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Aspyr Media are continuing their porting on the Linux & Mac ports for the new Civilization Beyond Earth, while most of the work right now is for Mac they do make a few notes about Linux.

They are continuing to hammer out performance issues and working around issues like case sensitivity on the Linux side for filenames which isn't an issue on Windows or Mac. Mac OSX can have a case sensitive filesystem, but it has to be reformatted to it, so it's not the norm.

They are hoping to be able to provide us the ability to use Steam Workshop mods, and they hope to update Civilization V to also be able to use the Steam Workshop on Linux.

QuoteLinux Love

That wraps up our dev updates for the week, but we wanted to leave a quick note about the development of the Linux version. The Linux team follows the lead of our Mac team, so these updates are primarily focused on the development of the Mac version (the biggest hurdles are first on Mac). That said, we’ll provide any Linux-specific issues as they come up. Otherwise, just rest easy knowing that we’re working hard to get the game in great working shape on all our platforms!


See their full post on it here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Ignis Nov 4, 2014
>working around issues like case sensitivity on the Linux side for filenames

What's more weird is the fact that programmers didn't use everything in lowercase from the start. They are pretty used to case sensitivity :O
toni Nov 4, 2014
Usually is not programmers fault, but artists, as they work on windows machines with horrendous software like 3dsmax and ps, usually they don't care filenames, if they did, world would be a better place.
Citiroller Nov 4, 2014
Liam is back ! :D
zimplex1 Nov 4, 2014
I'm going to hold off purchasing this game since it will probably be like Civ 5 in that it kinda needs the expansion packs to be really good. Though technically I probably shouldn't buy this game (even though I'll most likely still get it) since it will ruin all my productivity which would be bad since I'm in college.

Also glad to have ya back Liam!
Imants Nov 4, 2014
Quoting: Ignis>working around issues like case sensitivity on the Linux side for filenames

What's more weird is the fact that programmers didn't use everything in lowercase from the start. They are pretty used to case sensitivity :O


When I started programing on Linux I hated case sensitivity and I still hate it :). This was one of the many windows features I liked.
Eike Nov 4, 2014
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Quoting: ImantsWhen I started programing on Linux I hated case sensitivity and I still hate it :). This was one of the many windows features I liked.

I have a question and maybe you can answer it...
Why would anybody, if the OS forces him or not, would use different casing on disc and in code in the first place? I a) automatically use a pattern, like camel casing, pascal casing, all small, all large or whatever, and b) am probably to lazy most times to type it twice, so I'd copy and paste the file name. Both ways should ensure consistent casing quite naturally...
Creak Nov 4, 2014
Imagine you know perfectly where your header is. You include it without using any completion. It works on Windows, but you may have missed a capital letter somewhere. That's for programming.

Then for the data made by the artists, on top on the fact that there are thousands of files, consider that the name could have changed during the process. An artist could have missed a capital letter and add it back later, but the code doesn't know, and since it still works in Windows, no one cares.

If you know you'll code for a case sensitive OS, it's eventually easier to use small letters and underscores ('_') all the time.
Teal Nov 4, 2014
Quoting: GuestI have had these issues while porting a game to Linux and honestly it’s a pain. Now, if a game that needs porting has many wrongly-cased files, I’d probably write a code layer to remove the filesystem’s case-sensivity and be done with it.

I wonder if there is *any* point in having case-sensivity in a file system. I have never needed it and it has always been a nuisance.

I wonder if there's *any* point in being able to put spaces in a file names. Or hyphens, or periods, or the letters x y and z.
/sarcasm

I just don't understand how can an actual programmer think like you. You must obviously know that each character is based on an ascii value assigned in a table of characters, and character A has a different value than character a, and from point of the view of the computer they will always be two completely unrelated things, that just we happen to see some superficial connection between. You have to go out of your way to remove case sensitivity from software. Why do that, when you are removing functionality that way?

Not to mention that when I code, I use case sensitivity with a meaning a lot of the time. Single minor case letters are usually minor variables, like a loop counter or such. All upper case are usually constants of sorts. If I use "BUFFER" I know I am thinking of it as a constant I have set somewhere, and "buffer" would be just a variable, and if I have the variable doesn't exist, the compiler complains, instead of using the constant I forgot to have there.
Eike Nov 4, 2014
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Quoting: GuestYou’re missing the point. Case-insensivity does not mean you can’t include both upper and lower case letters in your file names.

I'd consider neither case sensitive file names nor case insensitive file names an important feature. People probably don't want to use file names only differing by case. On the other hand, I don't understand why OS/file system writers should be burdened by comparing file insensitive nor why people would _want_ to call a file by another casing that it really has got intentionally (I do understand the accidential case better now, though).

Using and comparing the same ASCII/UTF/whatever numbers should IMHO be the most natural way for every programmer (whatever system he prefers).
Imants Nov 4, 2014
Quoting: GuestI have had these issues while porting a game to Linux and honestly it’s a pain. Now, if a game that needs porting has many wrongly-cased files, I’d probably write a code layer to remove the filesystem’s case-sensivity and be done with it.

I wonder if there is *any* point in having case-sensivity in a file system. I have never needed it and it has always been a nuisance.

Yes I did not see in case sensitive file system any point as only that programmers where lazy implementing it. Because it is much assayer to just compare byte by byte. The idea that you can have two files with same name but different case semis ridiculous to me. And it becomes such a bother when you are working in team and others are working in windows. I always tough that it is one of cons for Linux.
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