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You might remember, that back in September last year I talked a little about Lutris and Overwatch [Official Site] together and how it was working well. Here’s an update on how it’s been going.

Overwatch, developed by Blizzard, is an online team-based shooter that feels a lot like Team Fortress 2 from Valve. However, as much as I’ve tried to get into TF2 it just doesn’t stick. TF2 feels like it has no identity, it feels…bland.

Overwatch on the other hand, is an incredibly exciting experience and I’m still very much a beginner. It has a pretty loud and proud identity, along with various animated shorts which help to suck you into the world. It’s something friends play practically religiously too, so it’s one of those times where I’ve felt a bit left out, well—no more!

When I tried it previously back in September last year, the performance was pretty good. Fast-forward multiple months, a few new versions of DXVK have come along and the experience is mind-blowing. I don’t want to oversell it, but seriously it’s so smooth I completely forget that the work done to get it working on Linux wasn’t done by Blizzard directly.

I should note, there’s still one downside. Before a cache is built, it will stutter and it doesn’t look good. However, before even when the cache had built there would still be odd bits of noticeable stutter and slowdowns. Since switching over to DXVK 0.95, that’s basically all gone. Honestly, it’s smoother than the majority of actual Linux versions of games I’ve played recently and that’s saying something big.

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My complete lack of skill aside, how smooth it is in that video I took of a recent game should speak for itself. You can see how well it performs and that’s with it on very high settings.

Additionally, an issue where the Blizzard Battle.net client would fail to login and say it went to sleep (something like that anyway) also seems to have gone away so that’s awesome too. The only issue I’m left with, is it starting in windowed mode needing a quick ALT+ENTER to fix and away I go. That’s less effort than I have to put into for some “native” Linux games, so it really doesn’t bother me.

It’s funny really, some of my own first steps on Linux involved mucking about with Wine. Here I am some thirteen years later, enjoying another game thanks to it (DXVK has helped a lot too of course). In a world without Windows, having Overwatch run rather nicely on Linux could be a big help for those looking to switch and test the waters.

Another shout out to Lutris, for making installing and managing the game a mostly painless experience. If you do have issues with Overwatch on Linux, this page can certainly help.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Video, Wine | Apps: Overwatch
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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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53 comments
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Lolo01 Jan 23, 2019
Quoting: Ehvis
Quoting: Lolo01
Quoting: EhvisUnfortunately there is still no fix for the mouse bug in the wine-staging version that Lutris uses for this game.

I have no more mouse bug with the latest install script on Lutris.

The mouse bug occurs when you have a screen (or window) that is not 16:9. Overwatch with letterbox it to 16:9 (which gives you black borders), but this messes with the mouse input and makes you spin around.

Well, I had the bug with a 16:9 screen.
But it's gone.
Dribbleondo Jan 23, 2019
Quoting: bgh251f2
Quoting: Dribbleondo
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: Dribbleondo
Quoting: bgh251f2
Quoting: Dribbleondo
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: kuhpunkt
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: Dribbleondo> TF2 feels like it has no identity, it feels…bland.

Strongly and violently disagree.
I've no doubt plenty will, what games people like is a very subjective thing.

But it already had great vibrant characters 10 years before Overwatch, and they already had shorts about the characters and comics and... hats! Many many hats! :(
I just don't see it. To me, TF2 has such a basic and uninteresting design to it. It has as much character as any other shooter out there. I mean, just look at the classes, they're extremely generic. You have a Medic, a Soldier and so on. Where's the character in that? There is none.

Yes, A mad scientist medic who uses a healy-beam medi-gun to heal people, a soldier who can rocket jump and is overly patriotic to the extreme. The scout who is cocky and boastful 24/7, The spy, enigmatic, hard to play, and very rewarding when played well. Totally boring classes that have different weapons for different situations. The game has character, you're just not seeing it.

All men, all masculine, all stereotypes from 20 years ago.

They are diverse for the time they where created. Now, they are bland and lack any interesting characteristic for me.

Did you just pull the diversity card?! Seriously? Mat Pat tried that in a deadlock video and...well it didn't go well for him. Making your game more diverse does not make it any better.
I get you have a strong opinion on it, but I feel people who care a lot about a specific game tend to (unintentionally) put themselves in a box about it in relation to anything else.

As always, it's a subjective thing. For some it matters, for some it doesn't. To outright say it doesn't matter though, I think is a little close-minded.

My words were: "Making your game more diverse does not make it any better", not "Making your game more diverse does not matter". Diversity in Videogames matters to an extent, as people of those races, ethnicities might pick up the game because they feel included. But it doesn't make the gameplay mechanics any better than if everyone was male (which in TF2's case, isn't even true anyway, as The Announcer is Female, as is Miss Pauling, a merc who gives you contracts in-game.)

Diversity card? Why is it a problem that I want to be able to identify with characters in a game? Why is it a problem that I want to see in the games I play the same kind of society I live in?

There can be games with awesome mechanics but that some people will not want to play because they can't identify with characters, even more when is a game with a sort of futuristic theme(medigun seems like futuristic tech).

Also, why are you so moved by the fact that people find the lack of diversity on TF2 something bad? Does diversity makes a game worse? Because for me diversity makes a game better, two games with the same gameplay and mechanics one with diverse characters and one without, the diverse one will always be better.

As for the announcer and the merc who gives you contracts in-game, they are not payable. And they are almost irrelevant, I played TF2 for years without even noticing it( I don't even remember this merch? Is it from the coop play? I never can get a open sever for it and after the game became f2p I need to wait an eternity to get into a server, so that plus lack of diversity made me kinda gave up on it).

I never said Diversity didn't matter. I even said it did matter, to an extent. If you like playing Overwatch or other games because of the diverse character cast, then go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you. I actually encourage it, you do you.

As for The Announcer and Miss Pauling, they are integral to the Games's lore and story. You may not be able to play as them, but writing TF2 off and claiming TF2 has a lack of diversity is just plain wrong. My point was that the games' mechanics aren't affected by skin colour or character personality.
bgh251f2 Jan 23, 2019
Quoting: Dribbleondo
Quoting: bgh251f2
Quoting: Dribbleondo
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: Dribbleondo
Quoting: bgh251f2
Quoting: Dribbleondo
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: kuhpunkt
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: Dribbleondo> TF2 feels like it has no identity, it feels…bland.

Strongly and violently disagree.
I've no doubt plenty will, what games people like is a very subjective thing.

But it already had great vibrant characters 10 years before Overwatch, and they already had shorts about the characters and comics and... hats! Many many hats! :(
I just don't see it. To me, TF2 has such a basic and uninteresting design to it. It has as much character as any other shooter out there. I mean, just look at the classes, they're extremely generic. You have a Medic, a Soldier and so on. Where's the character in that? There is none.

Yes, A mad scientist medic who uses a healy-beam medi-gun to heal people, a soldier who can rocket jump and is overly patriotic to the extreme. The scout who is cocky and boastful 24/7, The spy, enigmatic, hard to play, and very rewarding when played well. Totally boring classes that have different weapons for different situations. The game has character, you're just not seeing it.

All men, all masculine, all stereotypes from 20 years ago.

They are diverse for the time they where created. Now, they are bland and lack any interesting characteristic for me.

Did you just pull the diversity card?! Seriously? Mat Pat tried that in a deadlock video and...well it didn't go well for him. Making your game more diverse does not make it any better.
I get you have a strong opinion on it, but I feel people who care a lot about a specific game tend to (unintentionally) put themselves in a box about it in relation to anything else.

As always, it's a subjective thing. For some it matters, for some it doesn't. To outright say it doesn't matter though, I think is a little close-minded.

My words were: "Making your game more diverse does not make it any better", not "Making your game more diverse does not matter". Diversity in Videogames matters to an extent, as people of those races, ethnicities might pick up the game because they feel included. But it doesn't make the gameplay mechanics any better than if everyone was male (which in TF2's case, isn't even true anyway, as The Announcer is Female, as is Miss Pauling, a merc who gives you contracts in-game.)

Diversity card? Why is it a problem that I want to be able to identify with characters in a game? Why is it a problem that I want to see in the games I play the same kind of society I live in?

There can be games with awesome mechanics but that some people will not want to play because they can't identify with characters, even more when is a game with a sort of futuristic theme(medigun seems like futuristic tech).

Also, why are you so moved by the fact that people find the lack of diversity on TF2 something bad? Does diversity makes a game worse? Because for me diversity makes a game better, two games with the same gameplay and mechanics one with diverse characters and one without, the diverse one will always be better.

As for the announcer and the merc who gives you contracts in-game, they are not payable. And they are almost irrelevant, I played TF2 for years without even noticing it( I don't even remember this merch? Is it from the coop play? I never can get a open sever for it and after the game became f2p I need to wait an eternity to get into a server, so that plus lack of diversity made me kinda gave up on it).

I never said Diversity didn't matter. I even said it did matter, to an extent. If you like playing Overwatch or other games because of the diverse character cast, then go ahead, I'm not gonna stop you. I actually encourage it, you do you.

As for The Announcer and Miss Pauling, they are integral to the Games's lore and story. You may not be able to play as them, but writing TF2 off and claiming TF2 has a lack of diversity is just plain wrong. My point was that the games' mechanics aren't affected by skin colour or character personality.

The faceless announcer and Miss Pauling aren't so integral for the game. Also If a game has two women, in a society that is 50% women, and they are not playable(that means they have far less screen time than any of other chars) than the games lack diversity.

I had to google to see this Miss Pauling and she has far few appearances in game than any character.

As for the announcer you assume that it is a woman, because it can be simply a robot, with 0 personality at that.

It's not comparable, TF2 has no diversity in comparison to several other modern games. But it is not a modern game, so it gets a pass.

Also, for the mechanics bit at the end. Games are more than just mechanics.


Last edited by bgh251f2 on 23 January 2019 at 7:25 pm UTC
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