steam-runtime VS Proton

Compare steam-runtime vs Proton and see what are their differences.

steam-runtime

A runtime environment for Steam applications (by ValveSoftware)

Proton

Compatibility tool for Steam Play based on Wine and additional components (by ValveSoftware)
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steam-runtime Proton
86 1,448
1,153 22,655
1.4% 1.9%
6.6 9.6
7 months ago 4 days ago
Shell C++
GNU General Public License v3.0 or later GNU General Public License v3.0 or later
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.

steam-runtime

Posts with mentions or reviews of steam-runtime. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-10-12.
  • One Game, by One Man, on Six Platforms: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
    5 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 12 Oct 2023
    > It turns out that unless the game is explicitly marked (by Valve reviewers), Steam Deck will use the Windows build + Proton even if a Linux version is available.

    I found this which sounds like it's not the default, but is in fact a result of compatibility testing:

    > If your game has gone through Steam Deck compatibility testing and the testers reported that the native Linux version didn't work (because of #579), then it might have been flagged to run the Windows binaries via Proton by default, instead of the native Linux version.

    per https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime/issues/585

  • Chromebook Plus: more performance and AI capabilities
    3 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 2 Oct 2023
    > Where is it written that steam-run will magically execute most binaries without patching them?

    Somewhere in here: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime

    :p

    But I do get what you're saying. Once Flakes are default, I hope people start a proper push to clear up documentation and streamline the development process. The end-result is amazing, and the perfect OS/packaging system for my needs. The means of getting there... need a lot of work. I'm along for the ride either way.

  • i386 in Ubuntu Won't Die
    2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 27 Aug 2023
    I think they have something a bit like a container built into Steam: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime
  • Gaming on Linux easier on Debian based distros vs Arch based?
    1 project | /r/linux_gaming | 9 Jul 2023
  • How do you build games for Steam Linux Runtime?
    3 projects | /r/godot | 14 Jun 2023
    this is for steamworks API, my understanding is there's a separate SDK for consuming Linux dependencies like glibc. Like Soldier runtime, Sniper runtime, and so on. Am I wrong in thinking these are two separate SDKs? here's the link to the other SDK I'm talking about: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime
  • After 4 years of development, 100% on Linux, I've released my 2D sandbox RPG, Vagabond, in Early Access !
    1 project | /r/linux_gaming | 6 May 2023
    I'm not sure we can distribute a flatpak or an appimage through Steam. They have their own controlled environment called Steam Runtime (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime) in which I should compile to be sure it runs everywhere (very similar to what I am doing). Last time, I look at this, it wasn't very clear and they supported only old versions of GCC. But it seems the documentation improved and now that I succeeded in building a modern version of GCC in my own container, maybe I could do that in theirs.
  • How to install old libraries on OTHER distro's than Debian?
    1 project | /r/linux_gaming | 30 Apr 2023
    I believe it's usable outside of Steam: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime though the instructions are not particularly clear. There's also a link to the APT repo they use as a reference: https://repo.steampowered.com/steamrt/
  • Steam Desktop Client Update, Now with working hardware acceleration on linux!
    3 projects | /r/linux | 28 Apr 2023
  • Recommended method to install Steam on Debian?
    1 project | /r/debian | 9 Apr 2023
    Looking at the Flatpak version, if you want to use Proton versions 5.13 or newer with Steam in Flatpak, you need to install Flatpak from backports https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime/issues/294 . Using Flatpak saves having to install i386 if that matters to you.
  • Wine 8.1
    2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 2 Feb 2023
    > Game developers would be fine to target a single distro like Ubuntu 22.04.

    Valve has its own container-only Linux distribution, called "Soldier Runtime" (https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime); especially for games distributed on Steam, it probably makes more sense to target that distribution instead of Ubuntu.

Proton

Posts with mentions or reviews of Proton. We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives and similar projects. The last one was on 2024-04-22.
  • A New Era for Mixed Reality
    4 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 22 Apr 2024
    The "Metaverse" is a complete joke, and among gamers, Valve has a way better reputation than Meta. Why would they want to dilute that brand?

    They already have their own platform (Steam), OS (SteamOS), VR headset (Index), their own Windows translation layer (Proton, https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton), their own partnership with cloud gaming (Steam Cloud Play using GeForce Now , https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/cloudgaming), etc.

    IMO: As someone with thousands of games on Steam, there's no way in hell I'd want that linked to Facebook. I think they eventually removed the requirement to have a FB account to use a Quest, but they still require a Meta account. Yuck.

    This reeks of Facebook recognizing the Metaverse as the failure that it was and opening it up because it's no longer relevant...

  • Kerbal Space Program 2 is not playable on Linux with Proton
    1 project | news.ycombinator.com | 8 Feb 2024
  • Proton, a fast and lightweight alternative to Apache Flink
    7 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 30 Jan 2024
    Or Valve's Proton[0], a tool for playing Windows games on Linux.

    https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton

  • Proton 8.0-5 (Valve/ValveSoftware/Steam/SteamPlay/Wine/WineHQ/Linux/VideoGame)
    1 project | news.ycombinator.com | 23 Jan 2024
  • Red Dead Redemption not working
    1 project | /r/linux_gaming | 11 Dec 2023
  • Cyberpunk Issues
    1 project | /r/linux_gaming | 11 Dec 2023
  • Updated my citybuilder Trappist, switched to Vulkan, is anyone still dependent on OpenGL?
    1 project | /r/linux_gaming | 10 Dec 2023
  • NTFS messes up
    1 project | /r/pop_os | 10 Dec 2023
    Did you mount it with the correct flags?
  • How do I use multiple hard drives on Kubuntu for steam?
    2 projects | /r/Kubuntu | 10 Dec 2023
    there is a hack to try and use your existing windows game install from an NTFS drive, but i don't recommend it as steam will try to save file names that are not allowed on NTFS...plus ext4 is faster.
  • Game crashes within 10 seconds of launching unless I reinstall from scratch
    2 projects | /r/satisfactory | 9 Dec 2023
    From a quick search, here's what I found. It looks like you're encountering some common issues that can occur with games running on Linux through Proton, especially with the recent updates to games like Satisfactory that might affect compatibility. The log entries you're seeing related to D3DCompile2 failing to compile shader and the issues with Ternary operator and LinearToSrgbBranching not being defined, suggest that there's a problem with shader compilation. This can often be related to the version of Proton or the graphics drivers you are using. Some users have reported that the game does launch with the -vulkan option but with graphical glitches and lower performance, which indicates that the Vulkan renderer is working but possibly not optimally on your setup. From the discussions in the community, users have suggested ensuring that the latest drivers for your graphics card are installed and, if using an Intel GPU, that the Mesa drivers are up to date since Intel XeSS references were found in the logs. If you're using NVIDIA graphics, make sure you have the latest drivers and possibly set the PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 %command% to enable DLSS if you're under Vulkan. If you're using an Optimus laptop with both Intel and NVIDIA GPUs, make sure your Optimus setup is correctly configured. Some users have found success by specifying DXVK_FILTER_DEVICE_NAMES=GeForce to force the game to use the NVIDIA GPU. It's also worth noting that if you're encountering issues with DirectX 11, you might want to try forcing the game to use DirectX 10 if possible or look into DXVK configurations that could resolve compatibility issues. Lastly, if none of these solutions work, you could try running a trace with apitrace to gather more detailed logs that might point to the specific issue. If you're still stuck, it would be a good idea to report the issue to the Proton GitHub page or seek further assistance in the game's community forums where others might have encountered and solved similar issues. For more information and to find others who might have resolved similar issues, check out the community discussions on GitHub​​, Steam Community​​, and the DXVK GitHub page​​.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing steam-runtime and Proton you can also consider the following projects:

flatpak - Linux application sandboxing and distribution framework

lutris - Lutris desktop client

dxvk-native - D3D9/11 but it runs natively on Linux!

proton-ge-custom - Compatibility tool for Steam Play based on Wine and additional components

flathub - Issue tracker and new submissions

dxvk-async

SDL - Simple Directmedia Layer

mf-install - Media Foundation workaround for Wine

steam-for-linux - Issue tracking for the Steam for Linux beta client

yuzu - Nintendo Switch emulator

dockcross - Cross compiling toolchains in Docker images

gamescope - SteamOS session compositing window manager [Moved to: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/gamescope]