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Latest Comments by const
There's a new Godot Engine addon to simplify testing on Steam Deck
19 Feb 2024 at 10:34 pm UTC

Is there a central place to find such addons?

Paradox confirm no Linux support for Prison Architect 2 but investigating Steam Deck
15 Feb 2024 at 10:54 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: STiATI think a middle ground would be good.

I don't mind playing on proton/dxvk, it's a stack to build on for Linux, I don't see it as more or less than that. I even switched to that for titles which actually do have native linux support since the native linux versions are so badly optimized and the games just run better on proton/dxvk.

I think they should consider actually supporting Proton/dxvk for their desktop builds and steam deck, that would be a middle ground I'd like to see.

I think the time for native builds is certainly over. DXVK got too good for that, and we have to give kudos to Philip Rebohle, Joshua-Ashton and all the other contributors for that. And Valve for sponsoring that work.

Most of the times I have issues with games it's rather proton related than dxvk related.

And proton/dxvk/steam runtime is a lot less volatile and diverse than the current linux world, so it makes sense.
I don't think the time for native builds is over. A well done native build, linked against a stable runtime, can perform much better then a proton version. What we don't need any more are lazy 3rd party ports with proprietary middle layers and ending support contracts. These have not aged well and were replaced by Proton.

Paradox confirm no Linux support for Prison Architect 2 but investigating Steam Deck
14 Feb 2024 at 9:03 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Kimyrielle...
Agree with everything you say. I don't really miss Feral nor Aspyr as their middleware was adequately replaced by an open source software, supported by Valve. And I'd argue Valves support is far better since they aren't bound to contracts ending, like what happened to many of these ports.
Native games with first class customer support and outsourced ports are two entirely different things, let's hope we will at some point be enough to count for that.

Paradox confirm no Linux support for Prison Architect 2 but investigating Steam Deck
14 Feb 2024 at 6:08 pm UTC Likes: 7

With every post like this someone comes out pretending everything was great before Proton arrived. Incredible. Look at Devolver Digital Releases, one of the most Linux friendly publishers:
2012: 1/2 (50%)
2013: 5/8 (63%)
2014: 7/12 (58%)
2015: 9/13 (69%)
2016: 6/7 (85%)
2017: 10/15 (66%)
2018: 4/11 (36%)

I guess you could write a thesis about the topic, yet I remember the panic we had after Steam Machines had flopped. We got a lot of ports 2015 and 2016, 2017 AAA releases had already declined and in 2018 even the indies jumped of the boat.
The Linux gaming community was heavily stressed out by then. Aspyr had already pretty much jumped of the boat, Feral released iteration after iteration of the same game series, Humble was sold to IGN and had dropped all Linux requirements. Proton and SteamDeck didn't bring us Ports like the SteamMachines did, but without either of those, there would be no Linux gaming community to speak of.

The new Skate from EA will be coming to Steam
6 Feb 2024 at 11:57 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: tpau
Quoting: CalinouEA app isn't DRM-free (just like Ubisoft Connect). This means Heroic developers would have to bypass it somehow, which is unlikely to happen for many reasons.
What does DRM mean other than the game, launcher and Webservers talk with one another to see if you own the game and are allowed to start it?
It does not have to be bypassed, as that would be piracy, it has to be replicated like login and downloading.
Never do anything the original wouldn't do or you are getting into trouble with their owners, like ea in this case.
Replicating a proprietary and potentially encrypted communication protocol that could change any time is a horrible task. Imagine you spend weeks on it, it works, news gets out and they simply roll out some minor changes that break everything, again and again. They want us to use their launchers because they profit from them.

Linux remains above macOS on the Steam Survey for January 2024
2 Feb 2024 at 4:40 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: constMy take on some of the arguments here:

1. Chromebooks are pretty much an US thing. I know no one who owns a Chromebook here in Germany and when I looked for their prices, I know why. You get a pretty good Business Laptop for the price of a cheap tablet with a bad keyboard.

2. Not so sure about the Appstore. I can see that for single player titles, but for multiplayer? I really don't know. My guess is Apple Users tend to prefer console gaming.
Chromebooks are quite popular to hand out in schools here in Sweden.
Yes, they exist and are sold. I know that. Still, people living in certain regions might overestimate their impact. While around 30% of Laptops in the US are Chromebooks, it's 2% in Europe and close to zero in Asia. Current installations don't really matter either, since most of them are made to handle not much more then a browser. Yes, as Google opens up ChromeOS, beefier Chromebooks are sure to come, but chances they'll be popular here in Europe are much worse then in the US, where they are actually a trademark.

Linux remains above macOS on the Steam Survey for January 2024
2 Feb 2024 at 4:31 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: EikeThe linear approximation to the curve really needs to be split into two parts! (somewhere in 2021?)

... or the software could come up with something non-linear?
Why?
Because the linear approximation systematically overestimates all of the oldest points and underestimates all of the youngest points (except a single one we would attribute to some measurement error, probably located in the far east). The line doesn't fit, and this not in a "jumpy" way (as to be to be expected), but in a systematical way. The curve to be approximated isn't linear, at least not over the whole time.

So we could either try two linear curves, or some curve with a slope (slightly) increasing over time.
Sadly, even the current trend-line is a Chart JS plugin, as it doesn't support trend lines at all.

Maybe I should look for one that does it better...
Or just split the DataSet in Pre/Post SteamDeck announcement :D

Linux remains above macOS on the Steam Survey for January 2024
2 Feb 2024 at 1:22 pm UTC

My take on some of the arguments here:

1. Chromebooks are pretty much an US thing. I know no one who owns a Chromebook here in Germany and when I looked for their prices, I know why. You get a pretty good Business Laptop for the price of a cheap tablet with a bad keyboard.

2. Not so sure about the Appstore. I can see that for single player titles, but for multiplayer? I really don't know. My guess is Apple Users tend to prefer console gaming.

Relaxing settlement builder with simulated citizens Folklands now has a demo
27 Jan 2024 at 1:19 pm UTC

I'd really like to play a good city builder on the Deck. Did any of you have a good experience with one in portable mode?

AYANEO NEXT LITE no longer ships with SteamOS-like HoloISO Linux - Windows 11 instead
27 Jan 2024 at 10:09 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: elmapuli wonder if aya really planned to ship devices with linux or that was just their way of negotiating an better deal with microsoft.
The thing with megacorporations like MS is that any business negotiation with them is likely to be very one-sided. Ayaneo has no bargaining power to speak of.
While it's entirely possible that MS intervened, it's also entirely possible someone at AYANEO itself took the decision. Could be malice, could be incompetence, could be branding related. Maybe someone at Aya took the rumbling about the HoloOS revelation as a sign they can't just brand the device with SteamOS and pulled the plug. I could actually understand that if they put their hopes in the SteamOS branding. Who would want a Handheld that relies on a community developed distribution beeing customized by a chinese manufacturer that has no history with Linux support at all. If it was official SteamOS, that's entirely different situation.
So I wouldn't count out non-Valve Linux handhelds just yet. Valve needs to release SteamOS to the public and build up a upstreaming and QE System to protect the brand. That would have serious impact.