Support us on Patreon
PayPal
After the BioShock Infinite SteamDB entry was found by Linux users we've been debating who's going to be behind the port and it might very well be Virtual Programming. Prepare for some speculation.
To be clear with you guys, this is an editorial, meaning that it's an opinion piece. Please treat it as such.
A Virtual Programming employee has hung around on our IRC channel from since The Witcher 2 was released. During the past few days he also participated in the conversation about the BioShock Infinite port with some cryptic comments, which seem to indicate that Virtual Programming and their eON wrapper have something to do with the Linux port.
Following screenshot is from a conversation that took place on the 7th of December at half past 5 PM Finnish time.
Notice: we didn't "leak the story" unlike some people seem to think. All of the information available to us regarding the BioShock Infinite port was public. We can thank SteamDB and Reddit for that.
Some of these lines seem very odd to say the least. When asked about involvement with the BioShock Infinite port the developer stuck mostly to “no comment” line with an occasional smiley in the end. That alone wouldn't say much of course but used this way “no comment” can almost be interpreted as “yes”, especially if we contrast it to Aspyr Media's response regarding the port:
Source
The developer also mentioned that he doesn't wish to do or say anything that would damage their relationship with 2K. This is where I got extremely suspicious. “No comment” is still an understandable answer but why would someone bring up relations to a publisher if they have nothing to do with it? He has also made numerous remarks about Steam depots and the space requirements of BioShock Infinite which would suggest that he either checks the disk space usage of games basically by random or he has recently installed the game / worked with it.
But the oddities don't end here. A GOL user Daverball noticed that the Steam depots for BioShock Infinite look similar to the ones for Witcher 2 and Stronghold 3, the two Linux wrapper ports Virtual Programming has done so far. Aspyr's Mac port uses a separate depot, which contains both the binary and the data while the Linux depot shares game data with the Windows build. It could be argued that sharing the game data between builds makes sense, but Aspyr (and Feral) have in the past shipped their own data alongside with the binary. I believe Feral actually re-encoded some video files of XCOM: Enemy Unknown to better suit Linux.
After the Witcher 2's rather catastrophic launch Linux gamers have been very careful with AAA ports. For example the recently released Dead Island port was a topic of debate for a short time when people suspected that the unusually large binary file might contain a hidden compatibility component and was not really a native port. The game ultimately turned out to be a native game, with the binary being inflated by debugging symbols that were, for some reason, left into the release build. But this shows the amount of distrust Witcher 2 caused when it was released in a barely playable state and even today after numerous patches to eON by Virtual Programming the game runs with bad performance for many people who have hardware configurations that exceed the requirements mentioned on Steam and GOG. Personally I have nothing against the idea of using compatibility layers such as Wine or eON to ship some games, especially older games with lost source code, but so far I haven't been all that impressed by eON's performance. And I'm not just bashing either, we've had months to test and tweak with Witcher 2 and Stronghold 3 and the performance is just objectively bad and for some people just completely unacceptable.
So, will BioShock use eON to run on Linux? I don't really know. This article is mostly just speculation and I might just very well be paranoid and completely wrong here. But I do suggest that you remain cautious about AAA ports when the person/company porting it is shrouded in mystery. In this day and age broken ports are not rare and the “buy it before it's out” mentality seems to be going strong.
What are your predictions of the port? Will it use eON and most importantly, will it matter if it does? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
To be clear with you guys, this is an editorial, meaning that it's an opinion piece. Please treat it as such.
A Virtual Programming employee has hung around on our IRC channel from since The Witcher 2 was released. During the past few days he also participated in the conversation about the BioShock Infinite port with some cryptic comments, which seem to indicate that Virtual Programming and their eON wrapper have something to do with the Linux port.
Following screenshot is from a conversation that took place on the 7th of December at half past 5 PM Finnish time.
Notice: we didn't "leak the story" unlike some people seem to think. All of the information available to us regarding the BioShock Infinite port was public. We can thank SteamDB and Reddit for that.
Some of these lines seem very odd to say the least. When asked about involvement with the BioShock Infinite port the developer stuck mostly to “no comment” line with an occasional smiley in the end. That alone wouldn't say much of course but used this way “no comment” can almost be interpreted as “yes”, especially if we contrast it to Aspyr Media's response regarding the port:
QuoteWhile Aspyr is working on a multitude of Linux titles right now, BioShock Infinite is not one of them. That said, this is exciting news and we are looking forward to a great title coming to a great platform.
Source
The developer also mentioned that he doesn't wish to do or say anything that would damage their relationship with 2K. This is where I got extremely suspicious. “No comment” is still an understandable answer but why would someone bring up relations to a publisher if they have nothing to do with it? He has also made numerous remarks about Steam depots and the space requirements of BioShock Infinite which would suggest that he either checks the disk space usage of games basically by random or he has recently installed the game / worked with it.
But the oddities don't end here. A GOL user Daverball noticed that the Steam depots for BioShock Infinite look similar to the ones for Witcher 2 and Stronghold 3, the two Linux wrapper ports Virtual Programming has done so far. Aspyr's Mac port uses a separate depot, which contains both the binary and the data while the Linux depot shares game data with the Windows build. It could be argued that sharing the game data between builds makes sense, but Aspyr (and Feral) have in the past shipped their own data alongside with the binary. I believe Feral actually re-encoded some video files of XCOM: Enemy Unknown to better suit Linux.
After the Witcher 2's rather catastrophic launch Linux gamers have been very careful with AAA ports. For example the recently released Dead Island port was a topic of debate for a short time when people suspected that the unusually large binary file might contain a hidden compatibility component and was not really a native port. The game ultimately turned out to be a native game, with the binary being inflated by debugging symbols that were, for some reason, left into the release build. But this shows the amount of distrust Witcher 2 caused when it was released in a barely playable state and even today after numerous patches to eON by Virtual Programming the game runs with bad performance for many people who have hardware configurations that exceed the requirements mentioned on Steam and GOG. Personally I have nothing against the idea of using compatibility layers such as Wine or eON to ship some games, especially older games with lost source code, but so far I haven't been all that impressed by eON's performance. And I'm not just bashing either, we've had months to test and tweak with Witcher 2 and Stronghold 3 and the performance is just objectively bad and for some people just completely unacceptable.
So, will BioShock use eON to run on Linux? I don't really know. This article is mostly just speculation and I might just very well be paranoid and completely wrong here. But I do suggest that you remain cautious about AAA ports when the person/company porting it is shrouded in mystery. In this day and age broken ports are not rare and the “buy it before it's out” mentality seems to be going strong.
What are your predictions of the port? Will it use eON and most importantly, will it matter if it does? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
0 Likes
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
All posts need to follow our rules. For users logged in: please hit the Report Flag icon on any post that breaks the rules or contains illegal / harmful content. Guest readers can email us for any issues.
oldrocker99 8 Dec 2014
(ProTip : Linux users should all have a NVidia card).
Before I'd use the proprietary drivers (and the nouveau drivers are no option ;)) I'd quit playing, so I'll pass and stay with AMD for the next generation(s) unless nvidia invests into open source :)
All my games (apart from The Witcher 2 and Dead Island) run perfectly fine with my 3 year old AMD card and the open source drivers. So I see no reason to switch (back) to Nvidia (I never was a fanboi for a graphics card manufacturer, but currently I'd buy AMD no question!)
I have already felt the pain of being an ATI Linux user, and when I could finally use a rig with nVidia, I saw a tremendous difference in performance. I know that ATI has an edge in the hardware of their cards (they are superior for Bitcoin mining), but I have a nephew who is 100% Windows for gaming, and he tells me that the Windows Catalyst drivers are just as poor as the Linux ones and uses nVidia for gaming. (He uses Linux to run a server; he's no fool)
When I had a new laptop, the graphics card was an ATI, who declared the card as "legacy" two months later. I developed an animus against ATI which continues to this day. I still use AMD CPUs, though.
When Painkiller:Hell and Damnation came out for Linux in a native version, it ran for me the day of release. ATI users (I know I've told this story before) had to wait some 6-8 weeks for the Catalyst developers to get their act together (with the intensive help of the game developer) before the game would run for ATI users.
Why some Linux users play closed-source games but refuse to use closed-source drivers is a head-scratcher to me.
2 Likes, Who?
I know that ATI has an edge in the hardware of their cards (they are superior for Bitcoin mining), but I have a nephew who is 100% Windows for gaming, and he tells me that the Windows Catalyst drivers are just as poor as the Linux ones and uses nVidia for gaming. (He uses Linux to run a server; he's no fool)
No way.
Seriously, from my experience Catalyst drivers on
Windows + Direct3D are just running great.
I always had very good performance with no issues worth
mentioning that I can remember (4850, now 7950).
It's different on Linux, yes.
0 Likes
Well, it is probably quite selfish, but I can play eON wrapper games...
As I stated in another thread, the Witcher 2 plays flawlessly, now I am using the Linux Beta.
I understand that people are up in arms because they can't play a game they bought though.
As I stated in another thread, the Witcher 2 plays flawlessly, now I am using the Linux Beta.
I understand that people are up in arms because they can't play a game they bought though.
1 Likes, Who?
Why some Linux users play closed-source games but refuse to use closed-source drivers is a head-scratcher to me.
I used Nvidia and AMD in the past, even Matrox and others way back. I use whatever fits my needs best. At the time I built my current machine (3 years ago), that was AMD. Before I had a Nvidia. I've never regretted my decision, not even once.
When I switched my gaming to Linux as well, I went for the open source drivers. To me it has something to do with importance. Something as important as a driver must be open source in my book. (I tried the proprietary amd drivers but they had a far worse performance than the open source ones.) A game has so many assets and stuff that couldn't be open source in a world like ours ... and while I love open source, this is the one case I can make an exception.
There is no need for anyone to understand this move. As said, I'd rather quit gaming than using a propiretary driver. Just my decision. But then again, while I do love gaming, I prefer programing (even games!) :)
Oh and for that Painkiller story... well, I've never understood how it could happen that the developers of a driver have to adapt it so a certain game can run (smoother). If I were in charge I'd give the game devs every spec they need, but would hunt them with a wet towel if THEIR code wouldn't run then.
1 Likes, Who?
When I switched my gaming to Linux as well, I went for the open source drivers. To me it has something to do with importance. Something as important as a driver must be open source in my book.
Interesting. Open source is very important to you but it doesn't bother you to use closed source firmware to boot that open source driver? Your ideology entitles you to no more than nouveau.
As for me, I'll take what works. I have both an i7/GTX780 and i7/HD7970(wife's) Arch unstable machines before me and Witcher 2 runs like shit on them both. We've tried Catalyst and the Open Source drivers, and I honestly can't put my vote in for either one. Anyone tried enabling dynamic lighting in Borderlands 2 using radeon? Let me know how it goes after you power cycle your crashed machine.
Back to the point. It is heartbreaking to hear that we're very likely going to get yet another substandard port. I would love to be proven wrong, but I don't hold VP in very high regard.
EDIT: Shadows -> Lighting
0 Likes
If this is an eOn port I will maybe buy the game when they firstly fix Witcher 2 which I bought and since then not been able to play it!!! And don't tell me it's not possible because of some driver issues, if Metro last Light, Portal 2, Borderlands 2, ... can do it why not this game?
0 Likes
Please don't post speculation articles anymore :/ They make me feel bad or create wrong excitement.
Some IRC chat, are you kidding me >_>
But if its true: You are like enslavers ;( I like the witcher port, but I thought its more like because its a legacy game, and dont support the use of eON or any similar wrappers in the future.
Some IRC chat, are you kidding me >_>
But if its true: You are like enslavers ;( I like the witcher port, but I thought its more like because its a legacy game, and dont support the use of eON or any similar wrappers in the future.
0 Likes
lucifertdark 9 Dec 2014
I already own it so I can't really complain if I'm going to be able to play it without Windows.
1 Likes, Who?
Windousico 9 Dec 2014
I will buy BioShock Infinite (with or without eON)if the game works well with the official minimum system requirements.
PD: I am happy with "The Witcher 2" port.
PD: I am happy with "The Witcher 2" port.
0 Likes
Let me start I run a Nvidia 780 Ghz paired with a 4930K on my Desktop. My 13" laptop has a 765M with a 1080P screen. Witcher 2 was running slow on my desktop at the beginning. It runs very nice now and all I do is click play on my Steam library. I really dont care if I use close source drivers or open source drivers as long as I can play my games. I have been hearing AMD is more friendly to the community when it comes to open source drivers. I could care less it if stops me from playing my games. I have removed my Windows partition on both my laptop and my Desktop. I dont care if it's Eon wrapper or not as long as it works. I consider myself a power-user but just because I am a power-user it does not mean I want to run the close source drivers for one game then switch to open source for another. Some people will bent over backwards to support open source, I am not one of them. I invest my money on hardware that just works. I don't care if Nvidia uses a close source driver as long as I can install it on the distro I prefer to use.
1 Likes, Who?
Let's add some based on nothing "evidence" then ;)
[(link to steam profile [VPLTD] Peter Mulholland)](http://steamcommunity.com/id/vpltd-peterm)
I already bought BioShock Infinite back when I was still using Windows, so I'll just wait and see how the port turns out.
Here's to hoping it won't run as bad as the witcher 2 (i7 3820 |x79 chipset| 16GB mem | GTX680 [Nvidia 346.22 drivers] ).
I consider anything less than 60 fps even on lowest settings to be "bad" for the witcher 2.
[(link to steam profile [VPLTD] Peter Mulholland)](http://steamcommunity.com/id/vpltd-peterm)
I already bought BioShock Infinite back when I was still using Windows, so I'll just wait and see how the port turns out.
Here's to hoping it won't run as bad as the witcher 2 (i7 3820 |x79 chipset| 16GB mem | GTX680 [Nvidia 346.22 drivers] ).
I consider anything less than 60 fps even on lowest settings to be "bad" for the witcher 2.
0 Likes
Let's add some based on nothing "evidence" then ;)
[(link to steam profile [VPLTD] Peter Mulholland)](http://steamcommunity.com/id/vpltd-peterm)
:D
0 Likes
But Bioshock Infinite is a UE3 game. With a linux client
for the engine why would eON even be necessary?
for the engine why would eON even be necessary?
0 Likes
leillo1975 9 Dec 2014
...
VP have improved TW2 performance greatly since release (and it was CDPR who decided on a full release), and while native, in my opinion, will always trump a wrapper, I still want to see eON succeed. It could bring many older games to Linux, convincing more newer games to make a Linux version.
....
One question about Witcher 2. I tried betas and VP has improved a lot the performance. I didn't try the game 2 months ago, and I don't have idea if this beta improvements was added to the normal version.
0 Likes
But Bioshock Infinite is a UE3 game. With a linux clientNot all versions of UE3 support Linux. Only the newer ones. It was a highly modified engine with various iterations - afaik a lot of companies made their own modifications for their own particular needs.
for the engine why would eON even be necessary?
1 Likes, Who?
Concerning the subject of eON, i'm pleased and concerned at the same time.
On one hand, developers with a lack of access to certain games source code can be brought to Linux. It is also useful to bring titles which wouldn't feature on Linux due to developers inability to port (for whatever reason). This is where I get concerned...
If eON is successful, then it might encourage alot of developers not to port their titles natively. On top of that, if successful, it would be in eON's interest to garner as much support from developers to sustain themselves.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Honestly, I feel it's in Linux Gaming's interest to have titles ported natively....we don't see Linux titles being organized through a wrapper to work in Windows...so why should we?
On one hand, developers with a lack of access to certain games source code can be brought to Linux. It is also useful to bring titles which wouldn't feature on Linux due to developers inability to port (for whatever reason). This is where I get concerned...
If eON is successful, then it might encourage alot of developers not to port their titles natively. On top of that, if successful, it would be in eON's interest to garner as much support from developers to sustain themselves.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Honestly, I feel it's in Linux Gaming's interest to have titles ported natively....we don't see Linux titles being organized through a wrapper to work in Windows...so why should we?
2 Likes, Who?
My hope is that the VP guys doing the port without eon. I guess they they can do a native port.
0 Likes
Not all versions of UE3 support Linux. Only the newer ones. It was a highly modified engine with various iterations - afaik a lot of companies made their own modifications for their own particular needs.Borderlands 2 is from an older engine and that was handled properly. Why no just ask Feral or Aspyr to port the mac code?
0 Likes
Mohandevir 9 Dec 2014
Thinking about it... Where is it mentionned that VP is using eON for Bioshock?
Is it the only way that VP has of porting games to Linux? Is it possible that some games are easier to port and don't need the intervention of eON?
Let's assume that it's VP who's doing the port... Are we not doing an easy shortcut in affirming eON will be used for the port?
Is it the only way that VP has of porting games to Linux? Is it possible that some games are easier to port and don't need the intervention of eON?
Let's assume that it's VP who's doing the port... Are we not doing an easy shortcut in affirming eON will be used for the port?
2 Likes, Who?
My hope is that the VP guys doing the port without eon. I guess they they can do a native port.
That seems highly unlikely since VP has invested a lot of time and money into eON. Basically, they've committed to it as their solution to port games. If they get it right and working as well as they, they can then offer to port games for less money than the competition and with less effort. A sort of one size fits all solution if you will.
Borderlands 2 is from an older engine and that was handled properly. Why no just ask Feral or Aspyr to port the mac code?
My guess is that it boils down to either two things. A) Money - VP offered to do it for less (iirc the VP employee in question once made an offhand remark about how they usually take lump sums instead of % of sales) B) Aspyr - who did Civ5 and is working on BE - is too busy. Feral is working on the Total War games full time too apart from their other mac ports and stuff.
You have to remember that most of these porting studios aren't that big and so have limited resources.
0 Likes
How to set, change and reset your SteamOS / Steam Deck desktop sudo password
See more from me