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Latest Comments by Linuxwarper
Valheim still growing with 4 million sales, hits top 5 of most played games on Steam ever
6 Mar 2021 at 12:51 am UTC

Great to see a native game succeed to this big degree. Something to keep in mind, that the less success developers have the more they depend on other tech companies. Which gives leeway for Microsoft to influence these "vulnerable" developers to use their tech. Beyond that the game looks fresh, far more so than Valhala if you ask me.

The next AMD RDNA 2 card revealed with the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
5 Mar 2021 at 4:00 pm UTC

$80 more for inferior RT
Quoting: TheSHEEEPAnother GPU you can buy at the low price of 400% of whatever it actually should be.

It's really crazy out there, just had a look at what a RX 6800 would cost. Easily 3x the official price...
Heres to Intel disrupting the market insert_beer.

Valve help developers into adding more controller support with new stats
25 Feb 2021 at 10:06 pm UTC Likes: 1

Holding out for Steam controller 2. Is there any hope for that to happen? Last I read was about patents but according to the post it was old and didn't indicate it was being developed.

Valve launch a Beta for Remote Play Together - Invite Anyone, no Steam account needed
25 Feb 2021 at 9:59 pm UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: jrtI think optional Game streaming can be a good thing (for example to bridge the time with GPU shortages)
Game streaming as a option is undoubtedly a great thing! Noone can dispute that. With streaming you can buy a slim and cheap laptop and still be able to play major games. The issue with streaming is actors trying to monopolize it and tell you how and where to stream your games. Not unlike what Microsoft is doing with local releases. I hope Valve's streaming becomes better and better because I sure want them to succeed knowing their streaming option is one that gives you the most flexibility as of right now.

GTA III and Vice City get reverse engineered with a new game engine
18 Feb 2021 at 6:19 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: wvstolzingAre they planning to do that?
I don't know I just find that raytracing in older games is a great use case.

Metro Exodus still due on Linux this year, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition announced
18 Feb 2021 at 6:16 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: ShmerlThat's interesting. I haven't heard anything about TW3 EE. Did Saber also work on TW3 for Stadia? If they did, it could mean they could use Vulkan for EE too. But they'll be stuck with DX12 for ray tracing on Xbox anyway.
There is no info about that but I would be shocked if anyone else got the job other than Saber. They have done 4K and Switch release too, and CDPR's reasoning for giving them the EE job is because Saber is familiar with game's code. Furthermore Saber are one of prominent devs using Vulkan, which I don't need to explicitely say why is important for Stadia.

EE will be another opportunity for CDPR to show their quality. They should mandate Saber to use Vulkan. If Saber uses DX12, which I bet they will, it will be another failure to meet our hopes. I'd like to think it's important for Microsoft to ensure early waves of RT development is focused on DXR, anything else after the tech has been normalized will have higher likelihood of defaulting to DX12. EE will likely be released before Metro Exodus.

People are so hooked up on native vs Proton, that they are forgetting Vulkan adoption. Vulkan seems to have lost, and it seems to me the API is going to lose even on it's own terf (i.e with developers who use it). World War Z and Crysis Remaster by Saber was with Vulkan. At very least we should expect Vulkan renderer. But if we don't see even that I would bet alot that Microsoft had a hand in that.

GTA III and Vice City get reverse engineered with a new game engine
17 Feb 2021 at 11:48 pm UTC Likes: 1

Now add raytracing and it will be even better.

Metro Exodus still due on Linux this year, Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition announced
17 Feb 2021 at 11:33 pm UTC Likes: 3

Both GOG and Steam are good places to buy from. Steam and GOG both have DRM free games, with bigger emphasis on it on GOG. Steam, although it requires certain software, is an asset to Linux platform because Valve is contributing alot. You can't go wrong either way. Remember guys if GOG goes down, that will be a big hit to DRM free future of PC platform. Yes, Steam and EGS does have DRM free games too but GOG is more aggressive, and that's what we need.

On topic: I doubt we will see RT. There are four notable developers that could help Linux. CDPR, Id Software, Saber interactive and Deep Silver. CDPR went with DX12. Id Software is now employees of Microsoft. There were alot headlines about Doom Eternal planning to have RT and it will be a technical marvel, but almost a year later and it's still not here. So be on lookout for when it finally arrives, it will be on DX12 first and foremost and Vulkan implementation is poised to become an afterthought. That leaves Saber interactive and Deep Silver, Metro release was DX12. In blogpost they use the word "Ultimate" when talking about raytracing, same as DX12 Ultimate. Coincedence? Highly possible, but I wouldn't be surprised if the developer used that word subconcsiously because DX12 Ultimate.

That leaves Saber interactive, who are currently developing Witcher 3 enhanced edition for CDPR. Enhanced edition is said to bring raytracing among other things. Witcher 3 is using DX11. Despite Saber using Vulkan for World War Z and Crysis Remaster, it's not certain W3EE will use Vulkan. So potential supporters of RT for Linux has been largely eliminated by Microsoft. And that ladies and gentlemen is how you stop momentum.

Steam Play Proton 5.13-6 is now officially out
16 Feb 2021 at 1:43 am UTC

Quoting: Liam DaweAnd I'll say for the record again, if everything about Linux gaming ends up relying entirely on Proton and we never see any other kind of "support", then this as a website becomes pointless and I'll just up and quit.
There is strength in numbers. I don't know at what percentage Linux release will be worth it for companies. And by worth it, I mean providing Linux release outweighs making more content for game that would be Windows only. But It would be very strange that if Linux did reach more than five percent market share, that Linux gamers would still be content with playing games through Proton. At certain percentage market share there should be enough people to create enough ruckus that developers will need to listen. If Linux reaches more than five percent the time will be appropriate to practice "No Tux No Bux" more aggressively. And the more market share goes up the stronger that tactic will become. So if Proton does shift the market share, it will also strengthen No Tux No Bux. Because then there would be so many people on Linux that any developer not wanting to listen to Linux gamers, would be affected by this approach. Assuming Linux gamers can come together that is.

EDIT: Right now at barely one percent, I don't believe the time has come to go 100% No Tux No Bux. But at higher market share, I'm definetly going to stop buying games that are only playable through Proton. But before I can practice No Tux No Bux, market share must go up for the tactic to be so effective that it will lead to a turning point for gaming on Linux.

Steam Play Proton 5.13-6 is now officially out
14 Feb 2021 at 8:11 pm UTC Likes: 2

Continuing a topic brought up in Stadia topic;
1. Proton stops native development
2. Proton is a bad for gaming growth on the platform because you rely on non native software

Tell me, for every one or two major native releases (Metro Exodus and such), because we can establish indies are largely not a issue, what is the ratio of Proton making such big games playable to native releases?
It seems to me that for every major game native release we get like ten that becomes playable through Proton. I really think the argument that Proton impedes native development is a really weak one. Would you trade ten AAA games which plays very well through Proton, to point it could rival the lazy native releases, for one native AAA game? I wouldn't. Because the ten Proton games will bring more users than a single native port does, and that doesn't touch upon quality of the native release.

Second, in the last decade, even with Steam machine push, why has Linux gaming not made it with simply native releases? You want to know why? Noone cares to invest, not the developers and nor does the companies. Steam machines failed yes, but during the years it was around native development was at a high peak. Yet nothing materialized after it. And nothing will without Steam machines.

Remove Steam machines from equation. Nothing happened the last decade to propel gaming on Linux to next level. It stayed dormant as it did before. And the only solution in my opinion is combination of native releases and Proton for the platform to move forward. Proton will be stronger with native releases to supplement it, and vice versa for native gaming. On top of that gaming specific improvement, there will be ecosystem improvements. System76, Dell, Lenovo etc.

I just don't get it. Nothing happened last decade even with the Steam machine push, which brought a bigger number of native releases, although I would question those releases as they seemed to be somewhat cash grab (not excellent native releases). Nothing happened. So what makes anyone think that as things are right now, that gaming on Linux would grow to two-ten market share by itself without Proton? Really what? I reiterate last decade nothing happened. What more proof do you need? Until Linux market share reaches five percent, Proton is vital. At five percent I think Linux gamers can start demanding native releases.

EDIT:
Microsoft has less freedom now to push down on DXVK or others. They themselves are working on OpenGL to DX12. Furthermore they made the phony statement "Microsoft hearts Linux". As if they wouldn't get backlash even without such statements, if they tried to hinder Proton development.