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Latest Comments by Munk
NVIDIA have released the 435.17 beta driver with Vulkan and OpenGL support for PRIME render offload
15 Aug 2019 at 8:37 pm UTC

It would be interesting to experiment on desktop with offloading the overhead of desktop rendering to the capable-enough onboard graphics, which otherwise just go unused, on a desktop. Unless there's some large overhead to this, which I don't see why there would, I would expect to see modest performance gains, especially when running multiple high-resolution displays in which only one is used for gaming.

Does anyone know if the VRAM is separate as well? If so, that'd be a major boon, especially for AI work. Right now around half of my VRAM can be eaten up just by basic multitasking. I'd love to be able to offload this to system memory and have my VRAM reserved for processes that actually need the performance.

Another interesting thing would be the possibility of discrete GPU driver updates without having to reload X.

As long as your onboard graphics are good enough for your basic desktop tasks, being able to pick and choose which applications use your discrete GPU seems like a major win for desktop users just as much as laptop users.

Facepunch adjust their Linux plans for Rust, refunds being offered as it won't continue at all
15 Aug 2019 at 8:14 pm UTC Likes: 1

I'm actually fine with poorly supported and buggy ports, but removing my ability to play with windows players would have made the game truly worthless to me. I'm disappointed to see the path they're taking, but pleased I'm at least going to get a refund.

I'd have much rather seen support for Proton become a priority, but if that's not what they want to do, that's up to them.

Epic Games' Tim Sweeney talks Linux and gaming some more, says Linux is "great"
16 Jul 2019 at 6:54 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: johndoeThis Sweeney-Bashing started from the day Valve announced that Metro: Exodus goes "exclusive" to EGS - my argument. From this day on lots of gamers where angry. This is understandable but honestly does not give anybody the right to give him names. He is still a business man.
Being a human gives anyone the right to voice their opinion on someone else, even if it's insulting.

I think Tim Sweeney is a bad person. I have no reason to believe his statements are honest given his track record of dishonesty. Regardless of the neutrality of this article, I, and many others, have a negative personal opinion on this man. The comments section, not the article, is the place to express opinion. The article section is for (relatively) neutral reporting.

RetroArch, the front-end app for emulators and more is heading to Steam
16 Jul 2019 at 2:47 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: sub
Quoting: MunkI did not see this coming, but I like it. I'm interested to see what they do with integration. I don't see how they could do achievements realistically (though they do have integration for 3rd party achievement tracking), but they could perhaps use some of the steam API's like multiplayer joining in very interesting ways.
I'd welcome if Valve would support the emulator projects financially and get a licence to integrate them into Steam.

This would allow right holders to sell roms on Steam easily, a marketplace for roms.
Just the plain rom file that you can also use somewhere else and some separate config that targets the correct emulator and maybe optimized settings within the Steam client.
I think there'd be somewhat of a risk there with companies like Nintendo freaking out and trying to shut it down, as they pretty much always do with anyone other than them touching any of their IP's for any reason. I think this even runs that risk, but to a much lesser degree.

Valve could afford the endless legal battle of frivolous lawsuits, but it would certainly be expensive. If someone decided to go after the emulator developers themselves instead, I think that'd put a stop to it pretty quick.

Sadly, with emulators and ROMs, profit doesn't seem to be the only concern, but also control over the entire game experience.

CoreCtrl, a new FOSS Linux tool to help you control your PC with application profiles
16 Jul 2019 at 4:36 am UTC Likes: 1

Looks neat, but personally I don't see much of a need for this. If I want optimized performance, Feral's GameMode [External Link] has me covered. I don't know what I could gain from having different configurations other than on or off. For example, are there cases where I'd want to run a game at medium performance? Kinda high performance? I just don't get it. It does visually look nice though.

Regarding some of the above discussion about building software from source, it's rarely more than a few commands once you have the basic dependencies installed for building things. git pull repo, ./configure or cmake, make, make install. That's usually it. Most projects with a lot of use have surprisingly clear and simple instructions for building on just about anything. Some projects can be a nightmare to get working however, but I think every full time linux user should learn the basics so they can build the easy ones and give up on the ones that they can't get working within 10 minutes.

Epic Games' Tim Sweeney talks Linux and gaming some more, says Linux is "great"
16 Jul 2019 at 3:56 am UTC Likes: 1

Talk is cheap. Sweeney's given me less than no reason to believe what he has to say. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm not holding my breath.

RetroArch, the front-end app for emulators and more is heading to Steam
16 Jul 2019 at 3:54 am UTC

I did not see this coming, but I like it. I'm interested to see what they do with integration. I don't see how they could do achievements realistically (though they do have integration for 3rd party achievement tracking), but they could perhaps use some of the steam API's like multiplayer joining in very interesting ways.

What have you been playing and what are your thoughts?
15 Jul 2019 at 7:59 am UTC

  • Underlords

  • Skyrim

  • Black Mesa

  • Portal

  • Portal 2

  • GTA V


I've got nothing to add to that. It's just what I've been playing recently.

Dota Underlords now has scoreboards and more improvements plus a "Proto-Battle Pass" next week
5 Jul 2019 at 3:08 pm UTC Likes: 3

I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying Underlords. I've never liked Dota and am not a fan of virtual card games like Artifact, but the gameplay loop here, the managing of economy, the strategy... it's got me hooked. I love to see this new side of Valve, where they're actually incredibly engaged with the community and responding to feedback very directly. It bodes very well for things to come.

Quoting: ajgpIm enjoying it, have to admit I play more on my phone than on the PC, but the shared account is appreciated.
You didn't give a reason for your preference, but if it's the interface, you can switch it over to the mobile interface on the desktop version in settings.