<s>
Proton	B-Application
is	O
a	O
compatibility	B-General_Concept
layer	I-General_Concept
for	O
Windows	O
games	O
to	O
run	O
on	O
Linux-based	O
operating	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Proton	B-Application
is	O
developed	O
by	O
Valve	O
in	O
cooperation	O
with	O
developers	O
from	O
CodeWeavers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
software	O
and	O
libraries	O
combined	O
with	O
a	O
patched	O
version	O
of	O
Wine	B-Application
to	O
improve	O
performance	O
and	O
compatibility	O
with	O
Windows	O
games	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Proton	B-Application
is	O
designed	O
for	O
integration	O
into	O
the	O
Steam	B-Application
client	I-Application
as	O
"	O
Steam	B-Application
Play	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
officially	O
distributed	O
through	O
the	O
client	O
,	O
although	O
third	O
party	O
forks	B-Application
can	O
be	O
manually	O
installed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Proton	B-Application
was	O
initially	O
released	O
on	O
21	O
August	O
2018	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
include	O
Doom	B-Application
(	O
2016	O
)	O
,	O
Quake	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Final	B-Application
Fantasy	I-Application
VI	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Proton	B-Application
incorporates	O
several	O
libraries	O
that	O
improve	O
3D	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
include	O
Direct3D-to-Vulkan	O
translation	O
layers	O
,	O
namely	O
DXVK	O
for	O
Direct3D	B-Application
9	O
,	O
10	O
and	O
11	O
,	O
and	O
VKD3D-Proton	O
for	O
Direct3D	B-Application
12	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
separate	O
library	O
known	O
as	O
D9VK	O
handled	O
Direct3D	B-Application
9	O
support	O
until	O
it	O
was	O
merged	O
into	O
DXVK	O
in	O
December	O
2019	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Being	O
a	O
fork	B-Application
of	O
Wine	B-Application
,	O
Proton	B-Application
maintains	O
very	O
similar	O
compatibility	O
with	O
Windows	O
applications	O
as	O
its	O
upstream	O
counterpart	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
the	O
official	O
whitelist	O
,	O
many	O
other	O
Windows	O
games	O
are	O
compatible	O
,	O
albeit	O
unofficially	O
,	O
with	O
Proton	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
user	O
can	O
optionally	O
force	O
use	O
of	O
Proton	B-Application
for	O
a	O
specific	O
title	O
,	O
even	O
if	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
version	O
already	O
exists	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
ProtonDB	B-Application
is	O
an	O
unofficial	O
community	O
website	O
that	O
collects	O
and	O
displays	O
crowdsourced	O
data	O
describing	O
the	O
compatibility	O
of	O
a	O
given	O
title	O
with	O
Proton	B-Application
,	O
on	O
a	O
rating	O
scale	O
from	O
"	O
Borked	O
"	O
to	O
"	O
Platinum	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
site	O
is	O
inspired	O
by	O
the	O
WineHQ	B-Application
AppDB	O
,	O
which	O
also	O
collects	O
and	O
displays	O
crowdsourced	O
compatibility	O
reports	O
and	O
uses	O
a	O
similar	O
rating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Valve	O
has	O
released	O
seven	O
major	O
versions	O
of	O
Proton	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
versioning	O
scheme	O
refers	O
to	O
the	O
upstream	O
Wine	B-Application
version	O
it	O
's	O
based	O
on	O
,	O
with	O
an	O
appended	O
patch	O
number	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Proton	B-Application
generally	O
lags	O
behind	O
its	O
upstream	O
Wine	B-Application
base	O
by	O
several	O
releases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unofficial	O
forks	B-Application
,	O
such	O
as	O
Proton	B-Application
GE	O
,	O
have	O
been	O
created	O
to	O
re-base	B-Library
Proton	B-Application
on	O
recent	O
Wine	B-Application
versions	O
,	O
which	O
may	O
improve	O
compatibility	O
with	O
games	O
over	O
the	O
official	O
release	O
,	O
and	O
sometimes	O
hurt	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2020	O
,	O
Valve	O
released	O
Proton	B-Application
Experimental	O
,	O
a	O
perpetual	B-General_Concept
beta	I-General_Concept
branch	O
of	O
Proton	B-Application
that	O
incorporates	O
new	O
features	O
and	O
bug	O
fixes	O
quicker	O
than	O
regular	O
releases	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
eventually	O
included	O
in	O
a	O
regular	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Steam	B-Device
Deck	I-Device
uses	O
Proton	B-Application
to	O
increase	O
software	O
title	O
compatibility	O
.	O
</s>
