Good news folks the guys at Virtual Programming aren't leaving us high and dry on the Linux port of The Witcher 2. They are working to try to improve eON for Linux, as if it's to be used in future ports then it does need to get better. A lot better.
This comes from a community bug tracker that was setup for Linux gamers to submit issues for The Witcher 2's Linux port.
Peter Mulholland, Virtual ProgrammingWe are looking into the performance issues as a serious task, as obviously this will affect any other Linux games we do as well as Witcher 2. Despite various claims made, we want to get the best performance we can!
Source
So, it seems they may be doing other ports to Linux as well using the same technology.
Peter Mulholland, Virtual ProgrammingWe believe our method for implementing multithreaded D3D9 may not be as optimal as we thought it should be. We are using shared contexts, with one GL context per thread, to handle it. This seems to be the root cause of the problem - and the reason WINE's CSMT patch makes such a difference.
We are looking into implementing a similar serialization system to improve performance. Currently we have no time estimate on this.
Source
It's also sad that in the same thread Peter feels I have personally attacked him & VP, but I just think they need to relax a little and take valid criticism from people who paid for a game they cannot play.
It's great to see them reach out to the community on a public bug tracker setup for them, so kudos to them for engaging the community.
No matter what people say about this eON tech if they fix it up enough that performance is the same as Windows then that's great. I really want to be able to play The Witcher 2, so I am holding out hope they manage to sort it out.
As I said in an editorial recently I don't care if it's made with a toaster, the technology to me doesn't always matter, but what matters more is if it's playable or not.
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Quoting: DrMcCoyWait, what? That's the first time I heard this claim.That was no claim, mind you. Just pointing out the obvious: a proper port WAS and IS possible. But nooooo... Let's use a wrapper, it can't be worse than Wine, right? RIGHT? ;p
Losing the source for TW2, in this day and age of proper source control and backups, and in the span of a few years, would be remarkably stupid.
Quoting: DrMcCoy10€.Valve begs to differ.
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Quoting: DrMcCoyentropy
DrMcCoy might not lose his $10.
10€.
Whatever. :)
On your victorious day you can light a cigar with that 10€ note and listen to
View video on youtube.com
At VP they do this all day, I guess.
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Quoting: KoosHonestly, you were a little too hard on them. Kudos to them for biting hard on the terrible flaming they had to put up with
The question that needs to be asked is: was it deserved?
I'm sorry but nothing makes more noise than angry customers.
And if customers are angry when it's the first product they buy from you, which means that they deal with you without any prior idea or prejudice, well, you must have messed up quite badly.
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Quoting: HyeronThat was no claim, mind you.
Then it's a weird non-sequitur. Their claim was always that it's not "financially feasible"; nothing to do with the code being available.
Quoting: HyeronValve begs to differ.
Well, considering that prices on Steam are in Euro for me...
Anonymous, that's not really my kind of music. :P
I would link you to my last.fm profile now, but they're down at the moment (in fact, they've been having problems for a while now).
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Quoting: HyeronSo basically it's sad that:
[12:01] CDR: Yeah, porting Witcher 2 lulz
[12:02] VP: Yeah imma wrapper up that stuff derp
[12:05] CDR: Yeah, the port is released lmao
[12:06] liamdawe: WTF is wrong with this thing? The performance is crap.
[12:08] VP: whiiiiiine!!!!111!!1!111 mommy hes so mean wif me
nope.gif
The only things I see here are:
1. CDR doesn't give a hoot. Clear as day. No reaction, no statement, no nothing. Plus, I do NOT believe the source to TW2 is lost. It's THREE YEARS OLD, for Pete's sake.
2. VP are a bunch of whiners, unable to take any kind of criticism (sorry, as far as I'm concerned, valid criticism is to be endured, not whined upon).
3. Given those two... I don't think any of them will get any kind of money from me. Improvements or not, they're dead to me. Both of them. It pains me to give up on GoG, but this... Nope. Just nope.
The source is not lost, but it probably just won't pay off to make a native port. There was a topic on the Steam forum about reporting bugs etc and they said they are in contact with CDP or something like that. Either way VP are responsible for the port.
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Quoting: DrMcCoyThen it's a weird non-sequitur. Their claim was always that it's not "financially feasible"; nothing to do with the code being available.That's their claim. I don't buy it, is all. If their financial health is that precarious, they must be worried sick about not being able to finish TW3.
Oh wait.
It may not bring in an insane amount of money, that I do not deny. But what has this whole mess brought them exactly, in comparison?
PS - My Steam is in €, too. Not that it makes a difference to them. Hence my comment. ;)
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It would be good if they fix most bugs. Because face it many old games will be ported using wrappers and it would be in our best interests that next time it would be mature as much as possible.
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Good! Cause I just bought the damn game
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Are they called Virtual Programling because that is what they do as opposed to real programming? :P
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Wow Liam, you seem to have made quite a name for yourself on being a heck of a nuisance to sloppy programmers (or decent programmers forced to do sloppy work; even more common to be fair).
Now, who's doing the good cop?
Now, who's doing the good cop?
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