We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun [Steam, GOG] is a very good tactical stealth game, it just got a whole lot better with a new beta patch too.

When going over various changelogs as usual, I came across one for Shadow Tactics (see here). It mentions "Major performance improvements" along with "Reduced mission loading times" and "Reduced saving and loading times". I honestly thought that the performance improvements would be really minor and likely be more tuned for the Windows version. I was wrong—very wrong.

The performance impact of this opt-in patch is staggering. Times when I was getting 30FPS while moving the camera, is now giving a solid 120FPS+ even while zoomed out. The performance, for me, has at least doubled in all cases across every level I tried. Absolutely amazing, I have no idea what they've done as I'm on the same settings and it looks as crisp and beautiful as ever.

On top of that, they really did work on loading time which has also been dramatically reduced. Before, I could probably pop downstairs and grab a biscuit before it loaded a level, now it's mere seconds before it's ready.

I'm extremely impressed with the post-release effort Mimimi Productions has put in with Shadow Tactics. I already enjoyed the game and I did recommend it when I initially covered the release at the start of 2017, now it's a very clear and solid recommendation.

I'm sure once the patch is stable and released properly on Steam, it will also make its way to GOG too. For now, if you wish to test it, simply opt-in to the "patch-preview" branch on Steam.

GOG links are affiliate links.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
20 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.
43 comments
Page: «3/5»
  Go to:

Shmerl Feb 23, 2018
Quoting: SkipperroI've tested it and... WOW!

Somehow no one can answer this. Can you check please, is the update 64-bit or not?

That's what I see for my current GOG version:

file 'Shadow Tactics'
Shadow Tactics: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux.so.2, for GNU/Linux 2.6.24, BuildID[sha1]=8a178e29a711fa53a4b8b04236b6e40dd406b910, stripped



Last edited by Shmerl on 23 February 2018 at 2:43 pm UTC
tpau Feb 23, 2018
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: SkipperroI've tested it and... WOW!
Somehow no one can answer this. Can you check please, is the update 64-bit or not?

According to the Company this is not possible due to 32bit lib dependencies
Shmerl Feb 23, 2018
Quoting: tpauAccording to the Company this is not possible due to 32bit lib dependencies

That's not what they said last time:

QuoteWe've always used the 32bit build to develop the game and Unity has some weird differences when switching to 64bit. The risk is way too high to switch. E.g., in the past, switching cause certain physic-components to behave differently. As the gameplay has to be "pixel perfect" we made the decision to stay with 32 bit, which generally was much more stable when we made the decision.

They really should fix this mess, especially if it's still broken on 64-bit systems because they didn't build it with LFS.


Last edited by Shmerl on 23 February 2018 at 4:38 pm UTC
tpau Feb 23, 2018
QuoteDoes the Performance Patch include a 64bit version?
QuoteFrieder - Technical Director
No. Sadly that wasn't possible due to 32bit library dependencies.
johndoe Feb 23, 2018
Quoting: ShmerlIt never worked for me properly (doesn't save anything), which I suspect is an infamous lack of LFS bug that hits XFS filesystems because the game is 32-bit. I was a bit lazy reporting it to developers, though I should do it really.

I also use Debian and XFS for all my games > this works.
My root is EXT4 and steam game-library is mounted under /mnt/games on XFS.

For me 99.999% of games work this way.
The only one that does not work that way is "Bound By Flame" (also 32bit).
I've reported this to devs years ago - no answer as of today.

Maybe it would be sufficient to mount /home on EXT4?
Shmerl Feb 23, 2018
Quoting: johndoeI also use Debian and XFS for all my games > this works.
My root is EXT4 and steam game-library is mounted under /mnt/games on XFS.

To hit this bug, your XFS partition should be around 1.5 TB or more. How big is yours?

Also, in this case it's failing with saving in something under $HOME, since actual game loads fine.


Last edited by Shmerl on 23 February 2018 at 7:01 pm UTC
jens Feb 23, 2018
  • Supporter
I had this game since a while on my radar and finally decided to buy it. Runs perfectly here.

Edit:
After having played for a few hours: what a beautiful game, strongly recommended!


Last edited by jens on 25 February 2018 at 8:28 pm UTC
johndoe Feb 23, 2018
Quoting: ShmerlTo hit this bug, your XFS partition should be around 1.5 TB or more. How big is yours?

I see. No, mine is only 1TB.
Philadelphus Feb 23, 2018
Quoting: ShmerlSomehow no one can answer this. Can you check please, is the update 64-bit or not?

That's what I see for my current GOG version:

file 'Shadow Tactics'
Shadow Tactics: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, interpreter /lib/ld-linux.so.2, for GNU/Linux 2.6.24, BuildID[sha1]=8a178e29a711fa53a4b8b04236b6e40dd406b910, stripped
That's what it says for my Steam version too.
Arehandoro Mar 29, 2018
A bit late maybe, but has someone tried the game now that the patch is official? I get a green screen at the beginning of the mission (cgi intro) and only hear music/voice and see subtitles. After the intro ends the game crashes and exits to the desktop. Have tried to find the logs for the game but strangely it's not where the devs say.
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.