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Proton Experimental is the new testing area where Valve and their partner CodeWeavers continue rolling out extra fixes and improvements to the Proton translation layer for Steam Play.

This work follows on from what was done to get Cyberpunk 2077 working and in a better state on Linux, and they're clearly not done yet. In the latest updates to Proton Experimental they added "better support for Red Dead Online, Kingdoms Reborn, and Anno 1404 - History Edition" and also newly improved video support with "infrastructure work for supporting video playback from Media Foundation".

Here's a quick look at Red Dead Online running on Linux with Proton Experimental:

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Video - Red Dead Online running on EndeavourOS with an Intel i7 5960x and NVIDIA 1080.

I should note that I've seen some issues with it. Valve do note "better" support and so don't expect a perfect experience just yet, especially with it being an online only game it could easily break on the next update - but progress is clear and it works. Still, I've seen some crashes and black screens but when it works it seems to run quite well overall.

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

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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9 comments

Rooster Dec 21, 2020
Would this apply to Red Dead Redemption 2? According to ProtonDB, that game is still a hit or miss, when it comes to running it through Proton.
Liam Dawe Dec 21, 2020
Quoting: RoosterWould this apply to Red Dead Redemption 2? According to ProtonDB, that game is still a hit or miss, when it comes to running it through Proton.
Can't personally say as I don't own it. Only picked up the online standalone to test as it's currently real cheap.
Corben Dec 21, 2020
Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: RoosterWould this apply to Red Dead Redemption 2? According to ProtonDB, that game is still a hit or miss, when it comes to running it through Proton.
Can't personally say as I don't own it. Only picked up the online standalone to test as it's currently real cheap.
At least it's the Online Part of RDR2, as the Steam Store Page states:

QuoteNotice: The content included with the standalone version of Red Dead Online is identical to what is included with Red Dead Redemption 2.
But if that's also improving the Singleplayer... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Jahimself Dec 21, 2020
So much improvements on linux theses days. The only thing it needs, is more user. I hope if this trend continues, and that more and more windows game run out of the box on our platform, it might in the end be considered by big publishers. I can't believe some poeple believed in windows 10, and still some people upgrade to this terrible os for basic uses.

I keep a partition with windows 7 that I never boot. Since I first tried linux, I never looked back, most distro are far more stable and easy to use than what windows has become. There is diversity and recently the new designs and UI are also looking nicer and nicer.


Last edited by Jahimself on 21 December 2020 at 9:54 am UTC
BlackBloodRum Dec 21, 2020
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Quoting: RoosterWould this apply to Red Dead Redemption 2? According to ProtonDB, that game is still a hit or miss, when it comes to running it through Proton.
Wait? You mean the online isn't included with the main game anymore? Separate purchases now?
Rooster Dec 21, 2020
Quoting: BlackBloodRum
Quoting: RoosterWould this apply to Red Dead Redemption 2? According to ProtonDB, that game is still a hit or miss, when it comes to running it through Proton.
Wait? You mean the online isn't included with the main game anymore? Separate purchases now?

It is included in RDR2, but you can also buy it as standalone, without ever touching RDR2.
Avehicle7887 Dec 21, 2020
Quotealso newly improved video support with "infrastructure work for supporting video playback from Media Foundation".

Can't say I care much about RDR or Anno but I like this part.
KuJo Dec 22, 2020
Yesterday I wrote that at the Proton github-thread for RDR2:

QuoteHere is some positive feedback. I installed it again after a few months and tried it out.

Without any launch options or workarounds the game starts up to main menu from where I could also start and play the online mode (Free Roam) without any further action. Was just for 20 minutes in online mode. The single player was also running so far. But the online mode never started and always gave me an error "(0x20010006)".

Proton Experimental
Linux Mint 20
Ryzen 5 3600
AMD RX 5700 XT
Kernel 5.8.18
AMDGPU + PPA kisak mesa fresh (20.3.1-kisak1)

I am impressed. :)
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/3291#issuecomment-748984864


Last edited by KuJo on 22 December 2020 at 7:40 am UTC
Rooster Dec 22, 2020
Quoting: KuJoYesterday I wrote that at the Proton github-thread for RDR2:

QuoteHere is some positive feedback. I installed it again after a few months and tried it out.

Without any launch options or workarounds the game starts up to main menu from where I could also start and play the online mode (Free Roam) without any further action. Was just for 20 minutes in online mode. The single player was also running so far. But the online mode never started and always gave me an error "(0x20010006)".

Proton Experimental
Linux Mint 20
Ryzen 5 3600
AMD RX 5700 XT
Kernel 5.8.18
AMDGPU + PPA kisak mesa fresh (20.3.1-kisak1)

I am impressed. :)
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/3291#issuecomment-748984864

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