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PayPalDenuvo will lock you out of games on Linux, SteamOS, Steam Deck if you keep changing Proton versions
Although for some of us this is a well-known problem, it has appeared again with the release of DOOM: The Dark Ages so it's worth a quick PSA to remind people about Denuvo activation limits with Proton on Linux, SteamOS / Steam Deck.
Here's the thing — Denuvo Anti-Tamper games do work on Linux systems when running a Windows game through Proton. However, Denuvo has a set limit on the amount of activations it allows per-game. This is five systems it detects within 24 hours.
The problem is on Linux systems with Proton, you might be trying to find the best version of Proton to run the game with, especially so for new releases. If you keep changing your Proton version this can trip up Denuvo and count each Proton swap as a new activation. What happens then? You get locked out for 24 hours.
An example shot below is Atomic Heart, which I intentionally tripped when swapping Proton versions just to show you what happens when you do:
So keep in mind for games that have Denuvo Anti-Tamper to limit the amount of times you swap the Proton version.
You shouldn't often need to actually change the Proton version though. For games on Steam that have been through Steam Deck Verified or have a SteamOS Compatibility rating, Valve will have picked the best version of Proton by default for it. However, some people like to use things like GE-Proton, or change to a newer version of Proton than what Valve verified a game against, to potentially at times get a better experience.
How to find games that have Denuvo? They are supposed to be noted on Steam, you can see in the side-bar on Atomic Heart for example:
Our friends at PCGamingWiki also have a list of Steam games with Denuvo.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
You can also find comments for this article on social media: I'll just wait for the game and its DLC to be in a bundle for cheap then wait for Denuvo to be removed whats the rush?
Part of why I skip on Sega games Im excited for too but they dont always remove Denuvo so I wait for a steep steep discount instead then forget tbe game exists.
They lose an earlier purchase from me and Im sure they dont care so hey I dont care either, dont need to buy the game anytime soon, buh bye.
Plenty of indie boomer shooters to play anyway.
Also Doom Classic still holds up well and I do prefer it over the new Dooms, even as I play it for the epteenth thousandths time.
Try Reelism 2 mod its infinitely fun.
I think the reason for Denuvo's popularity among publishers is really that it's the first ever DRM system that's for all practical purposes undefeated.
Denuovo is regularly cracked anywhere from hours to weeks after a game launches.
Tired_Bunny 56 minutes ago
This is a common complaint, but as far as I know, it has never been conclusively proven. It's mostly just anecdotal with people seeing bad performance and blaming Denuvo because "This other game without Denuvo works just fine!" which is hardly definitive.
While this is still anecdotal, I heard people complain specifically about performance gains from using versions without denuvo on specific games (be that pirated copies which were able to remove denuvo, or official patches that removed drm altogether). Though, it may also depend on specific game and how it handles data loading from disk?
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