Valve boosts Steam Deck and Linux Gaming with Proton 8.0

Valve further improves Linux gaming with Proton 8.0

Proton, Valve’s Windows to Linux gaming compatibility layer, has just hit version 8.0, further enhancing the gaming potential of Linux and Valve’s Linux-powered Steam Deck PC gaming handheld. 

With Proton, Windows games are made playable on Linux though the Vulkan API and a collection of other software additions, allowing Windows PC games to be played on Linux systems without a Windows virtual machine or a dual-boot setups. Proton allows PC games to be played natively on Linux machines, forever changing the Linux gaming landscape. 

Proton version 8.0 is Valve’s largest update to Proton yet, at least according to Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais. The update had made modern AAA games like Forspoken and Dead Space playable on Linux, as well as games like Nioh 2, and Disney Dreamlight Valley. The update also utilises Wine 8.0, and moves Proton to Vulkan 1.3, requiring an Nvidia Maxwell or AMD 200 series GPU or newer.

Pierre-Loup Griffais, one of Valve’s Steam Deck coders, has also confirmed that a new Experimental-8.0 version of Proton will be released later this week, which will offer more improvements (but will likely be somewhat unstable). Proton 8.0 is Valve’s latest stable release of Proton, and it is likely that most games on Steam Deck will use this version of Proton soon. 

With the release of Proton 8.0, it is clear that gaming on Linux is continuing to get better, and that Valve clearly has plans to continue supporting Steam Deck and Linux well into the future.  

You can join the discussion on Proton 8.0 on the OC3D Forums. 

Changelog – Proton 8.0

Note: Proton 8.0 requires a GPU that supports Vulkan 1.3.

8.0-1:

– Now playable:
 – Forspoken
 – Samurai Maiden
 – Dead Space (2023)
 – Creativerse
 – Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition
 – One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
 – Atelier Meruru
 – Atelier Lydie & Suelle ~The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings~
 – Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book DX
 – Blue Reflection
 – Atelier Rorona ~The Alchemist of Arland~ DX
 – Disney Dreamlight Valley
 – ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV
 – ToGather:Island
 – WARRIORS OROCHI 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition
 – Exceed – Gun Bullet Children
 – Gungrave G.O.R.E.
 – Chex Quest HD

– Fixed 2K launcher failure caused by launcher update.
– Fixed Arabic fonts in FIFA 21 and 22.
– Improved CJK font support in many games including NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit, Stardom 3 and Sword and Fairy 3.
– Improved sleep/resume functionality on Steam Deck for Tiny Tina’s Wonderland.
– Improved multi-touch support.
– Fixed native scrollbar being always visible in Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher.
– Fixed A Plague Tale: Innocence and A Plague Tale: Requiem showing on-screen keyboard when starting the game on the Steam Deck.
– Fixed rendering issues during cutscenes in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.
– Fixed Japanese keyboard input in Final Fantasy XIV Online.
– Fixed Football manager 2023 crashing when trying to return from a player profile.
– Fixed experimental regression: Fall in Labyrinth started crashing on some setups.
– Improved CJK characters rendering in many games including NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit.
– Fixed Life is Strange Remastered crashing at the end of chapter 2.
– Fixed Alt+Tab not working on Gnome 43.
– Improved force feedback compatibility for BeamNG and Forza Horizon 5.
– Fixed regression with Mortal Kombat X performance.
– Fixed OpenGL launch option for Youropa.
– Fixed raytracing in Crysis Remastered.
– Improved multiplayer support in Company of Heroes III.
– Improved fullscreen support for The Last Blade 2.
– Fixed regression: Minecraft Dungeons was hanging when disconnecting from multiplayer game.
– Fixed Immortals Fenyx Rising missing/out-of-order audio lines in cutscenes.
– Fixed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launcher flickering on Wayland.
– Fixed Story Mode not working in Dead or Alive 6.
– Enabled nvapi for many games.
– Updated wine to 8.0.
– Updated dxvk to v2.1-4-gcaf31033.
– Updated vkd3d-proton to v2.8-84-g08909d98.
– Updated dxvk-nvapi to v0.6.2.
– Updated wine-mono to 7.4.1.