Latest 30 Comments

Don't play NMS for myself but I am always happy to hear that Hello Games did not give up the game after the catastrophic launch.
Damn I so hoped Bethesda did the same for Starfield.

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If VR finally just works as good as in Windows (which is a shame for my Valve Index) I can finally get rid of Windows completely.
This is my only use case for Windows. I mean in Linux I cannot even see my desktop because of wayland or I don't know.

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Finally I can play Indiana Jones without constant stuttering 🥰

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Quoting: poiuz

Quoting: F.UltraWhich would be true even if the cut was 1%, so no it is not about the 30% itself. And as I have tried to explain before, the DMA is about lock-in and not some arbitrary cut. Which should be self explanatory since the EU have not went after Valve for their 30% cut on Steam, the DMA case against Valve is only about restricted cross-border sales with zero mentionings of the cut.

I don't think it would be the same if the cut was just 1%. The same is true about Valve.

But yes, we're talking about Apple's cut in general, [30% tax](https://timetoplayfair.com/what-others-are-saying/) is just a representation because that's the default. It's still being investigated although they lowered it to (I think) 27% with external payment processing (as I already said). The cut is part of the DMA because it provides an unfair advantage.

So yes, you're right: Unlike Apple & Co., Valve is actually treated much better since it's only corporate dispute while Apple & Co. face official regulation.

Valve is not a [gatekeeper](https://digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/gatekeepers_en) (yet) so the DMA does not apply at all. Geo-blocking is a completely different case.

There is not a single mentioning about 30% nor about any value of a cut in the DMA, the DMA is entirely about not abusing your position as a gatekeeper, something that Apple violated by forcing in-app payments to be done by the Apple payment solution _and_ something that they violated by not allowing 3d party app stores to be installed on the iPhone and iPad.

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Overwatch might be trash but I have to give it up to Blizzard for being one of the few devs on earth to do anti-cheat right (server-side).

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tried wine, wine-staging-tkg, proton experimental, proton-ge, proton-tkg, reinstalled battle.net multiple times on different prefixes even cleared appdata and programdata but still nothing. gave VPN and tethering mobile network a shot as well. the result was always the same:
"Battle.net Update Agent went to sleep. Attempting to wake it up... BLZBNTBNA00000005".

same thing with lutris using different versions of wine runners. even tried starting up the agent before and after launching battle.net to no avail:
WINEFSYNC=1 WINEPREFIX="$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/2240255771/pfx/" "$HOME/.steam/steam/compatibilitytools.d/Proton-Tkg-2634/files/bin/wine" "$HOME/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/2240255771/pfx/drive_c/ProgramData/Battle.net/Agent/Agent.exe"

EDIT / FIX:
using bottles (AUR, not flatpak) with proton-ge 10-30 worked. bottles also applied this launch option:
WINEDLLOVERRIDES="locationapi=d" WINE_SIMULATE_WRITECOPY=1 %command%

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Thank you for your response.

Quoting: HamishI do not think that is entirely fair to be honest; as you yourself pointed out, the bigger issue was Loki's tendency to over invest and stretch their resources far further than their income stream could support. Them ordering way too many Collector's Edition tins was just a symptom of a wider problem.

Yes, Loki definitely spent too much money on many projects that were interesting for a small group of users.

I think it would be better if Macmillan Digital Publishing were also a publisher for Quake 3 for Linux in 1999. We probably get a set of rpms packages on the CD, which is weird and problematic on many Linux distributions. On the other hand, Loki could survive as a company if it didn't publish this game.

No one mentioned Quake: The Offering and Quake II: Colossus for Linux as financially problematic for Macmillan Digital Publishing. Of course, Macmillan didn't publish any other games for Linux after it. It was a good deal for Linux users to pay for a base game plus two mods in one box. It wasn’t possible to do something similar with Quake 3 for Linux in 1999.

Quake 3 is a great game and the best-looking product created by Loki, but sadly, users voted with their wallets, and this game lost. Nobody mentions their other games that caused so many financial troubles for Loki. The low sales of Quake 3 didn't help Loki survive, and also scared away many companies. I understand it's difficult to accept what happened with Quake 3 for Linux because it's a bizarre situation.

On the other hand, the availability of the Quake 3 engine gives us a chance for some great games. From a financial perspective, it doesn't change the fact that Quake 3 for Linux wasn't a success for Linux as a platform.

Quoting: HamishRegardless, by black sheep, I meant more Call to Power's standing in relation to the rest of the Civilization franchise more than its standing on Linux. Although based on the small sample here, it does seem to have a more positive reputation among at least a subset of Linux gamers than I have seen elsewhere. Quite effusive in fact.

Ok. I didn't think about comparing it with more modern games.

Quoting: HamishThere are separate patch installers for both version upgrades and language conversion listed:
[https://www.lokigames.twolife.be/products/civctp/updates.php](https://www.lokigames.twolife.be/products/civctp/updates.php)

I was able to change my Linux install from English to French and then to German. That may have been useful for me to experiment with before as there were several cheap German boxes of Call to Power for Linux listed on eBay, while the English version I did finally buy cost me quite a premium, while also still being shipped from Germany ironically enough. Too late now though.

Thank you for correcting me.

Interestingly, they allowed users to change the language in Civilization: Call to Power for Linux. I guess that my non-English games can stay in a shrink wrap for another year. The language support for German in many Linux games was quite good compared to other languages.

Robin Hood - The Legend of Sherwood for Linux also had a separate German and French release.

Can someone publish screenshots of the French version of Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood for Linux?

Quoting: HamishI did pick up a very cheap French copy of Call to Power for Windows just for the CD audio to prevent further wear on my expensive Linux disc; the eBay listing never mentioned that it was in French, but it was from a Quebec seller and you can see French text if you really squint at the picture of the jewel case, so caveat emptor I guess. By copying over the English data from my Linux install and modifying the civpaths.txt file was able to convert it over myself manually, although again, the CD audio was all I was really after. No idea why French versions of older games sell for as cheap as they do to be honest.

Do you learn French in schools in Canada?

In Poland, we usually learn English or sometimes German, and later both. English is the most popular foreign language here. French was a third language in some specific types of schools, and it was more popular in the past in some countries.
I agree it's easier to find many new games in German, French, Italian, etc. than in English because more people want to buy these English editions.

Quoting: HamishI have never really thought of it in those terms before, but I certainly can not think of any off the top of my head. You certainly listed all of the notable ones from that period.

I hope someone released more games for Linux back then.
Finding simple indie games from that period of time is a challenge.

It was horrible to play all these popular games and then get stuck on Linux without any upcoming games for over a year.

I thought that LinCycles from 1996 was a commercial title, but a comment from the author is odd, and I have some doubts:

https://happypenguin.altervista.org/sheet.php?gameid=57

Quoting: HamishOn a separate but related tangent, whether Call to Power was the first or second Linux game to be sold at retail is somewhat muddied by the fact that Macmillan Publishing announced their boxed Quake releases on May 13, 1999 (my fifth birthday) while Call to Power did not start shipping until May 15, 1999 despite being announced months earlier.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20081005014949/http://happypenguin.org/html/qlinux.html](https://web.archive.org/web/20081005014949/http://happypenguin.org/html/qlinux.html)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20011201235040/http://www.lokigames.com/news/archive.php3?051999](https://web.archive.org/web/20011201235040/http://www.lokigames.com/news/archive.php3?051999)

So you might need to get into an argument over store stocking, logistics, pre-orders, and the like.

I don't know it. I think MP Entertainment released Hopkins FBI for Linux in April 1999. I'm not sure if it was available in stores like Walmart in the U.S. Maybe some Americans remember it.

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AMD/Intel RT performance being quite far behind NVIDIA, and probably still behind.

At least when looking at very heavy RT based games like many running UE5, or CP77.
I think the only reason AMD/Intel look ok in these games atm is because NVIDIA has that COLOSSAL 40-50% performance hit in MANY DX12 RT games. (probably still 3mnths until we see fixes be fully integrated)

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I had to get used to the new UI for about 20 minutes, but it's a pretty solid new look. Still running perfectly on Arch for me, but I guess the MP4 export (hardware accelerated) of highlights still won't work.

However, I randomly noticed an extremely nice feature. Since I'm playing this game in HDR with Proton Wayland mode, the Steam overlay (that is still X11) does not work. Meaning, I couldn't take proper screenshots, because all the general desktop screenshot apps (like Spectacle) annoyingly don't support HDR in any way, causing an overtly bright, blown-out image. Steam gets it right by converting to SDR, but the (non-working) overlay is required ... or so I thought! Turns out, if you use the internal overwatch screenshot shortcut, the game directly triggers the screenshot feature via the Steam API, showing the familiar Steam notification even in Proton Wayland without the overlay! This image automatically gets the HDR to SDR tone mapping treatment of Steam and I get my uncompressed file in ~/Bilder/Steam like usual. Fantastic feature, maybe this helps some Linux users.

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I think when I used WiVRn with HLAlyx last time (3mths back or so) I had a issue where the controller would not respond to turning right/left correctly (would cut out) or something. Was real weird as ALVR didn't have said problem.

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Another way to look at this situation:
Discord is living up to their chosen brand name and perhaps their corporate culture.

From Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Word: discord - noun
1 a: lack of agreement or harmony (as between persons, things, or ideas).
b: active quarreling or conflict resulting from discord among persons or factions.
2 a: music
(1): a combination of musical sounds that strikes the ear harshly.

I have had a personal Mumble server for almost ten years. At various times I am forced to use Discord when I play games with the younger members of my family. They dislike Mumble because of it's lack of video/screen casting/screen sharing. I can't convince them that to all you need for gaming and communication is the ability to talk and send text messages (URLs). Kid's these days! :)

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Quoting: Cloversheen

Quoting: SalvatosBehavioural analysis to estimate user age without looking at message content… I’m struggling to imagine how that would be effective.

Gonna require making some insane assumptions. I wonder what my "interesting" sleep schedule gets recorded as...

300yo vampire?

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Quoting: SalvatosBehavioural analysis to estimate user age without looking at message content… I’m struggling to imagine how that would be effective.

Gonna require making some insane assumptions. I wonder what my "interesting" sleep schedule gets recorded as...

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That's not a very fair screen cap by the developer he is doing different things... A much more fair one would be:

 $ protontricks APPID winetricks winhttp 

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When all the Unreal devs and..etc stop using Discord as their main source of priority support I can move away, until then... doesn't matter what alternatives there are when the only way to get support is a Discord link and I need to get something fixed.

It's kind of like 100% avoiding facebook. I don't have a facebook account—but I'm still on the site a few times a year because half of all local events are just facebook page links or QR codes.

Which is also the issue with youtube... Trying to block youtube means all the drawing lectures on patreon by all the artists I pay to watch stop working... Now beyond those three—at least for me—I'm not forced on any other social media networks—but I'm also sure there are people who are because other bubbles force them to be. X/TickTock/Bluesky...etc. Are not my thing nor in my circles I didn't use X when it was Twitter and it's even less interesting now. People say news happens there, but any time I look around it's just random scraps of news in a storm of junk... Any good news there hits discord, real news sites, and blogs so that makes me think that news writers are probably forced to live in that world... Which make me as a game dev living in Discord not feel so bad, at least we're only hounded to pay for junk features not forced to pay to send people DMs...

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There is a replacement that is open source called Roomy.
https://a.roomy.space

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It is live and ready to explore

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Quoting: Liam Daweit's open again

Huh, I had no idea.

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Some people have had nightmares because of these games, but it's nice to see them being available on modern systems. There's never enough retro stuff.

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Quoting: syylk

we offer multiple privacy-forward options through trusted partners.

The point is you trust those partners, but we don't - especially considering the past data breaches.

Yeah, notice how whenever they say this they never say who the partners are.

Quoting: GrishnakhIt's the same compelling argument for using protection in a personal encounter. You may trust your casual partner, but do you also trust the partners who were there before you?

Always a hard subject to broach.😅

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Quoting: dpanterNot to trash Matrix but uh, it's not even remotely a realistic alternative. My personal opinion of course.

Perhaps alternative is relative then. Of course it does not reach feature for feature parity, expecting that to be a complete alternative is unrealistic.

Linux was not a full 'alternative' to windows in the beginning, many people still used it and it was good enough for them and to use as alternative OS for core functions. These days it can be said it is but it doesn't support anti-cheat or things such as the adobe suite of software so you can also say its not a realistic alternative in that case.

it's relative to how you use discord. For Multi-account, encrypted Rooms based chatting + video / audio calls and file sharing it is a kind of alternative.. just not like for like. Eventually we might see a fully featured platform with the EXACT same features but in the mean time for those motivated enough it will do the job.

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It's so cool that also with each update a new expedition is coming. Is this new one already live (haven't logged in yet)?
Maybe a good idea to test the new WiVRn update to play NMS in VR :)

Really, this game has managed to bring me back again and again, and if it's only for the new expeditions and their rewards.

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Quoting: Jarmergame devs / communities go back to using forums hosted on their own sites.

The issue with forums, is they may not be social media, but they're still in scope of things like the UK Online Safety Act. Everyone has to be a lot more careful now. We have various safeguards on ours now it's open again, but it's not entirely clear what's expected due to the laws being ridiculously wordy.

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Quoting: syylk

we offer multiple privacy-forward options through trusted partners.

The point is you trust those partners, but we don't - especially considering the past data breaches.

It's the same compelling argument for using protection in a personal encounter. You may trust your casual partner, but do you also trust the partners who were there before you?

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I remember using [TeamSpeak](https://www.teamspeak.com/en/) roughly 15 years ago for online gaming clans. Never pictured I would be switching back to it due to the enshittification of an objectively better service.

Oh well, I guess I will save $120/yr by cancelling nitro and put that towards my (underutilized) home server's electric bill. That will now self-host a TeamSpeak server for my friends. 🫡

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For a moment I thought the headline was about how Retro Macintosh Games was/were returning to a dark castle, and I had so many questions.

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There should be a game about submarines and/or scuba diving combat, called Underwatch.

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Quoting: williamjcmI hope it'll get released as a Flatpak, because I don't like installing stuff through the AUR or pip.

I much prefer terminal because I can see what's going on, flatpak only when no other options are available. But I already know I'm not mainstream, just glad there are the different options for everyone.

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Fixed regression causing achievement images to not show.

Sometimes regressions are head-scratchers. What was touched that had the side effect of zapping, of all things, achievement images? I'm not interested enough to dig through Github to find an answer but boy howdy. Code is crazy yo.

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Overwatch Overwatch 2 Overwatch 3 Overwatch surely is one of the games of all time. 🍌

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