Gaming on Linux just got a bump with new Wine 11 improvements that'll make for a better Proton on SteamOS, too

If you currently game on Linux, or plan to in the future, game support has just been improved once again. Wine, a compatibility app for running non-Linux games on Linux has just hit version 11.0.

You can find the full list of changes in the release notes, but there are a few main takeaways (via Gaming on Linux). The first is that WoW64 mode, which can run 32-bit applications, is now considered fully supported and even includes 16-bit apps. As Windows can't natively run 16-bit applications, it's now as hard (or as easy) to run 16-bit apps on Linux as on Windows.

Another big update with Wine 11, following on from its introduction in development builds of Wine 10, is the introduction of kernel module NTsync support. With this, Linux can emulate Windows NT' synchronisation primitives, which might not mean much to you, but minimises latency for demanding games. How much that performance increases by depends on many factors, but we expect a gaming uplift of some kind going forward.

Wayland, a display protocol, has seen a handful of improvements in Wine 11, too, with "shaped and color-keyed windows" being supported in the experimental driver. Clipboard support has now been implemented and the input methods are now usable in the Wayland driver.

Though relatively niche, the introduction of exclusive fullscreen support is certainly welcome. Effectively, if a game wants to emulate this display type, it will be able to do so more easily. Exclusive fullscreen mode is fairly common with older games, so support will help out there. In a similar vein, D3D fullscreen mode has reportedly been improved. Wine 11 sees other minor graphics improvements, like better image metadata handling in WindowsCodecs.

Wine updates aren't just notable for how they will improve Linux on your gaming PC, but, as Valve's Proton uses Wine, these improvements have a knock-on effect on SteamOS, ie Steam Deck, or any other distro tapped into Proton. With the Steam Machine set to launch this year, we can expect improvements there, too.

Every year sees the launch of a new version of Wine, which will then splinter off into development branches again for the next iteration. These should then signal what we expect to see in Wine version 12.0 next year. As Microsoft continues to give more reasons to pick up a new OS, Linux is looking ever more attractive. Maybe V12 will finally convince me.