As 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.
Last edited by sub on 22 August 2018 at 11:29 am UTC
I personally tried No Man’s Sky and Trackmania Nations Forever and they work better than on wine and snap.
My problem remains Arma3 because the experimental port isn’t up to date with patch and doesn’t have workshop and launcher.
Plenty devs will give it a go, and if the game already runs reasonably well, but need tweaking, they could hire those companies to do so, since they have the experience.
Does anybody know if it is possible to install the windows version instead the linux one?
Quoting: LeopardHmm , so Russian are pretty uniterested then.More like Microsoft®-centric. Everything microsoft, no matter how bad it is (Silverlight for the corporate site? Sure! .NET for free MathCAD alternative? It couldn't be any other way! Taxes -- the federal site will work only with MS IE 6.0. Bank accounting? You've got the idea…), is treated as a fscing standard and all attempts to point to alternatives are met with ferocious hostility. Like the life depends on it. Twenty years of free Windows (1990-2010) had quite potent impact.
Quoting: Leopardhttps://www.donanimhaber.com/ekran-karti/haberleri/F1-2017-oyunu-Linuxa-geliyor.htmHere, if it is not for Windows, it does not exist. Period. Almost nobody knows Vulkan versions (feral-ports) of some games exist.
https://www.donanimhaber.com/ekran-karti/haberleri/AMD-RX-480-ile-DOOM-Vulkan-testi-28e-varan-performans-artisi.htm
Quoting: LeopardAbout Cemu:LOL!
No actually. Many people using Cemu for Zelda BOTW and using an AMD cards on Windows , created Linux partitions to run Cemu into Wine with Mesa OGL drivers. AMD Windows OGL drivers are such a disaster.
So, Wii U emulator… (didn't dig into Wii U emulation myself) Does it have only OpenGL renderer and no DirectX? Very weird, especially for a Windows™ exclusive emulator!
Quoting: Alm888Quoting: Whitewolfe80The code has not been tampered with no code injection has taken place they havent(sic) re written direct x to get it to work so they shouldnt(sic) have any legal grounds.Yeah, sure. This didn't stop Oracle® from suing Google® for its Java™ API implementation.
Quoting: GuestStop with the FUD. Even if they sue they won't get anywhere. WINE infringes on no copyright, plus it has existed for 2 decades, legally they have lost the right to pursue anything now.Even if a court ultimately rejects all claims, this can take ages and Valve®'s reputation will be tarnished. And, more importantly, the court can forbid any Valve®'s economical activity in the US of America during the process in order to prevent any possible further violations. By the time Microsoft® will be forced to pay reparation it will be useless because Valve® will be bankrupt.
And please, don't shoot the messager. I don't work for Microsoft®; all I want is for people to stop drinking Valve®'s kool-aid. Why are most people assuming Microsoft® won't retaliate? Be it a legal process or constant and rapid API changes in order to break compatibility? All of the previous Microsoft®'s history suggests otherwise.
Also sorry i missed this before you honestly think a corporation the size of valve did not lawyer up to find out if this was legal before they sank a dime into development of dxvk they dont order pens from a new supplier without checking it out. Its called due diligence if Valve were stupid enough to plough ahead and not think of every possible angle people could come at them not to mention sinking cash into the project, valve are many things stupid is not one of them.
Quoting: johndoeI'm really excited what the next steam hardware survey will tell!?
Maybe in January or so when this feature is out of beta(?) and the usage has stabilized. Doesn't Steam hardware survey emphasize new installs to a point that the results would be heavily skewed in favor of Linux from people that did just some quick tests? Unless the fix they did for cybercafes solved this behavior. In the short term it would certainly show if there is increased interest in Linux gaming due to this new feature (interesting data by itself though). I just don't think it would be a good indicator of actual marketshare in the next few months.
Quoting: MVinhasDo I need to install DXVK? Because I cannot install any Windows game despite having the Steam Beta Client.
No , you don't have to. Go to Steam Settings-Steam Play.
Then restart client.
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