29, 2021
"Bioshock Infinite"
well we can play the native version if we want to avoid this drm i guess
Corben Oct 29, 2021
On a side note, not all games that have CEG had issues with Proton. E.g Deus Ex: Human Revolution does have CEG, but no issues with Proton (except not closing itself when quitting).

There has been at least one game, where it helped to copy over the CEG generated executable(s) created on either windows or via wine Steam on the same(!) machine. This worked for me with Aliens vs Predator (2010), though only every other day (it did always start, but crashed on certain trigger points on some days).

I had no issues at all with AvP, A:CM, Star Trek (not available on Steam anymore) or Duke Nukem Forever (all using CEG) when using the wine Steam client (e.g. via Lutris, only issue was to disable hardware acceleration in the client, as often the Steam friends network didn't connect).
Beamboom Oct 29, 2021
Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: BeamboomBut three of those titles (Bioshock, Hitman, Saints Row) are Linux native and have always worked?
Doesn't matter. The point of Wine and Proton is to eventually run everything. Even games that have native ports, they might share issues with other games that when they get fixed up fix others. Plus, as we know, Proton tends to get better performance than older ports.
My reasoning was more that since this DRM evidently worked in the native version (assuming it was there too?), why should it not already work under Wine.
Liam Dawe Oct 29, 2021
Quoting: BeamboomMy reasoning was more that since this DRM evidently worked in the native version (assuming it was there too?), why should it not already work under Wine.
DRM was not used in native Linux versions, same with Denuvo when titles from Feral had it on Windows.
zany130 Oct 29, 2021
Is anyone getting issues with games saying there already running with this beta? happens with all my games. going back to stable fixes this
Stoney_Fish Oct 29, 2021
Hitman: Absolution is working
senpaigamer123 Oct 29, 2021
Quoting: zany130Is anyone getting issues with games saying there already running with this beta? happens with all my games. going back to stable fixes this

I'm having this issue too. Stopping from steam itself instead seems to workaround it.
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