Quoting: scaine…Shmerl's DRM-only stance is the 1% of the 1%.

Actually, closer to 10% of 1%.

Quoting: scaineI might be wrong of course. Just my experience of years of GOL and Reddit - most people on these sites tend to want games, not ideals. In fact, there's the tendency to go the other way - many buying Windows games to play on wine or dual-boot, or buying from potentially non-Linux bundle sites like BundleStars Fanatical. Those guys just want their games, have no interest in "furthering the Linux cause".

There are, fundamentally, two groups of people using Dual-boot:
1) those who in the process of migration to Linux (and using their already owned pre-Linux games);
2) those who are playing pretend to be a Linux user but can't possibly afford missing on a new shiny AAAAAAAA title of the summer.

The first group is essential and we must provide them as much comfort for migrating to Linux as possible, and this includes development of WINE and advises for troubleshooting.
The second group of Linux-wannabees is essentially hurting itself. I'd suggest them sticking with Windows and not torturing themselves with technology they have no use. After all, that way won't be any hard feelings and "Waaaa, Linax suuucks it dont even runs my Wachdoogs total garbage dont recommend this POS!!!!!1111" on the forums and YouTube™.

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Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI was trying to install the Windows DRMFREE version on wine staging 2.19 64 bit...

You are using GOG's graphical adware-ridden installer. Long story short, due to buggy plugin GOG used to add ads to InnoSetup installer, it hangs sometime after the launch.

Try using default InnoSetup interface. Just add "/nogui" option in the command line like this:
$ wine gog_something_good_1.exe /nogui

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Quoting: jensMy view.

Yes, totally valid POV.
I'll just correct some points.

1). I never said that "technical superiority" is the only requirement.
I/m too lazy searching my old posts on the matter, but in a nutshell, we need: a) Linux-oriented education system (yes, firs we need to overcome that "duckling syndrome" ), b) extensive marketing (yes, Linux icon should be right there, at promotional trailers to games at day-1, articles and video at IGN and other video gaming sites, not just some port half a year later at some obscure Linux-oriented site only linuxoids read) and c) quality product (after all, why have all the trouble of switching to Linux when Windows™ can do all the same faster, better and cheaper?).

2).
[quote=jens]…performance issues will be resolved over time cause of newer hardware./quote]
By the time the performance issues will be effectively squashed by availability of more powerfull HW the hype train will be long gone. Do you want to be that hero of XKCD? If I were Windows user experimenting on Linux, I'd sure be pissed off. "Just get more powerful hardware" or "just wait X years" are no answers. The typical Windows-Joe does not have GTX 1080Ti, (s)he uses crappy laptop with integrated GPU and wants to play cool games now.

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Quoting: ShmerlFeral ports in theory can have an advantage of translating D3D11 into Vulkan so that can squeeze some more performance.

Well, it seems not everyone has the same mindset.
It is hard to tell for sure, but if that "feral-port" still has to implement and emulate virtual DirectX machine, the only hope for performance boost is to: a) be better on system and I/O levels (Linux vs. NTOSKRNL.EXE competition) and b) hope that this added emulation will be as thin and transparent as possible ("slim" Vulkan instead of "bulky" OpenGL can help with that).

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Quoting: ShmerltoGL is open source for the reference (MIT): https://github.com/ValveSoftware/ToGL

It's not that useful these days, since it's limited to D3D9.

Oh! Nice. But I agree, nowadays WINE supports D3D9 quite nicely. And… toGL doesn't seem to be in any sort of development.

BTW, does anybody know how Aspyr's wrapper is called?

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Quoting: Shmerl…I prefer the work of CodeWeavers and Wine developers to the work of Feral and the like.

There is no way I could agree more!!! Now we have 3 competing proprietary "reinvented bicycles" (toGL, indirectX, eON) which sometimes are humiliated by WINE performance being better than "native" ports. The day WINE starts to support DirectX 11 in full will signal the extinction of "ferals".

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Quoting: jens…it would be a nice gesture if you would answer my question.

Yes, it would be. :)

Sorry, this excessive politeness is kinda funny. Now, onto the question itself.

Quoting: jensThen why and on what grounds are you stating in public that the work from Feral or Aspyr is "of outrageous quality"?

The reasoning is quite simple. Porters such as Virtual Programming (hello, "The Witcher 2" ), Aspyr (hello, "Observer" ) and Feral (hello, "Tomb Raider 2013" ) generally do ports that:

• are late (sometimes several years after initial release);


• have reduced performance compared to Windows™ originals;


• lack certain graphical features (again, compared to original);


• do not support some hardware (typically AMD or Intel cards) on Linux while Windows™ originals have no problems with that.

I don't know, maybe you are living in the land of happy penguins where nobody is a Windows user or saw performance of the originals, but where I live literally everyone besides me is a rabid Windows user. And YouTube shows the same trend. To counter this we need to persuade these uses Linux is better than Windows™.

Now, if Feral and Co. ported some TBS, of Visual Novels, nobody would notice 40% difference in performance. But they are porting shooters and racing games, the most demanding genres! And they have the audacity (due to the caliber of the titles) to represent Linux gaming in general among less savvy audience and are making Linux basically a laughing stock of gaming!

Don't take me wrong, I'm not against porters. Ethan Lee, Ryan Gordon and other competent porters are heroes: they are reworking game engines, basically tearing them apart and resurrecting from the ashes, making games better than on Windows (see FNA project). We need more "Faster Zombies" from Valve, we need examples of gaming on Linux is better than on Windows. No matter the rationale, we do not need poor "Feral-ports"! Nobody cares whether it is "indirectX", "toGL", "eON" or some other wrapper. If [the game does not support AMD cards, it is not OK](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/cyberpunk-horror-game-observer-releases-for-linux-today-no-amd-support-at-release.10599). If the port [lacks functionality, it is not OK (see the description)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojKC5kXopCs). If the performance is bad, it is bad. End of story.

It has nothing to do with Steam, it is about quality. We don't need the constant stream or rushed ports of yesterday's blockbusters. We need examples of Linux superiority.

That is what personally I firmly believe.

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Quoting: jensI'll offer my apologies if I understood that original comment wrongly.

Rest assured, you've understood my comment just right. :) No need for apologies.

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Quoting: jensMay I ask how many Feral/Aspyr ports you have actually played to make such a bold statement?

You may. :)

…

OK, OK. I will not hide behind formal response and answer your true question.
Just FYI, I have none. And neither will have one at that rate. Yes, there is one exception (as was stated): "Layers of Fear" on GOG which does not interest me in the slightest. And as for Observer, Aspyr stated that "unfortunately, the game uses Steam connection to go to the title screen"! That is their reasoning to tie the game to Steam.

UPDATE: Actually, there is a movement! Developers said:

QuoteWorking on it!

regarding Linux version on GOG. We shall see…

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Quoting: AudiSee message below.

The difference is the Nvidia driver versions. Your video demo, they are using 384.90. Here, Liam was using the newer 387.22.

Feral has made a statement (read it on Phoronix), that the 387 has a regression. So, I would not be taking these numbers here into consideration. The performance is actually much better & closer to Windows.

Hmm…
Much better! That is at least acceptable, albeit Vulkan should be better than DirectX 11 (after all that is what it was invented for) and not worse.

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