Valve Has No Plans To Bring Dota 2 Workshop Tools To Linux

I don't know, I don't see how it really conflicts with SteamOS goals. Remember, Steam Machines are PC consoles. Workshop tools aren't really in that scope there. I really wouldn't jump to conclusions here. Some things are worth doing. Some things aren't. Porting Workshop Tools might be important for few people, but not really else.

Well, SteamOS isn't really a PC, but a console. And who would use workshop tools on a console? Well, probably a few people. I just hope that Linux guys at Valve are focusing on more important things right now, and these tools will come in future.

I've expressed my concerns previously here on GOL that it seems to me that Valve might not be very committed to their own Steam Machines (SM). Looks like they aren't advertising as much as they could. Like in the previous promo they were announcing a free Rocket League + Portal 2 when buying Steam hardware but in the pics there was no sign of SM. I don't know if they just don't want to promote a particular brand or something else.
Like Liam, I appreciate that Valve gave a little (but big) push to Linux gaming but could it be that this whole SM thing was just send a message to Microsoft?

Which SM Valve should pick to promote? How fair it would be to other vendors?

There's lot of questions how Valve will handle all SM launch, or how much marketing push it will give to it, but frankly it would be very welcome we could stop spin this fringe theories. Valve have done a lot to promote Steam Machines on their own site and client, they certainly don't shy away from it. Also consider first iteration to be certain trial balloon. Both Valve and vendors will evaluate SM feedback data along with sales numbers and will change their marketing accordingly.

What does "no plans" mean? It's an ambiguous phrase. They may have considered it but don't have an actual plan in place to bring workshop tools to Linux and OSX. Maybe it's a "back burner" project while they continue to solidify the official SteamOS launch.

Bare in mind that Valve development structure is based somewhat on popularity. I don't think any developer would want to work on porting Workshop Tools, particularly when they've got so many other cools things in the pipeline.


Last edited by kit89 on 10 Sep 2015 at 4:33 pm UTC

Games are priority!!!!!!! dont let waste efforts in tools that only few of us will use!

To me "no plans" is a very vague overstatement as Workshop Tools on Linux seems inevitable.

Being from California (where Valve operates) we often use language in a very minimalist and ellipsed way to communicate quickly instead of concisely. My interpretation of his statement is that he meant "no plans yet"

To me this is also about the chicken and the egg - are Game Developers 100% equipped to operate on a creative basis on Linux PCs for game development? Not 100%. To my knowledge there is no 3D Studio Max, Maya, Photoshop, etc that I imagine are core elements in producing Original Workshop Content.

Also, I don't think it would be a terrible thing to hold off pulling the plug on Windows just yet as Streaming Windows games within a LAN seems to be part of Valve's strategy in conjunction with their Steam Machines (until SteamOS can play 80-100% of Windows Games).

Half Life 3 - SteamOS Exclusive Early Access - We Need You! :)

I saw Steam Controllers & Steam AlienWare consoles for pre-sale in the mall yesterday and I admit I was really tempted to sign up, Steam Machines are going to change gaming forever.


Last edited by ElectricPrism on 10 Sep 2015 at 7:06 pm UTC

You don't like any of the Valves games anyway :P

Honestly, Dota 2 workshop tools are such a niche thing that only so few people gonna use, that I don't really see justification of letting even smaller slice of that slice get to use the tools.

If they were real chums they would go "here's github with the sourcecode, go wild" but that's sadly not how Valve rolls.

Dota 2 WorkShop tools is just a set of tools (Map Editor, Model Viewer, Asset Browser...) and maybe a few wizard and a documentation to help you make mods for Dota 2. From what I know Valve don't make new tools for every of their games, they just modify the old ones to make it work.

Some were made way before Valve made a push toward Linux and some of them are simply impossible to port to Linux because they have used Microsoft Foundation Classes ([https://github.com/ValveSoftware/source-sdk-2013/issues/141](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/source-sdk-2013/issues/141)) which mean your only solution to make it work on Linux is to rewrite everything or use WINE.

Maybe one day they will rewrite everything and it will be better and work on Linux too, but right now their top priorities should be games and SteamOS.


Last edited by Nyamiou on 10 Sep 2015 at 10:23 pm UTC

Being from California (where Valve operates)

Last time I checked, Valve was headquartered here in Washington State :p

all in due time, if and when steam OS gains more momentum in the market we may see more development. but until then might as well just sit back and relax and enjoy the games. for now there's a lot of development to be had in other areas first before we start seeing tools ported to Linux on a regular basis.
I wished all this would come to fruition sooner as well but it's not realistically possible. Windows has had decades of developer devotion to game development. all this is just getting started for Linux, yet I've seen leaps and bounds already. so we just have to wait and see over the next couple of years what will happen. I think Valve still has a few surprises up their sleeves that will come out over the next few months.