Every article tag can be clicked to get a list of all articles in that category. Every article tag also has an RSS feed! You can customize an RSS feed too!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Saints Row IV now available on SteamOS and Linux

By - | Views: 45,529
tagline-image
Oh baby! Saints Row IV is now available on SteamOS and Linux, and I can't wait to give this insane game a go. It's part of a very small selection of open world games available on Linux, so I hope it does well.

We will have thoughts up on it later, as we had no advanced warning or access.

Report
It's another port from Virtual Programming using their eON technology. I know that's still a taboo for some people, so that's worth mentioning right away. For me, I don't care who or what ports it any more, as long as it's playable and doesn't crash.

In the ~1 hour I've put into it so far, I haven't had a single crash, so that's really great news.

It seems to work fine with the Steam Controller, but the default mapping for the right pad is horrible. I can't stand the right pad acting as a joystick, it doesn't feel natural at all. I switched it to act as a mouse, and it still seems to work fine so far! Some games don't like using the right thumbpad as mouse, but SRIV seems fine with it.

Nvidia 980ti at 2560x1440 on Ultra
40-60FPS, It seems mostly smooth, I've seen maybe 2-3 minor stutters in my testing of it. It hovered mostly around 50 and just under with these settings after playing the entire prologue.

Nvidia 980ti at 1920x1080 on Ultra
I've seen it go up to 80FPS, but it's still hovering between 50-60 when the action is going on. Driving around the main city is giving me between 40-60 FPS.

Nvidia 980ti at 1920x1080 on High
I've now seen it max out around 130FPS, but it does again dip to 40-60FPS during action.

Nvidia 980ti at 1920x1080 on Medium
Seems to hold a much more respectable performance setting when at Medium. I'm seeing at least 60FPS now, but that's quite concerning given how powerful my GPU is.

After testing it on all settings, there is momentary stutter no matter what settings you have. Not sure of the cause, but it doesn't get in the way too much anyway.

It feels like it has a pretty small FOV, so it feels a lot like Mordor where you can't really see all that much.

I haven't been able to play a lot of it for obvious reasons, but I think the most time I have spent on a single part of it was creating my damn character. I love being able to adjust build, colour, sex appeal, eye-shadow...wait what? Yeah, my character looks a bit...funky. You can also adjust the pitch of their voice, hilarious.

Final notes/thoughts: I think their minimum listed specifications are far too low. The port needs work to iron out the random stutter, and you will probably need a pretty good GPU to go Medium or above on the settings even at 1080p.

I am quite disappointed with the performance. I mean it's perfectly playable for me, but I have a monster of a computer right now. It wouldn't be as bad if the random stutter was fixed, then in all honesty if you turned off the FPS counter you probably wouldn't be able to tell much.

As for the game itself, it does seem like a game that I will put some time into and enjoy it, so overall I am personally happy with it. I love these types of games, and I have a great PC so it's okay for me, but I do worry about performance for those on a weaker GPU.

The main thing is as always: Are you having fun? I am.

It also went on a big sale right after I purchased it *sigh*.

If you can do so, list your PC specs in the comments along with how it runs for you. I would like to see the bigger picture and know your thoughts.

About the game (Official)
The US President must save the Earth from alien overlord Zinyak using an arsenal of superpowers and strange weapons in the wildest open world game ever.

The epic conclusion to the game that changed all the rules! The Saints have gone from the crackhouse to the White House—but the Earth has been invaded and it’s up to you to free the world from Overlord Zinyak and his alien empire. With homies new and old by your side, and an arsenal of superpowers and strange weapons, you must save the world in the wildest open world game ever!

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Action, Steam
0 Likes
About the author -
author picture
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.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
76 comments
Page: «2/8»
  Go to:

sub Dec 21, 2015
Runs slow with a Radeon 7950, Catalyst 15.11, at the rather low standard settings 1280x960.
Graphical corruptions on character polygon edges are present.
Even the scroll text in the menu stutters.
Liam Dawe Dec 21, 2015
I have to say, performance is disappointing, and I am on an Nvidia 980ti one of the best you can get.

Added some thoughts into the article.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 21 December 2015 at 8:15 pm UTC
StianTheDark Dec 21, 2015
Quoting: TheBossI have to say, performance is disappointing, and I am on an Nvidia 980ti one of the best you can get.

Added some thoughts into the article.

You do like to brag about that graphics card :)
gojul Dec 21, 2015
Runs fine with my 970, however I run in windowed mode, 1440x900, high details. (I'll upgrade my GPU when Pascal is out :-p )

However looks like Windows performance is not that good too, if I refer to the comments.


Last edited by gojul on 21 December 2015 at 8:22 pm UTC
ziabice Dec 21, 2015
My specs:
CPU AMD A10-7850K
GPU ATI Radeon 7850 1GB
8 GB RAM 2133 Mhz
Manjaro Linux x86_64, latest update available,
Kernel 4.3.3,
Mesa 11.0.7, Radeonsi driver
Xorg 1.17, xorg-video-ati 7.6.1
Gnome 3.18

How it works:
At first launch the game automatically selected 720p with medium detail graphics. After the intro (the one done with the in game engine), the game presented a black screen: you can move, but everything was black. Tried to change resolution or graphics detail, nothing changed.
I restarted the game and set resolution to FullHD and High graphics details: everything worked flawlessy, I played the tutorial and the first mission without problems. The framerate wasn't constant, the experience was worse than on Windows on the same machine, but the game was playable.

EDIT
I collected some info on the FPS: goes from 50-60 on videos, to 120 on menus, in game from 9 to 25 on the fourth mission (the first one into a city where you are asked to steal a car) that at 720p, high details.


Last edited by ziabice on 21 December 2015 at 10:32 pm UTC
adolson Dec 21, 2015
QuoteSome games don't like using the right thumbpad as mouse

There is a special mode called Joystick Mouse (or Mouse Joystick, I forget) which was added more recently to get around issues with games that don't like standard Mouse mode alongside other gamepad controls. It works well, considering, but you need to use in-game sensitivity options to tweak it further.
Liam Dawe Dec 21, 2015
Quoting: adolson
QuoteSome games don't like using the right thumbpad as mouse

There is a special mode called Joystick Mouse (or Mouse Joystick, I forget) which was added more recently to get around issues with games that don't like standard Mouse mode alongside other gamepad controls. It works well, considering, but you need to use in-game sensitivity options to tweak it further.
Some games like Shadow of Mordor don't like that mode either, as it still messes things up.
BlackBloodRum Dec 21, 2015
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Stuttering? Have you tried setting "Lighting Detail" to low in graphics settings? May solve your stutter issue.
melkemind Dec 21, 2015
I'm getting framerate drops on my 970. I even have it installed on my solid state drive, still not a constant framerate.
ChuckDaniels87 Dec 21, 2015
Playing in Ultra at 1920x1080 resolution. Random stutters too.


OS: ArchLinux
Kernel: 4.2.5
Card: NVIDIA GTX 970
Drivers: nvidia 358.16



Last edited by ChuckDaniels87 on 21 December 2015 at 8:54 pm UTC
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.