Phantom Blade Zero: SteamOS and Proton crash troubleshooting

Separate the symptom from the patch

What you see	Start here
A video plays incorrectly at high resolution	Valve’s November 10 Experimental change log names this playback problem. If you can play normally otherwise, keep it separate from save-loading or gameplay crashes.
A save starts loading and the game returns to SteamOS	A Steam Machine player reported this after the November 10 Experimental update. Compare the same save on the compatibility tool that previously worked on your device, provided SteamOS itself stays responsive. A game exit does not by itself prove a damaged save.
The game freezes or exits later during play	A separate report describes an in-session freeze followed by a crash. Note the scene or action and whether it happens with the same graphics settings on another Steam-provided Proton branch.
SteamOS hard locks, or the machine reboots	Stop repeating the test. Record the time and what the system did. SteamOS issue #3064 was closed as a duplicate of the Proton tracker issue. That closure does not indicate a fix.

The tracker also has November 12 Bazzite reports from different hardware and branches. Some players say older versions behaved better on their setups. Use that as a reason to compare with a branch you know, without treating one version as the answer for Steam Machine, Steam Deck and other Linux PCs. The tracker was still open when checked November 13.

Try one reversible branch change

1. Record the game build, SteamOS version, current compatibility tool and any launch options. Keep your existing saves and Steam Cloud settings in place.
2. If the game closed but SteamOS stayed usable, open the game’s Properties → Compatibility in Steam. If you had forced Experimental, select the Steam-provided tool that last worked on this machine. If you were using Steam’s default before, remove the per-game override to return to that default.
3. Change only the tool. Keep the same save or checkpoint and graphics options. If it opens, note which version worked and where the previous test failed. If it still exits, restore the original setting and capture the error. If the system becomes unresponsive or restarts, skip further tests and report that behavior.

Send a report with the failure point

• Include the device or GPU, SteamOS or Linux version, game build, Proton branch and exact version if available. Record the time, what you selected or loaded, whether the desktop stayed usable, and any comparison you already made.
• For an ordinary game exit that is safe to reproduce, Valve documents the launch option PROTON_LOG=1 %command%. It normally writes steam-4115450.log in your home directory unless you changed the log location. Preserve your other launch options, remove logging afterward and check the log for personal details before sharing.
• For a system lock or reboot, submit what you already have to Steam Support or add relevant details to Proton issue #10327. A Proton log can be incomplete after an abrupt restart; the failure time and system details still matter.

S-GAME’s November 4 patch describes changes to PC shader compilation. Those game changes and Valve’s Proton changes are separate. A one-time shader rebuild on Windows does not establish the cause of a SteamOS crash.