- CachyOS's Proton stands out for its ability to run video games natively on Wayland, avoiding the XWayland intermediate layer.
- It relies on advanced optimizations such as NTSync and Wine-staging patches to improve performance and compatibility.
- Its installation can be automated using tools such as ProtonPlus, facilitating the management of updated versions.
Since Valve dropped the bombshell in 2018 with the launch of Steam Play, the way we play games on Linux has changed forever. Thanks to Proton is based on Wine And since it's open source, the community hasn't stopped creating modified versions or "forks" that, in many cases, are far superior to Valve's official version in terms of performance and compatibility.
You're probably familiar with Glorious Eggroll (GE) versions, which for years were the standard for making AAA games run decently. However, a strong new contender has emerged from one of the most powerful Arch distributions: CachyOS and its own version of ProtonThis variant has won the hearts of users because it attacks a critical weakness: native support for Wayland.
What makes CachyOS's Proton special?
Unlike other versions that rely on XWayland, CachyOS's Proton implements a Native support for Wayland (partly inherited from Proton-EM). This isn't just a boring technical improvement; in practice, it translates into a much smoother experience, reduced latency, and the possibility of activate HDR without having to resort to Gamescope.
In addition to the above, this Proton comes loaded to the teeth with extras. It includes the Wine-staging patchesIt includes support for Wine Fullscreen FSR and the necessary codecs to ensure smooth gameplay. A particularly powerful technical feature is that it brings NTSync enabled by defaultThis optimizes thread synchronization and improves overall performance.
Step-by-step installation guide
To avoid going crazy manually updating versions, the best option is to use ProtonPluswhich you can easily get from Flathub. Unlike ProtonUp-Qt, this tool is excellent for obtaining the versions latest from CachyOS, GE, or EM automatically. Just open the app, choose your client (Steam or Heroic), and tap the button to install the latest version.
Once installed, if you use Steam, go to Settings > Compatibility and select "Proton-CachyOS Latest" as your default tool. Don't forget to restart the client for the changes to take effect. If you prefer the more involved route, you can also manually move the extracted folder to ~/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d/.
Activating the magic of Wayland on Steam
To prevent the game from launching through XWayland and instead use native support, right-click on the game, go to Properties, and in the Launch Parameters, type the following command: PROTON_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 %command%This is especially recommended if you use GNOME, as this desktop environment strongly supports native execution.
Configuration in Heroic Games Launcher and Lutris
In Heroic it's a piece of cake: go to Settings > Game Defaults > Wine and choose the CachyOS version. Finally, check the box for «Activate Wine-Wayland (Experimental)»In Lutris, it's done in the System Options tab, where you need to add the variable PROTON_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 in the environment variables table.
Advanced optimizations and performance tricks
CachyOS doesn't lack environment variables to get the most out of your hardware. If you have an Nvidia card, you can use PROTON_DLSS_UPGRADE=1 to always have the latest version of DLSS, or PROTON_NVIDIA_LIBS_NO_32BIT=1 If you have an RTX 4000 series and are experiencing performance issues.
- For AMD and Intel: Usa
PROTON_FSR4_UPGRADE=1to automatically update the FSR scaling. - Window control: If you're having trouble with borderless full-screen mode, add
PROTON_NO_WM_DECORATION=1. - Controllers and Gamepads: If the controller isn't detected in Wayland, try with
PROTON_NO_STEAMINPUT=1oPROTON_PREFER_SDL=1.
Another key point is the shader managementTo avoid the annoying stuttering (stuttering) while playing, it is highly recommended to increase the size of the shader cache by creating a directory in environment.d and by adjusting the memory limit, thus preventing the system from deleting old shaders and having to recompile them every time you launch the game.
For those seeking maximum performance, CachyOS includes the script game-performanceThis changes the power profile to performance mode and adjusts the CPU governor. However, be careful: it's recommended to use it without ananicy-cpp to avoid process priority conflicts. If you're looking for maximum stability in games with anti-cheat systems like BattlEye, version proton-cachyos-slr It's the safest choice.
Having an optimized compatibility layer like CachyOS allows you to enjoy a much more polished gaming experience on Linux, especially thanks to the removal of XWayland and the integration of updated patches, making HDR and smooth frames a reality in most modern titles.