Valve officially released a new update for the incredible VR game Half-Life: Alyx, bringing support for the Steam Frame in standalone mode. Not just that though, there's some other nice improvements to the game that remains one of my all-time favourite gaming experiences when I played it through on the Valve Index.
Key Changes
Optimizations for Steam Frame
- Made significant rendering and performance optimizations when running on Steam Frame, updating most of the engine without altering any of the content.
- Added foveated rendering support when running standalone on Steam Frame.
- Ported the game to ARM64/aarch64.
- Added support for depth reprojection when running on Steam Frame, allowing smooth gameplay at lower framerates.
General Fixes
- Additional performance improvements when running on desktop PCs.
- Removed 1 tick of latency on player hands and other simulated objects.
- Fixed some GPU configurations displaying a low-memory warning when they had plenty of memory available.
- Fixed cross-platform cloud saves on Linux.
- Fixed subtitles not appearing on Linux.
- Fixed the Main Menu flickering for some users.
- Fixed a bug where it was occasionally not possible to interact with items when starting a new game.
I might have to do another play-through whenever I manage to get a Steam Frame, and perhaps dive into some of the bigger mods for it too. Exciting!
You do get a free copy of it when you buy the Steam Frame too so that's nice.
🌐 External Sources: store.steampowered.com
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Squires-Hand
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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8 comments
Why there isn't a Linux version on Steam for this game?
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What's the framerate? I read on some online sites 40-50 FPS (that is absolutely not OK for a VR game), on a video they told it was like 70 FPS (that might be tolerable but still on the barely playable for VR).
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Quoting: lqe5433Why there isn't a Linux version on Steam for this game?There is, it's just not advertised on the store page. Way back in 2020 they considered it beta, but that was six years ago. It did have a few issues (I recall an IPV6 problem), but nothing that couldn't have been resolved since then.
Fun fact, the ARM64 binaries are included in the Linux depot.
Quoting: doragasuWhat's the framerate? I read on some online sites 40-50 FPS (that is absolutely not OK for a VR game), on a video they told it was like 70 FPS (that might be tolerable but still on the barely playable for VR).I think on "Tested" they said that the game ran at 36 fps and reprojected to 72. Not great, but impressive for a glorified phone.
Last edited by Ehvis on 15 Sep 2026 at 7:44 am UTC
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hi
I do not think the ARM build of the game will work at the moment; for example, libpango-1.0.so in Alyx/game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/ and in the game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64 folder are 0 bytes in size. Also, in the game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64 folder, there are other library files that are 0 bytes in size as well
(External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.)
Name Type Size
game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/libpango-1.0.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libfontconfig.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libfreetype.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-gobject.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-icu.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-subset.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libpango-1.0.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libpangoft2-1.0.so so 0 B
I do not think the ARM build of the game will work at the moment; for example, libpango-1.0.so in Alyx/game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/ and in the game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64 folder are 0 bytes in size. Also, in the game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64 folder, there are other library files that are 0 bytes in size as well
(External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.)
Name Type Size
game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/libpango-1.0.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libfontconfig.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libfreetype.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-gobject.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-icu.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-subset.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libpango-1.0.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libpangoft2-1.0.so so 0 B
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Quoting: lqe5433Why there isn't a Linux version on Steam for this game?Last time I checked my install it was Linux native.
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Quoting: MadWolfhiIt does work, because people have already tried it. Those libraries are provided by steamrt4.
I do not think the ARM build of the game will work at the moment; for example, libpango-1.0.so in Alyx/game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/ and in the game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64 folder are 0 bytes in size.
1 Likes 👍 (1) See more...
Quoting: MadWolfhiThey are probably symbolic links to the libraries with the same name but with versions in their filename.
I do not think the ARM build of the game will work at the moment; for example, libpango-1.0.so in Alyx/game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/ and in the game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64 folder are 0 bytes in size. Also, in the game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64 folder, there are other library files that are 0 bytes in size as well
(External Link: You need to be logged in to view this.)
Name Type Size
game/bin/linuxsteamrt64/libpango-1.0.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libfontconfig.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libfreetype.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-gobject.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-icu.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz-subset.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libharfbuzz.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libpango-1.0.so so 0 B
game/bin/linuxsteamrtarm64/libpangoft2-1.0.so so 0 B
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