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Latest Comments by slaapliedje
inXile will be 'all hands are on deck' to get the Linux version of The Bard's Tale IV out as soon as possible
19 Sep 2018 at 6:43 am UTC

Ha, I actually think I ordered a copy... with the intention of tracking down packaged versions of the originals to have a set... then saw the price of them on eBay. Ouch!

Edit: Weird, was thinking of getting the Amiga versions, but the boxes for them are completely different than all the old style gray boxes that came out for the C64, Apple II+ and PC.

Valve have updated the Beta of Steam Play which fixes VR games, fullscreen improvements and more
15 Sep 2018 at 10:55 pm UTC Likes: 1

Just tried out some Hotdogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades. Works flawlessly!

Forsaken Remastered adds Vulkan support to the Linux version
14 Sep 2018 at 5:34 pm UTC

Quoting: Phlebiac
Quoting: PublicNuisanceIf they can add Vulkan to this old game
As I understand it, they completely replaced the engine for this game and the two Turok games (they may not even have the old source code?). So they didn't add Vulkan to the old game, they added Vulkan to their new engine that was made compatible with the data from these old games (similar to how ScummVM runs old games on new operating systems).
Probably closer to some of the enhanced Doom/Quake ports, where they use the same data. Sounds like they even pulled in the levels from the N64 version. But to be fair, it is quite possible they still had source code from at least SOME of the stuff. Icculus of course would be the man to ask.

Would be funny if he just used Dolphin as a wrapper. After all, it supports Vulkan.

P.S. Just remembered, Dolphin is Gamecube/Wii. Mupen64 would be the N64 emulator...

Forsaken Remastered adds Vulkan support to the Linux version
13 Sep 2018 at 5:13 pm UTC

I was trying to play this game last night with the Steam Controller. Definitely need to tweak the sensitivity.. either that or I just suck. :P

Game porter Ethan Lee gives his thoughts on Valve's Steam Play and Proton
13 Sep 2018 at 4:51 pm UTC

Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: slaapliedjeThen you get things like ScummVM which is an interpreter of the original data files, so sort of fits in with what Wine is, but not so much as a compatibility layer as it is like python/perl where it just interprets code.
More like a collection of game engines [External Link] with some shared bits and a launcher UI. Some of the engines are based on original, freed up source code and others reverse engineered. Not much like Wine after all. :)
Ha, yeah that's true I should have said 'engines' it started out as a single engine though, and later on merged projects with others so you could have a unified UI for adventure games.

I put it 'sort of' with Wine, because Wine is a re-implementation of Windows APIs, where as ScummVM is a re-implementation of various game engines. I prefer to think of it as I said, an interpreter of files. One could say Wine does something similar with the same data files, but I wouldn't. Since Wine is at the API layer, ScummVM is at the engine layer. It's more like ports of Doom, where you can use the original Doom WAD files.

Fun note, someone still maintains a port for the Atari ST (though I think it requires a minimum of an 68020?).

Game porter Ethan Lee gives his thoughts on Valve's Steam Play and Proton
12 Sep 2018 at 10:09 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: liamdaweHmmm. https://twitter.com/flibitijibibo/status/1039966308887158784 [External Link] "Just got off the phone... word spreads fast!" - did I just help someone land a job? One can hope.

Also https://twitter.com/flibitijibibo/status/1039968072587722752 [External Link] "No promises yet, we'll see what happens..."

Exciting.
That's hilarious! Who knew that Liam was a job recruiter on the side?

Game porter Ethan Lee gives his thoughts on Valve's Steam Play and Proton
12 Sep 2018 at 7:44 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Purple Library GuyIt's odd . . . one thing this says to me is that the line between "(not) emulation" and "port" is fuzzier than I would have thought. Like, both tend to rely on creating various cross-platform or Linux middleware, generally open source, to duplicate the function of closed Windows-only middleware, so if you improve that replacement middleware it makes porting easier and things like Wine and Proton more effective.
And for that matter, at least in cases where the stuff isn't obsolete, presumably that middleware would become available to future cross-platform game development, making it easier to develop cross-platform in the first place. Multiple wins.
This probably seems obvious to many, but it had never occurred to me before--this article has enlightened me.
Actually it's REALLY simple. Wine is not emulation, as it's still x86 software made to run on a different operating system. Compatibility layer is probably the most accurate term.
Emulation means that the software is recreating functionality of hardware that doesn't exist on the hardware you're running it on (for example, UAE has a Motorola 68k core, which is shared by a few other projects).

Then I can throw in one you didn't mention; FPGA which is a recreation of the old hardware in new configurable hardware.

Then you get things like ScummVM which is an interpreter of the original data files, so sort of fits in with what Wine is, but not so much as a compatibility layer as it is like python/perl where it just interprets code.

At least that's how I look at things. Ports being directly using API/libraries within the operating system natively, vs using layers.

Game porter Ethan Lee gives his thoughts on Valve's Steam Play and Proton
12 Sep 2018 at 6:26 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: DrMcCoy
I've spent a sizable portion of my career getting laughed at by developers when I tell them to take their back catalog seriously, and even customers look at me funny when they see that my AAA contract wishlist is a bunch of old-but-feasible-to-port games
I can really relate to that. I get the same looks when I talk to people about my work for ScummVM, and more recently, xoreos.

Yes, I care about the weird adventure games of an obscure French studio, thank you very much. I care about the that overlooked horror game with art by HR Giger. I care about d20 RPG games. And I wonder why so few do. They're part of our history, our culture, and it would be a shame if they were forgotten.
I never did get around to beating Dark Seed!

Valve have updated the Beta of Steam Play which fixes VR games, fullscreen improvements and more
12 Sep 2018 at 6:17 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: N30N
Quoting: spacemonkeySince the VR should work better I would like to try Everspace. But only the Windows version of Everspace supports VR (the Linux version does not).
So using the `-vr` launch option doesn't work on linux? This is one of the titles that ia tempting me to picking up a headset.
It should work just fine. It's just not officially supported by the dev. You can videos of it working on Linux on YouTube.
Sweet, going to have to remember to give this a try now that I've gotten SteamVR sorted.

Valve have updated the Beta of Steam Play which fixes VR games, fullscreen improvements and more
9 Sep 2018 at 6:03 am UTC

Quoting: Madeanaccounttocomment
Quoting: slaapliedjeNow I really wish I could get gigabit internet...
You also must be some poor sap living in the US.
Sure am. In Utah, we have Google Fiber in the south and Google Fiber in the north. I'm stuck in the middle with crappy speeds.