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Latest Comments by BTRE
After a very long wait, the unique puzzling adventure 'OneShot' is now officially available for Linux
24 April 2019 at 3:17 pm UTC Likes: 2

It definitely works, just tried it (was gifted a copy yonks ago from a Windows friend with good intentions :P ). I recall hearing how their programmer used Linux exclusively, so I wonder why it took them so long to get the port done.

BATTLETECH is going to the city with the Urban Warfare expansion due in June
24 April 2019 at 12:33 am UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: drlambIs Battletech out of beta for Linux then? I recall some confusion as to whether or not the game was actually released or if the beta builds were just published.
It's had version parity with the other platforms for a while, gets updated alongside them, there don't seem to be outstanding bugs and has a SteamOS icon on Steam. That's about as "officially out" as I can imagine. Even last time when there was confusion as to the Linux version's status, it came off to me as PR/Publishers not really talking to their devs and knowing the full story and just covering their bases. So if it is still a beta, it's a beta in name only.

Civilization VI’s “Antarctic Late Summer Update” is now out
3 April 2019 at 8:34 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: lqe5433AMD cards are also working?
Yeah, I've played several hundred hours on my RX 480. They're not officially supported by Aspyr for whatever reason but they work.

Quoting: rustybroomhandleLoosely related - who's on Aspyr cookie detail for Borderlands 3?
Not to derail the comments but various other sites have speculated that it may be an Epic Games Store exclusive from a (now deleted) tweet from the official Borderlands twitter account. I wouldn't hold my breath for a Linux version but I'm sure that Liam and others will ask Aspyr, 2K and other relevant parties once we get a solid release date for that.

Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Gathering Storm is out with Linux support as expected
14 February 2019 at 10:30 pm UTC

Quoting: KithopAs much as I'd love to jump on this, the EULA shenanigans are gross
I looked into it out of curiosity and it lead me to this and I have to agree with the assessment that people are getting it wrong and overreacting. I don't believe the bits you quoted apply for actual gameplay. See the "where applicable bit and compare to this (which is linked in Steam's EULA that you quoted as Take-Two's privacy policy). The clauses you quoted would seem to me to apply only if you created a take two account or otherwise gave them personal information elsewhere.

The excellent Slay the Spire adds in Steam Workshop support, works well
4 January 2019 at 4:44 pm UTC

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. :D

Our top Linux picks released in 2018, the GamingOnLinux editor awards
30 December 2018 at 6:38 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: BeamboomRegarding Pillars, should I play the first before starting the second?
It's a direct sequel. So if you care about the lore and story, I'd say start with the first. They're both fine RPGs though it can be a bit hard to get used to some of the combat mechanics in the first one especially. Otherwise there's not much to stop you from playing the second game right away as there's a fairly decent recap and ways of exploring past events if you care to. It's also worth mentioning that I think one's enjoyment of the sequel depends on how much they enjoy the openness and exploration; I've seen criticism that it feels too directionless for some.

Editorial: An open letter to Valve on why they should keep on embracing Linux
9 December 2018 at 9:45 pm UTC Likes: 14

Quoting: mao_dze_dunThere are tons of Steam only games. Why is all of a sudden Epic evil for having 3rd party esxclusives?
Nothing is stopping those developers/publishers from releasing on other platforms. At least on Valve's end. It's up to them. If you follow the link in the article you'll see examples of developers who previously released in other stores (like Supergiant) who have, for now, only exclusively launched their games on Epic's store. Presumably, they've signed a contract with Epic for full or limited-time exclusivity. That's an important distinction.

Mesa 18.3.0 for those of you using the open source drivers
7 December 2018 at 7:10 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: DorritHi all.

As far as I understand (from Wikipedia mainly) Mesa is sort of a translator between APIs and graphics drivers, is that it?
AMD's opensource drivers are included in the kernel, so a newer kernel will bring newer drivers. But what about Mesa? Is it updated independently?

There's a lot of similar names here so I'll try to give you a quick summary: Mesa is FOSS an implementation of various APIs (OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Vulkan etc) that also contains user-space drivers for various bits of hardware. The RadeonSI/amdgpu and radv user space drivers in Mesa are what I use every day to play games and render things correctly according to specs. There's several other drivers there correspond to other hardware like anv (which is intel's vulkan driver) as well as software drivers like llvmpipe. The Mesa project also has a close relationship with DRI and other things used for graphics but for the sake of simplicity I'm going to gloss over the finer points. Things like game compatibility, hangs and poor performance are usually fixed with Mesa's drivers (the mailing list is pretty interesting if you're into that sort of thing).

Now, there's a distinction to be made with the kernel-space drivers (ie AMDGPU) that provide the kernel with a means of correctly interfacing with the device and using its features. Again, I don't want to get too technical, but things like the recent addition of the display code allow for atomic mode setting and sound over HDMI on newer AMD cards. There's more that's in the kernel side of things like the DRM which, for example, should add support for Freesync in Kernel 4.21/5.0 (whatever they choose to call it). The monolithic nature of the Linux kernel means that these types of drivers are usually loaded up as kernel modules and not in user space.

Both user and kernel space drivers are useful to get the most out of your card and, in AMD's case, even their proprierty AMDGPU-PRO user space drivers use the AMDGPU kernel drivers as well. I know it's confusing because of all the "amdgpu" and variants thereof but the bottom line is that you need both a relatively up-to-date kernel and recent Mesa to get the best performance out of your card and use of features. I know that other, more technically-minded, users can give you a more complete answer and point out where I've oversimplified things too much but I hope that this summary has helped you understand things a little better anyhow!

The chaos and action of Total War: Warhammer II makes for a gripping strategy title
5 December 2018 at 7:02 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: GuestFor me, this game was running very poorly and also crashed a lot. I was really waiting for it but it turned out to be a disappointment...

I'm thirding the bewilderment at your poor performance. Liam's own benchmarks on a 980 Ti as well as other people in the comments with varying hardware show that it's working just fine for most people. Maybe it's a driver issue on your end? If you think it isn't, email Feral about it.

BATTLETECH for Linux updated, releases Flashpoint expansion – some thoughts
28 November 2018 at 3:25 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: FaattoriHow is the performance compared to Windows release? I take it that it's nothing to worry about since the article doesn't mention that sort of stuff.

No issues at all in my playtime. Steady 60 FPS (I played with vsync, though). Didn't compare with Windows because I don't have a Windows installation :)

Quoting: einherjarThe only thing that really makes me worry is the "Season Pass Thing" and the DLCs that short after release.

Just to put it into perspective: The game released 7 months ago. That's about the same gap between the original Starcraft and Brood War if you're a fossil like me The next DLC is scheduled to come out in "Summer 2019" which probably means July, at earliest. Still, you'd do well to avoid a season pass, especially if all the content hasn't been announced yet. GOL always advises against preordering.