The consolidated Linux gaming thread.

Well I was itching for something new (I play faaar to much HoN & CS:GO ). I was hoping for ruiner but they are playing some BS marketing thing with linux.

SPAZ2 came out and SPAZ2-linux had a day1 beta. After reading the typical naysayer replies from windows users I went and bought it.
For starters ... for something that is marked as BETA, its seamless.

As to the gameplay, I played alot of SPAZ1 and so I was looking forward to this anyway. Alot of the gameplay is different yet the feel is the same. It is more of a 4x type game, more of constructing your ship. At certain points in the game aspects of the background story kick in and if you trigger them too soon well :)

Right now I am barely holding the zombies off while re-capturing some of their zones. I need to sort out my ship build as it is crap BUT functional
 
Is it possible for us Linux users to get some form of Rocket League 'League or group' going?
 
I got an invite from them....did you guys?

Yep I did. I have played about 40 minutes of it so far. No crashes or glitches and so far a damn good game. Will gladly pick it up if the full Linux version is released.
 
I just got a friend request so far...

Edit: Just checked my chat log & he pm'ed me a key.
 
Fark, just as well you mentioned the friend request, I was about to hit the ignore button!
 
It's ok. I accepted the friend request, I just don't know what happens from this point...? Does he contact me?
 
A game called First Tree had it's Linux version released today on Itch.io and Steam. I got to play the beta a week or two back and it was really well done. If you enjoy games like Firewatch or Shelter you may like it.

https://whelly.itch.io/the-first-tree
 
Ok, stupid brain fart time, I'm tired and CBF working it out - How to I download The Coma: Recut using the provided Linux tester key?
 
>observer_ had it's Linux version released today. It's only on Steam at the moment but a GOG version should be coming as well. It's on for a 15% discount at the moment. It's developed by the team behind Layers of Fear and Brawl and was ported by Aspyr. I'm going to be holding out for a GOG version myself but am very happy to see it on Linux.

 
Has anyone read about pirates flatpacking Windows/Wine games for use under Linux?

A: This is a really good idea, why havn't the devs caught onto this.

B: If this diesn't show demand for more gaming titles under Linux, I don't know what does.
 
Has anyone read about pirates flatpacking Windows/Wine games for use under Linux?

A: This is a really good idea, why havn't the devs caught onto this.

B: If this diesn't show demand for more gaming titles under Linux, I don't know what does.
Never heard of this. I'm not sure what flatpacking is either...?
 
Never heard of this. I'm not sure what flatpacking is either...?

Have you heard of Snap packaging? Essentially the same thing. Basically sandboxed software containing all of the dependencies (including Wine) needed for the software to run - All preconfigured.
 
Never heard of this. I'm not sure what flatpacking is either...?

Flatpak is a universal linux installer package. Lets developers package software for install on any linux distro, it runs sandboxed. Programs I don't believe have access to /home ect.

Yes there is a group that has been releasing windows pirated games in flatpaks wrapped with wine+the settings to run their releases.

I haven't grabbed any to test anything. In general I don't have much trouble getting most windows stuff I want to run with wine working on my own. Steams windows client runs well under wine for me, and honestly in my case the only windows only games I even own anymore are things like Civ3 ect that I rarely fire up anyway. From time to time I may fire up Star Trek online and I have installed that both through a sto installer and through windows-steam and gotten it working just fine. I don't bother as much lately as they moved to DX11 only and although I can get it to run perfectly performance isn't great.

I might have to hunt one of these pirate packs down and test it.

It is funny that pirates are recognising Linux as a viable gaming platform before some of the stupid development/publishing houses. lol
 
Have you heard of Snap packaging? Essentially the same thing. Basically sandboxed software containing all of the dependencies (including Wine) needed for the software to run - All preconfigured.

Hm...then if you have multiple flatpacks that use the same/similar library and there is a security issue in the library (eg: openssl) you have to update every single flatpack? it sounds like the reverse of shared libraries. I could see it being useful if you want to make sure your app doesn't break with a security update on a shared library, but the downside is every flatpack publisher is going to have to fix the SAME security vulnerability before you are "secure". Not sure this is a great idea...
 
Hm...then if you have multiple flatpacks that use the same/similar library and there is a security issue in the library (eg: openssl) you have to update every single flatpack? it sounds like the reverse of shared libraries. I could see it being useful if you want to make sure your app doesn't break with a security update on a shared library, but the downside is every flatpack publisher is going to have to fix the SAME security vulnerability before you are "secure". Not sure this is a great idea...

It's up to the Snap maintainer to update for security issues yes, but you also shouldn't see them doing things like packaging openssl in a Snap. The sandboxing doesn't prevent the apps from using things like openssl. AppArmor has all types of rules for that sort of thing.

Where Snaps are really going to come in handy is things like games and 3rd party software where the code isn't out there for inclusion in a repo. Right now Google Chrome on Linux is either .deb or .rpm. So it's a pain for some distros to get to install. A Snap makes it really really easy.

Go look at what Ikey, founder of Solus, is doing for Steam with the LSI (Linux Steam Integration) snap he's creating. Steam is still based on Ubuntu 12.04. Those are ass old libs. Ikey is making a snap to handle that bullshit and fix problems behind the scenes.

Stuff like that is where Snaps really shine. You'll be able to run a LTS build for example but all the surrounding software can update as any dependencies that need updated files can simply be included in the Snap. Canonical has does great work with Snaps and AppArmor. And I want to say Canonical pushed all their AppArmor changes to make it fully upstreamed in kernel 4.13. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure the mainline contains everything now which is why 17.10 is kernel 4.13.
 
Hm...then if you have multiple flatpacks that use the same/similar library and there is a security issue in the library (eg: openssl) you have to update every single flatpack? it sounds like the reverse of shared libraries. I could see it being useful if you want to make sure your app doesn't break with a security update on a shared library, but the downside is every flatpack publisher is going to have to fix the SAME security vulnerability before you are "secure". Not sure this is a great idea...

That is the idea behind the sandboxing.

I agree in general though to me the idea of the flatpak snappak stuff is just not worth using. If you install a lot of packages this way you are adding a lot of redundant files.

Having said that though... this is seen by many as a perfect solution for commercial software vendors. Snaps auto update and if anything catches on I would expect it to be snaps, as they already have support from all the majors (ubuntu/arch/fedora/suse/debian/gentoo) and the major minors like mint/solus. I can understand why the pirates are using flatpak though as its more open then snaps which are sort of controlled by Ubuntu.

For now the main advantage I see with snaps is being able to install software on smaller distros that just don't have massive repositories. Or if you prefer to have direct updates from a developer. For instance if your on most distros getting daily Firefox developer updates isn't always easy... there is a snap package though which has all mozilla updates pushed. So if you where say on Solus... and didn't have access to things like PPAs and AURs, you can easily install the firefox dev snap.

If we ever get closed source software from companies like Adobe or *cough* MS I would expect them to package them as Snaps.
 
That is the idea behind the sandboxing.

I agree in general though to me the idea of the flatpak snappak stuff is just not worth using. If you install a lot of packages this way you are adding a lot of redundant files.

Having said that though... this is seen by many as a perfect solution for commercial software vendors. Snaps auto update and if anything catches on I would expect it to be snaps, as they already have support from all the majors (ubuntu/arch/fedora/suse/debian/gentoo) and the major minors like mint/solus. I can understand why the pirates are using flatpak though as its more open then snaps which are sort of controlled by Ubuntu.

For now the main advantage I see with snaps is being able to install software on smaller distros that just don't have massive repositories. Or if you prefer to have direct updates from a developer. For instance if your on most distros getting daily Firefox developer updates isn't always easy... there is a snap package though which has all mozilla updates pushed. So if you where say on Solus... and didn't have access to things like PPAs and AURs, you can easily install the firefox dev snap.

If we ever get closed source software from companies like Adobe or *cough* MS I would expect them to package them as Snaps.

As far as I can tell that's how Windows works. If a particular software application requires a certain version of a dependency the installer installs the required dependency alongside the old dependency - The files aren't redundant, they're still being used by other software applications.
 
As far as I can tell that's how Windows works. If a particular software application requires a certain version of a dependency the installer installs the required dependency alongside the old dependency - The files aren't redundant, they're still being used by other software applications.

Fair point, redundant isn't the right word. File duplication perhaps. :) I do see the point of snaps though... Linux has a deb/rpm problem. There are already plenty of commercial software packages like Houdini Bitwig and other major packages. They provide official support for 1-2 distros at most, and distribute in RPM and sometimes DEB. If your red hat selling RHEL that isn't an issue... but Linux is a lot bigger then RHEL. If those companies move to Snap packages it does solve a lot of issues.

Game wise it would solve the Steam issue. For a lot of developers supporting direct Linux downloads, or even platforms like GOG is expensive and hard to do. Snaps could make that much easier as it removes distro specific issues. (and update issues as those companies can update their own snap installed software... no odd support calls when X distro decides to deprecate a lib or updates to a newer version that drops X or Y) Hopefully pirates starting to use the more open flatpak format... helps convince more game developers to look into linux. Get their games working package them complete, and they shouldn't have to much worry about Ubuntu/Fedora/Suse/Gentoo/Arch/Solus/BobsFUBARcustomDistro ect ect. lol
 
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As far as I can tell that's how Windows works. If a particular software application requires a certain version of a dependency the installer installs the required dependency alongside the old dependency - The files aren't redundant, they're still being used by other software applications.

Heh and this is one of the fun moments when you install a software that replaces dll:s with a new (or in some cases, much older) version in the system, breaking other functions using it. The only safe way is to have a portable app that contains all its dependencies.
 
Anyone playing Rogue Stormers?


Getting my butt kicked in this & could always use some co-op help :)
 
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