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The two WWI FPS games from M2H and Blackmill Games, Tannenberg [Steam] & Verdun [Steam], both got an update recently which upgraded Unity for a performance boost and more.

In regards to their Unity upgrade, both games are now running on "Unity 2017.3.1p1", which the developers are claiming can give a performance boost in both games of around 10-25% depending on your hardware and game settings. That's a pretty big boost, so I decided to take a look at how Tannenberg and Verdun are running now. The problem I always find when games update their version of Unity, is that there's always issues on Linux. They also switched to using a fullscreen window, instead of exclusive fullscreen for both games.

As for Tannenberg, the performance still isn't the best. It varies wildly depending on the map, the deathmatch map could give up to around 100FPS, but the larger map (the only one people really play on currently) has a big drop down to around 40-50FPS, even when lowering settings it's still not great.

It also seems to have a few weird input issues now as well. My character would sometimes keep walking by itself, running was jerky as well with the animation repeatedly switching between walking and running. There's other issues with input too, those are just some of the most noticeable. Currently it seems Tannenberg really isn't running very well. In the case of Verdun, it seems to run quite nicely in terms of smoothness and general performance, but it also seems to have the input issues now too. I'm not the only one with the bug, as someone demonstrated in this video (bug report) of it on Fedora. It seems to be a case of "double input" which I've seen in other Unity games.

The updates do mention they also made some improvements to their AI, like fixing their jittering when aiming at a target which did look a bit silly. There's also a minor adjustment to player movement, with you now being able to run directly from crouching instead of needing to come out of crouching first (so it works like most other FPS games now)—that's much nicer for smooth movement.

Sadly until the input issues are fixed, I would suggest looking to a different FPS game as they've become a little unplayable. I will follow the bug report closely and update you when it's better, shame as they're quite fun when they work. To be clear, Tannenberg is in Early Access so issues are to be expected, but to have the same issues in Verdun which is fully released, isn't good.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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nox Mar 8, 2018
Aww, sad news. It's such a great game. I really hope they get the linux issues ironed out.

I've had this issue since I bought the game. Highly frustrating.


Last edited by nox on 8 March 2018 at 1:55 pm UTC
TheSHEEEP Mar 8, 2018
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Someone must explain to me what they find about these games.

I didn't play Tannenberg, but Verdun.

My experience was this:
Get spawned.
4 second later: Die
Spawn.
Die.
Slowly sneak along to the - die.
Spawn.
Try and catch up to the moving frontline - die.
Spawn.
Throw a grenade. Killed someone!
Die.
Spawn.
Be extra careful, moving at snail speed and around bushes. Survive at least 15 seconds. Don't move an inch.
Kill the fool that just spawned. Kill the fool that tries to sneak. Kill the fool running towards the frontline.
Need to move now.
Die.
Repeat a few times.
Quit the game. Uninstall. Took about 20 minutes.

And I played with 3 friends. Only the one who suggested the game had any fun.
The rest was as quick to move on to other games as I was.

I honestly don't get it. Why would you play a shooter in which moving means certain death?
I like my shooters skill-based, run balls blazing into the hellfire of enemies, dodge with superior reflexes, kill with superior aim - well, or die trying. In Verdun, I had the feeling both movement and aiming are almost irrelevant. As long as you can aim somewhat surely, an enemy in your sight is insta-dead. Just as you are.
Pick a good place, camp around, get some kills. Compared to the like of UT, CSGO, etc. it just seems.... boring.

So... someone PLEASE explain how this can be considered enjoyable, because obviously there are some enjoying this.
pete910 Mar 8, 2018
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Quoting: TheSHEEEPSomeone must explain to me what they find about these games.

I didn't play Tannenberg, but Verdun.

My experience was this:
Get spawned.
4 second later: Die
Spawn.
Die.
Slowly sneak along to the - die.
Spawn.
Try and catch up to the moving frontline - die.
Spawn.
Throw a grenade. Killed someone!
Die.
Spawn.
Be extra careful, moving at snail speed and around bushes. Survive at least 15 seconds. Don't move an inch.
Kill the fool that just spawned. Kill the fool that tries to sneak. Kill the fool running towards the frontline.
Need to move now.
Die.
Repeat a few times.
Quit the game. Uninstall. Took about 20 minutes.

And I played with 3 friends. Only the one who suggested the game had any fun.
The rest was as quick to move on to other games as I was.

I honestly don't get it. Why would you play a shooter in which moving means certain death?
I like my shooters skill-based, run balls blazing into the hellfire of enemies, dodge with superior reflexes, kill with superior aim - well, or die trying. In Verdun, I had the feeling both movement and aiming are almost irrelevant. As long as you can aim somewhat surely, an enemy in your sight is insta-dead. Just as you are.
Pick a good place, camp around, get some kills. Compared to the like of UT, CSGO, etc. it just seems.... boring.

So... someone PLEASE explain how this can be considered enjoyable, because obviously there are some enjoying this.

Don't want to be that guy but, Learn to play.

As said in previous posts, it's not COD/BF type game. Rambo style tactics just don't work. you need to work as a team!
Spawning then all running off generally leads to what you have experienced!
Linuxpunk Mar 8, 2018
Oh, I was experiencing that bug yesterday. Good to know it's already reported.
Linuxpunk Mar 8, 2018
Quoting: TheSHEEEPSomeone must explain to me what they find about these games.

I didn't play Tannenberg, but Verdun.

My experience was this:
Get spawned.
4 second later: Die
Spawn.
Die.
Slowly sneak along to the - die.
Spawn.
Try and catch up to the moving frontline - die.
Spawn.
Throw a grenade. Killed someone!
Die.
Spawn.
Be extra careful, moving at snail speed and around bushes. Survive at least 15 seconds. Don't move an inch.
Kill the fool that just spawned. Kill the fool that tries to sneak. Kill the fool running towards the frontline.
Need to move now.
Die.
Repeat a few times.
Quit the game. Uninstall. Took about 20 minutes.

And I played with 3 friends. Only the one who suggested the game had any fun.
The rest was as quick to move on to other games as I was.

I honestly don't get it. Why would you play a shooter in which moving means certain death?
I like my shooters skill-based, run balls blazing into the hellfire of enemies, dodge with superior reflexes, kill with superior aim - well, or die trying. In Verdun, I had the feeling both movement and aiming are almost irrelevant. As long as you can aim somewhat surely, an enemy in your sight is insta-dead. Just as you are.
Pick a good place, camp around, get some kills. Compared to the like of UT, CSGO, etc. it just seems.... boring.

So... someone PLEASE explain how this can be considered enjoyable, because obviously there are some enjoying this.

Believe me, this game is tons of fun. It thrives to be "realistic", so single player "rambo tactics" won't work and you'll prob. get killed. You need to follow your squad and play as a group. Also, always stay in cover, if you shoot out of cover you'll prob. get killed before you get to safety.
TheSHEEEP Mar 8, 2018
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Quoting: pete910As said in previous posts, it's not COD/BF type game. Rambo style tactics just don't work. you need to work as a team!
Spawning then all running off generally leads to what you have experienced!
Which tactic other than "wait for the enemy to show their head, then shoot" can even be applied in such a game for anyone but teams who know each other for some time and communicate well?
If you try to sneak towards your enemy, you'll just be shot. If you advance on the main field, you will be shot.
I could see maybe a few people surviving if everyone would wait for a signal to attack - but that would require an amount of teamwork that is rarely seen in online games with random people.

Quoting: LinuxpunkBelieve me, this game is tons of fun. It thrives to be "realistic", so single player "rambo tactics" won't work and you'll prob. get killed. You need to follow your squad and play as a group. Also, always stay in cover, if you shoot out of cover you'll prob. get killed before you get to safety.
I don't like team based games as that either means I will drag the team down cause I suck or someone on the team will drag me down cause they suck.
I prefer to rely on myself, so this game in all likelyhood just isn't for me.

Planetside 2, as another example, allows both playstyles. The big advances and battles are team efforts, but there is always room for some sly soloing.
Of course, that is also a completely different scale.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 8 March 2018 at 7:03 pm UTC
micha Mar 8, 2018
Sounds like a Unity3D issue for 2017.3 which I reported not too long ago ( https://forum.unity.com/threads/2017-3-0p2-input-getkey-changes-values-while-key-is-pressed-in-linux-builds.517376/ )

Symptoms for the game I'm currently working on were pretty much exactly what Liam described. Hopefuelly not too many games will be affected as with the fullscreen issues.


Last edited by micha on 8 March 2018 at 7:32 pm UTC
Elvanex Mar 8, 2018
I haven't had had the input issues mentioned. As for the supposed performance boost, I haven't seen much difference in average fps, but the game does feel a lot smoother since the update. My main issue with tannenberg (don't have verdun yet) is the memory leak. The game uses about 5GB of RAM at launch, but after 2-3 matches, it maxes out my 8GB, and starts slamming my swap partition. I can rarely get more then about an hour of playtime before the game completely freezes/crashes. Overall though, I am really enjoying the more tactical style of combat. :) Now if only my random squadmates would obey their NCO...
iiari Mar 9, 2018
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Quoting: TheSHEEEPWhich tactic other than "wait for the enemy to show their head, then shoot" can even be applied in such a game for anyone but teams who know each other for some time and communicate well?

I will agree with you that in this game, that's the big approach. I've been able to go Rambo a few times if I've outflanked a enemy group that is focused on some other target, and then I take them from surprise from behind or from the side. But, with experienced players, that's hard...

My understanding is this is one of those games that's more like real combat: Know your weapon, know your environment, be situationally aware, hope the other guy is less than you on all those fronts and wait for him to make a mistake...

Quoting: TheSHEEEPIf you try to sneak towards your enemy, you'll just be shot. If you advance on the main field, you will be shot.
I could see maybe a few people surviving if everyone would wait for a signal to attack - but that would require an amount of teamwork that is rarely seen in online games with random people.
Yup, but when that moment happens, the game is awesome...

Quoting: TheSHEEEPPlanetside 2, as another example, allows both playstyles. The big advances and battles are team efforts, but there is always room for some sly soloing.
Quite right, but that's a very different kind of game with different aims. This might just not be the game for you.

BTW, if you like Planetside 2, try Angels Fall First in Wine. It's like Planetside 2, but with Space combat and Capital Ship combat in addition to ground side, and it's AWESOME. You can go Rambo at times solo, but at other times you'll need to coordinate with the team to get an objective. It's criminally underplayed right now online...
nox Mar 9, 2018
Quoting: TheSHEEEPSomeone must explain to me what they find about these games.

I didn't play Tannenberg, but Verdun.

My experience was this:
Get spawned.
4 second later: Die
Spawn.
Die.
Slowly sneak along to the - die.
Spawn.
Try and catch up to the moving frontline - die.
Spawn.
Throw a grenade. Killed someone!
Die.
Spawn.
Be extra careful, moving at snail speed and around bushes. Survive at least 15 seconds. Don't move an inch.
Kill the fool that just spawned. Kill the fool that tries to sneak. Kill the fool running towards the frontline.
Need to move now.
Die.
Repeat a few times.
Quit the game. Uninstall. Took about 20 minutes.

And I played with 3 friends. Only the one who suggested the game had any fun.
The rest was as quick to move on to other games as I was.

I honestly don't get it. Why would you play a shooter in which moving means certain death?
I like my shooters skill-based, run balls blazing into the hellfire of enemies, dodge with superior reflexes, kill with superior aim - well, or die trying. In Verdun, I had the feeling both movement and aiming are almost irrelevant. As long as you can aim somewhat surely, an enemy in your sight is insta-dead. Just as you are.
Pick a good place, camp around, get some kills. Compared to the like of UT, CSGO, etc. it just seems.... boring.

So... someone PLEASE explain how this can be considered enjoyable, because obviously there are some enjoying this.

If I'm not mistaken Verdun and Tannenberg offers decently different playstyles, but it just sound like this isn't the kind of game you'd enjoy.
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