Nightdive Studios are making a System Shock Linux demo after gathering feedback

Nice to see that they'll release a demo for Linux. I sent them a message about that on Kickstarter and it seems that enough people asked for a Linux demo. Let's just hope that the demo arrives before the Kickstarter campaign is over.

I wonder if the positive experience/feedback the LED devs received had any influence on this decision?

I wonder if the positive experience/feedback the LED devs received had any influence on this decision?

Highly doubt that. It's just that enough Linux users asked for a demo.

You can see their Steam forum post here. They stated later they are now doing it as they have heard us. Mac apparently is a lower priority as Linux has been in higher demand.

That's interesting, and that's got to be a first for me at least.
Hopefully the demo can be solid.

I just get the feeling at first, they didn't have a linux machine, after gathering feedback, they find a spare pc in the basement somewhere cause they hade to look for something that could run linux.
And now "they have" a dev that's using linux.

Im joking, this is a good thing, and Im surprised that Linux is a higher priority then Mac.
And Im cool with them suddenly change there answers on Linux, there is probably reason they couldn't speak to mutch about it in the past, but now when the demand is bigger they can commit more to a linux port, instead of just making a linux port cause they just want to support linux or cause it was a kickstarter goal.

I hope the remake of System Shock is successful so they have incentive to remake System Shock 2 too :P Really loved that game back in the day, but now the graphics are too outdated for me.

Mac apparently is a lower priority as Linux has been in higher demand.

That's interesting, and that's got to be a first for me at least.

It may simply be that Linux users are more active in finding what's out there and Mac users are more passive and simply buy what's available. If that is the case, Linux may be a more interesting target for crowd funding.

Good to hear as the Windows version uses DX11 :)

. . . they didn't have a Linux machine, after gathering feedback, they find a spare pc in the basement somewhere cause they hade to look for something that could run linux . . . now "they have" a dev that's using linux . . .

The reality behind this statement belies every game dev who has ever tried to pass-off a shoddy Linux port with the excuse, "We can't do QA on our Linux port because we don't have a Linux machine." Sheesh.

Anyway, I too was tickled to hear Linux given higher priority than Mac. And I'm thinking that, as time wears on, this will become more and more commonplace. Linuxians seem on the whole louder and more persistent than our be-fruited comrades with Macs. (And also there's the whole Valve / SteamOS thing. That prolly helps add mass to our momentum) :)


Last edited by Nanobang on 2 Jul 2016 at 2:19 pm UTC

I too sent Nightdive Studios an email on the Linux demo:

Hello Nightdive Studios!

System Shock remake and Kicstarter....

How do you expect Linux users to back this, without
guarantee?

How about making the demo available for us to test? So
that we can work towards your stretch goal at the very least.

Of course, Linux and OSX shouldn't even be stretch goals IMO. It makes us
feel like second class citizens, again. Just saying that you'll make a
Linux port doesn't suffice.

We'd love to back you up, but we need something tangible for it first. I
hope you understand.

Got a reply:

We're working on demo versions for addition platforms including Linux,
please keep checking back on Kickstarter for updates :)

Thanks for your support!

Stephen

A bit confusing true, but hey I'll deal with a bit of confusion if that means a Linux port comes out the other end.

You can see their Steam forum post here. They stated later they are now doing it as they have heard us. Mac apparently is a lower priority as Linux has been in higher demand.

That's interesting, and that's got to be a first for me at least.
Hopefully the demo can be solid.

The second project in just a few days I've seen Linux put ahead of Mac by developers. The other being Zed, I believe. This is a trend I can get behind.

Just an FYI, the Enhanced Edition runs fine in Wine, and of course the DOS version runs fine in DOSBox.

If you think the updated graphics (and more modern engine/controls in general) make a remake worth it, you can get all the level design and many of the same mechanics from those versions.
Looks almost identical in layout.

"Well on their way to the linux stretch goal" ... Yet they haven't even hit their goal for the Windows/XBox One version?

They need to raise another $150,000 in less than a month just to hit that initial goal, doesn't really seem like they'll hit the £1.1m target (another $300,000 on top) does it?

Since I am not sure if I want that game, if the demo is good it might convince me into buying..

Well ...

Sounds great! Out of curiosity will you be using the new Vulkan API? It'd make the transition easier if so. Thanks for the update, happy developing.

Not sure. We basically just hit the button in Unity to make a build. What Unity does under the hood is "magic".

(source)
____
Edit: Removed rude meme.


Last edited by crt0mega on 4 Jul 2016 at 12:35 pm UTC

If its Unity you can try using the Unity Linux runtime and put the game file in place, it may work native.

http://seegras.discordia.ch/Blog/windows-unity-games-on-linux/

I was trying to get Dues Ex the fall working this way, it works but without sound. I compiled every version of the wwise audio library on their site for linux but still no sound.

If they aren't using plugins that are incompatible Linux it will probably work.

I'm going to mess it with it later. I downloaded the demo a little while ago and extracted the files. It looks like the only plugins used is the wwise aksoundengine. The same plugin used in Dues Ex the Fall, maybe one of my compiled linux aksoundengine files will work.


Last edited by m2mg2 on 8 Jul 2016 at 10:36 pm UTC

Tried it didn't work. Got Unity errors about unsupported shaders.

Set current directory to /home/****/Desktop/unity/5.4.0b15/test
Found path: /home/****/Desktop/unity/5.4.0b15/test/systemshockdemo.x86_64
Mono path[0] = '/home/****/Desktop/unity/5.4.0b15/test/systemshockdemo_Data/Managed'
Mono path[1] = '/home/****/Desktop/unity/5.4.0b15/test/systemshockdemo_Data/Mono'
Mono config path = '/home/****/Desktop/unity/5.4.0b15/test/systemshockdemo_Data/Mono/etc'
displaymanager : xrandr version warning. 1.5
client has 4 screens
displaymanager screen (0)(DP-4): 1920 x 1080
Using libudev for joystick management


Importing game controller configs

Selecting FBConfig
GLX_FBCONFIG_ID=167
GLX_BUFFER_SIZE=32
GLX_DOUBLEBUFFER=1
GLX_RED_SIZE=8
GLX_GREEN_SIZE=8
GLX_BLUE_SIZE=8
GLX_ALPHA_SIZE=8
GLX_DEPTH_SIZE=24
GLX_STENCIL_SIZE=8
GLX_SAMPLES_ARB=0
GLX_SAMPLE_BUFFERS_ARB=0
GLX_STEREO=0
GLX_CONFIG_CAVEAT=NONE

Desktop is 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz
Initialize engine version: 5.4.0b15 (795ddb5a8482)

WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Hidden/Internal-DepthNormalsTexture' - Pass '' has no vertex shader
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Hidden/Internal-DepthNormalsTexture' - Setting to default shader.
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Hidden/Internal-Halo' - Pass '' has no vertex shader
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Hidden/Internal-Halo' - Setting to default shader.
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Hidden/Internal-Flare' - Pass '' has no vertex shader
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Hidden/Internal-Flare' - Setting to default shader.
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Sprites/Default' - Pass '' has no vertex shader
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Sprites/Default' - Setting to default shader.
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Legacy Shaders/VertexLit' - Pass '' has no vertex shader
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Legacy Shaders/VertexLit' - Setting to default shader.
WARNING: Shader Unsupported: 'Legacy Shaders/Diffuse' - Pass 'FORWARD' has no vertex shader