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- Linaro reveal they're collaborating with Valve for the Steam Frame
- Steam Frame and Steam Machine will be another good boost for Flatpaks and desktop Linux overall too
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- SteamOS 3.7.20 adds the ntsync driver to help improve some game performance
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I used to be a Linux gamer in the early 2000, at the time when companies like Loki, LGP and Tribsoft released games on Linux, and when Desura was so promising. Due to personal and professional reasons, I went away from Linux gaming for years, even if I have Steam installed on my Linux machine.
As I have now more spare time, I wanted to take a look on the games available on Steam and I am rather disappointed:
- I wanted to play the original Quake (released in 1996). I noticed this is only available on Windows while it was possible to play it on Linux decades ago. We can still use Steam Play or do some tricks with opensource clients like vkQuake but we have to buy the Windows game before
- Almost all the RuneSoft games once available on Linux through Desura are only available on Windows / MacOS on Steam. We can still use Steam Play but what a shame, this is like a rollback !
- Very few major games are available on Steam for Linux. There are plenty of minor games, especially for very young people, but not for gamers
I thought Linux was mature enough to have many good games available on it, but this is not the case...
Just buy the versions that's there and use Proton. If you buy and play on Linux, it counts as a Linux sale in Valve's stats and is reported as such to the dev/publisher of the game.
I think the old games ported by now defunct companies like Loki or Tribsoft had their IP disappeared along the company, so you won't find them on Steam. But you can try on GoG as they republished a lot of old franchise
There's quite a lot of native linux games on steam (but sometimes, they may not be advertised as such. It's rather rare though). Almost all the Paradox catalog is available, for example. I played a lot to Battletech, Valheim and 7 days to die, recently.
I usually play only native games, but it may happen thzt I play with proton, especially for games I bought in bundles. All the programs derived from the wine compatibility layer, like proton, work well enough for a lot of games.
You can check on protondb how well a game works on linux.
https://www.gog.com/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/892970/Valheim/
https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/our-games/discover
https://www.protondb.com/
Thank for all the information. I will try Proton, I never thought it existed. Will try Proton on the old Quake game.
https://www.protondb.com/app/1173370
The games install but don't start at all. A pity !
Maybe this is because I use Steam (latest version) on OpenSUSE (not officially supported)
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
pid 21971 != 21964, skipping destruction (fork without exec?)
GameAction [AppID 1241500, ActionID 4] : LaunchApp changed task to WaitingGameWindow with ""
GameAction [AppID 1241500, ActionID 4] : LaunchApp changed task to Completed with ""
Nothing works
GameAction [AppID 521320, ActionID 8] : LaunchApp changed task to ProcessingInstallScript with ""
GameAction [AppID 521320, ActionID 8] : LaunchApp changed task to SiteLicenseSeatCheckout with ""
GameAction [AppID 521320, ActionID 8] : LaunchApp changed task to CreatingProcess with ""
GameAction [AppID 521320, ActionID 8] : LaunchApp waiting for user response to CreatingProcess ""
GameAction [AppID 521320, ActionID 8] : LaunchApp continues with user response "CreatingProcess"
/bin/sh\0-c\0/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/reaper SteamLaunch AppId=521320 -- '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_soldier'/_v2-entry-point --verb=waitforexitandrun -- '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental'/proton waitforexitandrun '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Final Warrior Quest/Game.exe'\0
Game process added : AppID 521320 "/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/reaper SteamLaunch AppId=521320 -- '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_soldier'/_v2-entry-point --verb=waitforexitandrun -- '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental'/proton waitforexitandrun '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Final Warrior Quest/Game.exe'", ProcID 32069, IP 0.0.0.0:0
chdir /home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Final Warrior Quest
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_64/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS64): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/gameoverlayrenderer.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded (wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32): ignored.
pid 32076 != 32073, skipping destruction (fork without exec?)
GameAction [AppID 521320, ActionID 8] : LaunchApp changed task to WaitingGameWindow with ""
GameAction [AppID 521320, ActionID 8] : LaunchApp changed task to Completed with ""
*** stack smashing detected ***: terminated
Game process removed: AppID 521320 "/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/reaper SteamLaunch AppId=521320 -- '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_soldier'/_v2-entry-point --verb=waitforexitandrun -- '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton - Experimental'/proton waitforexitandrun '/home/arnaud/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Final Warrior Quest/Game.exe'", ProcID 32069
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 32231
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 32227
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 32226
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 32074
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 32073
Uploaded AppInterfaceStats to Steam
Very disappointing
Someone had a number of Linux games on Steam lately, was it about 10.000? Not sure.
View PC info
Wrong. Wide native support is crucial for Linux to become a valid gaming platform for the masses. Wine/proton/eon/etc. are nothing more than stopgap measures to make gaming on Linux less painful in the meantime.
As we've already seen with wineDB, protonDB, and the Steam Deck Verified program, compatibility layers are forever playing catchup with incompetent, inconsiderate, or downright hostile developers. Until Linux is seen as a first class citizen, and developers make native versions of their games, it's the end users that will suffer.
Last edited by WorMzy on 3 Apr 2022 at 10:04 pm UTC
I still play the original quake using the dos files I had from when they first released. I use EzQuake to run my games.
I also picked up a lot of Linux boxed games from indiebox.com awhile back.
I don't know about major games but when I want to play an Online only game like Destiny 2 I use Stadia. I think I have every RunSoft game from Desura's days backed up. Not sure if I can link here but if you let me know which games you are looking for I can pass you the files I have.
There are many games for Linux users both young and old. My playlist from the last few weeks looks something like this:
Weird West [Proton]
9th Dawn II [Proton]
Get Even [Proton]
Cathedral
Project Zomboid
Edge of Eternity [Proton]
Light Fairytale Episode II
Splitgate
Scarlet Hollow
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous [Proton]
Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams [Proton]
Dead Cells
A couple of the non-native games from this list require a small amount of tinkering, but nothing that ProtonDB won't help with.
Hope this is helpful :-)
2021 1236
2020 1120
2019 991
2018 1231
2017 1175
So aside for a small dip in '19 it's a pretty steady stream of releases. It will certainly be interesting to see what long term effects Proton and the Steam Deck will have.
But I'd consider a thousand a year/three a day far from "very few".
Last edited by Eike on 4 Apr 2022 at 12:24 pm UTC