Valve Rolls Out Wine-based "Proton" For Running Windows Games On Linux

[swoorup]

If only my nvidia driver does not crash, still can't make the switch to linux with just nouveau.

[Filiprino]

In regards to native ports, was that ever the end goal? Even some indie devs were holding back sequals because of weak sales. We would never get the user base if we were waiting on native ports, peoples steam librarys are huge. I feel this was needed to allow further adoption. I, for one, am glad to have the games on linux, i care not as much how they are brought to the platform, so long as performance is acceptable.

Don't get me wrong. Proton has huge value as a steering force for GNU+Linux adoption. But native games are preferable for better performance. With native games I mean ELF binaries plus engines programmed with OpenGL or Vulkan in mind. Because as of today, many "native" games are Direct3D games using a shim to interface OpenGL. And that sucks too.

[swoorup]

But really kudos to valve, and offcourse wine contributers for pulling this off the ground.

[boltronics]

This news is amazing. I already said so over at the update post comments, but this is exactly what I've wanted for a long time. This year I've been playing more console games than ever as I've just been getting too impatient over having to create separate Steam wineprefixes, having hundreds of disk space wasted on multiple Steam installations, and then having to update them whenever it comes to retesting games with newer Wine releases. This is a massive improvement, and makes me want to refocus on PC gaming again. Well done Valve!

[monte84]

Don't get me wrong. Proton has huge value as a steering force for GNU+Linux adoption. But native games are preferable for better performance. With native games I mean ELF binaries plus engines programmed with OpenGL or Vulkan in mind. Because as of today, many "native" games are Direct3D games using a shim to interface OpenGL. And that sucks too.

Oh I agree, I would much prefer native ports, which to be fair, most AAA games are just using wrappers anyway, so still have the performance draw back. I think in the release notes, they were hoping it would help with vulkan adoption.

Side note, Skyrim SE works for me, but im missing music and voices. Stutters when loading in new areas and performance is 30-60. Ryzen 7 1700 3.8 GHz and RX 480. Kernel 4.17.8 mesa 18.1.6 on debian testing.

[dungeon]

Side note, Skyrim SE works for me, but im missing music and voices. Stutters when loading in new areas and performance is 30-60. Ryzen 7 1700 3.8 GHz and RX 480. Kernel 4.17.8 mesa 18.1.6 on debian testing.

Look at proton issue tracker, Skyrim is mentioned already:

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues

It is usual WINE, not always perfect and regression prone

[TemplarGR]

It begins. Linux world domination. Next stop, Steam OS based console!

[untore]

Last time I checked some huge showstoppers with wine were games heavily based on the .net framework and games running some kind of anticheat in general (like your run of the mill oriental mmo).
If valve wanted to push for native Linux ports they could easily increase the sale share for games requiring proton

[EarthMind]

This is wonderful news. I would find it not a very good development if this was a closed source solution, because that would end in Steam-only support. And that would cause developers creating games for Steam instead of the OS, which would be really bad for the competition or independent publishers. But no, Valve nicely contributed all these features to the opensource projects and did it the Linux way!

I think this emulation is also good for the long term, because it could make it possible to keep old games compatible with new OSes and hardware. This advantage you don't have with native ports. The same way how new DirectX versions break compatibility with games that depend on an older version. On Linux this issue is more common, because the libraries that games depend on have multiple developers, each with their own ideas. This kind of emulation and open source drivers and tools could be a really great thing for gaming overall.

[TemplarGR]

This looks like very bad news for port developers like Feral, Virtual Programming and Aspyr.

I may use this for Windows games that I already have and do not have a chance for a port, but I stand by the mantra "not tux, no bux".

Not really. If Linux marketshare goes up, more companies will be looking into native ports, and will seek to employ port developers. It means more work for them, actually...