Few days ago, Valve announced the launch of the new version of the project Proton 5.13-3 and a few days later another new version was released which is merely an update of the previous one which only adds support for Cyberpunk 2077.
For those who do not know about Proton, you should know that it is based on the Wine project and aims to allow Linux gaming applications created for Windows and listed on Steam run on Linux. The developments of the project are distributed under the BSD license.
Proton allows you to directly run Windows-only game applications on the Steam Linux client.
The package includes the implementation of DirectX 9/10/11 (based on the DXVK package) and DirectX 12 (based on vkd3d-proton), working through the translation of DirectX calls to the Vulkan API, provides improved support for game controllers and the ability to use full screen mode regardless of support for gaming screen resolutions.
In addition, the "Esync" (Eventfd Synchronization) and "futex / fsync" mechanisms are supported to increase the performance of multithreaded games.
About the new version of Proton 5.13-4
As mentioned at the beginning, the version 5.13-4, it is merely an update that adds support for to be able to enjoy the long-awaited Cyberpunk 2077, the which has been talking about in recent weeks and especially by the threats that developers received after postponing the launch of the game again.
About update 5.13-4 it is mentioned that se requires an AMD GPU and a Mesa build of git, With this, the doubt remains that if the Nvidia graphics will be able to run the game and that it is not, Nvidia users would have to wait for a new update to be able to enjoy the game on Linux.
Regarding the changes introduced in version 5.13-3, we must know that they are also important and is that in version 5.13-3 DXVK 1.7.3 Intermediate Layer Update added (a Direct3D 9/10/11 implementation on the Vulkan API), which was released last week with many different game fixes and other improvements.
While the components FAudio that implement DirectX sound libraries (API XAudio2, X3DAudio, XAPO and XACT3) have been updated to version 20.12.
Also, the Restored support for hot plug game controllers.
As for the improvements that are presented for games, we can find that support for games was added Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Soulcalibur 6, Lords of the Fallen, and Hammerting.
Also, issues were resolved when launching Warframe, Ghostrunner, Serious Sam 4, Call of Duty: World War II and Age of Empires II HDas well as the Paradox lunches.
Finally, if you want to know more about it about these new versions of the project, you can consult the details in the following link.
How to activate Proton on Steam?
For those interested in trying Proton, they must have the beta version of Steam installed on their system In the event that it is not, they can join the beta version of Linux from the Steam client.
For this they must open the Steam client and click on Steam in the upper left corner and then Settings.
In the "Account" section you will find the option to register for the beta version. Doing this and accepting will close the Steam client and download the beta version (a new installation).
At the end and after accessing their account, they return to the same route to verify that they are already using Proton. Now you can install your games regularly, you will be reminded for the only time that Proton is used for it.
Moreover if you are interested in compiling the code on your own, you can get the new version by downloading it from the following link.
The instructions, as well as the details to carry out this process and other information about the project can be found this link.