Valve has updated its Proton solution - the piece of software that's meant to bridge the divide between Windows and Linux gaming -- to version 6.3-8. Following the company's announcement of the Steam Deck handheld gaming device, Valve has been doubling down on its Proton efforts, because the Linux-powered gaming device is going to need a robust game library to compete.
The new version of Proton brings Linux support to a number of games that were previously locked out of the Linux ecosystem. Crucially, some BattleEye-infused games are now also supported -- the gap between Linux and Windows gaming environments seems to be shrinking even in anti-cheat solutions, whose support is crucial for a device that aims to enable AAA and eSports gaming on the go. Games such as Conan Exiles, DayZ, Planetside 2, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (and others) all require BattleEye suppport.
The latest version of Proton also brings official support for Nvidia's Deep Learning Supersampling (DLSS) technology in DX11/DX12 games (when running with the PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 / dxgi.nvapiHack = False options). While Valve had already made progress towards DLSS support with Proton's 6.3-7 release, the company now seems to feel the implementation is ready for prime time.
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Of course, with the Steam Deck being built on a potent AMD mobility platform, DLSS support will be absent from the mobile gaming device. The Steam Deck may get AMD's Fidelity FX Super Resolution (FSR) or Intel's upcoming Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) technology. Considering FSR's performance improvements and relative ease of implementation, the Steam Deck + FSR combo sounds like an important one to get right. Despite it not being relevant for the Steam Deck, DLSS support does turn out to be an important milestone towards the growth and modernization of Linux gaming.
The full list of known supported games in the new release of Proton version 6.3-8 is as follows:
- Age of Empires 4
- Assassin's Creed
- Breath of Death VI
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II singleplayer (202970)
- DEATHLOOP
- FIA European Truck Racing Championship
- Fly'N
- Game Dev Tycoon
- Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered
- GreedFall
- Mafia II (Classic)
- Magicka
- Marvel's Guardian of the Galaxy (AMD GPUs only)
- Mass Effect Legendary Edition (ME1 does not have working audio, see #4823)
- Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom
- Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Video Game
- Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Video Game 2
- Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
- Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slicked Precipice of Darkness 3
- RiMS Racing
- The Riftbreaker
- Sol Survivor
- TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge
- TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge 2
Besides support for new games, the new Proton release also fixes outstanding bugs in other, previously-supported games:
- Baldur's Gate 3
- RacRoom Racing Experience
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
- Project CARS 3
- Cyberpunk 2077
Besides the already referred-to changes, fixes, and improvements, Proton 6.3-8 also brings support for the latest Steamworks SDKs, and a number of general fixes. Updated DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and Wine-Mono are also a part of this Proton update.
