Steam Beta finally enables Proton on Linux fully, making Linux gaming simpler
Steam Beta finally enables Proton on Linux fully, making Linux gaming simpler
The title is a bit click-baity.
Steam had a setting where it would only run Proton on games on which it had been verified to work. Some people would inadvertently flip this setting off. Now the setting is gone, so they can't accidentally do this.
That setting defaults to off. Changing the default to on means new users won't have to figure out it exists, and shows confidence in proton
Yes, exactly. I wonder how many new, non-technical users tried Proton for the first time with the setting off and decided it was crap because nothing worked. I’m glad Valve decided to do this now.
Yeah honestly this was super dumb. I've seen so many people make the mistake of not turning this on (myself included). Even watched a dude make a whole video about Linux gaming with it disabled. It's so stupid to have it off by default.
Do you mean the setting called "Enable Steam Play for all titles" that was usually unchecked, that you'd have to go in and check, which some folks wouldn't do (because they might not have known they were supposed to?)
Yeah i had heard Linux gaming was good but when installed steam i found only like 10% of my games were showing as playable for Linux. Next day i realized i needed to turn on the proton option or whatever
Pretty sure this was me the last time I tried Linux gaming before buying the Steam Deck. One more problem solved before I upgrade Windows 10.
It was the other way around. The default was to run proton-enabled games, but not random titles, unless you enabled proton for everything via the toggle ("enable for all titles") which was off by default.
Now it's on by default and the switch is gone, so it's can't inadvertently be switched off.
I didn't even know this setting existed lol. I always right clicked into the specific game's properties and selected the version of proton for that game.
And I did it for each game.
This is a welcome change haha. At least I know there was actually a setting for the rest of the library.
Yes it's very good they now changed this, because if you manually select a proton version you also override the default. Steam actually knows which proton to use for almost every game if the global setting is just on.
Is there a good resource that lists all games known to require a specific version rather than being fine with the latest? I don't really have the patience to check each game these days, so a list to skim would be nice.
So if I turn on the global setting, does it mean it will run native linux games with proton as well? I'm mostly playing rimworld and project zomboid, which have native Linux builds.
No. To use the Windows build you need to specifically request it in the game's properties
Yup, just tested it with rimworld. Thanks!
Probably so, there are a few native Linux builds on Steam that don't have feature parity or segregate multiplayer for silly reasons. (Total War: Warhammer III for example uses an entirely different method to generate random numbers in the native Linux build so you need to use proton to play with 'friends' on Windows)
It doesn't, as far as I could tell. I enabled the global option, and now I can just install and run windows only games without having to manually force the compatibility layer. Meanwhile, the Linux native games work just as intended.
Why are people downvoting? You gave an edge case and an example of it in action... what is there to disagree with?
Oh weird. I had an issue where I couldn’t play Dawn of War II with my brother on windows from my Mac. I solved it by using windows through boot camp, but that’s so lame.
I wonder if it’s the same issue.
Proton is only for running Win32 binaries
I know, I was asking about which version will Steam decide for when I have the global setting on.
Nope, win64 works as well
And now Valve needs to figure out how to tell users which game works and which game doesn't work. Maybe some kind of badge for Proton?
Integrating ProtonDB into the steam client would be a nice.
On steam deck there's a decky add-on to do that
I tend to do my Steam shopping in the browser and I use the ProtonDB-Peek userscript. This gives a ProtonDB status badge in the right column under the review links.
Steam deck compatibility is close enough to the same thing.
https://github.com/OMGDuke/protondb-decky
You mean like this?
Wait. It wasn't fully supported until now? I never had any real problems that couldn't be solved by trying a different Proton version.
I’m surprised by this too. Proton has been mostly problem free
I usually just throw everything at Proton-GE and haven't had a problem yet.
It was not enabled by default
As someone who hasn’t yet migrated their gaming PC to linux, does this mean that third-party games imported into steam should work automatically? No flags or config adjustments?
If so, will it choose specific Proton versions for known games or pick a default (latest, I presume) version for all of them?
Right now, all you have to do is go to the settings of your non-steam game, go to compatibility, and choose a Proton version. I'm not sure if this change will automate it, but it's pretty much as easy as it can be already.
You can just add them and start them. If it doesnt work immediately, you can look at protondb which solution works best.
Just in time for my new nvme drive so I can fully segregate windows and Linux after that mf broke my install again
Yeah that's what I did but Windows will insert itself to the top of boot entries in UEFI anyway lol
Install Windows on a separate SATA drive so you can remove it later without repartitioning. Also it is easier to boot, just change boot drive on startup.
Yeah I currently have Linux and windows sharing my only nvme drive because I wanted to use the fastest drive for the OS but clearly it's causing issues. So I just bought a cheaper one that I will dedicate to windows, along with a sata SSD.
Do you think I can get away with just wiping the partitioned drive and reinstalling both OS, keeping their data drives as is, since they are already each entirely dedicated to one OS ? Or should I do a full clean ?
Finally
As someone who will be switching to Mint very soon, I am so thrilled to hear this.
Any solutions to replace something like Virtual Desktop to wirelessly VR a Quest 3, or any word on attempts to get Steam Link VR working on Linux? It's basically the final ligament holding onto the Windows dual-boot on my non-work PC. I've been waiting for the day I can purge Windows since using Warty in elementary school.
I have used alvr on my quest 1
I use ALVR with my quest 2 and it works great. It can connect to your headset both wired and wirelessly.
Hot like FIRE!
Gaming on Linux gets worse and worse every article he writes
Bro, I'm so fucking close to removing Microsoft from my life
Do it, just don't play the games that don't work on Linux. I switched 15 years ago and didn't look back. There are so many games at this point why bother with the ones that only work on Windows?
The only game I actively played that didn't work on Linux was destiny 2, and switching to cachyOS has really helped me kick that toxic game out for good.
The whole reason I have a computer is to game on it though! :P
Best thing I ever did. I got tired of being told how I could use my computer and the spying or course.
From a gaming perspective: Get a new drive (NVMe/whatever your OS is on), drop Nobara on it, be done, have the option to switch back without a hassle if you need it for some special tasks or games.
And after 6 months find out that you never actually did that so delete windows/migrate it into a VM and enjoy the extra game drive you won.
That's at least what worked for 90% of my friends meanwhile.
The only person I know who routinely uses windows is myself- and I only do so,because I need certain MS Office stuff that I need for work. (And no,libre or Softmaker,etc. are sadly not a replacement for that. )
Wine was originally made specifically for running MS Office on Linux. Does that not work for you either?
This is where I am at. As of last week I banned Windows to the deeps of a vm and went all in on Linux (Mint, in this case). Dual bootet for a couple of months but since I never used Windows outside of a vm anyway...
Havnt had a single issue with games so far, besides some very minor hick ups that were resolved easily. Than again, im lucky that the game so play have been supported so far.
After my experience with nobara blowing up after a major update I'd probably go for bazzite instead
I'm a few months into Linux Mint on my gaming PC and love it; 99% of my games work. The only one that doesn't so far is FiveM but that's because the devs appear to be very anti-linux unless you're hosting a server.
Is there a way to confirm which games in your library will work well on Linux for your specific hardware, gaming is the only thing keeping me on Windows for now, I'd be happy to get rid of windows if I could run most of my games on Linux and the rest maybe I can run on Wine or a virtual desktop
i mostly quit videogames in order to do this. it's nice to think that maybe I'll get some more of them back
I was ready to do that back when I switched, but still found games to play. Back then, Steam hadn't yet come to Linux (I didn't even have an account), so it was mostly random indies (back when Humble Bundle was baller) and some FOSS games. I played a bunch of Minecraft and Factorio as well. Then Steam came and brought a few more games, then Proton came and I've been back buying a ton of games.
Switching to Linux is so much easier these days with the incredible game support.
I did it a few months ago, honestly after the initial learning it has been a great experience. That's including me having to fuck around with stuff because I chose to run extremely new graphics hardware, and that's kinda on me.
Do it. You'll be asking yourself why you haven't done so a year ago!
Currently backing up, moving to Zorin Core after work!
If not for work I'd already be there
Do it