Valve’s Proton software has significantly improved gaming on Linux by making over 6,000 games compatible with the platform in the past two years.
Valve is now working on a new project to expand Linux’s accessibility to Windows-exclusive games. A developer from Valve’s Proton team, Hans-Kristian Arntzen, has taken an existing VKD3D library based on Vulkan and renamed it VKD3D-Proton to make it an official project within Proton.
VKD3D is a 3D graphics library that utilizes Vulkan to enable Direct3D 12 Windows games on Wine. While the original VKD3D project is being maintained by the Wine team, Valve has decided to focus specifically on implementing D3D12 support within Proton.
In addition to supporting DirectX 9/10/11 API through DXVK, VKD3D-Proton aims to implement the full Direct3D 12 API on top of Vulkan for use in Valve’s Proton, which is essential for Steam Play.
VKD3D-Proton’s main objectives include prioritizing performance and compatibility by leveraging modern Vulkan extensions and features. The project does not aim to ensure backward compatibility with older drivers, systems, or the standalone vkd3d API.
To achieve the best gaming performance with Proton, it is recommended to use the latest drivers. For more information on VKD3D-Proton, you can visit its GitHub repository.
Valve’s Proton team’s efforts to bring more Windows games, especially D3D12-based games, to the Linux platform through Steam Play are promising and commendable.
Image Source: Phoronix
