Today is a good day. I had the pleasure of speaking to Feral Interactive on their porting work for the Linux version of XCOM and games in general and here it is in all its glory.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do at Feral?
My name is Edwin Smith and I am Head of Production at Feral. My main job is to facilitate other people’s work. Most of my time is spent co-ordinating our internal developers and QA with the companies with whom we work. The aim is to make sure that there is a good flow of communication, so that we avoid misunderstandings and hopefully head off problems before they arise.
Why did Feral decide to get into Linux?
The catalyst has been the Steam OS and the Steam Machine. That convinced us that Linux could support AAA games.
OS X is a UNIX-based platform so from a development perspective Linux feels like a natural extension of what we already do as Mac developers. We also felt that a lot of the experience that we had in publishing for the Mac and marketing to and providing support for smaller audiences would be applicable to Linux.
So, essentially without SteamOS & Steam Machines Feral wouldn't be porting games to Linux?
The scope and quality of Linux gaming have been steadily improving for a few years. However, Valve’s decision to use Linux for SteamOS was in our view a big validation, and certainly made the decision to develop for Linux easier.
For a company just getting into Linux what roadblocks did you encounter in bringing XCOM to Linux?
No roadblocks, just a few speed bumps ;-). A few things are different, for example 64bit support. 32bit libraries are no longer the default on Linux as they are for Windows and OSX. That means the game has to be updated to be 64bit clean.
Is the port just to confirm properly a 100% native port? So, no wrappers (Wine, eON, Crossover etc)?
This is a 100% native application. Just like our Mac games, all our Linux games will be 100% native. We never use WINE, Crossover etc style wrapper technology. Promise!
We avoid wrappers because we believe they do not allow for the same level of platform-specific tailoring that native ports do, so they don’t often provide gamers with the best experience that the platform – and the game - can provide.
Making a native application allows us to give the game that extra bit of platform specific polish.
Two examples in XCOM:
- We modified the videos to use VP8 on Linux, as that was the best codec to use.
- We wrote a Linux-specific pre-game launcher for the Complete Edition of XCOM that allows you to choose between the main game or the expansion pack, XCOM: Enemy Within. We rewrote it for Linux to support Big Picture mode (with HD graphics) and gamepads.
XCOM for Linux has lots of small changes like these, all of which contribute to making the Linux version feel like it has taken advantage of everything the platform has to offer.
And, once the game is released we are committed to maintaining it based on feedback from the community.
What tools are you using in porting XCOM to Linux?
We use a large number of tools and custom libraries during development. A few examples are: QTCreator, gedit, CMake, apitrace, systemtap, perf, git-svn, meld, libvpx, SDL2 and webm. We also have our own custom libraries designed to help game development on Linux
What do you think about Steam Machines and SteamOS and what it means for the future of PC gaming?
The Steam Machines and SteamOS have great potential as an alternative to Windows, but it's a braver man than me who will forecast how that is going to play out.
What sort of sales numbers are you expecting from the Linux crowd given that many may already own it?
For now we're more focused on the reception that a native Linux port of XCOM gets from Linux gamers than the sales. We are committed to bringing AAA games to Linux and making sure those games are completely awesome to play on the Linux platform; if we do a good job of that then over time we trust that the sales will follow.
The game is currently 64bit only. Is there a certain reason this was done and will a 32bit version come?
The latest Linux distibutions are primarily 64bit, and libraries are increasingly being developed and maintained in 64bit. In gaming terms, we’re seeing more and more 64bit-only games released for Linux, so overall we think 32bit has a limited future in AAA gaming.
As our first game for Linux, the decisions we made about the hardware and software XCOM supports have long-term implications. Since it was apparent to us that 64bit is the future and that 32bit is being phased out, we decided to support only 64bit from the beginning.
Although we have had a few requests for 32bit support, we’re unlikely to support it.
We asked about the tools used to port the game, but what about the platform? Were you able to develop any of it on Linux directly or was Linux more of a testing environment?
The entire development process, from alpha to the final release build, took place on Linux. Having developers run the OS they are targeting is key to attaining the best gaming experience.
It also helps that everyone on the Linux team at Feral were either keen Linux users before they started working on the project or adopted Linux as their primary platform during the development process. This means they get what Linux is about. We wanted the game to be more than just a Windows (or Mac) application dropped into Linux, we wanted to optimize it for Linux as much as we could.
This relates to your earlier question about wrappers. Because XCOM for Linux is a native application that is optimized for the platform at a source code rather than just a runtime level, it can be adapted to Linux’ usability conventions and features, not just its technical features (such as OpenGL).
What's your position on open-source GPU drivers (radeon, nouveau) vs. proprietary drivers (catalyst, nv) on Linux?
It depends on the drivers, and what works best for the project in question.
For example, XCOM only officially supports the proprietary Linux drivers for AMD and NVIDIA cards. Although some users have been able to play with the open source drivers, we have found they are not as stable. They are also missing some features that the closed source drivers have, so we aren't offering official support right now.
However, XCOM does support the open-source Mesa drivers for Intel cards, and we actually logged and fixed a bug in the driver during the development of XCOM.
Although we are open to supporting more open source drivers in the future, our immediate goal is to get great performance and stability in complex 3D environments and for that, the open source drivers for AMD and NVIDIA cards aren't quite there yet.
That said, we hope that the combination of more AAA games coming to Linux, the feedback we give and receive and the efforts of the Linux community will mean that the open source drivers keep improving in the future.
When you say you are committed to bringing AAA games to Linux, does that mean you are already working on more ports?
That's the plan! Although I can't give you any clues about what's next in line, I can say that the coming year should be a good one for Linux gamers!
How have you felt the reception has been for the port so far?
So far we are extremely pleased with the reception from Linux gamers and for the amazing community spirit on forums. We have learnt a lot from them and are using that knowledge to make sure that our future Linux releases are as good as they can be.
Any words of wisdom for developers looking to port to Linux?
Here are a few short points I think would be helpful to anyone thinking about it:
1. Develop on the platform for the platform. This helps you debug on the hardware / software that people will be playing on.
2. Decide early on what hardware and software you want to officially support; there are lots of hardware and software configurations. For an initial release, it is arguably better to have a small list of officially supported set-ups that offer great performance than a large list that you aren't able to QA and fully optimise. You can always extend the official support at a later date.
3. Polish, and hold your nerve. It's worth spending the time to make sure the game you eventually release is one that you are proud of. People will forgive a delayed release, they won't forgive a buggy one.
4. Engage the community. The Linux gaming crowd are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and helpful. We have already had a lot great feedback on XCOM, which has really helped us to understand what the community values.
5. Don't be scared, penguins don't bite!
Many thanks to everyone at Feral (special thanks to Brad Gibson for sorting the interview out and Edwin of course for answering!) for the port and for future ports to come, it was really great to speak to them about everything and I think we are onto a winner with these guys. It's extremely refreshing to have such a good developer supporting Linux, and this is another thing we have Valve to thank for.
What port would you like to see come from them next and how are you enjoying XCOM? Let us know! Sadly I've had very little time to play it, but the first mission was very smooth for me!
Final note: XCOM is still 50%, so grab your wallets and grab it on Steam now!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us what you do at Feral?
My name is Edwin Smith and I am Head of Production at Feral. My main job is to facilitate other people’s work. Most of my time is spent co-ordinating our internal developers and QA with the companies with whom we work. The aim is to make sure that there is a good flow of communication, so that we avoid misunderstandings and hopefully head off problems before they arise.
Why did Feral decide to get into Linux?
The catalyst has been the Steam OS and the Steam Machine. That convinced us that Linux could support AAA games.
OS X is a UNIX-based platform so from a development perspective Linux feels like a natural extension of what we already do as Mac developers. We also felt that a lot of the experience that we had in publishing for the Mac and marketing to and providing support for smaller audiences would be applicable to Linux.
So, essentially without SteamOS & Steam Machines Feral wouldn't be porting games to Linux?
The scope and quality of Linux gaming have been steadily improving for a few years. However, Valve’s decision to use Linux for SteamOS was in our view a big validation, and certainly made the decision to develop for Linux easier.
For a company just getting into Linux what roadblocks did you encounter in bringing XCOM to Linux?
No roadblocks, just a few speed bumps ;-). A few things are different, for example 64bit support. 32bit libraries are no longer the default on Linux as they are for Windows and OSX. That means the game has to be updated to be 64bit clean.
Is the port just to confirm properly a 100% native port? So, no wrappers (Wine, eON, Crossover etc)?
This is a 100% native application. Just like our Mac games, all our Linux games will be 100% native. We never use WINE, Crossover etc style wrapper technology. Promise!
We avoid wrappers because we believe they do not allow for the same level of platform-specific tailoring that native ports do, so they don’t often provide gamers with the best experience that the platform – and the game - can provide.
Making a native application allows us to give the game that extra bit of platform specific polish.
Two examples in XCOM:
- We modified the videos to use VP8 on Linux, as that was the best codec to use.
- We wrote a Linux-specific pre-game launcher for the Complete Edition of XCOM that allows you to choose between the main game or the expansion pack, XCOM: Enemy Within. We rewrote it for Linux to support Big Picture mode (with HD graphics) and gamepads.
XCOM for Linux has lots of small changes like these, all of which contribute to making the Linux version feel like it has taken advantage of everything the platform has to offer.
And, once the game is released we are committed to maintaining it based on feedback from the community.
What tools are you using in porting XCOM to Linux?
We use a large number of tools and custom libraries during development. A few examples are: QTCreator, gedit, CMake, apitrace, systemtap, perf, git-svn, meld, libvpx, SDL2 and webm. We also have our own custom libraries designed to help game development on Linux
What do you think about Steam Machines and SteamOS and what it means for the future of PC gaming?
The Steam Machines and SteamOS have great potential as an alternative to Windows, but it's a braver man than me who will forecast how that is going to play out.
What sort of sales numbers are you expecting from the Linux crowd given that many may already own it?
For now we're more focused on the reception that a native Linux port of XCOM gets from Linux gamers than the sales. We are committed to bringing AAA games to Linux and making sure those games are completely awesome to play on the Linux platform; if we do a good job of that then over time we trust that the sales will follow.
The game is currently 64bit only. Is there a certain reason this was done and will a 32bit version come?
The latest Linux distibutions are primarily 64bit, and libraries are increasingly being developed and maintained in 64bit. In gaming terms, we’re seeing more and more 64bit-only games released for Linux, so overall we think 32bit has a limited future in AAA gaming.
As our first game for Linux, the decisions we made about the hardware and software XCOM supports have long-term implications. Since it was apparent to us that 64bit is the future and that 32bit is being phased out, we decided to support only 64bit from the beginning.
Although we have had a few requests for 32bit support, we’re unlikely to support it.
We asked about the tools used to port the game, but what about the platform? Were you able to develop any of it on Linux directly or was Linux more of a testing environment?
The entire development process, from alpha to the final release build, took place on Linux. Having developers run the OS they are targeting is key to attaining the best gaming experience.
It also helps that everyone on the Linux team at Feral were either keen Linux users before they started working on the project or adopted Linux as their primary platform during the development process. This means they get what Linux is about. We wanted the game to be more than just a Windows (or Mac) application dropped into Linux, we wanted to optimize it for Linux as much as we could.
This relates to your earlier question about wrappers. Because XCOM for Linux is a native application that is optimized for the platform at a source code rather than just a runtime level, it can be adapted to Linux’ usability conventions and features, not just its technical features (such as OpenGL).
What's your position on open-source GPU drivers (radeon, nouveau) vs. proprietary drivers (catalyst, nv) on Linux?
It depends on the drivers, and what works best for the project in question.
For example, XCOM only officially supports the proprietary Linux drivers for AMD and NVIDIA cards. Although some users have been able to play with the open source drivers, we have found they are not as stable. They are also missing some features that the closed source drivers have, so we aren't offering official support right now.
However, XCOM does support the open-source Mesa drivers for Intel cards, and we actually logged and fixed a bug in the driver during the development of XCOM.
Although we are open to supporting more open source drivers in the future, our immediate goal is to get great performance and stability in complex 3D environments and for that, the open source drivers for AMD and NVIDIA cards aren't quite there yet.
That said, we hope that the combination of more AAA games coming to Linux, the feedback we give and receive and the efforts of the Linux community will mean that the open source drivers keep improving in the future.
When you say you are committed to bringing AAA games to Linux, does that mean you are already working on more ports?
That's the plan! Although I can't give you any clues about what's next in line, I can say that the coming year should be a good one for Linux gamers!
How have you felt the reception has been for the port so far?
So far we are extremely pleased with the reception from Linux gamers and for the amazing community spirit on forums. We have learnt a lot from them and are using that knowledge to make sure that our future Linux releases are as good as they can be.
Any words of wisdom for developers looking to port to Linux?
Here are a few short points I think would be helpful to anyone thinking about it:
1. Develop on the platform for the platform. This helps you debug on the hardware / software that people will be playing on.
2. Decide early on what hardware and software you want to officially support; there are lots of hardware and software configurations. For an initial release, it is arguably better to have a small list of officially supported set-ups that offer great performance than a large list that you aren't able to QA and fully optimise. You can always extend the official support at a later date.
3. Polish, and hold your nerve. It's worth spending the time to make sure the game you eventually release is one that you are proud of. People will forgive a delayed release, they won't forgive a buggy one.
4. Engage the community. The Linux gaming crowd are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and helpful. We have already had a lot great feedback on XCOM, which has really helped us to understand what the community values.
5. Don't be scared, penguins don't bite!
Many thanks to everyone at Feral (special thanks to Brad Gibson for sorting the interview out and Edwin of course for answering!) for the port and for future ports to come, it was really great to speak to them about everything and I think we are onto a winner with these guys. It's extremely refreshing to have such a good developer supporting Linux, and this is another thing we have Valve to thank for.
What port would you like to see come from them next and how are you enjoying XCOM? Let us know! Sadly I've had very little time to play it, but the first mission was very smooth for me!
Final note: XCOM is still 50%, so grab your wallets and grab it on Steam now!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
edddeduck_feral Jun 28, 2014
Quoting: SamsaiQuoting: AstroWhere have they ever said that they agree that 32-bit OS users are losers? They were very clear that they only supported 64-bit operating systems and IMO they have treated their customers with proper respect. How can you say they have disregarded you and been silent when one of them has been here chatting with you?Quoting: edddeduckferalI don't want to turn this comments page into a debate on 32/64 bit OS, the last time I saw this happen on the Steam forums it got out of hand with people taking sides and nothing constructive is gained from it.It's how you treated customers I didn't like. Personaly, I'm not sure if I want to play XCOM even if it will be ported on 32-bit OS. If there was explanation back then instead of almost complete disregard and agreement among the other who said that 32-bit OS users are just a bunch of loosers and it's cool don't pay attention to them, I'd have said nothing.
I'd suggest you get that refund and completely ignore the game. This conversation is simply going nowhere.
Astro as you mentioned above some others people in the Linux community were very vocal in support of 64bit and dismissive of 32bit support and the thread on Steam did get heated. However we have always tried to keep above the architecture wars and just explained what level of support we offer for XCOM dispassionately without taking any sides. We have never had anything against 32 bit OS's or people who want to use them however in terms of XCOM the game will not support 32 bit systems.
I hope you get your refund processed by Valve (let us know if you have any issues and we can see if we can help) and I hope you will still consider playing/buying the next Linux game we bring to the platform.
Edwin
0 Likes
Quoting: edddeduckferalI don't want to turn this comments page into a debate on 32/64 bit OS, the last time I saw this happen on the Steam forums it got out of hand with people taking sides and nothing constructive is gained from it.
Yes, that was an absolute trainwreck of a thread. And I'm embarassed to say I probably didn't help matters either, engaging that ChrisPlaysLinux fellow.
Quoting: CheesenessWindows users (even in the Steam survey which is biased towards gaming oriented users) who're running 32 bit operating systems
IIRC, Microsoft was pretty late on the 64-bit bandwagon, then decided to charge more for it and generally messed it up. It seems like a lot of people still think 64-bit is broken and not necessary anyway.
Quoting: AstroIt's how you treated customers I didn't like.
Oh, do shut up. "Fremdschämen" is not something I like to experience.
0 Likes
Quoting: DrMcCoyAnd that's one of examples of disrespect I've been talking about.Quoting: AstroIt's how you treated customers I didn't like.Oh, do shut up. "Fremdschämen" is not something I like to experience.
0 Likes
As a quick disclaimer: I'm not associated with Feral Interactive at all. So this goes directly on me, not on Feral.
Astro, don't you dare demand respect when you have shown nothing of the sort in this thread. You have been acting belligerent this whole time and you didn't even have a good reason to be cross in the first place. Edwin has been way more patient with you than I would ever have been capable of.
Seriously, you are not helping GNU/Linux adoption here. Quite the contrary.
Astro, don't you dare demand respect when you have shown nothing of the sort in this thread. You have been acting belligerent this whole time and you didn't even have a good reason to be cross in the first place. Edwin has been way more patient with you than I would ever have been capable of.
Seriously, you are not helping GNU/Linux adoption here. Quite the contrary.
0 Likes
edddeduck_feral Jun 28, 2014
Hi All,
Just wanted to say I have really enjoyed reading your thoughts and feedback so far. It's clear Linux users can be just as passionate (if not more so) about their platform as I have experienced with Mac users :)
I thought now would be a good time for me to throw some oil on the waters before things get too heated. Everyone on this forum are here because they want Linux gaming to get better, we all might have different views and methods on how to best do this but when it gets down to it we all just want more games on Linux.
The rule I always use when posting on behalf of Feral or posting as myself is to read the post as if it was sent to me not written by me. That way you usually can tell if your personal viewpoint or passion on a subject is effecting how you wanted to make your point :)
I like to end a post on a positive note, so with that in mind lets all think back and realise in the last month we have had some new AAA games on Linux with the promise of more to come in the future. I remember a decade ago I had TuxRacer on my machine and that was pretty much it so things are definitely heading in the right direction :)
Edwin
Just wanted to say I have really enjoyed reading your thoughts and feedback so far. It's clear Linux users can be just as passionate (if not more so) about their platform as I have experienced with Mac users :)
I thought now would be a good time for me to throw some oil on the waters before things get too heated. Everyone on this forum are here because they want Linux gaming to get better, we all might have different views and methods on how to best do this but when it gets down to it we all just want more games on Linux.
The rule I always use when posting on behalf of Feral or posting as myself is to read the post as if it was sent to me not written by me. That way you usually can tell if your personal viewpoint or passion on a subject is effecting how you wanted to make your point :)
I like to end a post on a positive note, so with that in mind lets all think back and realise in the last month we have had some new AAA games on Linux with the promise of more to come in the future. I remember a decade ago I had TuxRacer on my machine and that was pretty much it so things are definitely heading in the right direction :)
Edwin
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: DrMcCoySeriously, you are not helping GNU/Linux adoption here. Quite the contrary.You like it or not, that's my point of view and I'm only honest in what I'm writing about.
0 Likes
Actually I am making my switch to 64-bit now. My Laptop does not have a 64-bit sticker and I always thought that you need some kind of AMD CPU that supports it. Never thought that Intel i5 is also able to understand 64-bit so it probably was quite stupid to install 32-bit OSes on it. Would have been great if Steam/2k Games support could have told me that instead of "have you tried turning it off and on again".
0 Likes
edddeduck_feral Jun 28, 2014
Quoting: MilaniumActually I am making my switch to 64-bit now. My Laptop does not have a 64-bit sticker and I always thought that you need some kind of AMD CPU that supports it. Never thought that Intel i5 is also able to understand 64-bit so it probably was quite stupid to install 32-bit OSes on it. Would have been great if Steam/2k Games support could have told me that instead of "have you tried turning it off and on again".
Please note for XCOM Linux support (and Mac) you should contact Feral Interactive linuxsupport [AT] feral interactive [DOT] com. Valve and 2K don't develop or publish the game on Linux so you sometimes get the standard checklist responses. :)
Hope you enjoy XCOM!
0 Likes
Cheeseness Jun 28, 2014
Quoting: DrMcCoyIt seems like a lot of people still think 64-bit is broken and not necessary anyway.
IMO, this is the root of it. As somebody who very recently installed a 64 bit system, I don't feel like it's really given me any kind of noticeable benefit for every day activities. It feels hard to justify calling it "necessary".
I think it's OK for Feral to decide to not offer 32 bit support, but the amount of derision in Linux communities toward people running older stuff or people who don't care enough to move up to 64 bit is super uncool (Astro seems completely out of line in this thread, but I'm not sure that that justifies some of the more generalised responses).
0 Likes
Quoting: esmithferalQuoting: gabsd84Thanks, If you read the article you would see we already have logged and worked with the Mesa driver team for Intel as Intel only support the open Mesa drivers. :-) For AMD and Nvidia we have worked with the driver teams on the closed source drivers on XCOM, for the open source drivers we highly recommend you log issues the Mesa drivers, if the driver team know the issue exists they are better placed to be able to improve the drivers in future.Quoting: esmithferalThanks for all the feedback everyone, I can't reply to every comment but we are reading the replies, if you have anything you want to tell us directly please send us an email to our Linux support support email. All feedback positive, negative or indifferent is welcome. :-)Thank you for the awesome port. Honestly I did not even expect the game to run on the RadeonSI driver in Linux Mint 17 but the game launches and works fine. I still get a crash with the driver but I'm sure that will be sorted out in time (bug already reported it seems). My only request is for Feral to work together with the Mesa devs (Intel, AMD and Nouveau) where possible to make sure that future games run fine on Mesa and any bugs in the drivers are fixed well in advance. Keep in mind that all Intel users are on Mesa and many (most?) AMD users are using Mesa as well.
Overall though...good job Feral.
Thanks for your feedback and ideas on what we can do even better in future!
http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dri-devel/2014-June/062575.html
I had a really big smile on my face when I saw this. Thanks Edwin. I am one happy Linux gamer.
Can't wait for more ports from you guys.
0 Likes
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me