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No Man's Sky has been shown to work rather well in Wine on Linux

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Not my usual sort of topic, but since it's proving popular it's probably worth highlighting. No Man's Sky (GOG Link) the brand new survival sim from Hello Games works rather well in Wine on Linux.

Note: I have not tested it myself, but there's multiple reports of it now.

It's interesting because it shows again how powerful Wine is and also how games using OpenGL rather than DirectX can be good for us even if the game itself isn't getting a Linux version.

A user has even supplied a video on steps on how to get it running:
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Quote**How to install (thanks to https://www.reddit.com/user/Lejoni)**
Note: you must have a 64 bit distro.
[1] Buy No Man's Sky (NMS) on GOG (DRM-free)
[2] Install WINE PPA: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wine/wine-builds
[3] Update: sudo apt-get update
[4] Install WINE: sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-staging
[5] Run wineboot
[6] Run winecfg and set "Windows 7"
[7] Run NMS GOG installer, after (the installer shows up an error, but don't worry!) you can play :D


Note: I am in no way endorsing buying Windows games to play in Wine, but you can't ignore how amazing Wine is. Wine is an incredible useful tool for those games you feel you can't live without, but aren't willing to put up with Windows.

Remember: buying a Windows game will not help Linux gaming. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: GOG, Wine
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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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Jarno Aug 17, 2016
Quoting: dillyLooking on the wiki page list of games made with that engine there are some games that have been ported (like Bound by Flame):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhyreEngine

So... it's not impossible. :]
All Spiders games are produced and developed using the company's own modified version of Sony's PhyreEngine, called the "Silk Engine".
[email protected] Aug 17, 2016
That's why they ain't getting any of my silk. Not until they come home with the tux.
Kimyrielle Aug 17, 2016
Quoting: manero666*snip*

While all what you said is true, the basic problem for me is that WINE is a -theoretical- solution to make Windows games run in Linux. In practice...it doesn't work. At least not well. Look at the list of "platinum" quality games. It's short. Very short. And that's the only games that I consider to work reasonably well in Wine. Even the "gold" quality ones usually have huge issues. Yes, they might run. But not in a way that makes you feel happy with the experience. For example, Guild Wars 2 was marked as gold, but the game ran with 15-20 FPS, which is totally unplayable in practice. It also crashed -much- more often compared to running it in Windows. Star Trek Online (also tagged gold) needs literally 10-15 mins to even start and freezes lots as well. Really, if a game isn't on the Platinum list, there is no need to even try. And I am not even getting into the circumstance that barely any game just installs easily in Wine. Usually it involves a lot of fumbling with the configuration and lot of trial and error and a lot of frustration.

As I said above, I really respect the dedication and effort that went into WINE. I don't want to diss on what they accomplished. But for me, the solution to get Windows games to run isn't WINE and probably never will be. It's dual booting. And hoping that one day I will stop feeling the urge to play Windows games entirely.
Mal Aug 17, 2016
  • Supporter
No way I'll fund a game with no native support. I'll pass.
Salvatos Aug 17, 2016
Quoting: KimyrielleFor example, Guild Wars 2 was marked as gold, but the game ran with 15-20 FPS, which is totally unplayable in practice.
Heh. Been playing it at that framerate since release. WvW wasn't really an option, though.

Last time I tried Guild Wars 2 on Wine, IIRC mouse input didn't work and there was something wrong with the map. I think the trading post didn't work either. Now I'm playing it every day on Mint and while the frame rate is not excellent (on a GTX 560), I can get a fairly stable 30 FPS with medium settings, which is at least more than on my Win7 laptop (GT540M). The only problem I've found so far is a broken texture change when I switch gear or apply dyes, and I only have to alt-tab back into the game to force a redraw (tedious when you're trying out dyes, but hey I'll take it over not being able to play at all).
archmage24601 Aug 17, 2016
I wouldn't be surprised if a native port of the game showed up soon. It's an indie studio who's already published for Linux before, the game already uses OpenGL, and porter Ethan Lee is already examining the game as we speak.

I'd wait to buy until it releases for Linux.
liberavia Aug 17, 2016
I'm a win(n)er. I don't get you guys: If you play a Steam Game via wine AFAIK steam notices this. This also may be an important indicator for them.

I did a steam survey recently and when I saw the results of my hardware check it did notice the wine Version I was using ;-)

However, I would like gol to investigate this issue. Would be interesting to hear Valve if they are able to see if games are played via wine and if they do count this at least internally.

As someone who is building a fork of SteamOS with Kodi as central Element and being able to install and start games from Steam, Amazon and GOG directly as well as do Retro Emulation, I heavily make usage of wine/pol. This is tje software that enables me to offer Games that currently are not supported natively. BTW Many ports also use a similar technology as wine, so from a technical perpective it should not be a disadvantage.

Please Liam, do the investigation, I mentioned above :-)
dubigrasu Aug 17, 2016
Quoting: Kimyrielle
Quoting: manero666*snip*

While all what you said is true, the basic problem for me is that WINE is a -theoretical- solution to make Windows games run in Linux. In practice...it doesn't work. At least not well. Look at the list of "platinum" quality games. It's short. Very short. And that's the only games that I consider to work reasonably well in Wine. Even the "gold" quality ones usually have huge issues. Yes, they might run. But not in a way that makes you feel happy with the experience. For example, Guild Wars 2 was marked as gold, but the game ran with 15-20 FPS, which is totally unplayable in practice. It also crashed -much- more often compared to running it in Windows. Star Trek Online (also tagged gold) needs literally 10-15 mins to even start and freezes lots as well. Really, if a game isn't on the Platinum list, there is no need to even try. And I am not even getting into the circumstance that barely any game just installs easily in Wine. Usually it involves a lot of fumbling with the configuration and lot of trial and error and a lot of frustration.

As I said above, I really respect the dedication and effort that went into WINE. I don't want to diss on what they accomplished. But for me, the solution to get Windows games to run isn't WINE and probably never will be. It's dual booting. And hoping that one day I will stop feeling the urge to play Windows games entirely.
Looks like you are terribly unlucky with Wine:)
I mean, I had the opposite experience with it, the norm for me is to have almost every game (dx9) working without a fuss, especially with the latest Wine releases. When I get one that doesn't I'm actually surprised.


Last edited by dubigrasu on 17 August 2016 at 9:45 pm UTC
rea987 Aug 17, 2016
How about framerate? TotalBiscuit was unable to run it 60 FPS with 2x Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 on Windows 7.
Avehicle7887 Aug 17, 2016
Quoting: Kimyrielle
Quoting: manero666*snip*

For example, Guild Wars 2 was marked as gold, but the game ran with 15-20 FPS, which is totally unplayable in practice. It also crashed -much- more often compared to running it in Windows.

With the release of the 64bit client GW2 crashes much less (although after 4 straight hours of gameplay it will fill 6GB of ram usage). I've been playing it on Wine for the past 2 years (which was before the 64bit client surfaced) and I've found a very good balance between good looks and performance.

A few examples:

Lion's Arch - 35-45 FPS Screenshot
Dungeons/Fractals - 60-90 FPS in the majority of cases
Large group events - anywhere from 20 - 30 FPS, sometimes dips between 20fps but heck, even Windows users have that issue.

Sometimes comes with a few random issues such as TP crashing but it's nothing compared to the gazillion problems Windows users report on the official forums, kinda ironic since it's a Windows game to begin with.

If anyone needs help setting it up just let me know :-)


Anyways - Sorry I didn't mean to derail or go off topic. This game kept me bound to Windows for a while until I found a good working setup.
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