Valve’s Proton Experimental Update Integrates NVIDIA DLSS 3 & Various Enhancements For Games On Linux

The Valve Proton Experimental update adds NVIDIA DLSS 3 & fixes multiple bugs in Steam games on the Linux operating system.

Proton Experimental update improves Proton 9.0-3, fixing game issues, enhancing performance, and introducing NVIDIA DLSS 3 on Linux

The recently published changelog after the Proton Experimental update reveals that Valve has successfully achieved several improvements on Linux OS. The Experimental update was an extension of the Proton 9.0-3 version by Valve, released on 12th November. The Proton 9.0-3 was released on 19th September, which sought to improve the compatibility of Windows games on the Linux operating system.

This update has resulted in significant improvements in games by fixing a lot of bugs and issues in various games and features. The list of fixes is quite long, but long story short, Linux gaming is improving day by day and, with such major fixes, it is a viable alternative to Windows OS.

One of the major changes the experimental update brought is the integration of NVIDIA DLSS 3.0, which now allows Linux gamers to leverage NVIDIA’s RTX hardware to utilize DLSS 3.0 under Proton for higher gaming performance without compromising on the graphics quality. NVIDIA’s Optical Flow is now also supported, which is NVIDIA’s AI-drive technology for smoother gameplay.

As for the game fixes, there are more than a dozen bugs and issues, which were fixed for games such as Final Fantasy XVI, Yakuza 6, Hunt: Showdown, Greedfall, and several more. These included performance fixes, crash fixes, controller support, mod support, video playback fixes, etc. One of the most notable fixes is the Mod support for Doom Eternal, and now the experimental update has also improved Thread Priority Management to ensure smoother performance across all the games.

The update further brought DXVK and VKD3D-Proton integration. The DXVK is a Vulkan-based layer for translating the DX 9, 10, and 11 calls into Vulkan that allows older Windows games to run smoother on Linux OS. It included several fixes like cursor behavior, game engine issues, and hardware compatibility. The VKD3D-Proton focuses on translating DX12 for Proton and is targeted at high-end systems. It includes the NVIDIA Reflex and OpenVR Support for reduced input latency and better support for VR titles on Linux respectively.

With such incredible updates, the gap between Windows and Linux is being reduced so much that the gaming experience should be identical in most scenarios. This is particularly beneficial for Steam Deck users, which uses Linux-based SteamOS but will also enhance the experience for various other Linux-based OS.

News Sources: Github, Reddit