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Valve's commitment to Linux is outstanding. I am genuinely surprised that other vendors (GOG, Epic) haven't joined Valve in making Linux based hedges. Epic have

by Zhyl 6y ago

Valve's commitment to Linux is outstanding. I am genuinely surprised that other vendors (GOG, Epic) haven't joined Valve in making Linux based hedges. Epic have given grants to Godot, Blender and other projects that commoditise their complement, but they still don't want to (or don't want to be seen) doing the same for their platform.

smoldesu 6y ago
There's an open-source Epic launcher frontend called Legendary[1] that can automagically manage your Wine/DXVK files with minimal user intervention. It's not even close to how easy Valve makes it, but it's certainly an option if you want to get Epic games working on Linux with minimal hassle. [1] https://github.com/derrod/legendary https://github.com/derrod/legendary EDIT: i actually meant to reference the Heroic games launcher, which is the frontend for Legendary. you can find it here: https://github.com/flavioislima/HeroicGamesLauncher https://github.com/flavioislima/HeroicGamesLauncher
- Zhyl 6y ago
  I was thinking more from a point of view of Epic, the company, wanting to secure its future. In Epic's case they're actually currently suing (and running a propaganda campaign) against Apple and Google because the latter are charging 30% of all revenue including in-game purchases. Rather than funding the development of the similar initiatives on PC (i.e. Linux) to prevent Microsoft from doing the same thing, instead Tim Sweeney tweets about how switching to Linux is like moving to Canada and is generally rude and unpleasant about it. The fact that someone else had to make a launcher for Epic is further proof that Epic is not interested in even supporting Linux, let alone invest in it.
  - smoldesu 6y ago
    Sure, but that's always the case. Valve didn't offer native Linux support when Steam came out. With that being said, Tim Sweeney can be as unpleasant about it as he likes, I'm not begging for native Fortnite support anytime soon.
    - Zhyl 6y ago
      They didn't offer native Linux support, but from its inception Valve has been working to remove dependencies and combat existential threats. It used the quake engine for half life, then developed their own engine. They were dependent on bricks and mortar retail who were losing interest in PC, so they made Steam. Windows 8 made it look like Microsoft was making a land grab for a desktop store, so Valve made Steam OS and Steam machines (and latterly Proton). Epic is almost taking the opposite approach. Denying or not addressing a problem until it's already established to the point is a market norm. If Epic had caused the amount of fuss they are now in 2011, maybe it wouldn't have needed a hundred thousand dollar YouTube campaign and a multi-million dollar lawsuit to resolve. I dunno, it's true that's it's not Epic's MO, but it's not _smart_.
arminiusreturns 6y ago
Epic promised the linux community lots of love, and then something changed (or they were lying from the start). I am thankful for their contributions to Godot, but Tim S is openly anti-linux, so dont expect anything but massive market pressure to change that.
- dleslie 6y ago
  Tim once referred to Win32 as a free and open standard. I don't think he _understands_ what it means to be a truly free and open standard. Which is a little troubling, considering all the other concerns with the EGS.
  - bitwize 6y ago
    > Tim once referred to Win32 as a free and open standard. I don't think he _understands_ what it means to be a truly free and open standard. Sun tried to get the Windows API to be an open standard by submitting it to ISO, so that they could claim their alternate implementation (Wabi) was standards compliant. Microsoft told the standards committee "you can't do that! That API is our IP!" And so the Public Windows Initiative came to an end. Funny, now Microsoft is arguing against APIs as IP as an amicus in Oracle v. Google.
- ecf 6y ago
  Tim S is openly anti-anything that he can’t insert himself as a rent seeking middleman in.
- MegaDeKay 6y ago
  "We love Linux!" said Epic back in 2014. Not so much, actually. It is really unfortunately that they didn't follow Valve's lead or Linux gaming would be that much further along. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/41-update-preview https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/41-update-preview
- jorvi 6y ago
  I mean, if you go way way back to the days of Unreal Tournament 2004 and before (when Epic was still Epic Megagames) they were actually one of the few developers that supported Windows, Linux and macOS for most of their games.
frankohn 6y ago
I agree, I love the attention they have given to linux and their technical competence without any bullshit. I am glad to purchase games on Steam. They are also doing a great work supporting the SDL2 library. AFAIK they are employing its original author and developer Sam Lantinga.
lrem 6y ago
GOG deals mostly with games that no longer can be ported reasonably.
- anoncake 6y ago
  Those games can often be ported by bundling them with (a tested version of) WINE.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- fuzxi 6y ago
  Despite shipping native Linux versions of quite a few titles, the GOG Galaxy client is still not supported on Linux (and both the client and API are closed, so no community port any time soon). That means no achievements, multiplayer matchmaking, cloud saves, update rollbacks, or game update notifications for Linux users (although the last one is do-able with the Lutris runner or Minigalaxy).

by Zhyl 6y ago

smoldesu 6y ago

There's an open-source Epic launcher frontend called Legendary[1] that can automagically manage your Wine/DXVK files with minimal user intervention. It's not even close to how easy Valve makes it, but it's certainly an option if you want to get Epic games working on Linux with minimal hassle. [1] https://github.com/derrod/legendary https://github.com/derrod/legendary EDIT: i actually meant to reference the Heroic games launcher, which is the frontend for Legendary. you can find it here: https://github.com/flavioislima/HeroicGamesLauncher https://github.com/flavioislima/HeroicGamesLauncher

Zhyl 6y ago
I was thinking more from a point of view of Epic, the company, wanting to secure its future. In Epic's case they're actually currently suing (and running a propaganda campaign) against Apple and Google because the latter are charging 30% of all revenue including in-game purchases. Rather than funding the development of the similar initiatives on PC (i.e. Linux) to prevent Microsoft from doing the same thing, instead Tim Sweeney tweets about how switching to Linux is like moving to Canada and is generally rude and unpleasant about it. The fact that someone else had to make a launcher for Epic is further proof that Epic is not interested in even supporting Linux, let alone invest in it.
- smoldesu 6y ago
  Sure, but that's always the case. Valve didn't offer native Linux support when Steam came out. With that being said, Tim Sweeney can be as unpleasant about it as he likes, I'm not begging for native Fortnite support anytime soon.
  - Zhyl 6y ago
    They didn't offer native Linux support, but from its inception Valve has been working to remove dependencies and combat existential threats. It used the quake engine for half life, then developed their own engine. They were dependent on bricks and mortar retail who were losing interest in PC, so they made Steam. Windows 8 made it look like Microsoft was making a land grab for a desktop store, so Valve made Steam OS and Steam machines (and latterly Proton). Epic is almost taking the opposite approach. Denying or not addressing a problem until it's already established to the point is a market norm. If Epic had caused the amount of fuss they are now in 2011, maybe it wouldn't have needed a hundred thousand dollar YouTube campaign and a multi-million dollar lawsuit to resolve. I dunno, it's true that's it's not Epic's MO, but it's not _smart_.

arminiusreturns 6y ago

Epic promised the linux community lots of love, and then something changed (or they were lying from the start). I am thankful for their contributions to Godot, but Tim S is openly anti-linux, so dont expect anything but massive market pressure to change that.

dleslie 6y ago
Tim once referred to Win32 as a free and open standard. I don't think he _understands_ what it means to be a truly free and open standard. Which is a little troubling, considering all the other concerns with the EGS.
- bitwize 6y ago
  > Tim once referred to Win32 as a free and open standard. I don't think he _understands_ what it means to be a truly free and open standard. Sun tried to get the Windows API to be an open standard by submitting it to ISO, so that they could claim their alternate implementation (Wabi) was standards compliant. Microsoft told the standards committee "you can't do that! That API is our IP!" And so the Public Windows Initiative came to an end. Funny, now Microsoft is arguing against APIs as IP as an amicus in Oracle v. Google.
ecf 6y ago
Tim S is openly anti-anything that he can’t insert himself as a rent seeking middleman in.
MegaDeKay 6y ago
"We love Linux!" said Epic back in 2014. Not so much, actually. It is really unfortunately that they didn't follow Valve's lead or Linux gaming would be that much further along. https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/41-update-preview https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/41-update-preview
jorvi 6y ago
I mean, if you go way way back to the days of Unreal Tournament 2004 and before (when Epic was still Epic Megagames) they were actually one of the few developers that supported Windows, Linux and macOS for most of their games.

frankohn 6y ago

I agree, I love the attention they have given to linux and their technical competence without any bullshit. I am glad to purchase games on Steam. They are also doing a great work supporting the SDL2 library. AFAIK they are employing its original author and developer Sam Lantinga.

lrem 6y ago

GOG deals mostly with games that no longer can be ported reasonably.

anoncake 6y ago
Those games can often be ported by bundling them with (a tested version of) WINE.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
fuzxi 6y ago
Despite shipping native Linux versions of quite a few titles, the GOG Galaxy client is still not supported on Linux (and both the client and API are closed, so no community port any time soon). That means no achievements, multiplayer matchmaking, cloud saves, update rollbacks, or game update notifications for Linux users (although the last one is do-able with the Lutris runner or Minigalaxy).