GUIDE: How-To: Enable VALVEs Proton Compatibility Tool in SteamOS

[🌲🌌Ambient Ranger🌌🌲]

As we all know, in August of 2018, VALVE released Proton, a forked version of WINE and DXVK, into the Steam-For-Linux client. Allowing users to very easily run Windows only games, without the hassle of vanilla WINE and DXVK. Sadly however, this option to enable Proton is still non-existent within Big Picture Mode, which also includes SteamOS. While this may appear odd at first, the speculation is that this will be added in when Proton is no longer in Beta, and a possible major update to SteamOS will boast the ability to play Windows titles commercially. (This could also be a sign of new Steam Machines)

However, what about us users whom already are using SteamOS? Don't worry, it's a pretty painless process to enable. With a little terminal trickery, we can turn existing Steam Machines and/or SteamOS powered computers, into early prototypes of what VALVE may be trying to achieve in the future, and discover some pretty shocking and exciting things under the hood.

STEP ONE: Enable SteamOS Beta Updates

No, I don't mean opting into the Steam beta within BPM (Big Picture Mode), which can be done in the settings. But rather instead the SteamOS beta, which you have to do completely within the desktop mode. First and foremost, you have to "Enable Access To The Linux Desktop", in the Interface tab in the settings menu. Then, exit to the desktop.

To continue, you need to open a terminal emulator. You can use Gnome Terminal or Xterm. (In my experience, using Gnome Terminal just hangs and never opens. Find xterm within your usr/bin folder within your home folder. (To make this easier in case I accidentally close the window, I pinned xterm to my favorites.)

Once Xterm is open type:

passwd

Which will allow you to set the root/sudo password for desktop mode. After that, enter the following consecutively:

sudo apt install steamos-beta-repo

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

sudo apt dist-upgrade

Optionally, you can also type in the following commands to clean your system of now obsolete files:

sudo apt autoremove

sudo apt autoclean

Reboot the system and congratulations! You are now running SteamOS in Beta! However, we still need to enable Proton.

(One way to check and see if your system is indeed running in Beta, you need to go into the Settings menu in Big Picture Mode, enter the System tab, and on the right hand side you should see your Steam Machine's internal specifications, which down towards the bottom should list the Nvidia driver as version 396. I have not used this on AMD builds, so I do not know what version of Mesa the Beta upgrade installs.)

STEP TWO: Enable Proton Via The Standard Steam Window

Lastly, we need to enable Proton, which can only be done via the standard desktop Steam window, due to BPM missing it. To do this, exit back into desktop mode, open your terminal of choice. (I used Xterm) Now enter the following commands in order for us to restart Steam with the standard desktop window.

sudo -i -u steam

(The command above gives us, the 'desktop' account, access to controller the elevated
steamos account.)


Next, we need to kill Steam and restart it. Emter the following commands:

pkill steam

steam

Steam should now show the standard update window that desktop users see upon clicking on / starting Steam. Sometimes after doing this process for the first time, Big Picture will take over. No worries, just try it again and it will work.

From the standard desktop window, we can just click on Steam in the upper left hand corner, go all the way down to the SteamPlay tab, and we can enable Proton just like standard users on other distros.

Exit Steam and type the following command:

sudo reboot

You can now use Big Picture Mode / Standard SteamOS to install Windows only titles! (SteamOS even has the ability to type in launch commands, which you can find after clicking on a game. Some games WILL require special commands, however, this is what leads me into the final section of this article.)

STEP THREE: Wonder What's Next!

To conclude this article, lets revisit where I said in the introduction that we'd find some pretty shocking things going on with SteamOS. After enabling the SteamOS Beta and Proton, I discovered that many games, such as GTA V, Slender: The Arrival, etc, which required things such as mscorefonts or other various dependencies, alongwith special launch commands, worked right out of the box with minimal bugs on SteamOS. (Every other distro I've tried has required extra work from the user on many titles, these included.) GTA V worked near flawlessly and didn't need the fixes listed on GitHub and by other various community outlets. This was the same for Outlast 2, Slender: The Arrival, Bully Scholarship Edition, and many other Windows games I tested. To further prove SteamOS being the epicenter for VALVEs Linux innovations, I did a fresh install of Linux Mint, and sure enough, GTA V and other titles needed the listed fixes in order to work.

I guess we can finally presume that SteamOS is far from dead, but instead, being worked very secretly, or in other words, very quietly. What does VALVE have in store for us?...

[Eeshan Mulye]

Very good guide

[Eeshan Mulye]

Originally posted by Eeshan Mulye:

Very good guide

Steam OS and linux gaming will be a huge success I guess after Steam OS 3.0 which I am very eagerly awaiting.

[🌲🌌Ambient Ranger🌌🌲]

Originally posted by Eeshan Mulye:

Originally posted by Eeshan Mulye:

Very good guide

Steam OS and linux gaming will be a huge success I guess after Steam OS 3.0 which I am very eagerly awaiting.

Thank you very much! I'm super excited as well! Hopefully SteamOS and (maybe) whatever new hardware comes from it will succeed. Thank you again for the kind words.

[anachoret]

Good guide. Is there an easy way to get back to official, non-beta SteamOS releases if needed?

[🌲🌌Ambient Ranger🌌🌲]

Originally posted by anachoret:

Good guide. Is there an easy way to get back to official, non-beta SteamOS releases if needed?

I found this on the Git Hub page for opting into the beta:

"There is no easy way to opt out of the beta, you will need to either restore your system partition or wait for "brewmaster" to catch up to the brewmaster_beta! Once this has happened (which is hard to tell, unless you track changes closely), you will be once again on the "stable" OS update channel. Of the two options, restoring your system would be the easiest route, but will wipe out custom programs you have installed. A restore will not remove your games."

Once I go through this process, I'll make a guide for opting out as well. Thank you for pointing that out! I kind of didn't even think about if someone wanted to go back to the stable version.

[skinnyraf]

Didn't work for me, as X refused to connect to display. I didn't want to spend time setting up secure access to X, so went with xhost +localhost for a quick and dirty solution.

Also, some games that work perfectly on Debian Stretch with Nvidia driver from experimental fail to run on SteamOS beta. One example is Dark Souls II.

[🌲🌌Ambient Ranger🌌🌲]

Originally posted by skinnyraf:

Didn't work for me, as X refused to connect to display. I didn't want to spend time setting up secure access to X, so went with xhost +localhost for a quick and dirty solution.

Also, some games that work perfectly on Debian Stretch with Nvidia driver from experimental fail to run on SteamOS beta. One example is Dark Souls II.

Hmm, maybe the newer Nvidia drivers work better than the 396 minimum requirement. I wonder if theres a way to add newer driver repos. (Sounds like experimentation time :) )

[dubigrasu]

The "problem" with guides like this is that they come and go, every now and then someone puts up a guide on how to do this and that (including what you describe here, which had similar solutions posted in the past), and then gets borrowed by new posts, and then someone brings it up again and so on.

I'd rather choose to consult the SteamOS wiki (pinned above) to check for the specific issue if it isn't already covered, and if not, add it there. You can contact ProfessorKaos64 for that, this way good info won't be lost.

[pabbiraa]

Excellent Thanks.

[🌲🌌Ambient Ranger🌌🌲]

Originally posted by dubigrasu:

The "problem" with guides like this is that they come and go, every now and then someone puts up a guide on how to do this and that (including what you describe here, which had similar solutions posted in the past), and then gets borrowed by new posts, and then someone brings it up again and so on.

I'd rather choose to consult the SteamOS wiki (pinned above) to check for the specific issue if it isn't already covered, and if not, add it there. You can contact ProfessorKaos64 for that, this way good info won't be lost.

I totally agree. Thank you for the contact! :)

[Heartlessphil]

I've managed do enable proton in steamos a while ago but most games crash on launch. Sometimes I get to see the main menu but it crashes right after.

[Eeshan Mulye]

Eagerly awaiting the release of Steam OS 3.0 have already built a steam machine for it. Now I am running windows 10 but when Steam OS 3.0 will release I wish to install it.

Just few things I wish from Steam OS 3.0

1. Big picture mode as the default interface with no desktop mode. As desktop mode should be a separate utility to install in expert mode as non technical users should not have to get the option as they might make changes which might mess up thair system.
2. Full 4k support
3. If possible a clear upgrade path from 2.0 to 3.0 and all future releases like 4.0,5.0.As this gives end users a smoother experience. Like MAC or Windows 10 which upgrade to the latest version instead of reinstalling the whole os. This will also be a good selling point for Steam Machines as with Xbox or PS 4 they every few years release a new console like ps 4 pro or xbox one X but if Steam OS updates automatically to the latest version people with high end hardware like i9 or RTX 2080 will build a steam machine which might last for decades Without reinstalling os or games.
4. Ability to play latest windows games like Sekiro, Dark Souls, other games on the OS with proton. Full control on proton from BPM and no requirement for desktop mode.

Just a few things I think will make Steam OS the major gaming platform.

[Redface]

Thanks for posting the guide Gooroo and thanks for suggesting putting it in the wiki Dubigrasi

Opting out of the beta can be done with disabling the beta repos in the package program on the desktop, just editing the files, or by purging the beta package:

sudo apt purge steamos-beta-repo

remove is not enough since the sources for repos it puts in a conf files which dont get removed by a apt remove, but do by a purge.

Then you have to wait for brewmaster to catch up and eventually have newer packages than what ware installed.