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PayPalAs we speculated previously, Valve have now officially announced their new version of 'Steam Play' for Linux gaming using a modified distribution of Wine called Proton, which is available on GitHub.
What does it do? In short: it allows you to play Windows games on Linux, directly through the Steam client as if they were a Linux game.
What many people suspected turned out to be true, DXVK development was actually funded by Valve. They actually employed the DXVK developer since February 2018. On top of that, they also helped to fund: vkd3d (Direct3D 12 implementation based on Vulkan), OpenVR and Steamworks native API bridges, wined3d performance and functionality fixes for Direct3D 9 and Direct3D 11 and more.
The amount of work that has gone into this—it's ridiculous.
Here's what they say it improves:
- Windows games with no Linux version currently available can now be installed and run directly from the Linux Steam client, complete with native Steamworks and OpenVR support.
- DirectX 11 and 12 implementations are now based on Vulkan, resulting in improved game compatibility and reduced performance impact.
- Fullscreen support has been improved: fullscreen games will be seamlessly stretched to the desired display without interfering with the native monitor resolution or requiring the use of a virtual desktop.
- Improved game controller support: games will automatically recognize all controllers supported by Steam. Expect more out-of-the-box controller compatibility than even the original version of the game.
- Performance for multi-threaded games has been greatly improved compared to vanilla Wine.
It currently has a limited set of games that are supported, but even so it's quite an impressive list that they're putting out there. Which includes DOOM, FINAL FANTASY VI, Into The Breach, NieR: Automata, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 and more. They will enable many more titles as progress on it all continues.
To be clear, this is available right now. To get it, you need to be in the Steam Client Beta.
There will be drawbacks, like possible performance issues and games that rely on some DRM might likely never be supported, but even so the amount of possibilities this opens up has literally split my head open with Thor's mighty hammer.
Holy shit. Please excuse the language, but honestly, I'm physically shaking right now I don't quite know how to process this.
Update #1: I spoke to Valve earlier, about how buying Windows games to play with this system counts, they said this:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.Hey Liam, the normal algorithm is in effect, so if at the end of the two weeks you have more playtime on Linux, it'll be a Linux sale. Proton counts as Linux.
Koopacabras Aug 22, 2018
Last edited by Koopacabras on 22 August 2018 at 12:50 am UTC
Also, tried Big Picture with Steam Controller. First time it also launched weirdly, probably in a minimized window or so, then it was fine. The game doesn't support controllers so I chose a popular configuration and it was good. I remember ME2 was quite solid on pure Wine but it was about 6 years ago. And yeah, graphics look quite dated now after all these AAA ported games, especially RotTR.
tl;dr I feel old now, thanks GabeN.
Koopacabras Aug 22, 2018
This really is great news though!
Quoting: SalvatosI like how Valve seem to also be pushing for Vulkan adoption with this in their statements. And with Google funding Photoshop compatibility via Wine, that's more and more barriers falling before a new Windows exodus.
That article is from 2008.
Quoting: kalinYou are not serious right ? While there is less then 1% linux gamers self respecting publisher never will put money and effort to do anything for linux. Especially when the community is full with outraged retards and haters that constantly make death threats, I still remember witcher 2. The issue with linux gaming is not the porting but the support. It doesn't make sense. For that reason just be thankful to Valve for supporting us even when it doesn't make sense, even when people preferred gog for some reason.For small studios who cannot reuse the effort on a larger scale, it might not make sense financially, but Valve is big enough that even 1% of their users make them a lot of money. Their work isn't restricted to a few games in a limited set of genres, but to a lot of games in all genres, so even if the cost is high, it will pay for itself if enough Linux users buy more games from steam as a result of it.
Will it pay for itself? Time will tell. I can only speak for myself, but I am sure I will buy more windows games if this works well. I also suspect some developers might will consider supporting Linux officially through steam play as well.
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