Hmm... is it certain Pipewire is the cause for audio no longer working? I just note Pipewire is default for the impending Ubunu and derivatives' LTS release (few weeks from time of writing). I believe I'm still using PulseAudio, so haven't noticed any sound issues while running Proton 8.0.
It is not certain and I don't know of any way to debug this or provide meaningful info.
The symptoms I can give are these ones: sound doesn't work, and when a game supports selecting specific sound devices (for input or output), only the alsa devices seems to be selectable or at least it looks like the alsa devices (aka the names of the sound cards, and not really audio sources like with jack or pulseaudio), without it making anything work (either for input or output).
I can confirm that this is also an issue with Mini Ninjas.
It works flawlessly using Proton 7.0-6 but any newer proton completely breaks audio. With Mini Ninjas i believe the issue is due to it relying on OpenAL for audio.
It's a bit frustrating because the game is listed as Verified.
Edit: Forgot to mention i am on Steam Deck running SteamOS 3.5.17 (Stable at time of writing)
I can confirm that this is also an issue with Mini Ninjas.
It works flawlessly using Proton 7.0-6 but any newer proton completely breaks audio. With Mini Ninjas i believe the issue is due to it relying on OpenAL for audio.
It's a bit frustrating because the game is listed as Verified.
Edit: Forgot to mention i am on Steam Deck running SteamOS 3.5.17 (Stable at time of writing)
I've also noticed it, but it has been reported at #809
Proton 7.0-6 is for me the last Proton Version that produced Sound Output as long as i'm using Pipewire. If i Switch to Pulseaudio, newer Proton Versions can be used with Audio Output as well.
Here is an example Proton Log Output, but it fails on Any Windows Game i have testet if Pipewire is used and Proton is above 7.0-6:
57690.149:0124:0128:trace:loaddll:build_module Loaded L"C:\\windows\\system32\\dsound.dll" at 79F60000: builtin 57690.159:0124:0150:warn:threadname:NtSetInformationThread Thread renamed to L"audio_client_main" 57690.471:0124:0128:err:dsound:DSOUND_ReopenDevice Initialize failed: 8889000f
Title says it all.
I've been using Proton 7 forever because every proton version I use that is more recent breaks sound on every game. It is saddening to me because Proton 7 doesn't work well with some games for other reasons, but it is the last (and maybe only) version that seems to support Pipewire correctly.
Later version just don't work, the games do detect one of my sound cards but can't connect to the audio engines.
I don't know what info to bring that could be interesting?