cool i guess I may consider supporting epic games “soon” too. Remember, actions speak louder than words. There is a single company whose actions have turned Linux from a passion project that was...
cool i guess
I may consider supporting epic games “soon” too. Remember, actions speak louder than words. There is a single company whose actions have turned Linux from a passion project that was fun to experiment with to a serious platform that can absolutely be a daily driver for many gamers. I’ll keep supporting the company who speak with actions rather than epic and GOG that just say they’ll be better in the future. Show, don’t tell us how you wish you were better.
I don't have a problem with GOG - they may not be at the forefront of Linux support, but they do make gaming a better place by being DRM free - it's wonderful to just download an installer to run...
I don't have a problem with GOG - they may not be at the forefront of Linux support, but they do make gaming a better place by being DRM free - it's wonderful to just download an installer to run anywhere.
They recently said they were going to look at porting Galaxy to Linux and "we're working on it". That said, I'm hanging in just fine with Heroic for GOG, Epic, and Amazon and it works fine. At...
They recently said they were going to look at porting Galaxy to Linux and "we're working on it". That said, I'm hanging in just fine with Heroic for GOG, Epic, and Amazon and it works fine. At this point I'm not even sure what it would add beyond more reliable cloud save syncing but I want to be clear I'm for it regardless.
Genuine question: did Windows/Microsoft do something recently to spook companies into Linux support? Both GOG and Epic have announced that they’re leaning that direction (though these could easily...
Genuine question: did Windows/Microsoft do something recently to spook companies into Linux support?
Both GOG and Epic have announced that they’re leaning that direction (though these could easily be empty words), and I’m reminded of when Valve first started putting real resources into Linux because the Windows Store was an existential threat to them.
I’m curious if these recent announcements are just coincidences, if they’re a product of Linux actually gaining mindshare, or if they’re a response to something Microsoft has done recently.
I think they're starting to see the writing on the wall as the number of gamers on linux slowly becomes non-negligible. Valve's efforts were instrumental. (Also, Microsoft is literally a...
I think they're starting to see the writing on the wall as the number of gamers on linux slowly becomes non-negligible. Valve's efforts were instrumental. (Also, Microsoft is literally a competitor in that industry, and not a very nice one.)
I'm just "about done" with my move to Linux this weekend (I ended up choosing CachyOS). There are a dozen or two of irritants or things that don't quite work as well as I'd like but most of them are details tied to my extremely odd profile as a user (ancient productivity software, VR, stuff like that). Everything big or important "just works", or works no worse than Windows, with wine and proton being the main reason everything is so smooth, I think. (KDE Plasma 6 is also pretty great!)
I kind of think that people are also just getting fed up with Windows. Most of the people who I know who are technically proficient and are using Windows are doing it entirely because they are...
I kind of think that people are also just getting fed up with Windows. Most of the people who I know who are technically proficient and are using Windows are doing it entirely because they are forced into it because it’s the only system supported by specific applications - often games - and uncommon specialty hardware. People hate the stupid things that Microsoft has forced them to accept, the dumb things they break and don’t fix, etc. On the other hand, the overall experience on desktop Linux systems just keeps getting better and better every single day, and even the old guard of Microsoft fanboys are starting to talk about Linux in a positive light. Epic and CD Projekt are probably just realizing that a growing portion of their potential customers have a barrier that’s preventing conversions.
It's important to remember that corporations aren't your friend but for any bullshit Valve has done in the past, they outdo themselves with moves like this. Out of all the "big" game companies,...
It's important to remember that corporations aren't your friend but for any bullshit Valve has done in the past, they outdo themselves with moves like this. Out of all the "big" game companies, they're the ones I most believe to have the long-term health of the industry in mind.
Valve fully committing to Linux support and doing the long, hard work of actually making it a viable gaming platform is probably the best thing that happened in games tech in decades. Their goals were absolutely utopian in 2012 and now having a Linux machine for serious PC gaming is pretty much standard (if still niche in comparison). Proton is absolute magic.
Congrats on the switch! I’ve heard good things about CachyOS. And Plasma is indeed awesome. Honestly, I think Linux has SEVERAL banger DEs and that’s one of its very best features. Don’t like the...
Congrats on the switch! I’ve heard good things about CachyOS.
And Plasma is indeed awesome. Honestly, I think Linux has SEVERAL banger DEs and that’s one of its very best features. Don’t like the look and feel of your computer? Get a completely different one!
I’m currently running COSMIC on my main computer, Cinnamon on my couch laptop, and Plasma on my Deck (I spend more time in my Deck’s desktop mode than anyone probably should). I used to run GNOME and it’s also awesome. Seriously, we’re spoiled for choice over here.
Meanwhile Windows 11 is only just now considering the idea that I might want to move my taskbar to the side of my screen instead of the bottom.
Ha, and maybe human people want windows search to search their local device, instead of serve them ads from the web. I used to do windows insider, this gem is from an email I got this week:
Ha, and maybe human people want windows search to search their local device, instead of serve them ads from the web. I used to do windows insider, this gem is from an email I got this week:
Clearer results, a calmer home screen, removal of promotional content from web results, and prioritization of local search results are just a few of the updates to Windows Search Box that aim to make your experience faster and more relevant.
These updates are gradually rolling out to Insiders in the Experimental channel.
As mentioned, Linux has hit a critical mass where it's hard to ignore. Part of that is due to the Steam Deck, which means dedicated Linux hardware. The other part is Microsoft making a bunch of...
As mentioned, Linux has hit a critical mass where it's hard to ignore. Part of that is due to the Steam Deck, which means dedicated Linux hardware. The other part is Microsoft making a bunch of small changes that made Windows less bearable. It wasn't any one single thing, just too many straws for the camel to bear.
Why not? The steam deck and machine have put some Linux numbers on the board. EGS is an electron application, it’s not like they’d have to do a lot to make it Linux compatible.
Why not? The steam deck and machine have put some Linux numbers on the board. EGS is an electron application, it’s not like they’d have to do a lot to make it Linux compatible.
I feel like being Electron is not actually too helpful here. It certainly helps with the store features, but a launcher still needs to do a lot of platform-specific work. Game installing and...
I feel like being Electron is not actually too helpful here. It certainly helps with the store features, but a launcher still needs to do a lot of platform-specific work.
Game installing and updates require disk access, dealing with different filesystems, layouts, permissions, and distro-specific features like immutability and selinux.
Downloading games requires networking features, and needs to handle all the different weird states a computer's network can be in, like being behind a VPN/proxy. This likely uses a different interface than Windows, and would require some special handling.
Perform process management to launch games, and detect when they're closed. Especially for features like cloud sync. Some games complicate this further by including their own launchers, etc.
Installation needs to handle all dependencies, and any wrapper layer like Proton/Wine needs to be specifically set up on Linux.
Application rendering itself needs to support X and Wayland systems, and run on integrated and discrete graphics.
Electron may handle some of those things, but I expect there's still a lot of Linux-specific differences they need to contend with.
Having official support would be nice, though I've been using Heroic Games Launcher for Epic/GOG on Linux and it has been fine. I'm sure it's missing things or has frustrations I don't notice that...
Having official support would be nice, though I've been using Heroic Games Launcher for Epic/GOG on Linux and it has been fine. I'm sure it's missing things or has frustrations I don't notice that an official launcher would help solve, then again I like having it combined with GOG all in one interface, so Heroic + Steam gives me 99% coverage on everything I want to launch and play
Heroic is indeed awesome. The only thing a native launcher would add for me would be playtime tracking and achievements. Neither are truly necessary for me, but they’re nice to have.
Heroic is indeed awesome.
The only thing a native launcher would add for me would be playtime tracking and achievements. Neither are truly necessary for me, but they’re nice to have.
Article is misquoting, the word soon is actually soon™, which doesn't actually mean anything and kinda nullifies any newsworthyness that this statement might have otherwise posessed.
Article is misquoting, the word soon is actually soon™, which doesn't actually mean anything and kinda nullifies any newsworthyness that this statement might have otherwise posessed.
I don’t like Epic as a company or have any intention of leaving Steam in the foreseeable future, but this is welcome news. The more companies lean into Linux, the better. I do hope, as terrible as...
I don’t like Epic as a company or have any intention of leaving Steam in the foreseeable future, but this is welcome news. The more companies lean into Linux, the better. I do hope, as terrible as Blizzard is, they too lean into it but given their relatively recent change of ownership, I am not holding my breath.
That is good. Sadly I am a bit lazy and I use my gaming rig via controller, neither epic not gog have something similar to steam big picture so probably I will install the games using heroic and...
That is good. Sadly I am a bit lazy and I use my gaming rig via controller, neither epic not gog have something similar to steam big picture so probably I will install the games using heroic and then I will launch them through steam anyway.
But it is good nonetheless, it gives Linux another reason to be more popular among gamers.
I don't think they care about the desktop linux, users per se, but they care about the many Steam users that run a Steam Deck. Most users use the stock operating system, although you CAN install...
I don't think they care about the desktop linux, users per se, but they care about the many Steam users that run a Steam Deck. Most users use the stock operating system, although you CAN install windows on it, most people won't bother / can't, so they'll use whatever Valve puts on it. Which is linux. Which it's good, more native software is good for everyone.
Oldschool Runeacape has a beta launcher for Linux too I keep meaning to try it out but it requires that I permanently upgrade the authentication type for my account and imo thats a huge risk cause...
Oldschool Runeacape has a beta launcher for Linux too
I keep meaning to try it out but it requires that I permanently upgrade the authentication type for my account and imo thats a huge risk cause what if it doesnt work on my machine Id be stuck.
Bolt is just for RS3/OSRS. It just says "your favorite MMO" presumably for legal reasons. You can launch RuneScape through Steam, but doesn't let you use Runelite, which is essential for OSRS imo.
Bolt is just for RS3/OSRS. It just says "your favorite MMO" presumably for legal reasons. You can launch RuneScape through Steam, but doesn't let you use Runelite, which is essential for OSRS imo.
I agree. Even mobile OSRS is blegh. I go through phases with that game, anyway. I'll play it really hard for a month or two, but get burned out and not touch it for a year. I'm usually surprised...
I agree. Even mobile OSRS is blegh. I go through phases with that game, anyway. I'll play it really hard for a month or two, but get burned out and not touch it for a year. I'm usually surprised by the progress I made the last time I played, so I guess that's a plus?
Yeah a lot of people do that, it's actually really hard to run a clan when that seems to be the norm lol I've got mods dipping out on me with no warning all the time. I started rotating mods like...
Yeah a lot of people do that, it's actually really hard to run a clan when that seems to be the norm lol I've got mods dipping out on me with no warning all the time. I started rotating mods like once a year and that's worked decently well.
cool i guess
I may consider supporting epic games “soon” too. Remember, actions speak louder than words. There is a single company whose actions have turned Linux from a passion project that was fun to experiment with to a serious platform that can absolutely be a daily driver for many gamers. I’ll keep supporting the company who speak with actions rather than epic and GOG that just say they’ll be better in the future. Show, don’t tell us how you wish you were better.
Yeah, I popped in to tell Epic "cool story, bro". I'm definitely not against it but I'm also not holding my breath.
I don't have a problem with GOG - they may not be at the forefront of Linux support, but they do make gaming a better place by being DRM free - it's wonderful to just download an installer to run anywhere.
They recently said they were going to look at porting Galaxy to Linux and "we're working on it". That said, I'm hanging in just fine with Heroic for GOG, Epic, and Amazon and it works fine. At this point I'm not even sure what it would add beyond more reliable cloud save syncing but I want to be clear I'm for it regardless.
Genuine question: did Windows/Microsoft do something recently to spook companies into Linux support?
Both GOG and Epic have announced that they’re leaning that direction (though these could easily be empty words), and I’m reminded of when Valve first started putting real resources into Linux because the Windows Store was an existential threat to them.
I’m curious if these recent announcements are just coincidences, if they’re a product of Linux actually gaining mindshare, or if they’re a response to something Microsoft has done recently.
I think they're starting to see the writing on the wall as the number of gamers on linux slowly becomes non-negligible. Valve's efforts were instrumental. (Also, Microsoft is literally a competitor in that industry, and not a very nice one.)
I'm just "about done" with my move to Linux this weekend (I ended up choosing CachyOS). There are a dozen or two of irritants or things that don't quite work as well as I'd like but most of them are details tied to my extremely odd profile as a user (ancient productivity software, VR, stuff like that). Everything big or important "just works", or works no worse than Windows, with wine and proton being the main reason everything is so smooth, I think. (KDE Plasma 6 is also pretty great!)
I kind of think that people are also just getting fed up with Windows. Most of the people who I know who are technically proficient and are using Windows are doing it entirely because they are forced into it because it’s the only system supported by specific applications - often games - and uncommon specialty hardware. People hate the stupid things that Microsoft has forced them to accept, the dumb things they break and don’t fix, etc. On the other hand, the overall experience on desktop Linux systems just keeps getting better and better every single day, and even the old guard of Microsoft fanboys are starting to talk about Linux in a positive light. Epic and CD Projekt are probably just realizing that a growing portion of their potential customers have a barrier that’s preventing conversions.
It's important to remember that corporations aren't your friend but for any bullshit Valve has done in the past, they outdo themselves with moves like this. Out of all the "big" game companies, they're the ones I most believe to have the long-term health of the industry in mind.
Valve fully committing to Linux support and doing the long, hard work of actually making it a viable gaming platform is probably the best thing that happened in games tech in decades. Their goals were absolutely utopian in 2012 and now having a Linux machine for serious PC gaming is pretty much standard (if still niche in comparison). Proton is absolute magic.
Congrats on the switch! I’ve heard good things about CachyOS.
And Plasma is indeed awesome. Honestly, I think Linux has SEVERAL banger DEs and that’s one of its very best features. Don’t like the look and feel of your computer? Get a completely different one!
I’m currently running COSMIC on my main computer, Cinnamon on my couch laptop, and Plasma on my Deck (I spend more time in my Deck’s desktop mode than anyone probably should). I used to run GNOME and it’s also awesome. Seriously, we’re spoiled for choice over here.
Meanwhile Windows 11 is only just now considering the idea that I might want to move my taskbar to the side of my screen instead of the bottom.
Ha, and maybe human people want windows search to search their local device, instead of serve them ads from the web. I used to do windows insider, this gem is from an email I got this week:
As mentioned, Linux has hit a critical mass where it's hard to ignore. Part of that is due to the Steam Deck, which means dedicated Linux hardware. The other part is Microsoft making a bunch of small changes that made Windows less bearable. It wasn't any one single thing, just too many straws for the camel to bear.
Why not? The steam deck and machine have put some Linux numbers on the board. EGS is an electron application, it’s not like they’d have to do a lot to make it Linux compatible.
I feel like being Electron is not actually too helpful here. It certainly helps with the store features, but a launcher still needs to do a lot of platform-specific work.
Electron may handle some of those things, but I expect there's still a lot of Linux-specific differences they need to contend with.
Having official support would be nice, though I've been using Heroic Games Launcher for Epic/GOG on Linux and it has been fine. I'm sure it's missing things or has frustrations I don't notice that an official launcher would help solve, then again I like having it combined with GOG all in one interface, so Heroic + Steam gives me 99% coverage on everything I want to launch and play
Heroic is indeed awesome.
The only thing a native launcher would add for me would be playtime tracking and achievements. Neither are truly necessary for me, but they’re nice to have.
Article is misquoting, the word soon is actually soon™, which doesn't actually mean anything and kinda nullifies any newsworthyness that this statement might have otherwise posessed.
I don’t like Epic as a company or have any intention of leaving Steam in the foreseeable future, but this is welcome news. The more companies lean into Linux, the better. I do hope, as terrible as Blizzard is, they too lean into it but given their relatively recent change of ownership, I am not holding my breath.
That is good. Sadly I am a bit lazy and I use my gaming rig via controller, neither epic not gog have something similar to steam big picture so probably I will install the games using heroic and then I will launch them through steam anyway.
But it is good nonetheless, it gives Linux another reason to be more popular among gamers.
I don't think they care about the desktop linux, users per se, but they care about the many Steam users that run a Steam Deck. Most users use the stock operating system, although you CAN install windows on it, most people won't bother / can't, so they'll use whatever Valve puts on it. Which is linux. Which it's good, more native software is good for everyone.
Oldschool Runeacape has a beta launcher for Linux too
I keep meaning to try it out but it requires that I permanently upgrade the authentication type for my account and imo thats a huge risk cause what if it doesnt work on my machine Id be stuck.
The Bolt launcher is a fantastic option for Linux. I've contributed to the source code, so I can attest that it's safe to use!
Wow for any Steam game? neat
Bolt is just for RS3/OSRS. It just says "your favorite MMO" presumably for legal reasons. You can launch RuneScape through Steam, but doesn't let you use Runelite, which is essential for OSRS imo.
OH
yea no RuneLite is kinda a deal breaker for me at this point, I've been spoiled
I agree. Even mobile OSRS is blegh. I go through phases with that game, anyway. I'll play it really hard for a month or two, but get burned out and not touch it for a year. I'm usually surprised by the progress I made the last time I played, so I guess that's a plus?
Yeah a lot of people do that, it's actually really hard to run a clan when that seems to be the norm lol I've got mods dipping out on me with no warning all the time. I started rotating mods like once a year and that's worked decently well.