How To Change Proton Version In 2023 On Steam Deck

How To Change Proton Version In 2023 On Steam Deck

The Proton Compatibility Layer is one of the mainstays of the Steam Deck because it allows you to play Windows games on SteamOS. Proton developers are always working to add support for new games through updates. Since it is open source, there are other community-developed variants of Proton that provide support for more games on SteamOS and Linux. This is why you may want to change the version of Proton in your Steam Deck.

Fortunately, changing the version of Proton on the Steam Deck is a piece of cake, and there are a few ways to do it. In this guide, let’s see how to change the version of Proton in Steam Deck.

Change Proton Version on Steam Deck

There are two ways to do this: from the game settings in game mode and by using a proton manager in desktop mode. Here’s how to do it both ways:

Change proton version

1. Go to your Steam library and move the highlighter to the game you need to play
2. Press the cheeseburger button on your Steam Deck and snap Properties.

3. In the menu on the left, go to Compatibility.
4. Check the “Power utilization of a particular Steam Play…” checkbox.
5. Select a Proton version starting from the drop menu. picture

6. At last, begin your game to no one’s surprise and allowed Steam to deal with any updates and begin it for you.

Steam Deck always uses the latest release version of Proton. Therefore, the version you see in this guide may not be the same depending on when you are reading this. Also, the above steps are for per-game selection of Proton builds. We’ll cover how to change the system-wide Proton version later to ensure that all games, by default, use the Proton version you select.

Switch to a different version of Proton

As mentioned above, Valve’s official Proton isn’t the end of the line. Because Proton is open source, there are a few community-developed versions of Proton; one of the most popular is GloriousEggroll, also known as Proton GE or GE-Proton.

What makes GloriousEggroll special is that it is much more cutting edge than the official Proton project. In fact, Valve usually updates a lot of Proton GE features. Normally, Glorious Eggroll upholds a greater number of games than the authority Proton. If one of your games doesn’t work with official Proton, it most likely works with Proton GE; if not, it will start working before the official Proton in the next few days.

1. Press the Steam button > So Click Power > Switch to Desktop mode.

2. When you are in desktop mode, open the KDE Store from the taskbar.
3. In the store, look for ProtonUp-Qt.

4. Download and install the first output and run it.
5. Once inside the app, click Add Version.

6. From the dropdown menu under the Compatibility tool text, select GE-Proton. The device will automatically choose the most recent latest available version of GE-Proton.
7. Finally, click Install.

Once installed, follow the means above to change the Proton variant on a for every game premise, or follow the means beneath to change the framework wide Proton rendition on the Steam Deck. Also, make sure your Steam Deck has enough space to accommodate the Proton Pack. If you’re running low on storage space on your 64 or 256 GB storage variants, using an SD card is your best bet.

Change the default Proton version of all SteamOS

1. Click on the Steam button and go to Settings.
2. Go to System and turn on the Enable Developer Mode switch. Restart your Steam Deck if prompted.
3. In the side menu, scroll down until you see Developer option.

4. Scroll down and in the Run, other titles with dropdown menu, select the last GE-Proton you recently installed.

5. Reboot your Steam Deck when prompted.

If the game’s compatibility status is unknown or not supported, your Steam Deck will now force the game to run through the GE-Proton you have selected.

Proton is the key to Linux gaming

Linux users are certainly aware of the efforts that the entire community and Valve have put into making gaming on Linux a reality. Not too long ago, gamers would have dismissed the idea of playing games on Linux because they were not supported, but after the release of Steam Deck, we have seen many companies express interest and want to bring their unsupported games to Steam Deck. and Linux, thanks to Proton.

That being said, there are still plenty of games that refuse to run on the official Proton. And while GE-Proton helps in that regard, it can only do so much until the game developers get serious about Proton compatibility.