An open-source compatibility layer developed for running modern Windows-exclusive Steam games on Linux, this is Proton. Valve made a compatibility tool for Steam Play based on Wine and some additional components, this brought the Linux gaming experience to a new level. A high level.
Proton is based on Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator, the compatibility layer capable of running Windows applications on several POSIX-compliant operating systems) and includes additional components like DXVK (Vulkan-based D3D11 and D3D10 implementation for Linux), a library that translates Direct3D calls to Vulkan on-the-fly.
Proton is designed for the integration into Steam Play, allowing to use of Windows games and software within Steam, but it can also be used as a standalone application. Being a fork of Wine, Proton maintains the compatibility with Windows applications as its upstream counterpart, adding performance and stability.SteamProton is designed for the integration into Steam Play, allowing to use of Windows games and software within Steam, but it can also be used as a standalone application. Being a fork of Wine, Proton maintains the compatibility with Windows applications as its upstream counterpart, adding performance and stability.
ProtonDB, the unofficial community website, collects and displays crowdsourced data describing the compatibility of Windows games with Proton.
The goal of ProtonDB is to gather reports from other gamers as they test games with Proton on Linux and provide aggregate scores of how well games perform. A growing pool of suggestions provides tweaks that you can try to get games working while Proton continues development. In addition to this, you may explore the Steam game catalog on this site to browse and discover a wide range of titles that were previously unavailable for use on Linux.
What is ProtonDB? | protondb.com
Want to play Windows games like The Witcher 3, GTA V or Age of Empires II? Just install Steam on your Linux distribution and click the button to install them. You also don’t need to purchase it again, if you have already bought them on Windows.
Proton, the open-source compatibility layer for running modern Windows-exclusive games on Linux, is still in Beta and it is not available by default on Steam. So, you need to install Steam first and it is an easy step because Steam is available for all the major Linux distributions in the official repositories.
Once Steam is installed on your system, run the client and click on Settings. Then, select ‘Steam Play’ from the left panel and enable Steam Play for all the titles (supported and other). Restart Steam and you’re done.
If you need AAA games and your system isn’t powerful enough, you can give a try to Google Stadia. It’s fully working with all the Linux distro and it can give you 4K gaming also on less powerful systems.
If you are a Linux user and you are also a gamer, give Proton a try because it pushes the Linux gaming to a Windows comparable level. You will not regret it!
References:
- Steam – Linux Gaming Store – https://store.steampowered.com/
- Proton – Compatibility tool for Steam Play – https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton
- ProtonDB – Windows games now work on Linux – https://www.protondb.com/
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