Dude, the number of times I've resorted to a reinstall are innumerable. You know a bit more than you did yesterday and that isn't nothing.

If you want to try a new project that'll need tinkering with (but won't break your existing install) look at gamescope.

Currently it's the only way to get HDR and variable refresh rate to work. It's what Valve made to get those features into the Steamdeck.

You just run it with

gamescope -- %command%

In your steam launch options. You'll need to look up the options (otherwise it defaults to 720p@60hz). Ex:

gamescope -w 2160 -- %command%

For 4k. There's a switch for HDR too but I don't remember it without looking it up. You can use gamescope to enable FSR in any game, it can apply reshade shaders (so, things like anti aliasing in games that don't have it natively).

Other than that, any issues you have with a particular game can usually be solved by looking at protondb.com

Keep using the GE-Proton builds of proton for best results.

Have fun 🤓