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

[r_a_trip]

This is huge! This turns Wine into a seriously supported platform. It turns Windows into just an API, making MS lose their platform advantage. Even if developers opt not to go for native gaming, you can bet they will target Proton. This means a huge library of demanding software will open up and Wine will benefit from a massive amount of testing and bugfixes.

It will be interesting to see if Nadella can resist taking the old MS' "Cut Off The Oxygen Supply" playbook from the shelf. They could try and wreak havoc with massive API shifts in DirectX 13. Alternatively they could go the patent route and sue Valve directly or through an intermediary.

[makson]

There are ways to play those games natively on Linux. One of the solution is to use my project Recultis:

https://makson.gitlab.io/Recultis/

[Khrundel]

Bravo, Valve, they have done for desktop linux popularisation more than any other company, maybe more than kernel team itself.
At the start of this topic I was curious, why there are people who against this project and then I've realized: someone who believes in monopoly, trying to force everyone to use their product must believe this kind of policy to be effective, so they really think that linux steam users (0.5%) can force game publishers to create ports, if they will stay united.

[zoomblab]

Is Proton different than installing Wine on your system?

The last time I tried Wine it integrated all the Windows programs to my system and I didn't like that. For example, after I installed Wine, when I double clicked a text file through the file manager it would open Notepad. Not a huge problem but I'd like the Windows stuff to be isolated somehow and use them only when I want.

[ssam]

Is it still true that the steam survey is disabled if you have the beta client installed? If everyone switched to beta for this, and forgets to switch back it could have a huge effect on the stats.

[nomadewolf]

This is huge. I am not sure how I feel about this. Will this make developers now unwilling to work on the Linux port since the "compatibility layer" would take care of this job? Would this end up hurting gaming on Linux?

If Linux market share ends up growing because of it, then i believe that in the short term, this will be bad for Linux, but on the long term it will be great.

[mike44]

moilami you can set file extensions settings for default opening.

Yes huge, hopefully devs still target Linux natively. As long as it increases Linux gamers number I'm happy with such.

[moilami]

Just tested this with Hitman: Codename 47. Worked like a charm with 60 FPS sharp. However, alt-tabbing did not work. Computer games should give superior experience than console games. Alt-tabbing must work perfectly (in addition to game pad support). Computer gamer should have all the things he have available for him in computer on second while the game is running on background.

Anyway, was a great experience. This really means that tons of games are *steaming* for Linux gamers with one click play. Can't wait to suggest people to install Linux if they want their games work good by steamed click & play

[RussianNeuroMancer]

I wonder how Valve is going to defend itself in the court when MS sue them.

[Danniello]

Just tested this with Hitman: Codename 47. Worked like a charm with 60 FPS sharp. However, alt-tabbing did not work. Computer games should give superior experience than console games. Alt-tabbing must work perfectly (in addition to game pad support). Computer gamer should have all the things he have available for him in computer on second while the game is running on background.

I'm not sure if it is the case with "Hitman: Codename 47", but some games even on Windows side are blocking Alt+Tab and/or Win button, so this issue could be not related to Steam Proton. I'm not know how to do it in Proton, but in normal Wine you could force game to open in window via winecfg - in such case Win button should work.