Questions about CachyOS-Proton, and I guess Proton in general

General
1

I have used Linux for about maybe 1.5-2 years now, but due to free-time situation I still consider myself new to Linux.

So…

1 With the different download/upgrade commands in CachyOS (DLSS, FSR, XESS), where are these files put, and is this something I later need to manually remove if I remove game/Steam?

2 Is the umu wrapper installed if I have the standard CachyOS install? Or do I need to manually pacman umu-launcher?

3 How do I know if my CachyOS-Proton use umu or not?

4 Normal Proton does not use umu right?

5 Why is there a Wayland command, do I use it when I run Wayland? Why/when use?

6 Why is there a HDR command, when I have HDR monitor and KDE is set to HDR enabled? Do not my games run in HDR if they support it without this command?

7 What games can the Proton-CachyOS-slr proton make run with anticheat?

8 Does all the commands also work for SLR version? Does ‘all games’ run with SLR version?

9 Why use Proton-GE if CachyOS-Proton is based on GE?

10 In general, Steam overlay on Linux is a no no? Looks like games and functions break if enabled.

11 I am a little confused on what CachyOS advice me to do in the Lutris vs Heroic situation. Can Lutris run all, or is it adviced to use Heroic for Epic, Gog and Amazon? Use what launcher for which brands and why?

12 Does really the “game-performance” command do anything as of 2025? If so, what?

13 Is really gamescope still a part of the gaming package? If so why/when use it?

….

2
  1. DLSS and I think XESS are part of the gpu driver, and individual games. FSR is either part of the game or some third party software like gamescope, but newer versions of FSR follow the same methods as DLSS (driver + game)
  2. No idea what that is.
  3. No idea what that is
  4. I’m guessing not
  5. There is no wayland command, wayland is a protocol.
  6. There is no HDR command either. This is a configuration on a per-display server/compositor basis + a configuration of the software (video player or game) you are using. HDR support is very recent in wayland not all compositors support it, only one I know supports it is kde
  7. Use protondb to check.
  8. no idea what slr is.
  9. Different versions of proton will occasionally not work for specific games, and different versions of proton will sometimes work better for specific games. If you have problems with one version then you try another, this is no different than trying proton 8 instead of proton 9 if proton 9 fails, if proton cachyos fails u can try proton ge, 'i’ve had multiple instances where proton cachy was crashing or not working but ge worked fine.
  10. there are a very small handful of games that can sometimes break because of it but for the vast majority of games it’s fine.
  11. This is something each person decides on their own. Try both, decide for yourself.
  12. There is no game-performance command. if you’re talking about gamemode then no it does things still.
  13. I have primarily used gamescope to use FSR in games that don’t officially support it to run them on low-end hardware, can’t think of many other reasons to use gamescope but i’m sure there are some.

If you are new to linux, cachyos might be a bit deep to start with, I would recommend considering endeavouros. I’ve been on and off various arch based distros (and arch itself) for a long time, cachyos is the least stable arch-based distro I have ever used (possibly even less stable than arch itself), i’ve had more random inexplicable issues with it than any other distro. Even right now my build is half broken because one day I updated and the vulkan drivers for my nvidia gpu just stopped working for like half of the applications I use it for (and this is a cachy issue, not an nvidia driver issue; there is one other user having the same issue and he is also on cachy)

EndeavourOS and Manjaro were some of the nicer experiences I’ve had with arch based distros, and those are both distros I can recommend for beginners, though the reason I recommend endeavour over manjaro is simply because manjaro has some weird shit going on with the mesa drivers, you ahd to do some weird shit to get codec support i recall which is standard in all other arch based distros, it was what drove me away from manjaro. If you’re on a desktop and use only an nvidia gpu you could use manjaro without facing any of those issues.

So if there comes a point where cachy is weirdly broken for you and you can’t figure out what the problem is after a couple days, I recommend you try endeavour for a less volatile experience. It may not be as fast as cachy, but it’s not really far behind.

3

I believe he meant the game-performance wrapper script which does switch your power profile to performance while the game is running. Also, you are not encouraged to use gamemode on CachyOS since CachyOS already ships with ananicy-cpp.

4

most of your questions are answered here: GitHub - CachyOS/proton-cachyos: Compatibility tool for Steam Play based on Wine and additional components

also check the release notes

slr is for steam the other for steam-native Proton-cachyos native vs runtime - #2 by Dirge

not sure if it’s based on ge

1 check the github for usage, most of those commands are for upgradin the dlls, not sure

2 never used umu, mistery to me, their github is confusing too

3 see above

4 I think so

5 you don’t have to use it, it might run better, don’t know

6 I think those are necessary for now for hdr, you might also need gamescope, don’t know don’t have hdr monitor

7 everything I tried worked with native, unless it’s some anticheat that’s not linux compatible at all, check protondb

8 Check the release notes, sometimes there are differences, but you shouldn’t need slr

9 I don’t use ge, I compile this even on endeavour

10 Never had an issue with the overlay

11 I only use heroic for epic, gog and amazon games, lutris for the rest, but lutris can run anything, just a bit less comfortable for those stores

12 I don’t use it, might not needed with the cachy schedulers

13 I use it only for running steam in big picture mode from the login(gdm) without starting the desktop environment.

5

First off, Windows games are installed in a Wine prefix. A Wine prefix is like a Windows install for that the game and usually only that game. You can install additional programs into that prefix with Protontricks if it is a Steam game and Proton is used or Winetricks if it is run through Wine.

  1. There shouldn’t be a need to do anything. Removing the game from Steam, will delete the prefix.
  2. I am not sure if it is included in the Gaming Meta package but probably is already installed.
  3. Umu is used, from my understanding, for instances outside of Steam.
  4. Nope
  5. I am assuming you mean the Wayland commands for Proton?
    1. DISPLAY=”” this enables the Wine Wayland driver
    2. PROTON_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 this enables the Wine Wayland driver too but uses a different method> This command will only work with Proton-GE and CachyOS
    3. Why? Because the driver is still experimental and still has some issues. However, if you want to use advanced features like HDR, you will need the Wayland driver activated to do so!
  6. Again, I am assuming you are talking about HDR in regard to Proton. HDR is still considered experimental and why you still need the commands.
  7. Have no idea, I do not use that version
  8. Don’t know
  9. There are some differences
  10. The overlay is broken when using the Wayland driver.
  11. They are all launchers so whatever works the best for you.
  12. Haven’t noticed a difference. I think it is more for laptops to put the laptop in a high performance state. My desktop stays in high performance all the time.
  13. The only time to use it is when a game has a custom launcher, like Ubiconnect, and you want to use features like HDR. Other than that, I can’t think of another reason to need but other people may.