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Latest Comments by superboybot
Steam Deck adds External Display Safe Mode setting, 30 second boot videos
19 Oct 2022 at 11:13 am UTC

I'm interested in seeing what adjustments/improvements come to docking on Deck in the coming weeks. I use a Uperfect X Pro with my Steam Deck when I want to be productive on the go, but the update on the 6th may have introduced a new issue for me.

About half the time (or a bit more), I have monitor detection issues when booting up the Deck with it already connected to the monitor. My situation may be unusual, though, as I use a single USB-C cable to connect the Deck to the monitor with USB-C's Alt Mode [External Link]. I should see if the issue also happens with a USB-C dock and HDMI cable.

If you use PolyMC for Minecraft you should switch away now
18 Oct 2022 at 11:46 am UTC Likes: 24

The project is declared compromised when the only thing that's happened is that the creator removed the code of conduct? Okay. Is there a source on the developer/contributor thing? The GitHub page still shows 169 contributors.

I understand that people's confidence in the project may be shaken. No one likes a creator meltdown on a project they use. One of the cool things about open source is the ability to swap to a competitor for any reason, or for no particular reason at all. I personally wish PrismLauncher the best of luck.

That said, I think the only reason the community is rallying around this is because of the politics of it. The urgency of the message ("remove it immediately") on Twitter particularly is IMO unwarranted. I don't see any malicious commits, and even if there were any, the more level-headed response would be to reach out to distro/repo maintainers and ask them not to update the package until further notice. If there were people who feel inherently uncomfortable with using software made by a right-winger, that would justify the urgency. I'm just one voice, but that attitude, if present, is not healthy for the community long term.

Finally, I would like to point to the irony of this project being considered compromised due to these circumstances when it's a launcher for a game made by Notch. We either separate the creator from the creation, or there isn't any use for a Minecraft launcher, open-source or otherwise.

EDIT: On the contributors, he said he removed people's permissions. He's allowed to do that as creator, but as I said previously, that can shake people's confidence. This comment is not to pressure or even suggest people not go to alternatives. I have no reason to do that. My concerns regarding FOSS are the maintainers/contributors actually pushing malicious code, not engaging in drama or even weakening the project; to my knowledge, the risk of that happening, in this case, is still pretty low.

Steam Deck updates out for Stable and Beta, better Refresh Rate Switching
30 Apr 2022 at 4:14 pm UTC Likes: 2

The Phawx's latest video tested Steam Deck's RRS and found the black screen lasted about 2/5ths of a second. Assuming this newest update came after he filmed that part, the change between refresh rates must be practically instantaneous at this point.

If they keep going down this dark path, Valve will end up evoking vile powers, reaching back through time itself to deliver 'negative black screen time.'

Classic Sonic games being delisted to make way for Sonic Origins
26 Apr 2022 at 11:53 pm UTC Likes: 3

Haven't heard of this before today. I was initially interested until I saw the price. Maybe if it were $15-$20, I would consider it, but $40 for the base game is a hard no for me.

It's really a shame since I think the original Sonic games are absolutely incredible (especially Sonic CD). I suppose this will be compelling for some people, but I'm not going to pay that much for old games I already have.

As an aside, I think it's wild that Sonic 1 is thirty years old and still hasn't hit the public domain (and probably won't for another 200 years).

Steam Deck Client Update out, plus Valve dev clarifies a tweak for Gaming Mode (updated)
19 Apr 2022 at 9:05 pm UTC

Quoting: GuestThe APU is 4c/8t, so how did Valve make software see another 4 cores? Unless they're virtual cores, not physical.

Would be interesting to find out exactly what's going on.
I would also like more details. Sounds interesting and very technical.

It sounds like a virtualization trick, but that's just speculation on my part.

Indie store itch.io comes out swinging against NFTs
8 Feb 2022 at 11:57 am UTC

Good on itch.io.

Folding Ideas' video sums up my thoughts pretty well. IMO NFTs are basically a scourge, and as far as I'm concerned smart contracts taint the Ethereum (and Bitcoin soon I guess) blockchains irrevocably. I still haven't heard a legitimate use case for NFTs that isn't already a solved problem (digital ownership via licenses tied to user accounts) or predicated on a completely unrealistic scenario.

I'm relatively bullish on Bitcoin becoming a kind of digital gold, and monero looks slightly promising as an actual viable currency, but other than that I've pretty much made up my mind to wash my hands of this whole crypto thing.

I feel no ill will towards anyone, and I'm open to having my mind changed, but it's really incredible how infinitely bad crypto is unless you own a 400k ape NFT or you're the 0.1% who manage to sell the bag.

DXVK Native 1.9.2a is out for translating Direct 3D 9 / 10 / 11 to Vulkan for Linux games
22 Oct 2021 at 12:46 pm UTC

Quoting: MayeulCOf course. Graphics APIs are one of the most complicated part to port, so DXVK Native takes care of that. The rest of the game then interacts with native APIs, without the "translation layer overhead" for files I/O, user input, math, locking and threading, etc.

It can also lead to compatibility issues between Windows and Linux versions, as stuff like floating point math might not be handled the same. Wine provides libraries (winelib) for that too.

It becomes sort of like mingw32/64: compile a program against windows APIs, get a Linux executable using Linux APIs.
My question was poorly worded. A frequent point I've seen brought up as to why devs would port their games to Linux over using Proton is to squeeze out extra performance (eliminating the overhead of compatibility layers). While there would be some benefits in these cases to using things like DXVKN, as you pointed out, I don't know how impactful they will be.

DXVK Native 1.9.2a is out for translating Direct 3D 9 / 10 / 11 to Vulkan for Linux games
22 Oct 2021 at 10:49 am UTC Likes: 1

I support native Linux games, and I think tools like this are fantastic for simplifying the porting process. Unlike relying on Proton, getting a native build of a title means Linux is officially supported, which is excellent.

That said, are there technical benefits to porting a game with DXVK Native versus using Proton? From my understanding, there's still overhead from using a translation layer.

Valve banning games that allow exchanging cryptocurrencies or NFTs
15 Oct 2021 at 9:17 pm UTC Likes: 4

I consider myself a crypto-proponent, but I still think this is a good move for now.

In my mind, NFTs feed into the worst instincts of blockchain technologies: bubble-based speculative investing. These elements have no place on a gaming platform, and hopefully, Valve will continue in this direction.

Crypto-based transactions are more complicated. I think that games that allow both buying and selling crypto-assets will descend into Coinbase with pretty graphics. However, simply using crypto as a transactional currency to purchase in-game items should be allowed. The only counterpoint I can think of is that regular people do not understand crypto enough to treat it responsibly. I believe there is some truth to that, but I can see this becoming less and less of a factor in the next year or two.

It's good that Valve has a policy at all. Policies can be changed, and I think this one should be down the line. However, I can't blame them for being cautious, considering the upcoming launch of the Steam Deck.

New Steam Client Beta adjusts the Vulkan pre-caching system and PipeWire for Linux
29 Sep 2021 at 9:29 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: BeamboomOk so let me see if I understand correctly: Is Pipewire a *drop-in* replacement for both pulseaudio and jack?

So any application who utilise either of the two will also work on pipewire without alteration in their setup? Install pipewire and remove jack and pulse, and all should work as before only with potential latency benefits?

It's indicated on the pipewire homepage, but it's not 100% clear to me.
Pipewire is compatible with pulsewire and jack specific applications with pipewire-pulse and pipewire-jack respectively (on Arch, may be different on other distros).

I run catia (Link [External Link] through pipewire with the command pw-jack catia.