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Latest Comments by skinnyraf
Lutris game manager 0.5.9-beta1 is out adding Epic Games Store support
3 Aug 2021 at 7:57 am UTC

Add FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) option for compatible Wine versions
Does it have a GUI for FSR options, or you do it Proton-style via launch parameters?

Ryan Gordon and Ethan Lee on Proton and the Steam Deck
21 Jul 2021 at 11:11 am UTC Likes: 14

Quoting: GuestNative Versions are always better and how thing are going i think we will see less and less native ports since why bother when we have Proton right?
Native versions (i.e. software developed as multiplatform from the start and readied for Linux and Windows at the same time) yes. Ports - not necessarily. Late releases, poor performance, lack of cross-platform, dropped support forcing people to switch to Windows builds anyway - they all exist.

Ryan Gordon and Ethan Lee on Proton and the Steam Deck
21 Jul 2021 at 10:14 am UTC Likes: 19

Valve learned from the Steam Machines fiasco. The success of Steam Machines depended on native ports, few of which materialized. Additionally many Linux ports either did not have cross-play with Windows, or cross-play was broken when the Windows version was updated while the Linux port lagged behind. Finally, several ports were released much later than the Windows version.

So it seems that this time Valve does not want this dependency. They control Proton, they work with Wine developers, so if something breaks, they can fix it themselves. Thus this time the message to developers is not to develop for Linux, but to ensure that their games use Proton-friendly technology (especially Vulkan) and Valve would take care of the rest.

VR is absolutely insane, I am officially a convert and it works mostly great on Linux
10 May 2021 at 11:26 am UTC

It's great to see another convert, welcome :)

"High price" for VR is a simplification. There are options to make it affordable, but with two huge obstacles for Linux users: Windows only (or a standalone proprietary solution) and selling your soul to Facebook. Yes, Quest 2 is like $300. That's a cost of a mid-range phone. Getting it to play PC games requires a fast PC, which bumps the cost significantly, though most of available games are happy on last gen PCs (5700 or 16xx/20xx card works fine). I hope for the progress of ALVR on Linux, which should allow to play PCVR games on Linux using standalone VR headsets (e.g. Quest 2), as these headsets do all the heavy-lifting.

For me the biggest issue is convenience. Clearing up the space before each gaming session (I have three children), unwinding the cables and, in case of Vive/Index, firing up the lighthouses is just the beginning. Whatever happens in the house when you're playing, requires you to remove and put away the headset and the controllers, rather than just pausing the game you're playing.

That said, VR is transformative. It's absurd how easily our brains are tricked into believing we are there. I really hope for a mid-range wireless (or standalone) headset with inside-out tracking and Linux support.

Quoting: Rooster
Quoting: Horibut then again, PC gaming in general is expensive, so...
That's only true if you want to limit yourself to the newest AAA games which I don't know why you would, since AAA games have been going downhill for a good few years now.
Original VR requirements include GTX 970 or equivalent. People comfortably play in VR using GTX 1060 or equivalent. 1660 Ti/2060 or 5700/5700 XT should be fine for most games. The challenge is that such configurations are tuned to the first gen of headsets, so they won't utilise e.g. Index fully.

Morrowind lives on with a major new OpenMW release out
15 Jun 2020 at 12:49 pm UTC Likes: 3

The best TES game for me. I might revisit it just because of the new OpenMW version.

Denuvo Anti-Cheat to support Steam Play Proton, being removed from DOOM Eternal
21 May 2020 at 9:20 am UTC Likes: 5

Wow, just wow.

I mean, a kernel-level anti-cheat is still essentially a rootkit, whether it supports Proton or not, but it is nice to see that we are noticed.

Mike Shapiro drops a cryptic message from G-Man for the upcoming Half-Life: Alyx
3 Jan 2020 at 12:15 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: WorMzyI was excited for Alyx, until it was confirmed that it is a VR exclusive. Hopefully poor sales will prompt them to revise that decision and release a more accessible version of the game.
Superhot VR (a 2016 game) generated $2 milion in sales over Christmas. Boneworks (almost a playground for HL: Alyx, just with worse story, than I'd expect from Valve) scored $3 milion in the first week after it launched. Sure, it's nothing compared with behemoths like The Witcher 3, but nothing to snark at either. For comparison, No Man's Sky saw $43m in the first year after release.

And anyway, the game is a hardware seller and a quite good one, considering the ramp-up of sales of Index and both "big" Oculus flavours.

Build a transportation empire with Transport Fever 2 out now, same-day support for Linux
12 Dec 2019 at 9:11 am UTC

As far as I remember, the only game I have ever pre-ordered. I haven't played much yet (2 hrs?), but I like what I saw so far.

Another Steam Beta is out, updates the Linux Runtime to help Steam Play Proton
12 Dec 2019 at 9:10 am UTC

Quoting: KimyrielleFamily sharing is the most useless feature in Steam, honestly. You'd expect it to lock only the game somebody is using, but it locks the entire library. So if my daughter is playing any Steam game, I can't use my entire library as long as she's playing. Might as well let her use my computer in the first place. *rolleyes*
The only true reason is, where games support it, separation of saves and achievements. It is especially obvious in single-save games, or games without saves but with level unlocking. Other case: games with strong online social aspect, like leader boards and such.

And having two or more gaming PCs, i.e. the only case when the limitation matters, is not that common. I have two PCs and we solved it an easy way: we buy each game - or I gift a game - to the account of a person who will play it the most. So, my son owns Slime Rancher, though I play it too.

The big Steam Autumn Sale is now live, time to nominate for the Steam Awards
27 Nov 2019 at 7:23 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: The_Aquabatlike everytime a sale starts the store is having troubles loading the pages, as always!! geez when are you going to fix this, valve?
They probably see traffic increased like tenfold or something, 3-4 times a year. I think they considered the cost needed to fix it and simply accepted the issue as an inconvenience that customers can live with.