Proton

[Shibblet]

As an effort taken to ditch Windows, I have started looking at the ProtonDB to make sure that any game I purchase in Steam is going to be able to run in Linux.

Just like Wine, each game on the ProtonDB has a "Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum" rating. If the game doesn't run at all, it is considered "Borked." (I love that word, btw.)

Anyway... I will not purchase a game, unless it has at least Silver status. There are unfortunately too many problems with Bronze...

So, some of the games I already own have such statuses, and some that I own, do not... regardless, I get what I get. I will, however, not go forward from here with new purchases that can, or will not, work with Proton. I'm not really interested in running Lutris. Some people claim that it's amazing, I have NEVER been able to get a game to run under Lutris. Not one, ever.

Anyway... What I am asking is: When a game is marked "Silver, Gold, or Platinum" on the ProtonDB, how do you know what kind of little problems there may be with the game, and where do you go to fix them? For Example: Final Fantasy XIII has a "Gold" status, but when you look in the details, there are many people who give it different status levels... I get that. But when I install it, it runs, but freezes at the title screen. I cannot do anything except kill the process. That's not one of the problems anyone has listed in the ProtonDB...

So, how can I purchase a game on Steam, and know it's going to work? Or even, know I will be able to get it to work?

[CatKiller]

Protondb ditched the colour ratings on reports, because people were doing it wrong, but they display those ratings as an average, which makes no sense.

To the extent that the ratings are accurate and meaningful, the "works without messing around" rating is Platinum (or Native). The others mean that it will need messing with, or have issues, or both. You'd need to read the actual reports to know which bits of messing around people suggest that you might do.

The Wine rating method that Protondb's were based on are:

Platinum
Works as well as (or better than) on Windows out of the box.

Gold
Works as well as (or better than) on Windows with workarounds.

Silver
Works excellently for normal use, but has some problems for which there are no workarounds.

Bronze
Works, but has some problems for normal use.

Garbage
Problems are severe enough that it cannot be used for the purpose it was designed for.

Note that, even if works now, if Proton isn't a supported platform for the game developers, future game updates may break Proton compatibility and you'll have no recourse.

[Shibblet]

Protondb ditched the colour ratings on reports, because people were doing it wrong, but they display those ratings as an average, which makes no sense.

Agreed. That's why I always read down the page, some distributions and tweaks work differently than others... It's all understandable.

Note that, even if works now, if Proton isn't a supported platform for the game developers, future game updates may break Proton compatibility and you'll have no recourse.

So, still a good idea to "Dual Boot" for games that I can't get to run under Proton... Ugh. Either that, or only buy Native... which very much limits my purchases.

[CatKiller]

So, still a good idea to "Dual Boot" for games that I can't get to run under Proton... Ugh. Either that, or only buy Native... which very much limits my purchases.

I wouldn't recommend dual booting. If you want to use Windows, then do so, but that's a different matter.

What you're after is support: some confidence that your investment won't be taken away from you. Native doesn't imply supported - see Rocket League - and non-native doesn't imply unsupported - see No Man's Sky.

Some games are going to be worth buying at full price. For me, games from Feral or indies with a history of releasing and supporting Linux games long-term easily rate that because of that confidence. The same with non-native games like No Man's Sky where the developer has demonstrated that Proton compatibility is something they're monitoring, and that they're willing to ensure your purchases keep working on Linux. Then there's a sliding scale for how likely you think it is that a game won't be taken away from you. Steam sales are regular and frequent enough that you can buy at a price that matches its utility.

Note that if your playtime is less than two hours, and it's less than two weeks from your purchase, you can get an automatic refund from Steam if it doesn't work. That's why the important thing to consider is future functionality, since present functionality can be tested at no cost. Also note that games purchased on Linux and run through Proton (as long as that's the platform with the highest playtime in the first two weeks) will count as Linux sales in the devs' sales reports, which will show that they have customers on Linux that they should support.