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Apparently Valve Have Secretly Launched Source 2

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Valve are devils aren't they! They have recently updated Dota 2 to include new Workshop tools that seem to be based on Source 2!

You may be wondering why this is news. Valve's Source game engine is rather dated now, and for Valve's own games to keep up with the latest trends they needed to get to work on a newer engine.

Source 2 was already confirmed to have native OpenGL and Linux support right in, so no DirectX to OpenGL layer included. This should speed up performance for Source based Linux games.

Check out this reddit post for a bit of a rundown. For reference here is an image from editor clearly showing "source2" in the path:
image

It is currently Windows only, but with Valve no doubt working hard on it we should see it sometime this year. I look forward to trying out Dota 2 in Source 2 to see if it isn't so damn sluggish at loading.

It would be even more interesting if Steam Machines launched along side a Valve game made in Source 2 like Half Life 3 or Left 4 Dead 3. That would help the hype for Steam Machines as they could talk up how good they are with their new Steam Controller.

Interesting stuff eh? What do you think? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial, Steam
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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16 comments
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EKRboi Aug 8, 2014
Well that's awesome. Ill just be over here in my corner waiting for the official announcement of source2 and that HL3 will be a linux/steamOS exclusive.

Maybe it won't be long before Line (a play on Wine) is being developed so those poor windows souls can play linux games they can't get for winblows. =P

*Yes I know the W in wine does not stand for windows.. im just being goofy.. deal with it =)
minj Aug 8, 2014
I don't think a directory name is something to hype over tbh
EKRboi Aug 8, 2014
Quoting: minjI don't think a directory name is something to hype over tbh

a directory name alone, no. It seems to be MUCH more than that though. A new world/model/map editor. The fact that the libs all have a 2 added to their name. Plus in the reddit it is said that "the source reverse engineering community" has looked at it and say it is. I can only take that to mean that the new libs were opened with IDA or similar and analyzed, and that there are enough differences (or it's completely different) that point to this being a new engine.

Only "Valve time" will tell ;)
Segata Sanshiro Aug 8, 2014
Something tells me there will never be a Source 3...
MayeulC Aug 8, 2014
Quoting: EKRboiWell that's awesome. Ill just be over here in my corner waiting for the official announcement of source2 and that HL3 will be a linux/steamOS exclusive.
Maybe not an exclusive, but a timed exclusive ?

I am waiting for the "3" box, featuring Half-Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3, and Portal 3 (A giant crossover ? :D - no, L4D would not fit- )
EKRboi Aug 8, 2014
Quoting: MayeulCMaybe not an exclusive, but a timed exclusive ?

I would call that a win as well. I bet the linux stats on steam would fly through the roof that month :P

While it would be an amazing power play by Valve to do something like that and leave console and windows users out in the cold for a bit.. they won't and it makes me :'( Financially it would be a (temporary)disaster i'm sure, but OH MAN!, I would definitley have a long and likely evil sounding laugh when I read the news they were going to do it :D
HadBabits Aug 9, 2014
Quoting: EKRboiWell that's awesome. Ill just be over here in my corner waiting for the official announcement of source2 and that HL3 will be a linux/steamOS exclusive.

While I assume this comments not too serious, I have seen many penguins put forth this very idea and it perplexes me. Linux enthusiasts are supposed to be about openness not exclusivity. Platform exclusives are one of the reasons I stay away from consoles nowadays; it's anti-competitive and bad practice imo. I think Linux will continue gaining popularity through it's own merits as a platform. :)
abelthorne Aug 9, 2014
Newell has made it clear in interview that there won't be exclusivities on SteamOS from them. Their goal is to have as many players play their games as possible, whatever the OS they use. They don't really care about the Steam Machines: they want people to buy them if they want them, not force them to with exclusive stuff. Also, I don't think they'll delay anything to match a release date, like having HL3 or L4D3 done and releasing it only when the Steam Machine are ready (or, on the opposite, delaying the SM to when some games are ready).

As for the Dota 2 tools, it's indeed the first Source 2 SDK available (with a new version of Hammer and such), it even downloads a new version of the Dota 2 client. But so far, it's very unoptimized and it's in early alpha. I don't think we'll see it on Linux anytime soon.
lave Aug 9, 2014
instead of an exclusive release they could bundle halflife3 with their first generation of steamboxes
abelthorne Aug 9, 2014
Quoting: laveinstead of an exclusive release they could bundle halflife3 with their first generation of steamboxes
Maybe they won't need this because HL3 and L4D3 will be free2play? ;)
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