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Latest Comments by sonic2kk
Squadron 42 finally 'feature complete', CIG talk up Vulkan support for Star Citizen
26 Oct 2023 at 4:32 pm UTC Likes: 4

But, either way, if they do manage to finish up their Vulkan work, it will make running it on Linux hopefully better with Proton since there will be less translation that needs to be done which means it should hopefully be smoother.
Vulkan is direct passthrough with Proton for what it's worth, but other calls will indeed need translation.

I think outside of translation though, the absolute biggest benefit that no one ever mentions with native ports, is that start-up times are faster because there is no need to create, update, or repair a Wine prefix, on top of Wine just generally needing to start itself up.

Star Citizen unfortunately incorporates Easy Anti-Cheat nowadays, so I cannot say I will ever go back to it, but it would be great to see a big release like this with native support. I believe it would set a good precedent.

Diablo be damned, Last Epoch plans to release 1.0 in February, 2024
25 Oct 2023 at 7:40 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: devlandIf not for the quality of the games then just because most others require an internet connection to servers that will eventually be closed.
An excellent point I never even considered, but something which I am wholeheartedly in agreement with. ARPGs are meant to be played solo, they should not require an Internet connection.

Both are also available on GOG, so not only can they be played entirely offline, but also DRM free. I personally prefer the convenience of Steam, but I do occasionally buy games on GOG afterwards and hoard them across a couple of devices, and I may consider doing so particularly for Torchlight II. As far as I'm aware, Steam Workshop content can be loaded onto the GOG release as well by manually grabbing the files (and Torchlight II mods are available elsewhere of course).

In the spirit of offline, DRM-free ARPGs that could be brought to a desert island: Diablo 1 is also on GOG, and is compatible with the various FOSS Diablo engine reimplementations (which also allows for modding support). Fiddling with finding which reimplementation to go with and which mods/tweaks I should use has always been a tad too much work for me so I've never delved too deep, but it's a classic I figured I also ought to mention as it fits this category you brought up well :-)

Diablo be damned, Last Epoch plans to release 1.0 in February, 2024
23 Oct 2023 at 11:57 am UTC Likes: 2

Refunded this one last year, it didn't work properly with native or with Proton. Last I heard both are quite rough. They also enforced some very cumbersome setup to make an account with their online service. I think I spent about an hour in-game with most of that being an attempt to set up an account.

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I'll stick with Torchlight II for my ARPG fix. Grim Dawn, while not native, also sates the urge for something a bit meatier in terms of story.

Vampire Survivors v1.7 is out now with new free content
19 Oct 2023 at 4:16 pm UTC Likes: 2

Oh no, it's going to suck me back in again... Help!

Godot 4.2 beta 1 is out now for testing
13 Oct 2023 at 8:52 pm UTC Likes: 2

> Only a single person merges these PR, so they need to assign a second person to the task.

While I absolutely agree with you that they need more people who can merge, two people at least can merge PRs: Yuri Sizov and Rémi Verschelde. Juan Linietsky likely can also merge PRs, as I believe Rémi and Juan were the main folks behind Godot originally. However I don't think others can, though there are other core reviewers (Hugo Locurcio, Clay John, KoBeWi, A Thousand Ships).

Substantially smaller projects (libGDX, Dolphin Emulator) have at least two people who can merge PRs. I suppose it's difficult as well, as even with all of these reviewers, triage is difficult, and PRs can slip through the cracks.

Not to mention, these team members also have to divide their time between the issue tracker, discussions, godot-proposals, and their own development efforts. I suppose perhaps if I could amend what I said, it is not only about merging, but also helping contributors via review to get their changes approved.

The more capacity Godot has to review & help those contributions into the engine in a quality and timely manner, the better. :smile:

Godot 4.2 beta 1 is out now for testing
13 Oct 2023 at 2:30 pm UTC Likes: 6

Congratulations as always to all Godot contributors and maintainers. I hope the increase in funds allow them to review and merge PRs faster. I've been following Godot on GitHub for close to a decade now, the explosion in contributions has been excellent for the engine, but I get the feeling they just don't have the resources to review and merge all the PRs that come in very timely (some PRs are in limbo for close to a year).

I still firmly believe Godot maintainers are doing their absolute best with the resources they have. Though if folks from Re-Logic and Robot Gentleman are also going to start contributing code directly to the engine along with their donations, I hope they can get more people on board to help with review and getting features merged faster. I believe this is starting to happen, with big features getting prioritized review (such as Android C# and FSR 2.2)

Though I'm not on the camp on the issue tracker that paints this as Godot being a scam (or even a cult [External Link] ) or anything. I'm looking at this through a developer's lens and I can appreciate the challenge of getting features merged, so I hope as Godot continues to grow they can scale well with the increase in financial support.

Terra Nil gets better performance and Linux support
5 Oct 2023 at 6:30 pm UTC Likes: 3

This is made by Free Lives, who also made the excellent Broforce, which has great Linux support. That doesn't automatically mean this game is good or similar, but something to keep in mind for those conscious of supporting/promoting Linux-friendly developers.

Steam Beta and VR updated, 'it's now safe to take off your headset' - Valve
4 Oct 2023 at 2:22 pm UTC Likes: 2

I would love an Index, but I don't think I have enough space in any room in my home for it, let alone the room with my PC. Aside from the cost, the required play area for VR is the main prohibitive factor for me.

Having said that, I will still probably end up getting the Deckard...

Epic Games sheds 830 people due to 'spending way more money than we earn'
30 Sep 2023 at 1:35 am UTC Likes: 3

I hate seeing good developers lose their jobs, but I'll never be sad about Epic hemorrhaging money. The end for them can't come soon enough, though I have a suspicion Microsoft will swoop in and buy them if it comes to that. Maybe though, if the "metaverse" nonsense and dead-end lawsuits they keep filing against Apple hurt them badly enough, Microsoft will stay away.

The good news out of all of this is that I can re-create a Bandcamp account and start buying music again, once Epic finish selling it off.

Dwarf Fortress on Steam now officially available for Linux
20 Sep 2023 at 2:06 pm UTC Likes: 3

Just a small update to my previous comment: Dwarf Fortress will now automatically download the native Linux release. At the time of my comment, the store page did not even list Linux+SteamOS as a supported platform, so I assume this change just took a little while to propagate.

The correct version should now be downloaded with or without the Steam Linux Runtime. Disabling the the forced Steam Linux Runtime compatibility tool won't re-download the game either, so you can safely disable it. If you have any issues with the native port, you can always switch back to using the Steam Linux Runtime. :smile: