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Latest Comments by EKRboi
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Released For Linux With An Explosive Trailer!
15 Oct 2014 at 8:29 pm UTC

Yea, I have NO problem with more of the same! BL1 and 2 are fantastic games IMO (and many others apparently) There is less new from this one compared to BL1->BL2, but they were open about that from the beginning. It is the same engine as BL2 after all. I really think that it's just the Aussie humor throwing me off. I'm sure "Son of a taint" is hilarious to an Aussie, it just doesn't sound right to an American ear. It's "their game" and they wanted it to show that. I'm more than OK with that.. hopefully I get use to it.

For the next borderlands (hopefully 3) I have full faith that if Gearbox does it, it will "reinvent the wheel" a bit and it will be just as fantastic as the first two. If Gearbox continues down the path of letting other studio do it... The franchise will probably go the way of many other IP's that have done the same. Gearbox has something better than GOLD with this franchise, it would be a shame to them and gamers to let it get all screwed up. Unless my feelings for this one shifts quite a bit in the positive direction I won't be pre ordering the next if it is not done in house by Gearbox.

On my post about Aspyr and their support above, I asked them why it was being forced to run on a single thread as I really feel it is a bottleneck for me (and probably many others.. my CPU isn't exactly a slouch). I told them I got it running right in gnome and what my performance numbers in win vs Linux are. I got back another pretty generic response skirting around the question of a single thread. She said that they made the game in Ubuntu and that they only support Ubuntu and SteamOS. What I found funny was that she said the game runs as well on Ubuntu as it does in windows in their testing. That they only support the video drivers in Ubuntu's official repos.. blah blah blah.

I find it hard to believe that Ubuntu/SteamOS simply runs the game better than the next distro. I wont be loading up Ubuntu to try it, but I feel that's just another generic response. Last night after my buddy had to goto bed and we quit playing borderlands I rushed back to linux (windows makes me feel dirty lol) and played around with TPS some more. I switched to a single monitor and ran the game at 1920x1080 and still struggled to hold 50-60fps. So the game is not "on par" with windows no matter what they say.

I know Linux is fragmented with so many distros.. but like I said before, if Linux is going to be taken seriously as a platform for gaming, the support responses need a bit of tweaking I think. I'm NOT going to run Ubuntu and I'm not going to run SteamOS. Honestly, if the attitude towards other distros from the support people doesn't get better than "You're not running Ubuntu/SteamOS, sorry I can't help you" then I am going to be far more inclined to not help them by purchasing their games... BL2/TPS on linux already doesn't require steam to run.. I've run it without steam running. Take that for what you will.

I'm still grateful we are getting these great games and hopefully once things are using more native engines (UE3 was/is not native by default) we will see performance get more on par with their windows counterparts.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Released For Linux With An Explosive Trailer!
15 Oct 2014 at 4:52 am UTC Likes: 1

I loved the first and thought most of the changes in the 2nd were for the better, but not all. My BL buddy and I got to play about 4 hours of the new one tonight. I still love the shoot and loot RPG-ish play, but the humor so far is not up to snuff IMO. Also I'm feeling there is a lack of "catch-a-rides" in key places. I'd say we wasted an hour-ish bouncing around the moon going from point A to point B even after having vehicles available because one wasn't available after switching "maps". It might just be early in the game too.. we shall see.

I'm not sure yet if I just don't get the Aussie humor, or if it's just that bad. For example, one of Jack's early one liners -> "Son of a taint". Really?? Does taint mean something different to Aussies than it means to an American? if not.. hmm.. yea.. uninspired to say the least.

Putting it bluntly.. I play borderlands stoned, and usually when on a first play through of a borderlands game, especially in the beginning we are laughing our arses off. Was not the case tonight sadly. Not that there were not some laughs, but not like I remember. I'm not ready to put down my final $0.02 on the game yet. Just my observations so far. We will finish it, but I don't know if there will be 2nd and 3rd play throughs like we have done with the last 2 games. Only time will tell I suppose, hoping the game is just a bit slow to start.

I have been actively avoiding any reviews on it because I don't want to be swayed by them since I have not made up my own mind yet, but to those of you who have read some of them have they generally been positive?

Raven's Cry, The Open-world Action RPG Has A New Release Date
14 Oct 2014 at 10:54 pm UTC

It looks promising. The graphics are good enough from what I can tell but For $50(US) the game play mechanics and story will need to be darn good though. I've added it it to my wishlist. Hopefully they deliver I think I would like this a lot. Can't say i've played an action RPG based on pirates before.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Released For Linux With An Explosive Trailer!
14 Oct 2014 at 7:56 pm UTC

Quoting: BeamboomDo you experience the same in other games too (especially games built on the Unreal engine)? Just for the sake of testing, could you install Gnome-shell and try it there? I got a feeling this is related to XFCE but it would be interesting to get confirmed.
Yep I've had a bunch of issues with unreal3 games. I've usually just worked around them. And you were correct. It works in gnome. I used classic but it doesnt matter. Gnomes mutter WM handles it properly. Sadly though the performance is just not good. 25-30fps. Same as BL2. I think I have discovered why too.

I found the logs in ~/.local/share/aspyr-media/borderlands the pre-sequel/willowgame/logs/ and right there at the top of the log is the line "Log: Command line: -resx=5760 -resy=1080 -ONETHREAD -FULLSCREEN"

-OneThread - Force single threaded game (no separate rendering thread). <-- what I found on the webs

I did not add -ONETHREAD it's being forced for linux. It's now no wonder why the performance in these games are not up to par. That needs to be addressed and soon. The win version is not launched with that option. Yes.. I loaded it up in windows.. Im not going to play this at less than half the FPS just because I would prefer to play in Linux. I could deal with no PhysX if it ran like it should, but a single thread is just not enough to feed my GPUs to handle my resolution.

According to nvidia-settings while running the game my gpu utilization for each gpu is about 30% and the single thread is at 100%, 100% of the time.. Coincidently, in windows utilization is at around 65% per GPU (about twice) with multiple threads going crazy and it runs 60 fps.. basically twice what Linux does.

I am a bit disappointed in Aspyr. I honestly can't believe they have limited it to a single thread. I would like to know why.

When I brought the mouse and KB problem up with Aspyr's support the answer was basically "yea, you have a rare configuration and the linux version doesn't support that. Sorry"

I get that.. it's a PR cop out.. but I get it I guess. How is this platform ever going to be taken seriously if that is going to be the answer to things though.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Released For Linux With An Explosive Trailer!
14 Oct 2014 at 7:37 am UTC

Quoting: abelthornehttp://support.aspyr.com [External Link]
You'll have to create an account and open a ticket for the game. When filing the bug report, it'll ask you which platform you use.
Ill create a ticket when I get off work tomorrow. thanks

Quoting: abelthorneBTW, which desktop environment are you using? Are you playing the game on real fullscreen and fullscreen window (note that I have checked if BL2 or BLPS manage both)?
I'm an odd case running 3 monitors and gaming @ 5760x1080. In XFCE it launches and I can click the mouse to skip all the into vids but once I get to the menu it's just unresponsive to kb/m. In BL2 I was able to bring up the Steam overlay with shift+tab and then tab out of BL2 and back and was good to go. With TPS it locks up when I try to do this. I would just run in a window but for some reason both games windowed at 5760x1080 doesn't produce a full 5760x1080 window and I'm left with being able to see about 1/2"-ish of my desktop all around the window =/

With just openbox it launches to a black screen and freezes when run full screen and it does the same thing as XFCE when ran in a window.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Released For Linux With An Explosive Trailer!
14 Oct 2014 at 6:34 am UTC

I am unfortunately running into the same problem with the game not grabbing the mouse and keyboard as I was with BL2, but my workaround isn't working with this one =(

Anyone know where to post linux bug reports? I don't see a forum on Aspyr's site. This isn't a game I can wait to work for me in linux =( if I can't figure a way around this bug ill have to goto windows =/ It's late so I'll try some more tomorrow.

Quoting: liamdaweExcellent. *loads up steam to see it is region locked for a few days*....*sigh*

That makes no sense, why region lock in the age of digital releases. This long stupid tradition really irks me.

See you in a few days when it unlocks for the UK...
On the bright side hopefully the little things are fixed by then. You could also use a VPN if you were feeling adventurous. Apparently a bunch here in the US were using a korean VPN to get in early, though I'm sure Valve/Steam frowns upon this.

Nvidia GPU-Accelerated PhysX Now Available On Linux
13 Oct 2014 at 11:22 pm UTC Likes: 3

On a COMPLETELY positive note! Who else is barely holding on to the edge of their seats waiting for the first truly AAA title to release on "ALL" PC platforms TOGETHER on DAY 1!!?!?! I AM.. the clock is moving WAYYYYY tooooo slow!

If GPU PhysX is even working on day 1 in Linux for Borderlands:TPS.. well.. I don't even know.. I may strip down to my socks and run around my neighborhood in my bday suit. I'm trying NOT to hold my breath... but GPU PhysX for Linux gets announced on the same day one of PhysX flagship franchises is coming to Linux on day 1. Coincidence? I HOPE NOT!

Nvidia GPU-Accelerated PhysX Now Available On Linux
13 Oct 2014 at 10:56 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Armand RaynalHum, i meant, closed source to protect the creation of games developpers, ok, I can accept it. But closed source for monopolistic strategy on the hardware market, either on windows or GNU/linux it bother me.
It sucks, but that IS the way things are. AMD is a much better company compared to Nvidia when it comes to not locking things to their hardware.. but their hardware isn't as good. Not calling it bad.. just not as good (unless we are talking OpenCL). I wouldn't even call it a monopolistic move either, they let others use it, it's just locked to the CPU (EDIT* its not even locked to it, non Nvidia GPUs just lack Nvidia's CUDA which PhysX uses). AMD's TressFX runs much better on their GPUs than it does on Nvidia's. I don't complain, I just turned it off in the latest Tomb Raider.

Like I've said before there are not many games that use it, but if those games that do use it are coming to Linux then I would like it to work. The same goes if I were an AMD gpu user.. I would want TressFX to work as well. We should be GREATFULL we are getting what we are getting games wise right now.. no matter what tech they have in them. I am POSITIVE of this though, a developer is not going to strip out PhysX and put in Havok or Bullet because those are less proprietary and monopolistic just to appease the purists.

Quoting: DiogoSDExactly, if closed software is needed better use Windows anyway.
Just curious because you are here, did you compile all of the games you play on linux from their legally available source code? Or at the very least is the COMPLETE source code available for those games? If so then kudos to you! If not then I have some "bad" news for you..

EDIT* I wasn't going to go here.. but meh. So you are saying that I should "just use windows" because I NEED the proprietary Nvidia drivers to run Linux on my system? (Nouveau DOES NOT work just to be clear)

Nvidia GPU-Accelerated PhysX Now Available On Linux
13 Oct 2014 at 9:03 pm UTC Likes: 6

Quoting: Armand RaynalI wonder how some people can love GNU/linux and be happy to see soft like physX appear on it.
Because even if we don't like closed standards, the other more used platforms don't care and if a developer decides to use PhysX I want it to work as it's suppose to. I don't care if a game uses PhysX or another more open physics engine like Havok or Bullet. What I care about is that there are games coming to Linux NOW that were already programed to use it and we have been limited in it's implementation due to not having GPU enabled PhysX. I DO have the hardware for it, so I would like it to work.

PhysX isn't used a ton, but when you are accustomed to having it in a game such as Borderlands 2 and that game comes to Linux missing it, it's noticeable and missed. Not all games even use it to an extent that not having it makes much/if any noticeable difference. The Borderlands franchise is not one of those though. Could be why even with low PhysX in Borderlands 2 on Linux it is not up to snuff performance wise (in my case) compared to windows where it offloads all the PhysX to my 1st and/or 2nd GPU.

I'm all for open standards, but we are talking about gaming here... unless you ONLY play open source games, it's all closed off and proprietary. I think it would be great to run the Nouveau drivers too, but it's not really an option for an Nvidia gamer on linux and I don't consider AMD/ATI even a remote possibility personally. I run AMD processors, but their GPU's just are not up to snuff IMO. Even if they kind of compete on a benchmark level their TDP's and heat output are off the charts. It's not a good sign when you start having to ship your GPU's with a built in water cooling solution. Should that ever change I may consider it.. but I'm not seeing it happen anytime soon.

Unity3D Games "Phone Home" With Details Of Your Hardware & Software
13 Oct 2014 at 8:42 pm UTC

Quoting: BeamboomCan't you just do it on the router?
Sure, "I" can do it a multitude of ways. Still requires me to manually figure out what IP/hostname that specific game/application is sending data to though.

I was just curious if there was an easy type solution for the less initiated, or even for myself if I wanted to be lazy ;) For instance I've used ESET in windows for a long time. It's easy just to block access by application either in/out or both. I was just unaware of a solution for linux that worked anywhere near that way. Not everyone who may want to get into gaming on linux will be as willing/able to get their hands dirty like myself or many of the people here.

Quoting: berarmaI recommend Shorewall.
going to look at it for giggles but lacking a gui sort of defeats what I was looking for. I would rather block things at the hosts or even ip tables on my router or locally if I'm going to do manual "leg work" anyways.

In the end I am honestly not worried about stats getting sent to Unity really. Would just like a bit of clarification on WHAT is being sent is all. Is it just basic hardware/distro info like the steams help -> system information? that I am completely A-OK with. What I wouldn't be ok with is info about other machines connected to my network or a list of my NFS connected storage, file lists NOT pertaining EXACTLY to the game in question.. that sort of thing I would consider intrusive and NOT be OK with.