Steam/Valve on Linux

Valve just made Linux Gaming a little more attractive

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If you’re on Linux this is an option now.

Good news everyone! Steam just rolled out an updated version of Steam Play for Linux users!

 

  • Windows games with no Linux version currently available can now be installed and run directly from the Linux Steam client, complete with native Steamworks and OpenVR support.
  • DirectX 11 and 12 implementations are now based on Vulkan, resulting in improved game compatibility and reduced performance impact.
  • Fullscreen support has been improved: fullscreen games will be seamlessly stretched to the desired display without interfering with the native monitor resolution or requiring the use of a virtual desktop.
  • Improved game controller support: games will automatically recognize all controllers supported by Steam. Expect more out-of-the-box controller compatibility than even the original version of the game.
  • Performance for multi-threaded games has been greatly improved compared to vanilla Wine.

At present I’m installing DOOM 2016 under Mint, that is actually one of the games that has been added to Valve’s whitelist of games that will work under Steam’s version of Wine: Proton. As a result you can now purchase any of these games under Linux if you don’t already own them:

Some of the titles can already run on Linux natively; such as early ID Software titles either in the Linux version of DOSBox or Sourceports of games that you can either download from a repo or compile from source. However, in order to even obtain the files to run them natively you had to either have a disk for your desired game or have the files already available in some other method. If you’re running a pure Linux system the only way to previously buy any of these games was to either run the Windows Steam client via Wine, run Windows in a VM, or do what I do and Dualboot. Seeing games like Tekken 7, DOOM 2016 and NieR Automata is already sounds impressive. Of course if you’re an enthusiast and want to try getting a game not listed on the whitelist running under Proton that is also a possibility with the built in compatibility tool.

Naturally I expect that these games won’t have the same level of performance as Windows, at the same time it shouldn’t matter if your game can run at your display refresh rate or above. I’ll be experimenting with games in my ridiculous library, if anyone here has any suggestions for what you want me to test under Linux feel free to float me a comment. I already have some ideas. :happy:

A serious problem under Linux regarding Steam

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A friend of mine shared this with me yesterday. PC World even picked up on the story.

If you’re a Steam fan running Linux, the last thing you’ll want to do in the next few days is mess with your Steam files. Users on Valve’s GitHub Steam for Linux page are complaining about a nasty bug that has the potential to wipe out every single personal file on your PC. Even worse, users say the bug will even wipe out documents on USB connected drives. So much for local backups.

That’s a pretty serious bug. I hope Valve gets on that ASAP.

Source Games On Linux? Yes please!

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Valve has put yet another blog together. This time for linux.

Last year, a team was put together to get Steam and Valve games to work in Linux. So far they have done a good job getting Left 4 Dead 2 to work natively with U’buntu.

“We’ll be posting more information about those projects (and others) on a regular basis. Since this is a new effort for the team, we’d love to hear your opinions about the blog so shoot us an email. We also encourage you to leave comments and ideas for future postings. We want this to be a community of game developers, communicating with each other and talking about current efforts and future efforts in a powerfully creative environment.”

For more information check out their official blog! Because I can’t be arsed to quote the entire thing.