Valve has released Proton 11.0-2, and while the version number looks about as exciting as a BIOS update, SteamOS and Linux gamers have plenty of reasons to care. The latest stable Proton release fixes dozens of compatibility issues across Windows games, including Helldivers 2, Marvel Rivals, Arc Raiders and Forza Horizon 4, 5 and 6.
A whole lot of games just got less broken
Several fairly big games get particularly useful fixes. Helldivers 2 should launch again after a recent game update broke compatibility, while Marvel Rivals gets a fix for crashes and Arc Raiders is playable again for some users. Diablo IV and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain also receive fixes after recent updates caused compatibility problems.
The Forza Horizon series also gets some love. Proton 11.0-2 fixes black-screen problems affecting Forza Horizon 4, 5 and 6 on recent SteamOS versions, while Forza Horizon 6 also gets a fix for automatically closing after the system is suspended and resumed. That’s particularly handy for handheld users who treat sleep mode like a perfectly normal way to pause a game.
And Valve cleaned up Proton itself
Proton 11.0-2 isn’t just fixing individual games. Valve has also squashed some bugs introduced in earlier Proton versions, including performance problems in Terraria and Exanima, ray-tracing issues in Crysis 2 Remastered, and launch problems in Borderlands GOTY Enhanced. Nine more games have also been added to the list of titles that Proton officially supports.
Behind the scenes, Valve has also updated several of Proton’s building blocks to improve how Windows games run on Linux. One of those updates, FEX, is particularly interesting for Valve’s upcoming Steam Frame, as it helps ARM-based hardware run games originally designed for x86 PCs. For regular Steam Deck users, though, the takeaway is much simpler: if a game was broken yesterday, there’s a decent chance Valve just made it work today.