Here's a guide to running XCOM Enemy Unknown / Enemy Within with Long War mod + Long War Rebalanced mod on Steam Proton.
There are 2 versions of XCOM in Steam, the windows version and the linux version.
I installed the Windows version.
This guide is meant for the Windows version of XCOM on Steam.

  1. Ensure you are running the latest version of Steam.
  2. Install XCOM Enemy Unknown (Windows version) with all addons (includes Enemy Within).
  3. Run XCOM Enemy Within at least once, you can exit the game once you successfully reach the main menu
  4. Download "Long War v1.0" from Nexusmods
  5. Download "Long War Rebalanced" from Nexusmods
  6. Steam ---> Add New Non-Steam Game
  7. Select Long War.exe as the non-steam game
  8. Right click on Long War on the Steam entry in your game library
  9. Set it to use the latest Steam Proton version (v8.0 as of now)
  10. Run the Long War entry
  11. you should see the windows-based installer pop up
  12. The installation link provided to you is most likely NOT the correct path
  13. Change the path to Z:/...[yourusername]/steam/steamapps/compatdata/.../xcom/XEW
  14. Proceed with Long War installation
  15. Run the game again, ensure Long War is installed by checking that there is a button called "Long War"
  16. Exit the game
  17. Follow the "Long War Rebalanced" installation instructions provided by the zipfile
  18. Now run the game again.
  19. If everything is successfully installed, you will see "Long War Rebalanced" when starting a new game.
  20. Enjoy one of the best tactical games ever made, made even better with two complementary mods

Here's another guide to running Stalker Anomaly mod on Steam Proton
Anomaly mod is available on their ModDB page.
It is totally free of charge, and not purchasable on Steam or anywhere else.
For this guide, you will need to install Protontricks, and ensure you have an unzipping tool already installed (such as 7zip)

  1. Ensure you are running the latest version of Steam.
  2. Download Anomaly mod latest version 1.5.1 + 1.5.2 from their official ModDB page
  3. Install Protontricks
  4. Unzip Anomaly 1.5.1 and unzip to a location of your choice
  5. Unzip Anomaly 1.5.2 and let it overwrite v1.5.1 as appropriate
  6. Steam ---> add a non-steam game, select anomalylauncher.exe
  7. Steam ---> add a non-steam game, select AnomalyDX11AVX.exe
  8. Set both entries above to use Steam Proton latest version (v.8.0 as of today)
  9. Run AnomalyLauncher, it should give a popup with the launcher shown
  10. Run the launcher after you tweak the settings to taste, the game should fail to run (will show vulkan errors)
  11. Run AnomalyDX11AVX, it should fail to run with the same errors as above (vulkan errors)
  12. Now run Protontricks, "select default wineprefix", "install a Windows DLL or component"
  13. Install the following : d3dcompiler_43, d3dcompiler_47, d3dx11_43, d3dx9_43, d3dx9, d3dx10
  14. After successfull installation of above components, you can exit Protontricks
  15. Now run AnomalyDX11AVX again, you should be able to see the Anomaly main menu
  16. Enjoy one of the best free FPS-RPG games ever made with deep lore
3 months later

Guide to running Ultima VII Part 2 Serpent Isle
This 1993 game is the one that inspired Larian Studios to make Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2.
I have the fondest memories of playing this and World of Xeen in my younger days.
Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

  1. Download and install Heroic Games Launcher (available on official Solus repo)
  2. Purchase "Ultima 7 - The Complete Edition" on GoG
  3. Install game on Heroic
  4. Go to /home/user/games/heroic/ultima7serpentisle and open up "dosboxSERPENT.conf" in Gedit
  5. Search for the line "xms=true", change it to FALSE
  6. Search for the line "umb=true", change it to FALSE
  7. Search for the line "joysticktype=auto", change it to FALSE
  8. Save your 3 changes and exit
  9. Within Heroic Launcher, specify the game to run on Proton 8.0, don't use WINE
  10. Before you click "Play Now", specify the dropdown list to "Launch Options"

I'll add something I've noticed myself

THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM (REGULAR VERSION)
Issue: game doesn't recognize dedicated GPU despite it's drivers being installed via doflicky (Hardware Drivers app), launches into black screen then crashes

Solution: while installing GPU drivers check the "install 32 bit version". After that reboot and Skyrim's launcher should now recognize both GPU's and launch game normally

3 months later

Guide to running Cyberpunk 2077 v2.0 (with Phantom Liberty)

  1. Install game, set runner to Proton v8.x.x or Proton Experimental

  2. Set Launcher Options : "VKD3D_CONFIG=dxr,dxr11 PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=0 PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 gamemoderun %command% --intro-skip -skipStartScreen --launcher-skip --nogamepad -dx12"

Note that the commands "VKD3D_CONFIG=dxr,dxr11 PROTON_HIDE_NVIDIA_GPU=0 PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1" enables Nvidia 30xx users to use Raytracing in-game, at a somewhat substantial cost to FPS.

Game feels well-optimized, i have most settings on high and max (no Raytracing), game runs smoothly at perceived >60fps.

CP2077 is absolutely a towering achievement in world building and atmosphere. Very movie-like cyberpunk and intense set-pieces. Basically Deus Ex 1 + Blade Runner on steroids.

a month later

Halo MCC (Hopefully for the last time)

Everything except for campaign coop works out of the box with Proton. I was finally able to play an entire campaign mission with a friend without desynchronization today by replacing the ucrtbase.dll file. Here are the commands to do so:

mkdir /tmp/ucrtbase
cd /tmp/ucrtbase
wget https://download.microsoft.com/download/9/3/F/93FCF1E7-E6A4-478B-96E7-D4B285925B00/vc_redist.x64.exe
cabextract vc_redist.x64.exe
cabextract a10
chmod u+w "[/path/to/steamapps]/compatdata/976730/pfx/drive_c/windows/system32/ucrtbase.dll"
yes | cp ucrtbase.dll "[/path/to/steamapps]/compatdata/976730/pfx/drive_c/windows/system32"

You will have to replace [/path/to/steamapps] with the path for your system. If you have it installed on a separate drive (like me) it will be in the folder on that drive.

Source: https://www.protondb.com/app/976730

2 months later

Team Fortress 2

I recently switched from Arch to Solus. The native Valve games such as TF2/CSS/DoDS etc no longer launch out the box on most distros. On Arch, I was able to resolve this by installing the AUR package and using a launch option.

Solution for eopkg steam:
Simple launch option on Steam, no extra packages required. Same one I used on Arch just added a .4 at the ending:
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libtcmalloc.so.4 %command%

(Alternatively, you could just use Steam flatpak)

a year later

Metro Exodus

It has a native version, but I had to run it with Proton or it crashed. The audio also crackled and was pitch shifted until I enabled Spatial Audio (Dolby ATMOS) in the audio settings. Ran a lot smoother with V sync too. Any other bugs were just because the game is buggy in places.

Can't speak to the enhanced edition since I don't have a Ray Tracing card.

Since a couple month i can't play Forza Horizon 5 anymore after more than 85 hours gaming.
On startup i can't type an "@" to log in.
I tried all possible versions shift 2 shift 8 or alt2.

    MikeK61 Can you perhaps copy the "@" in? That is, input it in another window (for example text editor) and then CTRL+V it in the Forza window?

        Staudey
        No, for soem reason it is not possible to copy and paste.
        I have read this on protondb as well.
        It seems to be a big issue wit FH 5.
        Forza Horizon 4 works a charm.

          16 days later

          Half Life 2 20th Anniversary Update

          I had some graphical glitches in the DLCs (gravity gun model invisible and other textures missing) after the 20th anniversary update. Not sure if this is necessary for the main game as well. I fixed it by using the -vulkan flag in the steam launch options:

          right click > properties > type %command% -vulkan