7 ms·

Proton has earned steam my business forever. I haven't booted into Windows in over a year.

SkyMarshal 3y ago
I haven't booted into Windows since 2009, thanks to Wine. Proton certainly expands its compatibility and support though, and I'll support any company that supports Linux, and Valve is one of the best ones.
makomk 3y ago
Valve have funded some good work on the underlying compatibility code, but their big contribution was really fixing a problem they themselves created. Lots of games expect to be able to call back to the Steam client for a license check, and this used to require running the Windows version of Steam which didn't work well (huge compatibility issues and it really didn't like being run at the same time as the Linux version). One of the big things enabling easy Linux gaming was a Valve-approved way to run Windows games under a compatibility layer and have them still connect to the same Linux client used to run native games.
- henryfjordan 3y ago
  Valve may have contributed to the issue initially, but can you blame them? There wasn't exactly an abundance of Linux Support before Valve came along either. Why would they support a Linux Steam client and the whole compatibility layer when the demand just didn't exist. Valve becoming big enough to break into the hardware market (first Steam Machines and then the Steam Deck) was the first time they had any incentive to care about the OS layer. They could've made some deal w/ Microsoft but instead went the open-source route to the benefit of everyone. Kudos to Valve.
  - johnnyanmac 3y ago
    >but can you blame them? Sure I can. They decided ultimately to make an indirect dependence on Windows instead of encouraging devs to make good native linux ports. They more or less made the deal with Windows without having to get their hands dirty.
- pixelatedindex 3y ago
  > but their big contribution was really fixing a problem they themselves created. I think it’s a little bit of a stretch to say it’s a problem they created - they were just a victim of their own success. They can’t force developers to write games in a particular platform, and making games work under Linux is no small task. It was probably easier to stream games from a Windows machine, which was their first approach with Steam Link and Steam Machines. It kinda sorta worked, and what they saw was enough encouragement to go and build the Steam Deck. On top of that, CPUs/GPUs just weren’t good enough 10 years ago to do what Valve wanted to do. So I think it’s a little unfair to say they “created” this problem.
- Vt71fcAqt7 3y ago
  The big problem was directx, not steam_api.dll, which can be solved in many ways.
jjoonathan 3y ago
Nice! HDR is the one thing that keeps me booting to windows for games, but I am eagerly watching the progress. One day soon!
- heyoni 3y ago
  is ray tracing also unsupported on linux?
  - squeaky-clean 3y ago
    Varies from game to game. I know it works in Cyberpunk 2077 but you need to include some special launch parameters. Portal RTX just worked. RTX in Control doesn't work even with config changes.
  - badsectoracula 3y ago
    For me it is supported better on Linux than on Windows because my GPU (RX 5700 XT) does not actually have HW raytracing but Mesa has a software fallback for it :-P. If nothing else i was able to see what the fuss was all about[0][1][2]. Though, well, performance was a tiny bit lacking as you can see (i actually had to modify the Quake RTX code to let me use lower resolution scale than the official binary allowed :-P). [0] https://i.imgur.com/3XNakAs.png https://i.imgur.com/3XNakAs.png [1] https://i.imgur.com/AKJInNg.png https://i.imgur.com/AKJInNg.png [2] https://i.imgur.com/faagg2Q.png https://i.imgur.com/faagg2Q.png
erinnh 3y ago
Absolutely agree. I was starting to diversify my store fronts before Valve came out with the Deck. But the release of it and the message it sent (that they take this seriously), made me reverse course and now I always buy my games on Steam, even if it costs 10 euro more.
- solardev 3y ago
  FYI Steam has a ton of legit resellers with their own sales. The keys all activate on Steam. Isthereanydeal.com Valve will be fine :)
  - erinnh 3y ago
    Oh, I use those. But even then it’s sometimes more expensive to buy it on steam than say Uplay or Epic.
  - hhmc 3y ago
    FWIW many game developers would genuinely rather you pirate the game than buy keys on the ‘grey market’ sites. If you’re not going to pay anyone who deserves it, you might as well just not pay anyone..
    - solardev 3y ago
      The link I posted goes to the non gray market ones. https://www.pcgamer.com/pc-game-storefronts-compared-what-you-need-to-know-about-retailers-and-resellers/ https://www.pcgamer.com/pc-game-storefronts-compared-what-yo... It's not the shady sites that resell free or international keys, etc. I specifically didn't link to those (they're easy to find, but of questionable ethicality and usability). FWIW if the dev offers a Steam key on their own site, I'd just buy it that way. But otherwise if it's Steam or one of those authorized resellers, there's no reason to prefer Steam itself. GMG, Humble, Fanatical, etc. have great deals that let me try games I otherwise wouldn't bother with. If they turn out good, usually there's in app purchases and cosmetics I'm happy to support. IMHO this is a good form of price differentiation, letting the base game be widely available for people to buy but selling supporter packs and cosmetics for people who really like it. (P2W is a different story)
outcoldman 3y ago
Are you saying, that it is actually a good experience to run Linux on the gaming laptop instead of Windows with Proton? I already have Steam Deck, and love it. But if I want to play games in better resolution, I might boot my Windows Laptop. Have not tried Linux with Proton. On Linux laptop I have a NVIDIA some kind of 3xxx series card.
- nstbayless 3y ago
  I found that Elden Ring ran better on Proton on Linux than on native Windows on the same device. Loaded faster and ran more smoothly. I do not know why.
  - heyoni 3y ago
    I wonder if that has to do with anticheating mechanisms having to do a lot less work on a wine-based windows system than a full blown windows install.
    - _kidlike 3y ago
      It usually has to do with a translation layer, converting DirectX to Vulkan (there are a few different ones, depending on the version of DirectX). And yes, gaming on Linux has been infinitely smoother and gets leaps of improvements every year. We're at a point where unreleased games already play on Linux, and typically with better performance than naively on Windows. Controllers, audio, etc, all play out of the box, perfectly, since years now
    - sph 3y ago
      In the case of Elden Ring, not really, it was due to DXVK (whose developer is sponsored by Valve) having custom patches to workaround the weird DirectX streaming logic of the game that caused constant frame hiccups. So, on day 3 or something of release, Linux was the best platform to play the newest AAA game. The year of Linux gaming has been here for a while.
  - ribosometronome 3y ago
    There was a while around release for Elden Ring where Valve was able to rapidly deploy fixes that resulted in the Steam Deck running without stuttering issues that were effecting powerful Windows builds. https://www.techradar.com/news/steam-deck-plays-elden-ring-better-than-a-dollar5000-pc-thanks-to-valve https://www.techradar.com/news/steam-deck-plays-elden-ring-b... I'd hope that those issues eventually got resolved on Windows too...
INTPenis 3y ago
I got rid of windows decades ago, so Steam has been the number one cause for my drop in productivity the last few years. And I love it.
sph 3y ago
I hate DRM, I hate monopolies, I welcome competition, but if one builds a massive empire by just creating a bonafide good platform, single-handedly making open source desktop better, with good customer support and treating users with respect, they deserve the money honestly. If one day I manage to build a billion dollar empire, my sole inspiration on how to conduct business is Gabe Newell. [1] Which is exactly the thing Epic can't compete on. They can give away all the free games they want, but Steam and Valve have done much more than offering games on sale. (I got a 13 year old account on Steam, more than 500 games bought, almost $10k spent on the platform. No Windows partition for the past 3 years) --- 1: I honestly couldn't name anybody else that has kept their company private, grown it to such heights and stayed true to their founding principles, without selling out to shareholders and advertisers for an easy buck.
- jonny_eh 3y ago
  With the xbox 360 marketplace shutting down next year, will Steam be the longest running digital marketplace? That longevity is what earns my trust. Update: iTunes Store started in April 2003, Steam started selling third-party titles in late 2005 (around when the 360 launched).
- Macha 3y ago
  Yeah, pretty much all my PC game purchases go to either Steam (for their work on Linux gaming) or GOG (for their DRM free stance). Luckily my financial position is such that it really doesn't matter what sale is on Epic or Uplay or Origin to change that.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  >Which is exactly the thing Epic can't compete on. I mean, with these criteria is Epic really that far behind? They made desktop a better experience for devs, have decent enough customer support, and they don't exactly shit talk their users like other parts of the industry. The only arguable part is good platform, but it depends on what you need out of the platform. Does a platform have to offer a way to play windows games on linux to be "good"? >I honestly couldn't name anybody else that has kept their company private, grown it to such heights and stayed true to their founding principles, without selling out to shareholders and advertisers for an easy buck. hard to find platforms like that, but there are certainly creators that stayed small and humble despite growing huge in influence and pull.
rossy 3y ago
I love Steam, Valve and Proton, and what they've done for Linux gaming, but nothing will make me compromise on DRM. To me, ending DRM is just as important as supporting free operating systems, so unfortunately no amount of good will gives Valve a free pass in my eyes. So I've started buying games from DRM-free platforms like GoG and adding them to Steam as non-Steam games. Same compatibility and no need to use an external tool to maintain Wine/Proton prefixes. With the boatloads of money Valve makes from Steam, they probably won't miss me too much.

I haven't booted into Windows since 2009, thanks to Wine. Proton certainly expands its compatibility and support though, and I'll support any company that supports Linux, and Valve is one of the best ones.

makomk 3y ago

Valve have funded some good work on the underlying compatibility code, but their big contribution was really fixing a problem they themselves created. Lots of games expect to be able to call back to the Steam client for a license check, and this used to require running the Windows version of Steam which didn't work well (huge compatibility issues and it really didn't like being run at the same time as the Linux version). One of the big things enabling easy Linux gaming was a Valve-approved way to run Windows games under a compatibility layer and have them still connect to the same Linux client used to run native games.

henryfjordan 3y ago
Valve may have contributed to the issue initially, but can you blame them? There wasn't exactly an abundance of Linux Support before Valve came along either. Why would they support a Linux Steam client and the whole compatibility layer when the demand just didn't exist. Valve becoming big enough to break into the hardware market (first Steam Machines and then the Steam Deck) was the first time they had any incentive to care about the OS layer. They could've made some deal w/ Microsoft but instead went the open-source route to the benefit of everyone. Kudos to Valve.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  >but can you blame them? Sure I can. They decided ultimately to make an indirect dependence on Windows instead of encouraging devs to make good native linux ports. They more or less made the deal with Windows without having to get their hands dirty.
pixelatedindex 3y ago
> but their big contribution was really fixing a problem they themselves created. I think it’s a little bit of a stretch to say it’s a problem they created - they were just a victim of their own success. They can’t force developers to write games in a particular platform, and making games work under Linux is no small task. It was probably easier to stream games from a Windows machine, which was their first approach with Steam Link and Steam Machines. It kinda sorta worked, and what they saw was enough encouragement to go and build the Steam Deck. On top of that, CPUs/GPUs just weren’t good enough 10 years ago to do what Valve wanted to do. So I think it’s a little unfair to say they “created” this problem.
Vt71fcAqt7 3y ago
The big problem was directx, not steam_api.dll, which can be solved in many ways.

jjoonathan 3y ago

Nice! HDR is the one thing that keeps me booting to windows for games, but I am eagerly watching the progress. One day soon!

heyoni 3y ago
is ray tracing also unsupported on linux?
- squeaky-clean 3y ago
  Varies from game to game. I know it works in Cyberpunk 2077 but you need to include some special launch parameters. Portal RTX just worked. RTX in Control doesn't work even with config changes.
- badsectoracula 3y ago
  For me it is supported better on Linux than on Windows because my GPU (RX 5700 XT) does not actually have HW raytracing but Mesa has a software fallback for it :-P. If nothing else i was able to see what the fuss was all about[0][1][2]. Though, well, performance was a tiny bit lacking as you can see (i actually had to modify the Quake RTX code to let me use lower resolution scale than the official binary allowed :-P). [0] https://i.imgur.com/3XNakAs.png https://i.imgur.com/3XNakAs.png [1] https://i.imgur.com/AKJInNg.png https://i.imgur.com/AKJInNg.png [2] https://i.imgur.com/faagg2Q.png https://i.imgur.com/faagg2Q.png

erinnh 3y ago

Absolutely agree. I was starting to diversify my store fronts before Valve came out with the Deck. But the release of it and the message it sent (that they take this seriously), made me reverse course and now I always buy my games on Steam, even if it costs 10 euro more.

solardev 3y ago
FYI Steam has a ton of legit resellers with their own sales. The keys all activate on Steam. Isthereanydeal.com Valve will be fine :)
- erinnh 3y ago
  Oh, I use those. But even then it’s sometimes more expensive to buy it on steam than say Uplay or Epic.
- hhmc 3y ago
  FWIW many game developers would genuinely rather you pirate the game than buy keys on the ‘grey market’ sites. If you’re not going to pay anyone who deserves it, you might as well just not pay anyone..
  - solardev 3y ago
    The link I posted goes to the non gray market ones. https://www.pcgamer.com/pc-game-storefronts-compared-what-you-need-to-know-about-retailers-and-resellers/ https://www.pcgamer.com/pc-game-storefronts-compared-what-yo... It's not the shady sites that resell free or international keys, etc. I specifically didn't link to those (they're easy to find, but of questionable ethicality and usability). FWIW if the dev offers a Steam key on their own site, I'd just buy it that way. But otherwise if it's Steam or one of those authorized resellers, there's no reason to prefer Steam itself. GMG, Humble, Fanatical, etc. have great deals that let me try games I otherwise wouldn't bother with. If they turn out good, usually there's in app purchases and cosmetics I'm happy to support. IMHO this is a good form of price differentiation, letting the base game be widely available for people to buy but selling supporter packs and cosmetics for people who really like it. (P2W is a different story)

outcoldman 3y ago

Are you saying, that it is actually a good experience to run Linux on the gaming laptop instead of Windows with Proton? I already have Steam Deck, and love it. But if I want to play games in better resolution, I might boot my Windows Laptop. Have not tried Linux with Proton. On Linux laptop I have a NVIDIA some kind of 3xxx series card.

nstbayless 3y ago
I found that Elden Ring ran better on Proton on Linux than on native Windows on the same device. Loaded faster and ran more smoothly. I do not know why.
- heyoni 3y ago
  I wonder if that has to do with anticheating mechanisms having to do a lot less work on a wine-based windows system than a full blown windows install.
  - _kidlike 3y ago
    It usually has to do with a translation layer, converting DirectX to Vulkan (there are a few different ones, depending on the version of DirectX). And yes, gaming on Linux has been infinitely smoother and gets leaps of improvements every year. We're at a point where unreleased games already play on Linux, and typically with better performance than naively on Windows. Controllers, audio, etc, all play out of the box, perfectly, since years now
  - sph 3y ago
    In the case of Elden Ring, not really, it was due to DXVK (whose developer is sponsored by Valve) having custom patches to workaround the weird DirectX streaming logic of the game that caused constant frame hiccups. So, on day 3 or something of release, Linux was the best platform to play the newest AAA game. The year of Linux gaming has been here for a while.
- ribosometronome 3y ago
  There was a while around release for Elden Ring where Valve was able to rapidly deploy fixes that resulted in the Steam Deck running without stuttering issues that were effecting powerful Windows builds. https://www.techradar.com/news/steam-deck-plays-elden-ring-better-than-a-dollar5000-pc-thanks-to-valve https://www.techradar.com/news/steam-deck-plays-elden-ring-b... I'd hope that those issues eventually got resolved on Windows too...

INTPenis 3y ago

I got rid of windows decades ago, so Steam has been the number one cause for my drop in productivity the last few years. And I love it.

sph 3y ago

I hate DRM, I hate monopolies, I welcome competition, but if one builds a massive empire by just creating a bonafide good platform, single-handedly making open source desktop better, with good customer support and treating users with respect, they deserve the money honestly. If one day I manage to build a billion dollar empire, my sole inspiration on how to conduct business is Gabe Newell. [1] Which is exactly the thing Epic can't compete on. They can give away all the free games they want, but Steam and Valve have done much more than offering games on sale. (I got a 13 year old account on Steam, more than 500 games bought, almost $10k spent on the platform. No Windows partition for the past 3 years) --- 1: I honestly couldn't name anybody else that has kept their company private, grown it to such heights and stayed true to their founding principles, without selling out to shareholders and advertisers for an easy buck.

jonny_eh 3y ago
With the xbox 360 marketplace shutting down next year, will Steam be the longest running digital marketplace? That longevity is what earns my trust. Update: iTunes Store started in April 2003, Steam started selling third-party titles in late 2005 (around when the 360 launched).
Macha 3y ago
Yeah, pretty much all my PC game purchases go to either Steam (for their work on Linux gaming) or GOG (for their DRM free stance). Luckily my financial position is such that it really doesn't matter what sale is on Epic or Uplay or Origin to change that.
johnnyanmac 3y ago
>Which is exactly the thing Epic can't compete on. I mean, with these criteria is Epic really that far behind? They made desktop a better experience for devs, have decent enough customer support, and they don't exactly shit talk their users like other parts of the industry. The only arguable part is good platform, but it depends on what you need out of the platform. Does a platform have to offer a way to play windows games on linux to be "good"? >I honestly couldn't name anybody else that has kept their company private, grown it to such heights and stayed true to their founding principles, without selling out to shareholders and advertisers for an easy buck. hard to find platforms like that, but there are certainly creators that stayed small and humble despite growing huge in influence and pull.

rossy 3y ago

I love Steam, Valve and Proton, and what they've done for Linux gaming, but nothing will make me compromise on DRM. To me, ending DRM is just as important as supporting free operating systems, so unfortunately no amount of good will gives Valve a free pass in my eyes. So I've started buying games from DRM-free platforms like GoG and adding them to Steam as non-Steam games. Same compatibility and no need to use an external tool to maintain Wine/Proton prefixes. With the boatloads of money Valve makes from Steam, they probably won't miss me too much.