Valvehas released a major update to its open-source tool which facilitates running Windows games on Linux systems. Proton 9.0 is available nowon GitHub, bringing support for a host of games that were only previously only playable using an experimental release. TheProton software, which is derived from the long-running Wine 9.0 project (released in January), has also been tweaked and tuned to be more friendly with Nvidia GPUs and high core count processors.
Considering newly playable titles first, some modern releases likeThe Finals, Dinogen Online, and The Lord of the Rings: Gollumare now said to be playable on this stable release of Proton 9.0. Some PC classics have also been warmly embraced, most notably severalCommand & Conquertitles, likeRed Alert 2andYuri’s Revenge, Tiberian SunandFirestorm.
Sometimes older games don’t likehigh core count processorsand Proton 9.0 fixes this particular wrinkle in some older PC games which are also classics. Proton limits the number of CPU cores seen by the following titles so that they run more smoothly, or without obvious issues:Far Cry 2and 4; The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition; Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light; Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Dawn of War II, Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising, Dawn of War II – Retribution; Outcast - Second Contact; and Prototype. Adding the newly playable titles and high core count fixed titles gives us 25 new games for Linux users to enjoy.
In the intro, we mentioned an improvement forNvidia GPUusers. From Proton 9.0, NVAPI will be enabled by default for most games, says the GitHub page. The upshot is that GeForce users should be able to get more juice out of their hardware with less fuss.
Elsewhere in the release notes, we see a few notable specific fixes coming to players, or would-be players, of games likeMicrosoft Flight Simulator,Doom Eternal, Brawhalla,Civilization V, Final Fantasy XIV Online, a handful ofUnityengine titles,Bayonetta, andEscape from Monkey Island.
Updates to vkd3d-proton, dxvk, and dxvk-nvapi should ensure betterDirectXcompatibility, and we have support for Steamworks SDK 1.59 for closer integration with Steam’s latest features.
If you are keen to get Proton 9.0 on your system, the update should be rolling out now to users of the previous version(s), so you could just wait. Those new toProtonor wishing to give the update process a prod could search for Proton 9.0 in their Steam Library.
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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom’s Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
