Valve To Launch Native Linux Game In July?

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Valve To Launch Native Linux Game In July?

Going back to 2007 we have been talking about Valve Software and Linux games after they were hiring software engineers to port Windows-based games to the Linux platform. Late last year we also got some confirmation of a Steam Linux client through some Linux shared libraries that had mistakenly shipped with the Left 4 Dead game client along with some other information we received through the grapevine...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=NzMzNA

[izual]

Oh come on! Not again the Steam for Linux story.

[Chewi]

They may not support a game running under regular Wine but perhaps more likely is that the game was ported using Winelib, as was the case for the Linux version of The Sims. Still, that would be better than nothing.

[d2kx]

If it's listed on steampowered.com, it will be avaible trough Steam. The 31st of July will be an interesting day. And yes, Postal III was confirmed for Linux, too, not only once, and is coming out through Steam, too ;)

[[Knuckles]]

If it's listed on steampowered.com, it will be avaible trough Steam. The 31st of July will be an interesting day. And yes, Postal III was confirmed for Linux, too, not only once, and is coming out through Steam, too ;)

There are multiple games on steam that have linux versions. I think what's significative this time is that they list "Linux" on the system requirements, unlike any other game on steam that has a linux version.

But yeah, it seems lots of people like to throw the "it's difficult to supply different things for all distros, etc etc" argument around, so I think valve has a golden opportunity with steam of having a linux game package manager.

[elanthis]

The headline makes it sounds like Valve is releasing a Linux game. They aren't. Valve did not develop this game. Whether or Steam is listing Linux because the game runs on Linux with Steam or just because the game runs on Linux without Stream and they felt like being completists, we'll have to wait and see.

[Mazur]

Everything is great and I would like to see Steam with those games for Linux but only one thing: ATI drivers :/.

[rettichschnidi]

I found this site several days ago and mailed the devs of the game:


Hi Reto,

That's right, I don't think the linux version will be available from Steam. However, we will be selling it from out own site, and possibly Direct2Drive too.

Cheers!

Alex


On Tue, Jun 9, 2009 at 1:04 AM, Reto Schneider <xxx@xxxyyy.net> wrote:

Hi

I just found this link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/900804/

Now I'm wondering how Linux can be supported when there is no linuxversion of the steam-client? Will we have to buy it from somewere else?

Thanks,
Reto

[xav1r]

They just copied and pasted the system requirements for this game from its original site.

[Odin]

They just copied and pasted the system requirements for this game from its original site.

Right...or someone working at Valve doesn't know which platforms they support. :D

[xav1r]

Right...or someone working at Valve doesn't know which platforms they support. :D

That could very much be the case. Remember EA customer support didn't know MoH:AA was available on Linux either. :D

[Slash]

This is blown ridiculously out of proportion. This is someone that was copying and pasting carelessly, that's all.

[M1AU]

Ohnoz, Phoronix is doing it again! I so have a bad feeling about this not coming for steam at all.

[MaestroMaus]

I still do not believe that Steam will come to Linux. Phoronix saying so doesn't bother me at all (sorry guys, you have no credit here). Svartalf did suggest something along those lines as well and that does bother me though...

[Dragonlord]

Hmpf... when will people learn. Yes it will have a Linux version. And no it will be not a "client" but a "server" version. It's the same old story.

EDIT: And you know also why this won't happen any time in the future? Steam is based exclusively on Windows technology ( IE and many others ). Can't be ported like that. They would have to totally rewrite it from scratch. Ain't gonna happen.

[djack]

TBH, I don't want Steam or Steam dependent games on Linux.

I got bitten with HL2 - getting it installed and running is too dependant on things that are out of my control and the willingness of Valve to keep the HL2 authentication/decryption service running.

[geamandura]

I'd have loved if Phoronix saved their Steam screenshot from the news page as png, not jpeg. Maybe smaller file size, no quality loss for this kind of image :)

[MaestroMaus]

I'd have loved if Phoronix saved their Steam screenshot from the news page as png, not jpeg. Maybe smaller file size, no quality loss for this kind of image :)

Dude, seriously...

[immudium]

Man I love Phoronix's optimism when it comes to the possibility of new games on Linux. History has shown, however, that a healthy diet of skeptisism and pragmatism prevents a great deal of disappoint not to mention financial loss *cough*UT3*cough* if you're a gamer and a fan of Linux. Like all game related news on Phoronix, I'll believe it when I see it tatooed on my hard drive's raw, cold, bare metal, ext3-based buttocks.

[cruiseoveride]

Why is it only gay star trek nerd games come to Linux.

I want to shoot bitches with a sawed off 12-gauge and see the blood!!!! not some retarded ET from Mars

[Dragonlord]

OpenArena?

[haowan]

I've gotta be a bit more careful with what I write in my emails to people evidently :) Didn't expect to see them all posted up here.

Thanks for the interest anyway guys, we're working hard to get a good game out this summer and you will be able to get hold of it one way or another. And hopefully it won't segfault all over the place like it currently does :)

For the record the platform listing will be our fault, not Valve's, since we filled out the info for that page.

Cheers

Alex (Dyson dev team)

[MaestroMaus]

dum dum dum

another Phoronix post bites the dust

dum dum dum

another Phoronix post bites the dust

[Eragon]

I've gotta be a bit more careful with what I write in my emails to people evidently :) Didn't expect to see them all posted up here.

Thanks for the interest anyway guys, we're working hard to get a good game out this summer and you will be able to get hold of it one way or another. And hopefully it won't segfault all over the place like it currently does :)

For the record the platform listing will be our fault, not Valve's, since we filled out the info for that page.

Cheers

Alex (Dyson dev team)

Nice another linux game! :D

[Max Spain]

I've gotta be a bit more careful with what I write in my emails to people evidently :) Didn't expect to see them all posted up here.

Thanks for the interest anyway guys, we're working hard to get a good game out this summer and you will be able to get hold of it one way or another. And hopefully it won't segfault all over the place like it currently does :)

For the record the platform listing will be our fault, not Valve's, since we filled out the info for that page.

Cheers

Alex (Dyson dev team)

Looking forward to it and thanks for releasing for Linux.

[jonwil]

Why is it only gay star trek nerd games come to Linux.

I want to shoot bitches with a sawed off 12-gauge and see the blood!!!! not some retarded ET from Mars
There are quite a few games for Linux that have guns and blood and stuff.
Doom series
Quake series
Unreal
Americas Army

[Yfrwlf]

While it's great that you can run Windows games on Linux using Wine and Mono, I guess, it would of course be much better if truly free APIs were supported/promoted/evolved/created/etc so that Linux users could run more "native" Linux games. The Windows APIs were designed for Windows and are controlled by Microsoft, they don't have Linux's best intentions at heart let's just say, so I'll be happier supporting the games which use APIs that are created and/or controlled by much more neutral and Linux-friendly parties.

But, any game for Linux is a win for Linux, it's just too bad that Wine games are a win for MS as well.

[Yfrwlf]

"Okay, so it doesn't exactly sound like the next best game or as great as Counter-Strike: Source or Half-Life 2"

Hopefully that comment was directed at it not being as deep/complex/involved/entertaining/long as HL2 and CS, and not just cuz it's not a 3D-shooter. ;) That having been said, sometimes some games which are quite "simple" can also bring ### hours of entertainment to one's life as well.

[Yfrwlf]

And to add to the actual story, I wouldn't doubt Steam coming to Linux, many games in their "portal" have Linux versions as noted already, but Valve was just really stupid in using the Windows GUI/Explorer/IE/etc libraries to create what is just a customized version of IE that loads their website and ties in with the system so that upon clicking on a game the user can install it in Windows easily. They should have used actual web and cross-platform standards from the get-go so that they could release "Steam" for other platforms in the future. Someone at Valve clearly screwed up.

I just say "Steam" because again, it's just a freaking website loading in IE plus a resident program to act as DRM, there's nothing special about it really, Firefox *could* be used as "Steam" but simply lacks the Windows software installer hook. And the DRM. Why doesn't anyone talk about the DRM any way? If I can't even play a single player game without connecting to their Steam servers and asking for permission, that definitely helps take the wind from my sails.

[Dragonlord]

"Okay, so it doesn't exactly sound like the next best game or as great as Counter-Strike: Source or Half-Life 2"

Hopefully that comment was directed at it not being as deep/complex/involved/entertaining/long as HL2 and CS, and not just cuz it's not a 3D-shooter. ;) That having been said, sometimes some games which are quite "simple" can also bring ### hours of entertainment to one's life as well.
Since when is HL2 or CS "deep", "involved" or "entertaining" ( long is anyways no measurement for an MP game )?

[AdrenalineJunky]

And to add to the actual story, I wouldn't doubt Steam coming to Linux, many games in their "portal" have Linux versions as noted already, but Valve was just really stupid in using the Windows GUI/Explorer/IE/etc libraries to create what is just a customized version of IE that loads their website and ties in with the system so that upon clicking on a game the user can install it in Windows easily. They should have used actual web and cross-platform standards from the get-go so that they could release "Steam" for other platforms in the future. Someone at Valve clearly screwed up.

I just say "Steam" because again, it's just a freaking website loading in IE plus a resident program to act as DRM, there's nothing special about it really, Firefox *could* be used as "Steam" but simply lacks the Windows software installer hook. And the DRM. Why doesn't anyone talk about the DRM any way? If I can't even play a single player game without connecting to their Steam servers and asking for permission, that definitely helps take the wind from my sails.

i re-installed half life 2 over steam in wine and using gecko. perhaps you need IE to pay for games - that i don't know, but you can install them with steam + gecko.

[Dragonlord]

i re-installed half life 2 over steam in wine and using gecko. perhaps you need IE to pay for games - that i don't know, but you can install them with steam + gecko.
If it works... which I can not confirm. Not only has the source engine huge problems with rendering under Wine ( take out a grenade... triangles all over the screen ) it also kills your Linux when it crashes ( hard-locks the machine, reboot required, screen resolution totally fucked up and not repairable anymore... you need to reinstall drivers to clear up the mess ).

[L33F3R]

If it works... which I can not confirm. Not only has the source engine huge problems with rendering under Wine ( take out a grenade... triangles all over the screen ) it also kills your Linux when it crashes ( hard-locks the machine, reboot required, screen resolution totally fucked up and not repairable anymore... you need to reinstall drivers to clear up the mess ).

not for myself. In my case both CSS and L4D render just fine but as garbage frame rates. CSS is about 50-60fps with everything high for me. Fullscreen and window modes work perfectly fine. Only issue besides fps is that when you close it the process itself doesn't fully exit. This is easily fixed with the system monitor tho. Im not saying that its the same for everyone but its what happens for me.

thats a 7950gt with binary drivers for reference.

[Odin]

I just say "Steam" because again, it's just a freaking website loading in IE plus a resident program to act as DRM, there's nothing special about it really, Firefox *could* be used as "Steam" but simply lacks the Windows software installer hook. And the DRM. Why doesn't anyone talk about the DRM any way? If I can't even play a single player game without connecting to their Steam servers and asking for permission, that definitely helps take the wind from my sails.

If you don't know what you are talking about, just don't talk about it. ;)

[Ant P.]

I don't read most of the articles here any more anyway - the forum comments are often far more reliable and balanced.

[AdrenalineJunky]

not for myself. In my case both CSS and L4D render just fine but as garbage frame rates. CSS is about 50-60fps with everything high for me. Fullscreen and window modes work perfectly fine. Only issue besides fps is that when you close it the process itself doesn't fully exit. This is easily fixed with the system monitor tho. Im not saying that its the same for everyone but its what happens for me.

thats a 7950gt with binary drivers for reference.

i had pretty much the same experience, it took a little tweaking first, but i managed to get HL2 to render just fine, never seen the triangles, i did have a nasty problem before tweaking with character models litterally being stretched all the way across the room...

don't know what my framerate was exactly, but every once in a while i would notice it was just a little less then smooth, it was barely noticeable, but on windows i highly doubt that would happen with my setup.

[rettichschnidi]

They changed it (http://store.steampowered.com/app/900804/):

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2; Windows Vista

[yogi_berra]

I've gotta be a bit more careful with what I write in my emails to people evidently :) Didn't expect to see them all posted up here.

Thanks for the interest anyway guys, we're working hard to get a good game out this summer and you will be able to get hold of it one way or another. And hopefully it won't segfault all over the place like it currently does :)

For the record the platform listing will be our fault, not Valve's, since we filled out the info for that page.

Cheers

Alex (Dyson dev team)

Thank you for feeding the Phoronix "Steam is coming to Linux" meme. Feel free to make future typos as these rumor filled articles and the resulting threads are fun to read :D

[L33F3R]

perhaps another solution. Certainly digital distribution appeals to most linux users as we are very internet oriented. Why not make a mac/linux alternative? Sure it would be a rocky start and very complex at best, but overall it would either push steam to make a client or abandon the need. Looks good on the cover, bad on paper.

Can anyone add to this because im running on a limb...

[deanjo]

perhaps another solution. Certainly digital distribution appeals to most linux users as we are very internet oriented. Why not make a mac/linux alternative? Sure it would be a rocky start and very complex at best, but overall it would either push steam to make a client or abandon the need. Looks good on the cover, bad on paper.

Can anyone add to this because im running on a limb...

Well while linux does have it's strengths on net based applications a large part of the world does not have great high speed connections (if available at all). Take a look at a country like Brazil. Great linux adoption but high speed connections are rare and they do depend on those iso's. Sometimes those of us that are privledged with high speed net access forget that it's not available everywhere. ;)

[L33F3R]

But I wouldn't expect Brazil to be buying many games anyway. I just had a Brazilian buy a pokemon game from me the other day. Up until now all of my sales have come within the USA and Canada (oh and 1 Mexican).

Regardless of that fact, its not like you are going to mail them the game. Publish a whole box, manual ect. for linux and mac? good luck. Perhaps you can do that with mac on some titles but with linux you have better chances of catching a fish in the sahara.

[deanjo]

but with linux you have better chances of catching a fish in the sahara.

Still better then the leafs winning the cup anytime soon. :p

[Dragonlord]

What's wrong with the leafs? :P

[deanjo]

What's wrong with the leafs? :P

Heh, I think they own the trademarks "Fishing in the Sahara" , "Next year.." and "FOOOOOOOOORE!!!".

[L33F3R]

nahh nahh. leafs aint gunna get a win till they broke. as long as they can pay 10 grand for seats they dont need to win. :p

[soxs]

nahh nahh. leafs aint gunna get a win till they broke. as long as they can pay 10 grand for seats they dont need to win. :p

Linux is gone:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/900804/

This all turns out to be postponed for indefinite time or dropped alltogether :-/

[MAXX]

If it's listed on steampowered.com, it will be avaible trough Steam. The 31st of July will be an interesting day. And yes, Postal III was confirmed for Linux, too, not only once, and is coming out through Steam, too ;)

What's far more interesting than the fact that they will release it on steam (World of Goo was also released on through steam and had a native linux version, still there is no linux version of steam....)
, is the fact, that postal 3 is using the source engine...

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11428

I was not able to find a statement that they release a linux version though. Not on the games website, not on the forum, nowhere.

[deanjo]

What's far more interesting than the fact that they will release it on steam (World of Goo was also released on through steam and had a native linux version, still there is no linux version of steam....)
, is the fact, that postal 3 is using the source engine...

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11428

I was not able to find a statement that they release a linux version though. Not on the games website, not on the forum, nowhere.

http://www.omgpcgames.com/content/view/45/37/

OMG! PC Games: What systems will Postal III be released on?
Vince Desi: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Mac and Linux.

[yogi_berra]

Heh, I think they own the trademarks "Fishing in the Sahara" , "Next year.." and "FOOOOOOOOORE!!!".

Sorry, "Next Year..." is owned by the Cubs.

BTW - RWS is only releasing on steam to get around the import bans that always seem to happen with their games. Apparently using cats as silencers and getting the clap from your "experience" with rednecks doesn't go over well with most politicians.

[L33F3R]

Apparently using cats as silencers and getting the clap from your "experience" with rednecks doesn't go over well with most politicians.

true but its not like people would vote for L33F3R if he was running for public office.


or would they.....

[MAXX]

So we got official dev statements for a) Postal 3 is using the source engine and b) Postal 3 will have a Linux version...

Which basically comes down to Source engine for Linux, that's good enough for me, there are so many mods for the Source engine.

[Dragonlord]

100% only a server at best. Source on Linux doesn't exist and won't exist since it's a DX game by nature ( and using Windows GUI API ).

[deanjo]

100% only a server at best. Source on Linux doesn't exist and won't exist since it's a DX game by nature ( and using Windows GUI API ).

And the PS3 / Mac versions are for server use as well I suppose. Don't forget that Source was already ported to PS3 and it is not DX hardware. I don't doubt that there will be a linux version of the client, but I do suspect that it will not be a pure port but a wrapped up version using a wine-like solution. Same with the OS X "port". EA already did most of the porting work for the PS 3.

[Dragonlord]

Isn't the PS3 a "kind" of OpenGL but no real OpenGL? Like the NDS has only a "kind" of OpenGL which is not a real one?

[MAXX]

Loki and LGP also ported DirectX games that had not even and option for OpenGL...

It's not gonna be a wrapped up version, just EA does that bullshit.
And they clearly say client, so not just a server, but a real game client in fact...

[deanjo]

Isn't the PS3 a "kind" of OpenGL but no real OpenGL? Like the NDS has only a "kind" of OpenGL which is not a real one?

Yes a majority of the games for the PS3 are libGCM for direct access to the RSX hardware. My point was that porting to a non-DX platform has already been done so it's not like a ogl port of Source is out of the question. My bet still lies on the OS X/Lin versions however will be using a wine type solution. It's not the ideal solution, but given that EA did the work for the Orange Box port to the PS3 it's not out of the realm of reality to see them also using a EA cider like solution which already is known to run source games rather well.

[MAXX]

Well, I'll buy it if its native and i won't guy it, if it's some wrapped up crap, simple as that...

[deanjo]

Well, I'll buy it if its native and i won't guy it, if it's some wrapped up crap, simple as that...

Well that is your choice for sure. However you have to wonder if everybody did the same thing would the devels take that as "poor sales because it isn't a native solution" or "poor sales because there isn't much demand for linux". You may end up sending the wrong message. I sometimes wonder if supporting "wrapped" up solutions should be the short term solutions out there to show that there is a market at least. Win the small battle first and then worry about the technological planning later.

[Dragonlord]

Problem is only if the wrappers are accepted ( cheaper to do ) then why make a native solution? Unfortunately economy works like this so if the cheating solution is accepted you've got the mess... see Windows in its entirety.

[deanjo]

Problem is only if the wrappers are accepted ( cheaper to do ) then why make a native solution? Unfortunately economy works like this so if the cheating solution is accepted you've got the mess... see Windows in its entirety.

I understand your point but if a "cheating" solution works well and is cheap to implement publishers and developers are going to be more inclined to take a risk on a platform that they really don't know if it has a ample enough market to justify the additional costs of doing a proper port. If sales do well for these "cheating" solution they may be more inclined to do a proper port and at least have linux put into their minds when developing their next big release or engine because they have been shown the potential market with some numbers of their own from these wrapper sales.

[pfunkman]

And to add to the actual story, I wouldn't doubt Steam coming to Linux, many games in their "portal" have Linux versions as noted already,

Steam has what 6 games with native linux clients? I dont see the benefit for them, they are just a distribution platform and could obviously make steam work in linux relatively easily but thats meaningless if the developers dont make linux clients to use the platform with.

but Valve was just really stupid in using the Windows GUI/Explorer/IE/etc libraries to create what is just a customized version of IE that loads their website and ties in with the system so that upon clicking on a game the user can install it in Windows easily. They should have used actual web and cross-platform standards from the get-go so that they could release "Steam" for other platforms in the future. Someone at Valve clearly screwed up.

We already know steam works well with gecko so i guess i dont get your point there. I dont see how its "stupid" to design their platform to cater to 99.99% of thier customer base. Yeah it would be nice if they made it multi platform etc. but if you stop and think for more than 5 seconds there really isnt much of a benefit to be had unless developers start showing interest in other platforms.

I just say "Steam" because again, it's just a freaking website loading in IE plus a resident program to act as DRM, there's nothing special about it really, Firefox *could* be used as "Steam" but simply lacks the Windows software installer hook. And the DRM. Why doesn't anyone talk about the DRM any way? If I can't even play a single player game without connecting to their Steam servers and asking for permission, that definitely helps take the wind from my sails.

Do you know anything about steam at all? DRM is not discussed because what you said is entirely untrue. Steam can be put into offline mode and you can play all the single player games you want without connecting to the internet. :rolleyes:

Even if they did spend the time and make a linux client for what they have they would have to work with each individual game and make it work with their platform. All that time and money for what? How many would run out and buy these games from steam now that they have them? Most people already have the native games they want so steam doing the work to port them now wouldn't net them much in the way of sales.

Now if developers start showing interest in linux as a platform they will obviously follow suit. Until then its a big waste of time, resources and money for them to port over a client for a small amount of old games.

[MAXX]

Well that is your choice for sure. However you have to wonder if everybody did the same thing would the devels take that as "poor sales because it isn't a native solution" or "poor sales because there isn't much demand for linux". You may end up sending the wrong message. I sometimes wonder if supporting "wrapped" up solutions should be the short term solutions out there to show that there is a market at least. Win the small battle first and then worry about the technological planning later.

Well, a port that is realized by a wrapper feels like a fake port. I wonder if you could win a case of wrong advertisement against EA for their "Mac Versions".

And I think even if they'd surely know that there was a market for Linux it would not necessarily improve anything.

Look at Runesoft, first they do their Mac port for the Money.... and then, after receiving tons of preorders which finance the whole port to Linux, they port it to Linux. They already did the direct3d-->opengl for their Mac port...
And although or maybe because? they have the whole porting job from the Mac to the Linux version already payed for by the preorders, they do a port which is crappy as hell. I bought Ankh and was VERY disappointed or even shocked by the port. If they sell it as Linux version then i expect my game to work... If you turn the details in Ankh to high, the screen is just black, if you turn shadows to medium it works okay, but the big shadows in the game are still bugged to shit...

Hell, if I buy a game I want to be able to set my graphics settings just as i want them...

I also ordered Ankh 2 right when I ordered Ankh 1, but I did not touch it a single time. First of all it'd obviously be nice to finish the first game before playing the sequel... and then I'm also afraid that it's just as much of a mess as Ankh 1...

Actually, thinking further about the whole Ankh thing, I think that they did not even have to do the direct3d-->opengl thing, afaik they use the ogre engine... which is a multiplatform engine.

[deanjo]

Well, a port that is realized by a wrapper feels like a fake port. I wonder if you could win a case of wrong advertisement against EA for their "Mac Versions".

I doubt that would be possible as it is very well advertised that their mac games use Cider. As well there is no guarantee's that even a native port will be a good port or even better then a "wrapped" solution. There are plenty of piss poor ports out there running in native code.

[Dragonlord]

Do you know anything about steam at all? DRM is not discussed because what you said is entirely untrue. Steam can be put into offline mode and you can play all the single player games you want without connecting to the internet. :rolleyes:
Point denied. Doesn't work with me and many others. DRM in steam IS a problem.

[Slash]

Steam has what 6 games with native linux clients? I dont see the benefit for them, they are just a distribution platform and could obviously make steam work in linux relatively easily but thats meaningless if the developers dont make linux clients to use the platform with.

There are over 700 games on Steam. A lot more than 6 have Linux clients. I'm not going to go through them all to check, but it'd be an interesting project for someone with a lot of free time ;)

[Dragonlord]

There are over 700 games on Steam. A lot more than 6 have Linux clients. I'm not going to go through them all to check, but it'd be an interesting project for someone with a lot of free time ;)
Many have server binaries. Only linux clients do count since Linux/Unix machines are used since a very long time for game serving.

[pfunkman]

Point denied. Doesn't work with me and many others. DRM in steam IS a problem.

How does it not work exactly? It has worked fine for me for years now. You should start here (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555) and diagnose your problem instead of claiming it just dont work for you and "many others":rolleyes:.

Offline mode does work regardless of hwat the fud spreaders say.

There are over 700 games on Steam. A lot more than 6 have Linux clients. I'm not going to go through them all to check, but it'd be an interesting project for someone with a lot of free time

It was a little tongue in cheek but the point still very much stands. The amount of games on steam with native linux clients is such a small percentage, on top of that the games with linux native clients tend to either be old or poor selling titles anyway. There are a couple small exceptions to the rule (World of goo for example) but they are very few and very far between.

My point is simple, asking steam to make a linux client is the WRONG approach if you want more linux native games. You need to start with the developers and publishers then you can work on the different distribution platforms.

As it is now what benefit is there for steam to bust their asses and spend the money?

[MAXX]

My point is simple, asking steam to make a linux client is the WRONG approach if you want more linux native games. You need to start with the developers and publishers then you can work on the different distribution platforms.

You realize that Steam=Valve=Halflife2=Source, eh?

[Dragonlord]

How does it not work exactly? It has worked fine for me for years now. You should start here (https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555) and diagnose your problem instead of claiming it just dont work for you and "many others":rolleyes:.

Offline mode does work regardless of hwat the fud spreaders say.
Not spreading fud. Has been like this since ages and is still the case today... on various machines. Steam simply refuses to start if there is no connection. Fails to find the internet ( if it's unplugged like on a laptop in a train ) and then dies. But I won't argue any further with steam trolls since for them their mighty Steam can not be faulty. Heard this tons of times before.

[L33F3R]

@dragonlord
stuff works good for me on my end.

It is in my opinion to simply not use steam at all. I prefer having my stuff independent of 3rd party software thats crashes more often then my windows operating system itself....

BTW, DRM does a very very good job!





at pissing people off.

[pfunkman]

You realize that Steam=Valve=Halflife2=Source, eh?

Valve is just 1 developer, good job you figured it out. :rolleyes: Whats your point? You think appealing to the group that maintains steam will get you more native games? :rolleyes: May as well write letters to mcdonalds to make pepsi bring back crystal pepsi.

Ill ask again,

As it is now what benefit is there for steam to bust their asses and spend the money?

Unless some developer has secretly told them some new big name games will be coming with native clients or valve has secretly decided to work with linux theres no real benefit for them. Porting over old games will make some money but likely not enough to make it worth it like a new game would be.

[pfunkman]

Not spreading fud. Has been like this since ages and is still the case today... on various machines. Steam simply refuses to start if there is no connection. Fails to find the internet ( if it's unplugged like on a laptop in a train ) and then dies. But I won't argue any further with steam trolls since for them their mighty Steam can not be faulty. Heard this tons of times before.

Wow im called a troll :rolleyes:

You are spreading FUD plain and simple.

You honestly sound exatly like 99% of the anti linux trolls. "I couldnt get it to work so its obviously broke and not just me"

If you where actually trying to use steam in offline mode instead of lying to further your FUD campaign you would know that when you start steam with no internet connection it dont try connecting to anything and you see:

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/2853/capturertb.png

If your games are fully installed you will have access to all of them.

Either you have some serious networking issues with your laptop that need addressed or your full of it. Either way your "many others" dont exist and this hasnt been a real issue for steam in a long time. A simple google search should have shown you this is not a common issue.

[MAXX]

Valve is just 1 developer, good job you figured it out. :rolleyes: Whats your point? You think appealing to the group that maintains steam will get you more native games? :rolleyes: May as well write letters to mcdonalds to make pepsi bring back crystal pepsi.

Ill ask again,

As it is now what benefit is there for steam to bust their asses and spend the money?

Unless some developer has secretly told them some new big name games will be coming with native clients or valve has secretly decided to work with linux theres no real benefit for them. Porting over old games will make some money but likely not enough to make it worth it like a new game would be.

Okay mate, so you got back to first grade, learn to read, and then read everything that a write again, slowly, before trying to piss at my leg.

[pfunkman]

Okay mate, so you got back to first grade, learn to read, and then read everything that a write again, slowly, before trying to piss at my leg.

Whats so hard for you to understand? Bitching to the steam group will not get you more games. :rolleyes:

[Dragonlord]

( lots of bullshit )
Usually I won't answer to steam-trolls but so much stupidity. I worked with steam not only as a gamer. And if I say something doesn't work the way it is proclaimed on the label then it fucking doesn't! I'm no liar and who tries to state so has a big problem... with me! So go piss off somebody else but never ever again dare to call me a liar. Did this sink into your fucking brain? Good and now shut up. ( blocking user )

[soxs]

a) I thought all trolls were at 4chan... but it seems they spread around on tech/software forums aswell :-/

b) use PM for flamewars plx

c) steam will surely endorese some vendors to at least consider a linux port, as steam is major platform and includes DRM, which form the pov of an game company is a huge issue (on *nix).
And the point it won't brig any games to linux well.. this statement simply not true. Linux is still un underrepresented market, though many don't know that untill today (and it will take ages untill linux will be comapreable with windows in the respect of number of game title availiable).
Well, it's true, Valve is just one company, but as soon as this company has monopol at the linux market (except for OSS and Independent Game Studios) the others will come into the competition (money talks)
So, any constructive criticsm aprreciated.

[pfunkman]

Usually I won't answer to steam-trolls but so much stupidity. I worked with steam not only as a gamer. And if I say something doesn't work the way it is proclaimed on the label then it fucking doesn't! I'm no liar and who tries to state so has a big problem... with me! So go piss off somebody else but never ever again dare to call me a liar. Did this sink into your fucking brain? Good and now shut up. ( blocking user )

Thank god you blocked me im sick of your FUD anyhow. Calling me a troll when you make baseless bullshit claims and back it up with nothing more than "I said so" and im tired of the "steam troll" bullshit as well.

If anyone here is a steam troll its yourself. If only you could see past the hypocritical zealotry your spewing to see your "issue" that you claimed "many others" are sharing is just YOU.

Fix your busted shit and quit blaming steam.

I say to you again you are a LIAR.

You got called on your bullshit and all you have to say is "I say its broke so its broke" You can show absolutely nothing proving your not full of it other than flames and accusations of trolling.

[Raven3x7]

1} Getting games to work in offline mode requires additional user configuration upon install and after every update. This imo is unacceptable.
2) Steams Use Of Service terms are very unfriendly towards it's users. Basically Valve can deny you access to your purchased games without any serious reasons

[pfunkman]

1} Getting games to work in offline mode requires additional user configuration upon install and after every update. This imo is unacceptable.

What configuration are you talking about? All you have to do is install the game and it should work in offline mode with no more interaction than that. Obviously if its in the middle of updating it wont work but other than that i have yet to find a scenario where my games dont work or require any configuration to play in offline mode.

2) Steams Use Of Service terms are very unfriendly towards it's users. Basically Valve can deny you access to your purchased games without any serious reasons

Go through and read the EULA/TOS/TOU to any game on the market they all have pretty much the same clause.

For all 2 of you saying offline mode dont work unplug your internet and post some screens of errors. i have tried to "reproduce" these "issues" and so far they have panned out to a load of FUD baloney.

[MAXX]

What configuration are you talking about? All you have to do is install the game and it should work in offline mode with no more interaction than that. Obviously if its in the middle of updating it wont work but other than that i have yet to find a scenario where my games dont work or require any configuration to play in offline mode.



Go through and read the EULA/TOS/TOU to any game on the market they all have pretty much the same clause.

For all 2 of you saying offline mode dont work unplug your internet and post some screens of errors. i have tried to "reproduce" these "issues" and so far they have panned out to a load of FUD baloney.

Seriously pfunkman, just stop posting your crappy steam fanboyism...
The thing about "EULA/ToS/ToU" your wrote is total bullshit.
With normal games you don't rely on some online service to unlock all your files. And they cerntainly don't reserve themselves the right to lock you out from using the game...
Even if they did it wouldn't be legal in this jurisdiction...
And if they sell it here, they're subject to the local jurisdiction...

And offline play for steam does not work when you really need it (like when your modem breaks down) with 90% certainty.

[L33F3R]

Yes he is a fanboy; Let him be a fanboy. Taking people from both sides of an argument creates a debate.

Steam can drop your games at any time. And has. Not from joe blow but good ole L33F3R. Yup, I figured HL2 EP1 was a good deal at 9.99. I bought it and then a few weeks later it was gone. Contacted steam and they said I never purchased it. I had deductions from my paypal account to prove it. Steam was useless, support took a frigin week so i filed a paypal complaint. Steam never responded to it and paypal ended up giving me what looked like a standardized phrase basically saying that I cant base whether or not I purchased a product on how i like it. For 9.99 it was a waste of my time. This only happened once, i have purchased many games from steam before without issues.

Other times I would have games download to 99% and then just stop. This was much more common.

Most commonly, it would say a game is currently unavailable. When others would be playing it.

Steam would sometimes say my account did not exist or I used the wrong password.

THE LIST GOES ON

and none of this wine compatibility bullshit, this was WIN-XP Pro, no excuses.

[pfunkman]

Seriously pfunkman, just stop posting your crappy steam fanboyism...
The thing about "EULA/ToS/ToU" your wrote is total bullshit.
With normal games you don't rely on some online service to unlock all your files. And they cerntainly don't reserve themselves the right to lock you out from using the game...
Even if they did it wouldn't be legal in this jurisdiction...
And if they sell it here, they're subject to the local jurisdiction...

And offline play for steam does not work when you really need it (like when your modem breaks down) with 90% certainty.

Fanboy? Seriously the problem with zealots like you guys is anything i say contrary to your beliefs automatically makes me a fanboy no matter what.

Go read some EULAS so you dont sound like such an idiot please. Find me a single game with online play that dont have a clause to deny you service for any reason. Steam dont deny you service to your single player games they have the offline mode...

Seriously this baseless, ignorant, circle jerk, steam bash going on here is pathetic. You guys sound like a bunch of raving morons making ridiculous claims and then backing it up with "because i say so".

You guys kill me. Im a fanboy and your all so right:rolleyes:

Funny how not one of you can post a single screenshot or anything to back up your FUD. Pretty funny, eh.

[L33F3R]

Not Found

The requested URL http://steampowered.com/forums/ was not found on this server.
__________________________________________________ ______________________________________________

Apache/2.2.3 (Debian) DAV/2 SVN/1.4.2 PHP/5.2.0-8+etch9 mod_ssl/2.2.3 OpenSSL/0.9.8c Server at phoronix.com Port 80

[pfunkman]

Not Found

The requested URL http://steampowered.com/forums/ was not found on this server.
__________________________________________________ ______________________________________________

Apache/2.2.3 (Debian) DAV/2 SVN/1.4.2 PHP/5.2.0-8+etch9 mod_ssl/2.2.3 OpenSSL/0.9.8c Server at phoronix.com Port 80

Thats not the URL for their forums...

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/

[Wyatt]

Fanboy? Seriously the problem with zealots like you guys is anything i say contrary to your beliefs automatically makes me a fanboy no matter what.

To be fair, your abrasive manner and obvious contempt for those with whom you're conversing paints you in a less than stellar light yourself. Perhaps if your desire to be taken seriously is so strong, your behavior should reflect that? Phoronix isn't 4chan.

[pfunkman]

To be fair, your abrasive manner and obvious contempt for those with whom you're conversing paints you in a less than stellar light yourself. Perhaps if your desire to be taken seriously is so strong, your behavior should reflect that? Phoronix isn't 4chan.

Yeah my abrasive manner is so unlike the guarded attitude towards anyone who dares disagree with these guys. I disagree once and get labeled a freaking "steam troll" how juvenile can you be with insults like that?

[AdrenalineJunky]

To be fair, your abrasive manner and obvious contempt for those with whom you're conversing paints you in a less than stellar light yourself. Perhaps if your desire to be taken seriously is so strong, your behavior should reflect that? Phoronix isn't 4chan.

i dunno, in some threads around here i it almost seems like this could be 4chan. its kinda obnoxious.

[AdrenalineJunky]

Yeah my abrasive manner is so unlike the guarded attitude towards anyone who dares disagree with these guys. I disagree once and get labeled a freaking "steam troll" how juvenile can you be with insults like that?

your justification only serves to prove his point.

instead of deciding to act like a troll just because you were labeled one you could have approached it more calmly and rationally. doing the former just makes you appear all the more like you are a troll.

[L33F3R]

Thats not the URL for their forums...

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/

well then it wouldn't come up as an error would it?

[pfunkman]

well then it wouldn't come up as an error would it?

I dont get your point. You entered an invalid URL and it means what?

[L33F3R]

404, im saying you arrived at the wrong forums AND to comply with a general 404; incorrect url is my example. you get a 2 for 1 deal which i think i made far too complicated for you :(.

You asked before if we could provide proof that we have these problems. Lets be honest for a second - If we didn't have these issues we wouldn't have much to bitch about would we? I dont wake up one day and decide that I hate something arbitrarily.

Now as for the zealot/religion bullshit, you will find those people in the open source ATI/Nvidia driver forums :p. I dont give a rat if its closed source and neither do 80% of the people here.

I ask you. Name me off some of steams flaws. Not about the source model or business practices because thats open to personal opinion.

[pfunkman]

404, im saying you arrived at the wrong forums AND to comply with a general 404; incorrect url is my example. you get a 2 for 1 deal which i think i made far too complicated for you :(.

Are you trying to tell me i should be at another forums? Otherwise your not making much sense. (English not your native language?)

You asked before if we could provide proof that we have these problems. Lets be honest for a second - If we didn't have these issues we wouldn't have much to bitch about would we? I dont wake up one day and decide that I hate something arbitrarily.

What? If someone asks you for proof of something you just look around and say "a couple others are bitching so its true"?

Whats really going on is up until about a year ago the offline mode has been pretty shitty and spotty at best. Now that its working pretty well people refuse to try it again and keep harping on that excuse to bash steam.

Just google "steam offline mode problems" youll see a ton of results from around 2005 a smattering in between then and 2008 then virtually nothing.

But hey between screenshots and google i have stated my claim and at least tried to back it up. Meanwhile all you guys having these horrible issues cant even produce a simple screenshot. Even though if the offline mode was so horrible and really didnt work for you it would be a matter of seconds to do so.

So what else am i to assume when people make claims that would be so trivial to backup yet after repeatedly asking for them to back them up they just keep on with the "because i said so" routine?

Now as for the zealot/religion bullshit, you will find those people in the open source ATI/Nvidia driver forums :p. I dont give a rat if its closed source and neither do 80% of the people here.

No, its going on right here. Ignoring the truth and lying about something to further a smear campaign without even bothering to back up your claims and ignoring facts that refute them is zealotry at its finest.

I ask you. Name me off some of steams flaws. Not about the source model or business practices because thats open to personal opinion.

Ugly UI for one (Am i the only one that notices the default UI for steam and phoronix are the same?). Price of older games is usually too high.

[L33F3R]

Are you trying to tell me i should be at another forums? Otherwise your not making much sense. (English not your native language?)

English is infact my native language and you sir are correct. Finally.

What? If someone asks you for proof of something you just look around and say "a couple others are bitching so its true"?

What you are asking if for us to reproduce errors when we dont care enough to install the program. Not only that but steam isn't native on linux and you are looking at what is a primarily linux forums.

Whats really going on is up until about a year ago the offline mode has been pretty shitty and spotty at best. Now that its working pretty well people refuse to try it again and keep harping on that excuse to bash steam.

I never had the offline problem, so I cant comment on that. I usually only used steam for online games so I never actually used offline mode.

But hey between screenshots and google i have stated my claim and at least tried to back it up. Meanwhile all you guys having these horrible issues cant even produce a simple screenshot. Even though if the offline mode was so horrible and really didnt work for you it would be a matter of seconds to do so.

As previously stated. We dont care enough to install steam. On our fault we should be listing the dates our problems occurred. The problems for me have occurred little more than 2 months ago, although they prove very little by installing steam over wine.

No, its going on right here. Ignoring the truth and lying about something to further a smear campaign without even bothering to back up your claims and ignoring facts that refute them is zealotry at its finest.

Saying we are lier's without providing proof these things DONT occur doesn't make you much better. The onus is on us to provide examples. I suggest you ask around on the steam forums because they might actually have the thing installed. I dont go out to hurt steam reputation, it does a fine enough job on its own.

Ugly UI for one (Am i the only one that notices the default UI for steam and phoronix are the same?). Price of older games is usually too high.

Oh lord is that the best you can come up with. Fanboy thinking at its best. You just said 2 things that not only could be changed but base entirely on personal preference.

Oh and heres your frigin screenshot. You made me boot into winshit for this so i hope ur happy. What you are looking at it a win7 install with a clearly connected network and steam not connecting. Sure, thats fine if you like offline mode. I use it for Counterstrike which is basically online only. Looks like for me, Steam sucks. And before you say its my ports or shit like that be aware that it works SOME of the time.

http://l33f3r.com/images/steam_sucks.png

Go figure.

[Setlec]

Sorry for resurrecting this topic but is there any news about this linux port of steam from Valve? Mr. Larabel, could you give us any news about this?

Thank you!

@L33F3R: i run steam on CrossOver, the free edition, from last year it run pretty fine even better than wine, i'm not sure why but i can't get it work on wine.

Again sorry for resurrecting this topic.

Cheers

[Duhorigh73]

i think valve got beat at the realistic war thing to it so they just decided to forge ahead with an updated version of the original team fortress.

[Zhick]

Thinking about it it's pretty funny how Michael never fails to mention how UT3 is not yet released, but never loses a single word about the "confirmed" steam-client. :P