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Dwarf Fortress gets a Linux Beta on Steam

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Ready to dig deep? Dwarf Fortress now has a Linux Beta available on Steam, so you can get testing and see what all the fuss is about with this new version. While it was already playable with Proton, we knew for a while that Bay 12 Games planned Native Linux support as well.

As they said in the Steam announcement "The Linux version is almost ready, and in about two weeks we will be looking for beta testers, after Tarn gets back from Germany... in fact, it's already on the Public Beta Branch!" — so even though technically right now they're not looking for testers they put it up for you anyway.

Simply opt into the main Beta for it on Steam and you'll be able to play and test it. However, if you find you can't get it because it keeps using Proton, you can select the Steam Linux Runtime from the Compatibility menu which will then make sure it grabs the Linux version.


Shots taken from the Linux Beta.

So far so good it's all working as expected, although the game still intimidates the heck out of me.

You can buy it on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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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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8 comments

WorMzy Aug 21, 2023
Awesome! Need to give the new controls another go -- unlearning 15+ years of keyboard shortcuts is hard and the game feels so much slower because of it. I'm still sad that they retired the classic version, but at least they added the classic graphics to the new version.
Wooo Aug 21, 2023
And while Linux native is just great - the best thing in the current beta is multithreading. Which finally has arrived (whoohoo!) - and with it a huge frame rate improvement.
Soulprayer Aug 21, 2023
Cool, but I'm not really a beta player. but i am waiting with anticipation for the new version.

Quoting: WorMzyI'm still sad that they retired the classic version
You can still get the classic version on the bay12 website.
WorMzy Aug 21, 2023
Quoting: SoulprayerYou can still get the classic version on the bay12 website.

Yeah, but it's no longer going to get updates/fixes.
sonic2kk Aug 21, 2023
Since they're using SDL2 now, hopefully there'll be native Wayland support with `SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland`. It's real nice playing Factorio blur-free with this option, even if it breaks the Steam Overlay.

EDIT: Just tested, it does respond to the SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland flag but it is a little buggy on the menus (opens on the wrong monitor, resolution is not detected properly, main menu background is missing, fullscreen is a bit jank, text is still not crisp on scaled displays but other images appear to be). Even manually setting the resolution does not work as expected, things still look scaled incorrectly at 3840x2160.

In terms of actual gameplay though everything works fine right now with the experimental Linux build and even with the Wayland flag. Promising results!


Last edited by sonic2kk on 21 August 2023 at 10:20 pm UTC
Soulprayer Aug 23, 2023
Quoting: WorMzy
Quoting: SoulprayerYou can still get the classic version on the bay12 website.

Yeah, but it's no longer going to get updates/fixes.
I don't know what you mean, the "classic" version on bay12 Website has the same version as the Steamversion.
ssj17vegeta Aug 27, 2023
This is a welcome change in the video game landscape, where native Linux versions become scarce.

Will def buy.
WorMzy Aug 27, 2023
Quoting: Soulprayer
Quoting: WorMzy
Quoting: SoulprayerYou can still get the classic version on the bay12 website.

Yeah, but it's no longer going to get updates/fixes.
I don't know what you mean, the "classic" version on bay12 Website has the same version as the Steamversion.
Bad choice of wording on either my part or DF's. What I mean by 'classic' is called 'legacy' on the Bay12 website.

The 'classic' version on the website is Windows only and doesn't seem to want to work in wine, so it might be comparable to 'legacy', but I've been informed that it's just the Steam version with the pretty graphics stripped out, which doesn't inspire confidence that it has the old-style keybindings.
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