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Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

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Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#191
post #37
post #28

Proton is neat for sure, but unfortunately modern anti-cheat solutions expect Windows and will not allow Linux clients to connect. There's also a few games that I expected to work but simply won't launch for me, like Elder Scrolls Online. I'm a fan of the Linux desktop, but for me the easiest solution is to have a dedicated Linux PC (right now an XPS 13 Developer) and a Windows machine for playing video games. I don'…

From a very personal point of view, I'm happy with anti-cheats not working on linux. Some of them are flat out rootkits, see valorant's anti-cheat.

No kidding. After spending so much effort on verifying that the code I'm running comes from trusted sources and that I have a decently secure system, I can't help but feel dirty after allowing some sort of weird DRM/anti-cheat service that needs to phone home just so I'm able to play a game I loved from 5 or 6 years ago.

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own a valve index. I use it only on linux (mint) via proton. I can say that it does work. There are quirks. don't expect it to be seemless. For instance, more than half the time I start SteamVR but have to then "restart" the headset. Once it is working it is working. Not all VR games support linux but many do, probably a higher proportion than amongst non-VR games. VR games tend to come from smaller developers who…

The restarting issue also occurs for me on Windows 10. Although, it usually occurs 80% of the time rather than half for me. I suspect it might be due to me plugging in power to the headset after starting the system, but I've seen it occur without doing that as well, so I am unsure.

That's my thinking too. I have my VR hardware (2 tracker things+headset) on a power bar that I turn on separately after boot.

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#193

I LOVE Proton. About 85% of my Windows games just... work. And probably 75% of the 15% that fail initially only require a little tweaking to make work. My only complaints are that steam uses arbitrary numbers instead of human readable labels for emulated AppData folders. It can be time consuming to locate a save game file. Also Streaming cross platform isn't a pleasant experience yet but it's getting better and I rea…

> My only complaints are that steam uses arbitrary numbers instead of human readable labels for emulated AppData folders. Yeah, it's a chore. Sadly there really isn't a better option. The only option I can think of is to use the game's localizable name, but that gets pretty ugly very quickly (consider the ".HACK" series). Another option would be to re-use the game's data folder name, but that gets hairy with stuff li…

>> to use the game's localizable name

Please no. I am glad that steam uses only numbers. That avoids capitalization issues when moving stuff between linux and windows.

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#194

I LOVE Proton. About 85% of my Windows games just... work. And probably 75% of the 15% that fail initially only require a little tweaking to make work. My only complaints are that steam uses arbitrary numbers instead of human readable labels for emulated AppData folders. It can be time consuming to locate a save game file. Also Streaming cross platform isn't a pleasant experience yet but it's getting better and I rea…

> My only complaints are that steam uses arbitrary numbers instead of human readable labels for emulated AppData folders. Yeah, it's a chore. Sadly there really isn't a better option. The only option I can think of is to use the game's localizable name, but that gets pretty ugly very quickly (consider the ".HACK" series). Another option would be to re-use the game's data folder name, but that gets hairy with stuff li…

They could use a scheme like `AppID-name` where `name` is the sanitized lower-cased title, e.g. `50631-hack`. From Steam's perspective it doesn't really make any difference, it could just ignore everything after the dash, but at least it gives the human an idea of what's in there.

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#195

For anyone looking for a basic set of steps to migrate away from Windows via dual-booting, the following is working flawlessly: 1. Partition HDD, create Pop_OS live Linux usb (or desired Linux distribution, just remember to include Nvidia/AMD graphics driver). 2. Install OS, with separate /boot partition than Windows. 3. Return to Windows (can do this as step 1 actually) and install rEFInd boot loader on Windows EFI…

Does this allow you to run steam on gnu/linux and run games installed on Windows (so you don't have to install games on both operating systems)? I've tried https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/wiki/Using-a-NTFS-di... to no avail.

That's a different problem, all together unfortunately. I think it is possible but I have not yet migrated that far. I am still in the "choosing a distro" stage (I'm enjoying Pop_OS so far but we'll see). I have read in some comments elsewhere that Steam will download the correct binaries if you can point to the library.

Your link is missing a `/` between `Proton` and `wiki` btw.

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Whirligig, which works with a minor fix documented on ProtonDB.

Whirligig does not work for me with the recommended fix.

Just to make sure we're talking about the same fix, do you mean running the LAV installer first (edit: followed by selecting DirectShow in the options)? That worked for me with Proton 5.13-6.

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I choose to irrationally support Linux, because I like Linux. There is literally no financial incentive for me to do so. We were recently debugging a newer build on Linux, which was inexplicitly crashing on a players machine, while running great in the testing environment. This was causing a major headache as the game needed to ship that day. We had another Linux volunteer test it out on his mostly vanilla Ubuntu set…

Would you mind sharing the name of your game? I'm saving up to buy some games soon, and I'd like to support cool devs like you!

Thanks. It's called BadLads, it's all about multiplayer roleplay, where each player has their own job. The games about to get giant procedural cities (with full interiors!) and native virtual reality support. Here's the last devblog, although a bit dated: https://devblog.chemicalheads.com/posts/upcoming-update-teas...

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1200710/BadLads/

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#198
Valve recently updated Remote Play so that hosts can send anyone a link to install the Steam Link app (available on every major platform but macOS at the moment) and join local multiplayer games remotely. Guests don’t even need a Steam account. Great quarantine feature for games that don’t require very low latency! And it’s fully functional on Linux.

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#199

I LOVE Proton. About 85% of my Windows games just... work. And probably 75% of the 15% that fail initially only require a little tweaking to make work. My only complaints are that steam uses arbitrary numbers instead of human readable labels for emulated AppData folders. It can be time consuming to locate a save game file. Also Streaming cross platform isn't a pleasant experience yet but it's getting better and I rea…

It's even worse with Workshop items (on the various occasions where you need to make edits or otherwise troubleshoot 'em), since you need not only the game's AppID, but an even longer numeric ID for the Workshop item itself.

Luckily this is the same as the one in the item's URL for its Workshop page, but it's still annoying to have to copy and paste that into something just to see it (if doing it through the Steam client).

Re: Valve's Proton Has Enabled 7000 Windows Games on Linux

#200
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, if proton is creating a much larger linux gamer market (its on of the big reasons I switched to linux as my daily driver), might this new market not soon be able to exert pressure on developers for first-class linux ports? Bit of a potential chicken and egg problem with developers supporting linux natively that proton might help solve.

>> for first-class linux ports? I don't want ports. I want proper linux clients developed alongside the other clients, which is relatively easy under tools like unity. Every developer gives lip service to "maybe linux later" but they never do it. If they aren't doing cross-platform development from day one there is next to zero chance of them doing it later in the dev cycle when such things are far more expensive. Wh…

I think people are vastly underestimating how much gaming sucks even on Windows. Nier: Automata still hasn't received a single PC patch to my knowledge. Many of the games on Windows are ports as well, such as Nier.

The PC has largely taken a backseat to consoles. It's a bit much asking for Linux native, let alone, Linux ports.

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