Is this some coded way of saying less Chinese users? What does simplified Chinese dropping even mean?
I was puzzled by this too, so I took one for the team and clicked the link. Yes it does appear to mean that there were less users using the Chinese language in this survey than the one for the previous month, which implies fewer Chinese users: “Last month we saw quite a sharp drop for the Linux stats, which coincided with Simplified Chinese once again rising as the language choice on Steam. This is something that happens now and then.”
Why there is a link between Chinese users and Windows is an interesting question. Could be related to a higher number of Internet cafés there - not sure if that’s still true but it used to be - and/or greater acceptability and availability of pirated software in China compared to Europe and USA causing reduced demand for free alternatives.
Seems you got more out of the horrible link than me :) It is bad.
Having been to many a Chinese Internet cafe 网吧 in China and Japan, they have all run windows. I think steam keeps getting blocked or something by the gov as well. You’re right that piracy is very commonplace in China too. I bet it’s a decrease on steam use not windows.
Still, what a weird way to say less Chinese users. Also simplified Chinese is a written language, why don’t they just say mainland Chinese?
I did my part, I declined the survey because I was temporarily on a Windows partition when it asked.
I was on my Windows disk temporarily and still accepted. Felt bad afterwards, but also I wanted game devs to know there are still people using 6 core CPUs lol
In the past I’ve counted for both Linux and Mac OS though. I’m chaotic
Are we looking at different surveys? 6 core CPUs ate literally the most popular choice RN
Ah yeah I don’t know anyone with under 8 which is why I’m trying to keep the 6 cores represented while I’m still using it. Keep the averages low so devs don’t start optimizing everything for 12 or more cores lol
True, each os is counted each time. Not sure if my own custom build is interesting to them. Think they care about 8 hard drives? Lol
Surely the average user has 3 SSDs too
The only thing stopping me from migrating is 90% of my Steam library isn’t available on Linux. I’m stuck on Windows for my main
Edit: Thank you everyone! Last time I checked was about 6 months ago, I didn’t give Proton a proper shot and I will be glad to migrate fully!
This is only true if you only play games with anti cheat at the kernel level
Unless 90% of your games use kernel ac, I don’t really know what kind of games you’re playing
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How is that much of your library not functional? I have a library of 4200 games (some from family library) and over 90% are just fine thanks to proton.
I didn’t use Proton, there’s the difference. Most games didn’t have a download option. I felt a compatibility module wouldn’t offer nearly as good performance/efficiency as a game designed to run on Linux/ext4 - but are you saying that playing via Proton is fine?
There is a setting under compatibility in Steam’s preferences that allows all Windows games to install with Proton. Without it, Valve won’t give you the download option unless they’re 100% certain it will run perfectly. This excluded many games that run fairly well, and a bunch of games that run perfectly but haven’t been properly assessed yet.
Proton isn’t an emulator; It’s a compatibility layer. All it’s doing is taking the Linux<>Windows stuff and converting back and forth. There’s very little efficiency loss, (and some games even run better because Linux tends to be a lighter OS.)
The big issue with Linux is anticheat. Some of the largest anticheat companies have chosen not to support Linux, or the game devs have disabled Linux support on their end. But to be clear, that’s not a choice Linux has made; It’s a choice the game devs made to exclude Linux players, because they want kernel-level control which Linux won’t allow.
Gaming on Linux used to be a big hassle, as it basically required devs to write a native Linux version of the game. But nowadays Proton does that translation for them, and is so lightweight that it’s negligible. If you have any doubts, check out protondb, which is a published list of game compatibility ratings. Gold will play just fine in 90% of cases. Platinum is going to be seamless. Native means there’s a specific Linux version. And Steam Deck Verified simply means the devs have set specific controller/aspect ratio/frame rate/etc settings for when the game is booted on a Steam Deck. Even if it’s not SD Verified, the rating will tell you whether or not the game will boot and run.
Some windows games running on proton beat native windows performance. So yes.
Here’s a recent benchmark.
Edit: here’s the AMD GPU version if that’s what you’re using: https://youtu.be/D45AknAsIPw
Thank you, that’s fantastic! I need an upgrade and am likely going to go AMD for CPU and GPU. I think my Microsoft days are coming to an end aha
Glad I could help!
(Also, not sure why you’re being downvoted. You made a valid assumption, and not knowing is not a sin. The dismissal of evidence is, which you clearly didn’t do. )
Perhaps not knowing this at first was unforgivable to a few people, and accepting help from you seemed like I was being insincere? I am genuinely happy to see so many eager to help in this community, hell in the instances I’ve engaged with! So, so much nicer than Reddit aha
If you do install Linux (I highly recommend) just know that in Steam, if you buy a game and your library page says “This game is not supported” and the install button is disabled, you just need to right-click on the game (in the left panel), go to Properties -> Compatibility, and set it to Proton Experimental (you can also play around with specific versions of Proton). 99% of my games work flawlessly (n.b. I don’t play competitive online multiplayer any more, it’s too sweaty and time-consuming for me these days). In fact I can’t think of anything that didn’t work. But check ProtonDB real quick before buying (although you can always refund if it doesn’t run).
you just need to right-click on the game (in the left panel), go to Properties -> Compatibility, and set it to Proton Experimental
You can also enable it for all available games from Settings > Compatibility (and you’ll still be able to override the version on a per-game basis as well)
The trade-off of Linux vs. Windows means if your game doesn’t run on Linux I won’t buy it.
Playing via Proton is absolutely fine! It’s what is recommended actually!
You could check for yourself: https://www.protondb.com/
If a game is rated Gold or above, it’s generally good to go on most systems. Platinum is the best rating other than Native, which means it’s a game with an official Linux version. Proton is the reason I switched to Linux.
Bronze and Silver games might play fine too, but you’ll either have to do some tinkering or it just won’t work. It’s not that often that these games work “out of the box.”
Proton is just a compatibility layer, not a virtual machine or emulator. So while the specifics vary from game to game, in general, performance is comparable. In my experience it’s just as stable and often faster than on windows (at least on AMD GPUs. But Nvidia has gotten better as well)
I felt a compatibility module wouldn’t offer nearly as good performance/efficiency as a game designed to run on Linux/ext4 - but are you saying that playing via Proton is fine?
Can confirm, it’s fine. There’s some variability of course but taken as a whole the environment is comparable in terms of performance. As long as you’re not playing AAA competitive games that have anti-cheat you are going to be fine with few exceptions. And there are plenty of examples where the proton experience works better than the native.
Check protondb to get a realistic idea of how well games will work.
Absolutely. I play almost everything on steam deck these days, and proton gets fantastic performance results. It’s not like the early days of wine, we’re talking near-native or occasionally even better-than-native.
That seems high. I’ve got >500 games on steam and I know for sure I’ve got well over 10% that will work.
Have you tried using proton yet? I know it’s not the same as games them native, but the compatibility list is growing pretty quick, it’s probably better than 10%.
What games do you have? Most of my games work great with steams proton. Only some multiplayer games with some anticheat are not supported. I think from my ~260 Games +90% are working Check out protondb.com
It’s truly a non-issue, unless we’re talking competitive multiplayer games. The only single player game I can think of that I’ve had Linux-related problems with since I switched my desktop over a couple years ago has been the new Indiana Jones game, and that was patched within a week of launch. Proton makes it brain-dead easy. I have a pretty big library and not many games have official support, but they just work with Proton. I don’t do any tinkering with custom proton builds or anything either. On a fresh Steam install, you have to go into settings once to enable Proton in games that haven’t been tested with it, but then you just forget about it and play like you would on Windows.
Thank you! I’ll give it a proper shot, including enabling that setting. So good to know :)
Have you checked recently? I like to use ProtonDB. Unless you only play games with kernel-level anti-cheat, most of your games should run fine with Steam’s built-in Proton compatibility tool. I rarely find a game I cannot play.
Then just use Windows. Right tool for the right job.
Sure, if the “job” is spying and the “tool” is the user.
