- Fixed installation of EOS Overlay
I've been waiting for this one.

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Nice too see that Valve's strategy is paying off.
Back then, when we asked game devs about a Linux version the answer was always, not worth it, not enough users, not feasible. At the same time asking for a Mac version was no issue. Well... does that mean now we can as for Steam Deck support without issues? :)

For me it's also interesting to see, how well games are supported on Deck now, while I'm getting more and more issues on my nVidida and Ubuntu powered Linux desktop. nVidia driver version 535 has quite some issues, there are now library issues with native Linux games, e.g. I cannot run Insurgency (the old one) anymore without tinkering (solution here [External Link]). GTA V doesn't run via Steam for me anymore, but I can play it via Heroic on Desktop or without issues on Deck... Pistol Whip VR stopped working due to an update for nVidia users. XRDesktop isn't poperly working anymore etc. etc.

I'm sure it'll get better again, it still feels like there are ups and downs regarding how good things run on Linux and currently it's more of a down, at least for me and my setup.

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The sticker here seems fitting now :happy:

https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/239192925/pinguin-bites-the-apple-macbook-sticker [External Link]

edit: Amazon link got removed

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Oooo, it got a Steam Deck playable rating. That's probably the best we get for official EAC support. I just remember there had been games where EAC also suddenly seemed to work, we got excited, but in the end it was just temporarily disabled for testing purposes and for gathering data. After re-enabling the game stopped working with Proton/on Linux.

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This is cool! I got the ROG Ally (for... erm... testing purposes :tongue: )
And the only two nice things I could say about it so far:

1. It looks fancy
2. The hardware is powerful

Everything else I think the Steam Deck is better. But I might be biased, as I **love** my Steam Deck.
But to some details:

• Haptics:
  I don't like the arrangement of the buttons and sticks. Being able to have my thumbs without bending to switch between dpad/buttons and sticks feels much better on Deck than on the Ally.
  
  Also when having my thumb on the left stick, while having the other thumb on the right buttons, I cannot hold it "symmetrically". Which feels odd.
  
  The analog sticks are more easy going than the Deck ones. This might just be an issue of getting used to, but I prefer the Deck's analog sticks.
  
  The Deck feels much better in the palm of my hands due to its case. The Ally has different edges, which doesn't feel as pleasant to hold.
  
  
• Software:
  Well, it's Windows, so I expected things. But gosh how can people take this. It takes like up to an hour to have everything setup. First the Windows 11 setup routine, where they of course ask you several times if you want to give them your data. You have to have a Microsoft online account. Then updates. Not only for Windows, also for the Armory Crate (ASUS way to bridge the gap between keyboard and gamepad issues). And BIOS updates.
  
  The BIOS update routine gave me a shock: first it said three times, the update needs a reboot. After three reboots, I found in a different dialog, the BIOS update routine needs power attached. Then the device shut down, and I couldn't start it up anymore. I thought it was bricked. Had to hold the power button for 15 seconds, until it booted up and finally installed the BIOS update. A horrible experience.
  
  Windows with touch is not a nice experience. I had severe trouble entering the Wi-Fi password, if you think you mistyped, you can click (touch) on the eye, but it only shows for a second. So if you keep touching the eye, it goes into select mode, doesn't show the entered password anymore and if you continue typing it'll overwrite the current entered chars.
  
  
• Gaming:
  When a game runs, it runs great due to the more powerful hardware. The 1080p screen is indeed nice. But it comes at a cost. Battery is empty after an hour. But well, it runs Fortnite directly, and Mini-Corben is pretty happy about that.
  
  I tried my kinda most favorite game: Fall Guys. It took 2 reboots to install the C++ redistributable runtime for 32 bit and 64 bit. The game runs then flawless, except if you want to accept a friend invite. Unlike on Deck where you can just use the touch screen, or steam button + right trackpad for mouse, you have to open the Asus Control Center thingy, switch from gamepad input to keyboard input, use the right analog stick for mouse movement, right shoulder button for click. After accepting the invite, closing the menu by "clicking" somewhere else and then re-open the control center to switch back to gamepad controls. Very annoying procedure, especially in comparison to the Deck.
  

Short conclusion: it's a nice piece of hardware, and I guess the user experience would have benefited much from a SteamOS install. Too bad ASUS probably took a deal with Microsoft. So I'm looking forward to try ChimeraOS on it!

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Quoting: Shmerl

Quoting: CorbenAnd to show Rockfish Games know what they are doing, and they are actively supporting Linux via Proton:

The videos in Everspace 2 are using Media Foundation codecs, normally Valve does re-encode them for us, and ship them via pre-cache, so they don't run into legal issues. But those videos don't work at first, it needs some time for Valve to re-encode and ship them.

Not in Everspace 2, the videos (especially new ones that haven't been seen in Early Access, so nobody could have triggered the re-encoding process on Valve's end yet) work from the start! This is because RFG has re-encoded them, and checks if the game is running via Wine/Proton. If so, they use VP9 encoded videos via Unreal's WebM player. On Windows the WMF player is used.

Unfortunatly the WebM player in Unreal has a memory leak: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/6/3823034248723581631 [External Link]
But even here they are actively working on resolving this issue! This is support for gaming on Linux!
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/6/3823034248723581631?ctp=2#c3823034639980711061 [External Link]

Didn't notice memory leaks in Wine 8.5. But video cutscenes didn't work at all in the past and started working in the pre-release version at some point.

The memory leak is not related to wine, it's the WebM player plugin of the Unreal Engine they are using now in the release version. The videos before started working after a while, because Valve reencoded them and shipped them via pre-cache. I think no new videos were added for a while. I think you also got a Steam key for the EA first, right? And now you are on GoG?

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And to show Rockfish Games know what they are doing, and they are actively supporting Linux via Proton:

The videos in Everspace 2 are using Media Foundation codecs, normally Valve does re-encode them for us, and ship them via pre-cache, so they don't run into legal issues. But those videos don't work at first, it needs some time for Valve to re-encode and ship them.

Not in Everspace 2, the videos (especially new ones that haven't been seen in Early Access, so nobody could have triggered the re-encoding process on Valve's end yet) work from the start! This is because RFG has re-encoded them, and checks if the game is running via Wine/Proton. If so, they use VP9 encoded videos via Unreal's WebM player. On Windows the WMF player is used.

Unfortunatly the WebM player in Unreal has a memory leak: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/6/3823034248723581631 [External Link]
But even here they are actively working on resolving this issue! This is support for gaming on Linux!
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1128920/discussions/6/3823034248723581631?ctp=2#c3823034639980711061 [External Link]

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Of course, it is sad to see that the native Linux version didn't make it. Liam's article on this is well written. I'm a backer of Everspace and Everspace 2. Everspace had the native Linux version as a stretch goal, and I was more than happy to support Rockfish Games, too.

Back then, we had no other choice, though; we depended on official and native Linux support as Proton was not a thing. So we tried everything we could to convince publishers and devs to give us native versions. We were loud, passionate, and we desperately wanted to play awesome games on our favorite operating system.

Do you remember the technical issues Everspace had? Even back then, Unreal Engine was in a bad state regarding Linux support. It didn't look good with the Linux version due to rendering issues and many other problems, and RFG were close to cancelling the Linux port, as it was just not justifiable to put in so much effort for a small userbase. And here they were in a conflict, a stretch goal was reached with that promise, but fixing the issues in the engine themselves would cost way too much.

Luckily, we seemed nice enough, so they put in the money and effort to finally pull it off. It was a man-year of work just on our side, so imagine how many hours they must have been put into this! We were an even smaller userbase back then, so we should be nothing else but thankful to Rockfish Games for that.

But it didn’t end here. Each update they did for the Windows version of Everspace had to be done again with additional testing for the Linux branch, as it was not the vanilla engine anymore, due to the manual fixes they had to maintain. Every time an extra, full test cycle just for us!

I played the heck out of Everspace, I love that game! I was so happy to be able to play it on my favorite system. I know this was not worth it for RFG from a financial point of view, but I hope we did help promote the game at least. We know this is not measurable, though.

Nevertheless, Rockfish Games learnt from this experience. And though they were confident in having a native Linux version of Everspace 2 as the Unreal Engine had better Linux support than the previous one, they said from the start they'll do the Linux version when the game was done. Everything else would be a waste of time and money affecting the content and quality of the game for the entire player base. It was not a secret they would focus on the game and the main platform first.

Remember Phoenix Point, where they had the first two closed alphas with native Linux versions but realized it's just not possible nor justifiable to maintain Linux versions of these alphas as they just took too much time to maintain? Okay, this one was even worse, as they got bought by Epic, and we didn't even get a Steam version for at least a year.

Sure, I'm biased; I'm a big fan of space games and especially Everspace. I also met the guys in person. So I know as a matter of fact, they have put in the effort to get the native Linux of Everspace 2 out. When Erik (giraffasaur, the community ambassador of Rockfish games) said they put in 2 months of work to get this done, they really did. And as they realized, it's technically not possible with the vanilla Unreal Engine, they already knew it wouldn't be worth maintaining and patching the Engine from experience with Everspace.

But it's also a different situation today. Thanks to Valve, the Steam Deck, and Proton, we can play Everspace 2 on Linux just fine, which is what they actually promised. So what do we want? Play a great game, where the team could focus on (new) content and improve the quality for all players even further? They still had technical issues with the Windows version, I'm pretty sure. Or do we want to be zealots that insist on a binary format and give the developers a hard time, and make a really bad case that might other developers not even consider supporting games on Linux through Proton? It's not fair punishing them for being unable to keep a promise that's not in their hands. They can only do their reasonable effort as much as it's in their possibilities and of course financially justifiable (this is common sense in any legally-binding software development agreement).

We don't even have all the insight, we are not game developers. We are passionate gamers. It's okay to be sad about it. Backers expecting a native Linux version get a refund. That's even more than they have to do; you know how Kickstarter works. Normally, you do not get a refund. I fully understand the disappointment, it's okay to be disappointed and express that. But it's not okay to become harsh, unfriendly, and unreasonable. You feel how much passion they put into the game, so many details, such great-looking visuals. And I know they are unhappy with the results, too, since they already invested precious development time in native Linux support, and even get Flak from individuals in the Linux community. Of course, they are not happy either that they couldn’t keep their promise verbatim.

However, they do have a solution as they will officially support Proton. As the game just works almost flawlessly with Proton, we can play it! I already clocked 300 hours of it on Linux with Proton, and the game is just awesome! I'm happy to be a backer, I'm sad it didn't work out with the native Linux version, but I can play the game without booting Windows. That's what I want. Let's be fair, enjoy the game on Linux, and be thankful to get official support through Proton, so other studios are not demotivated to support gaming on Linux.

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Quoting: egeeHeck yeah. Great game keeps getting better. iirc it's used Vulkan since day 1 so it's basically always run pretty good on Linux.

They started with OpenGL but updated to Vulkan. Took them a bit to get good performance, but nowadays it's really good.

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And here am I, using nVidia since decades, barely having issues and even being happy about DLSS and nvenc ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I remember being very disappointed about ATi back then, when the fglxr driver wasn't updated for X anymore and I couldn't use my Radeon X1950 Pro anymore, and the card wasn't even that old. nVidia instead still supports really old cards with their legacy drivers on modern systems.

Sure it all changed in the meantime, from my experience though nVidia cards are not half as bad as you could get the impression by some comments. Neither my Ubuntu nor Arch system had issues with the proprietary drivers (fingers crossed).

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