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Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

(arstechnica.com)
402 points _JamesA_ | 3 comments | 25 Jun 25 19:40 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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sitkack ◴[25 Jun 25 22:53 UTC] No.44382539[source]▶
Given that Windows games run faster via Proton on SteamOS, developers should prioritize targeting SteamOS APIs—not Windows. This ensures compatibility with Windows while maximizing performance. Game engines like Unity and Unreal must adopt SteamOS as the primary target, with CI systems rigorously testing both platforms. SteamOS, not Windows, should be the baseline for optimization.

Does Valve run a SteamOS CI/CD farm? I could see a Rust based template and library for calling into this set of APIs that you could upload your well structured project and it would build and test for all platforms. Rust would just be the skeleton, your game logic could be in anything Rust could link to.

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1. p_ing ◴[26 Jun 25 14:41 UTC] No.44387927[source]▶
The only stable ABI on SteamOS is Win32. Targeting anything else is asking for it to break over time.
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2. meibo ◴[26 Jun 25 19:46 UTC] No.44390619[source]▶
Valve actually ships "stable ABI" Linux runtimes that Linux games and Proton are built against, so that they don't have to rely on distribution packages, similarly to Flatpak. They renew them every few years but they stay stable so that games built against a specific runtime keep working.

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime

replies(1): >>44393118 #
3. p_ing ◴[27 Jun 25 01:50 UTC] No.44393118[source]▶
That's not an ABI.

The ABI lives below Steam.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_binary_interface