Valve’s Proton has seen a new update to get things ready for Tekken 8, but there are also some strange fixes for other games.
Tekken 8’s unfortunately named closed beta might have been renamed, but it’s still very much on the way. To get things ready on the Steam Deck, Valve has pushed a hotfix to Proton ensuring that the Beta participants could connect to online matches.
Proton is Valve’s translation layer for Linux, allowing Windows apps to run where they really shouldn’t. It sees regular updates, and Valve is pretty good at targeted fixes for certain games. Last time, a game that had been broken since launch, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, now works pretty flawlessly.
For instance, a strange issue plaguing players of Old School Runescape (and “other games”) who are using systems with 128 or more virtual cores, where the game was broken, is now fixed. Niche expensive simulation hardware like the Virpil Constellation ALPHA-R has also seen support being added.
Forza Horizon 5 has been fixed too, as a game update rendered the game unplayable on Linux systems, even with Proton.
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Cyberpunk 2077 got some love as well, as Proton will now support those with DualSense controllers connected. Originally, the game would crash if the game was plugged in after a patch came out for it.
Proton & Steam Deck get tonnes of fixes in recent update
A lot of the fires Valve has to put out usually revolve around developers updating their game in a way that could break Proton compatibility. While a nuisance, Linux players still make up less than 2% of Steam’s users.
It’s not the only fix and update that the Steam Deck has seen. Aside from Proton fixes, there are now more options for controls. A previous update allowed joysticks to be emulated by the gyroscope, and this has now been fixed too as some settings like horizontal, vertical, and inversion weren’t working.
Proton is constantly evolving and is key to the success of the Steam Deck, and Linux gaming as a whole. It’s great to see it still getting the same enthusiasm as when the Steam Deck launched.
