Valve Pushes Out Proton 9.0 Update, Improvements Include Support For High Core Count CPUs & Better NVIDIA GPU Performance

Valve has released its Proton 9.0 software update which adds improved support for NVIDIA GPUs and high core count CPUs.

Proton's Newest Version Brings In Improved Gaming Performance For NVIDIA Users, High Core Count CPU Support Along With Routine Fixes

Valve's Proton has gained immense popularity in modern times, especially with the debut of Steam Deck, since the device is natively based on the Linux OS. Proton acts as a bridge between Windows and Linux, allowing users of the latter platform to run compatible Windows games.

The newest Valve Proton 9.0 update has seen the addition of several titles getting support, along with many other optimization changes targeted to improve the user experience. Here are the new titles added with the latest Proton update:

• Previously playable only with Proton Experimental:
  • Dinogen Online
  • Photography Simulator Demo
  • George McGeehan Gamer Hero
  • The Finals
  • True Reporter. Mystery of Mistwood
  • Road to Vostok Demo
  • WITCH ON THE HOLY NIGHT
  • Lord of the Rings: Gollum
  • Sonic Colors: Ultimate
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge
  • Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun and Firestorm
  • Aisling and the Tavern of Elves
  • Snares of Ruin 2
  • Insanity's Blade
  • Bloody Walls

• Limited number of cores seen by the following games making them playable on a high core count CPUs:
  • Far Cry 2
  • Far Cry 4
  • The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition
  • Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
  • Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
  • Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
  • Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising
  • Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution
  • Outcast - Second Contact
  • Prototype
• Enabled nvapi by default for most games.
• Started ignoring system mouse acceleration in games using raw input API.
• Fixed Brawhalla showing a security certificate warning.
• Fixed audio in BOOMEROAD, DORONKO WANKO, NOTTOLOT.
• Fixed Civilization V Touch Only option in the launcher not working.
• Improved cutscene synchronization in Immortals Fenyx Rising.
• Fixed TouHou Makuka Sai ~ Fantastic Danmaku Festival Part I and II crashing during boss fights.
• Fixed crash in Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories epilogue.
• Improved video playback in BIOMUTANT.
• Fixed Imperiums: Greek Wars launcher.
• Fixed memory leaks that caused Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher crash over long time.
• Fixed crash in Microsoft Flight Simulator when live weather is enabled.
• Improved support for input devices with 8+ axes.
• Fixed Savant - Ascent REMIX hitching during certain animations.
• Fixed Super Robot Wars 30 crashing with languages other than English.
• Fixed Doom Eternal audio crackling on certain setups.
• Fixed Lethal Company, Phasmophobia and other Unity games crashing when a controller with a hat switch is plugged in.
• Improved video playback for the following titles: Lords of the Fallen, Harvestella, Wayfinder, Sea of Thieves, and KING OF FIGHTERS XV.
• Fixed default scaling for The Last Game on Steam Deck.
• Fixed audio issues when playing intro video in Airborne Kingdom.
• Fixed Bayonetta crashing on certain systems.
• Fixed Escape from Monkey Island getting minimized on a mouse click.
• Fixed audio controls and spatialization in VRChat with AVPro.
• Fixed new prefix failing to initialize on filesystem that do not support copy_file_range syscall.
• Updated file distribution method to save disk space.
• Rebased on top of upstream Wine 9.0.
• Updated vkd3d-proton to v2.11.1-49-g32ff676b.
• Updated dxvk to v2.3-47-ge2a46a34.
• Updated dxvk-nvapi to v0.6.4-48-g0951afb.
• Added support for Steamworks SDK 1.59.

Apart from new titles, Valve's Proton 9.0 has also brought in a revamped performance experience for users running high-core CPUs. Classical games such as Far Cry 4 and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition limit the number of cores being utilized in the case of high-end CPUs, which results in a downgraded experience. The new update has reportedly removed this cap, and players can squeeze the maximum power out of their processors, although the mentioned classics won't even need many cores at all.

Another interesting addition to the new update is the default enabling of NVIDIA's NVAPI, that is an SDX designed to target specific hardware, and in this case, Team Green's GPUs. The move is expected to bring in decent performance uplifts for NVIDIA users at Linux, ultimately creating a much more pleasant experience, since gaming at Linux is relatively stricken because the platform doesn't have access to modern-day software resources.

There are several other improvements; you can view the complete changelog from GitHub here.

News Source: GitHub