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Quoting: PixelPi

Quoting: Mountain Man

Quoting: PixelPiAnd even though he does everything under Linux and has enormous knowledge, he plays exclusively under Windows, which in turn does not mean that he might not log in with his Steam Client on Linux from time to time, maybe for testing something.

It's not everyone's pleasure to fight with problems, when someone just wants to play.

I don't understand this anecdote. Playing games in Linux has not given me any more problems than my years of playing games in Windows. The times it doesn't "just work" are the rare exception rather than the rule.

I had problems so far with: Bioshock: Infinite, Deus: Ex, Total War, Metro 2033, Mad Max, Tomb Raider and some more. Tearing in nearly every Game. Sound issues a lot. Have until now found a solution for every problem. I never played under Windows but all my problems were Linux related. Also many Games are simply not available for Linux.

Sounds like you have something mis-configured then. The tearing issue is a long-standing problem for Nvidia cards in Linux (it existed long before Linux was a viable alternative to Windows for gaming), but the solution is ridiculously easy and has been around for just as long. Here's the latest Gaming on Linux article about it:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/how-to-an-update-on-fixing-screen-tearing-on-linux-with-an-nvidia-gpu.8892

I can't comment on sound issues because I've never encountered any for as long as I've used Linux. Ever. My sound card is a Sound Blaster Audigy that I've had for over 15-years, and it has always "just worked" in Linux, and it sounds great, so I've never seen any reason to upgrade.

I've never had to do anything special to make a game work in Linux beyond the occasional routine problem solving that you have to do even in Windows, but that's par for the course for PC gaming. If people want truly trouble-free gaming then stick with consoles.

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Quoting: 14

Quoting: PicoboomI don't need people telling me to use open-source software, I need open-source people telling people like me --- normal, non-technically-minded people --- how to use their software. Until then I'll make do with what tools are avalable to me.

If your cry for help is serious, I can probably write short instructions for you to run a Murmur server if you know how to install Linux. Murmur is one of the easiest things to host. Maintenance of the server can be set up to be mostly automatic as well. The process of doing so is pretty short.

It is indeed. And if you are able to write clear, specific, step-by-step instructions for setting up a mumble server, then you would be helping not only me but the entire Linux community. There simply isn't enough of this sort of how-to being written by knowledgeable people for beginners and average users.

So yes, I am quite, quite serious. And thank you for stepping up and offering to help. :)

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if I can choose the same game between GOG and Steam I always choose GOG.

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Quoting: Mountain Man

Quoting: PixelPiAnd even though he does everything under Linux and has enormous knowledge, he plays exclusively under Windows, which in turn does not mean that he might not log in with his Steam Client on Linux from time to time, maybe for testing something.

It's not everyone's pleasure to fight with problems, when someone just wants to play.

I don't understand this anecdote. Playing games in Linux has not given me any more problems than my years of playing games in Windows. The times it doesn't "just work" are the rare exception rather than the rule.

I had problems so far with: Bioshock: Infinite, Deus: Ex, Total War, Metro 2033, Mad Max, Tomb Raider and some more. Tearing in nearly every Game. Sound issues a lot. Have until now found a solution for every problem. I never played under Windows but all my problems were Linux related. Also many Games are simply not available for Linux.

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I wanna say "Pfft, statistically insignificant," but don't know if i can, because I know jack-diddly-poo about statistics. Yet, if I understand the math correctly, (a dubious claim at best) .08% = a fraction of 8/10,000ths, so ... 1/1250th? So, out of 10,000 people, 8 fewer are using Linux than before (or out of 1250 people, 1 less is using Linux)?

I don't know what the survey's margin of error is, but it's hard to imagine 1/1250th would exceed it. It certainly registers as "insignificant" on my personal "Significant-O-meter" (pat. pend.).

So, yeah. Pfft.

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Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: DanglingPointerNot taking anything personally mate if you read my response, I tried to give you possible reasons for the crash.

Thanks, but I wasn't the one who had trouble starting the game after a crash. Restarted fine every time. I don't intend to replay the game now that it's done either. Thanks for trying to help though.

I'm in software development as well btw. You'll find there's probably a higher percentage of (professional and hobbyist) developers on this blog than your average gaming site, due to the Linux focus.

Thanks for the support. In fact it happened only 2 or 3 times in my 70+ hours of gameplay. Not really bothersome and I didn't meant it has a complain either. I was just stating what I witnessed during those crashes. The game is quite playable as is.

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Quoting: PixelPiAnd even though he does everything under Linux and has enormous knowledge, he plays exclusively under Windows, which in turn does not mean that he might not log in with his Steam Client on Linux from time to time, maybe for testing something.

It's not everyone's pleasure to fight with problems, when someone just wants to play.

I don't understand this anecdote. Playing games in Linux has not given me any more problems than my years of playing games in Windows. The times it doesn't "just work" are the rare exception rather than the rule.

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For Linux market share to rise there must be a hardware push.

As long as Windows is the only OS preinstalled in the pcs sold in the Walmarts or bestbuy of this world (North America), the share will not move by much. That was just a wild example, but seeing Steam Machines sold besides PS4s and Xboxes in such bigbox stores is a pleasing tought.

Still, Linux gaming needs a second Steam Machine generation and with the latest AMD+Valve developments, it seems likely.

Let's cross our fingers. :)

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Quoting: AnxiousInfusionOh, we must be back on the "Steam survey is inaccurate" side of the pendulum this month.

It has always been inaccurate. I wish Valve would settle the debate once and for all and tell us exactly how many Steam users are running Linux. Even more interesting would be to see how many users are running one OS exclusively and how many are dual booters, because I suspect there are a lot Linux users who also run Windows, and that will skew the survey results.

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Quoting: GuestAnd for the "Windows with dual-booting to Linux", it can also have a statistics on how much time is spent on the 2 OS'es.

One of my colleagues is a real Linux professional. He uses Debian unstable for many years and is one of the few people who track down and report really tricky errors and bugs for the rest of us, also in the middle of the night. I ask him whenever I have tough Linux issues. And even though he does everything under Linux and has enormous knowledge, he plays exclusively under Windows, which in turn does not mean that he might not log in with his Steam Client on Linux from time to time, maybe for testing something.

It's not everyone's pleasure to fight with problems, when someone just wants to play. Even people who are busy with Linux bugs all the time want to switch off from time to time. We have to accept that.

Valves type of survey is pretty okay.

If you want to be a Linux gamer, then you have to play under Linux.

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No Linux users should learn how to not dual boot. If you reboot to Windows that is the perfect argument for developers that a Linux port is unnecessary. You are then a Windows customer and are counted correctly as a Windows customer. That you have also Linux installed is business wise irrelevant if you buy Windows games.

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Quoting: UnsaneI actually bought it from GoG without checking whether they had the Linux build available or not. Fortunately, they were nice enough to cancel the order and give me a refund when I found out. I'll probably have to just wait now as I don't really want to get it from Steam if I can help it.

It helps to know the refund policy :) As long as you don't try to download it you can get it refunded, as long as it's within 30 days of purchase (or release in the case of pre-orders, IIRC).

QuoteAnyone interested in getting the Linux version brought to GoG can vote for this wishlist item I created: https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/worms_wmd_linux

There are a lot of games missing their Linux versions on GOG; I've been contacting the publishers for a number of those games to ask about getting the Linux versions released there & encourage anyone else who's interested to do the same: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/new_years_lets_try_to_get_more_linux_releases_here_giveaway/page1

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Quoting: badberWell, I believe it does have 3D models for characters and it does also include loading screens between areas. That said, I read a comment from someone who did say there have been performance improvements in the latest beta build so possibly it'll run better.

Perhaps they will have a demo available so that I could try it out before buying, we'll see!

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Hmm... I dont like the steam survey, but as it said in the artikle.
all the other distributions gained +82 together, meaning their growth together outpaced Ubuntu-based.

But I also got the survey more often in windows then in Linux, I do think valve are tracking there users hardware and OS even if you decide to ignor the survey.

I dont really care if Linux is the biggest OS,
I just want people to know there is a free perfectly working OS alternativ that even gives you alot more
freedom compair to the other os's out there.
Also as long as we get good games to play, and the devs behinde big and small titles see Linux as a system they want to support, Im happy.

This might sound dumb, and very off topic.
For some reason I feel more productiv in Linux then I ever was in Windows, I dont know if its the freedom and the way you can accses stuff more easily or if it is the layout.

Windows can stay on the top if they want, mac can be bigger I dont care, I already know what I prefer and Im happy here :).

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Quoting: GuestI don't know if it was already discussed or brought up before, but how does Steam take into account Steam users / accounts who dual-boots with Windows and Linux? Do they count it as Windows user?

I think Valve should have a separate statistics for Windows users who also dual-boots with Linux. There are probably Linux gamers who use Windows for games only available on Windows.

This was shown to me during the survey:

https://www.olivere.de/download/images/blog/steam/hw_survey_wine.png

Is in German but you can see easily that Valve recognizes Wine as Wine:

"Hersteller: The Wine Project"
"Modell: Wine"

If you are using dual boot instead, you are, of course, counted as Windows users. By the way: Doom 2016 runs excellent under Wine 2.0. I use it under Ubuntu 16.10 with Nvidia binary driver 375.20. For Vulkan I had to install:
sudo apt-get install libvulkan-dev libvulkan1 vulkan-utils

Thats all! After this no tearing, no problems, just Doom. :)

So I think dual-boot people should consider from time to time if they could use wine.

EDIT: Had an issue with graphics quality. Need more investigation.

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Valve their efforts until now have given us ~1% market share on Steam, that is about clear. But what is important to be is that Valve give clear indications they are not done yet. The Steam Dev days with all machines was a sign. But Valve hiring developers to work on AMD drivers? Why would you do that if you don't have business interrests for that?

To me, this is a clear sign that AMD is developing something for Valve. And hiring developers yourself to develop open source drivers might be cheaper than paying AMD to do the same. I don't see any other way how to interpret this.

It also makes sense that the hardware developers that worked on the Steam Link and Steam Controller are not folding paper airplanes at the moment. Does anyone know what they are working on at the moment?

What would AMD be developing for Valve? It should be graphics related. So it is a GPU or an APU. Zen CPU + Polaris GPU + HBM memory?

Steam bomber is coming!

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I actually think the Mac share is the headliner here - didn't mac used to have around 7 percent just a couple of years ago?

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Quoting: numasan

Quoting: GuestThe problem with VR is that most of the games are just "tests" and "minigames". I'm not buying a 900€ gadget if i cannot play big games like Rocket League, Skyrim/Fallout, Tomb Raider, XCOM... That's the thing.

Thing is, games have to be made for VR and not just ported over. It is true that VR currently lacks a "traditional" AAA-like title, but they are being worked on. Still they won't be directly comparable to what we are used to, and shouldn't. It is a paradigm shift, so developers have to re-learn what works and what doesn't, hence the tests and minigames. I think sooner rather than later we will see a "Super Mario 64"-like game changer that paves the way for how to do VR games right, and make it more than gimmick. The price right now is an issue though, I agree, but it's no different than the first PCs, laptops, mobile phones, etc.

Lastly, the thing that makes the biggest difference with VR for me, is the sense of scale (and height). No other medium have given me that, and it is really effective.

While made for VR certainly has the chance to be even better, ports can be great. Right now with the small VR userbase ports are the only way you're ever going to get the production quality that a budget of hundreds of millions (or even just millions) of dollars enables. You only get big releases right now by someone like Oculus funding it because they don't mind blowing of the money to boost the platform. I think ports have their place and I wish there were much more of them.

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Quoting: buenaventuraI'm gonna look at trying burnout paradise with wine, I am really curious about that game! Seems quite a creative idea.

If you want an older open world driving game (for Windows), I suggest you give Driver: San Francisco a try. If you can find it. Ubisoft's store maybe.

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Quoting: iskaputt

Quoting: AnxiousInfusionNot directed at you. Just the inevitable responses to any time this number goes down.

Thing is, Valve isn't particularly clear how those numbers come to be.

Just recently someone on reddit told me that there was apparently a steam dev or something talk about this once. Some data, including the OS shares, are coming from Steam's telemetry. Things like hardware distribution on the other hand is extrapolated from the surveys. I didn't watch the talk, but that's what I was told.

That would mean that some numbers are pretty accurate, some are less so. But unless Valve puts this information on an about page for people to link to, you'll never get rid of this notion of overall inaccuracy (maybe there is a page I don't know about?).

So you're saying the survey results would include some data gathered from everyone instead of just the survey? That would mean this kind of a miniscule change might actually be meaningful... Any idea where this talk could be found?

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Quoting: buenaventura

Quoting: badberVery good news, I just hope the early access version I tried isn't indicative of the system requirements for the final version because that one probably wouldn't run on an Intel integrated GPU which I may be interested in playing this with.

In any case, I anticipate playing this right away. I was very convinced by the writing in the EA version.

Yeah I hope that they dont do a pillars of eternity and put in useless 3D models staggering my computer + endless loading screens between every transition, because that just ruins the game. I LOVE Planescape: Torment and I want this very much, IF it is playable.

Well, I believe it does have 3D models for characters and it does also include loading screens between areas. That said, I read a comment from someone who did say there have been performance improvements in the latest beta build so possibly it'll run better.

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Quoting: AnxiousInfusionNot directed at you. Just the inevitable responses to any time this number goes down.

Thing is, Valve isn't particularly clear how those numbers come to be.

Just recently someone on reddit told me that there was apparently a steam dev or something talk about this once. Some data, including the OS shares, are coming from Steam's telemetry. Things like hardware distribution on the other hand is extrapolated from the surveys. I didn't watch the talk, but that's what I was told.

That would mean that some numbers are pretty accurate, some are less so. But unless Valve puts this information on an about page for people to link to, you'll never get rid of this notion of overall inaccuracy (maybe there is a page I don't know about?).

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Quoting: GuestFunny that they ported the lesser known and played Codemasters title (Dirt 3 is much better imo), which has the same engine, and basically just the gamemodes are different. Both titles has the same problems for me: after alt-tab, certain keys don't work in game. Quality port can kiss my ass.

Instead of Showdown, buy FlatOut 2 on GOG, turn music volume to maximum and enjoy the carnage. Runs better, has better atmosphere and silly gamemodes too.

The game seems kinda limited (very small tracks), but it is fun. I have no problem alt-tabbing and stuff, after turning unneccesary graphics down, it runs super smooth and looks very pretty to my eyes.

I'm gonna look at trying burnout paradise with wine, I am really curious about that game! Seems quite a creative idea.

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Quoting: KimyrielleStill, working on Windows games having a native port available is an odd decision, given the dozens of high profile games NOT having a Linux port. One should think it's the lowest possible priority there is. If working on that game helps -other- games running better, the logical choice would be directly working on the -other- game.

not really. the issue fixed might have been entirely for something else, which just happened to fix this game also so its bug got closed and listed on the changelog. Somtimes the fix has been there for several versions but the bug hasnt been closed yet cause they are waiting for someone to confirm if its working or not.
Also it might have been logical thing to fix first before moving to the next things that depend from this fix etc.

you get the point.

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As long as Valve doesn't fix their Steam runtime to work on more distributions without ugly hacks, workarounds and constant regressions https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/4768 I doubt things will be better.

I have to admit that I just bought a tower that came with Windows 10 recently and I am currently playing some games that simply aren't available on Linux or won't run on my openSUSE X series Thinkpad as it just comes with integrated graphics.

My new system pretty much adheres to what https://system76.com/ sells so I might just buy another SSD and install a Linux partition on it with hopefully little trouble. Anyone knows good looking rally games with force feedback wheel support that run on Linux as well?

If you want some good news: Linux marketshare can be astonishingly high if the port is well done: http://www.openra.net/news/2017-01-stats-post/

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Quoting: KimyrielleWell, it's certainly not doomsday, but I'd still have thought the large supply of Linux games we got in the past two years would have at least helped us to grow -at pace- with the other platforms.

Well, I constantly see posts like "I just switched to Linux [because I can play games]", so clearly Linux user base is growing because of the improving gaming situation. But you can't easily measure that growth. I'd surely wouldn't use Steam numbers for that.

Quoting: KimyrielleBut our market share doesn't seem to change at all.

Linux market share itself is pretty hard to measure, but according to some measurements - it's growing.

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Its just percentage,not hard number.This is not surprising based on steams recent growth.Linux as desktop OS is gaining overall more users .So steam,Fu.Now the Question is where is ur new game valve?now that u have some experience with moba,why dont u try a medival rts game?

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Quoting: Nor MantisI don't pay attention to what Steam says. But in my personal life I had more people ask me about Linux in 2016 than any year before. That is a big sign for me when people ask me on their own.

Windows 10 is starting to bear fruit :) Several of my friends don't want to "upgrade" and are hearing horror stories about those who did. Meanwhile when I troubleshoot their Windows problems I just jokingly remind them that I don't have those kinds of problems on Linux, without being an ass about it (after all, we have issues of our own). Over time they get curious and start asking me about Linux on their own. I think for many people, trying Linux is too much of a bother, but if the alternative is bad enough and they have someone to guide them through it they'll go for it. And right now the alternatives to Linux are pretty damn awful.

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QuoteWhat? I'm saying it is accurate, have been saying that for quite some time.

Not directed at you. Just the inevitable responses to any time this number goes down.

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Quoting: GuestI don't know if it was already discussed or brought up before, but how does Steam take into account Steam users / accounts who dual-boots with Windows and Linux? Do they count it as Windows user?

I think Valve should have a separate statistics for Windows users who also dual-boots with Linux. There are probably Linux gamers who use Windows for games only available on Windows.

If you dual boot, Valve sees that you have two different computers (one windows and one linux). If you dual boot two linux distros, also sees that you have two different computers. I do not know how it weights people who use multiple computers but in principle it is not different to have two computers than to have dual boot.

If you use wine, that is also a different computer that counts as windows but provided by wine, not microsoft.

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