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Topware Interactive are again continuing their Wine porting of older titles, this time it's Iron Sky Invasion [Steam, Official Site].

Again, it's really nice to see Topware bring older titles to Linux using Wine. As long as it works and it works well I couldn't care less. It means it counts as a Linux sale (the most important thing) and it's less hassle to not have to setup anything yourself.

Anyway, if you're interested here's their instructions from the announcement:
Quote1)Right Mouse Buttom (RMB) on Iron Sky Invasion in Your game library.
2)At the bottom - Properties.
3)At the top of the new window - BETAS
4)Enter this code - "isilinuxbetatest" and click "Check Code"
5)Select the beta "Linux Beta Test".
6)Close window and it should update Your game.


About the game (Official)
Set during the main conflict of the movie, “Iron Sky: Invasion” puts players in the cockpit of an advanced new starfighter, to test his or her might, flight and dog-fighting skills against the forthcoming Blitzkrieg-on-high. The main objectives are to defend Earth and its space installations from enemy attacks, blast as many Nazi ships into oblivion as humanly possible, collect and skillfully manage necessary resources, and make it alive to the final confrontation… where the ultimate secret weapon of the Fourth Reich awaits those foolishly brave enough to take up the hammer and chisel of heroism and attempt to carve their names onto the tablets of history.

Thanks for messaging me about it BdMdesigN! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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21 comments
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Snowdrake Dec 15, 2016
Ah nice! The movie is funny, bought the game a while back (works in wine, but crashes a lot).
I'll try the Linux beta right away!
Linas Dec 15, 2016
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Ahem... Does it really qualify as an older title by being released in 2012? I have nothing against using Wine for old games that are not economically viable to port via any other method. But being released on the same year as Dirt Showdown and Spec Ops: The Line does not qualify it as an old game in my book.
Liam Dawe Dec 15, 2016
Ahem... Does it really qualify as an older title by being released in 2012? I have nothing against using Wine for old games that are not economically viable to port via any other method. But being released on the same year as Dirt Showdown and Spec Ops: The Line does not qualify it as an old game in my book.
I would argue that four years is quite a while and it was before Steam was officially released on Linux.

Dirt and Spec Ops aren't as niche as this game, so they are a different story.
Linas Dec 15, 2016
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I would argue that four years is quite a while and it was before Steam was officially released on Linux.

Dirt and Spec Ops aren't as niche as this game, so they are a different story.
I don't necessarily disagree with you on that. I also have great respect for the Wine project.

What I am concerned about is that these Wine ports tend to be minimal-effort products. As in I haven't seen a single example of a Wine port where the game did not run in Wine in advance (or were not complete disasters like Limbo and Eador). And as we come closer to the current year releases, we begin scraping the line between where games just work in Wine and where they begin having subtle annoying bugs like input and sound problems, rendering glitches, broken controller support etc., while in a way they still do "work". If the game actually needs to be hacked to work in Wine or Wine needs to be hacked to make the game work, I think the effort is better spent making an actual native port instead.

End rant. :P
Liam Dawe Dec 15, 2016
I would argue that four years is quite a while and it was before Steam was officially released on Linux.

Dirt and Spec Ops aren't as niche as this game, so they are a different story.
I don't necessarily disagree with you on that. I also have great respect for the Wine project.

What I am concerned about is that these Wine ports tend to be minimal-effort products. As in I haven't seen a single example of a Wine port where the game did not run in Wine in advance (or were not complete disasters like Limbo and Eador). And as we come closer to the current year releases, we begin scraping the line between where games just work in Wine and where they begin having subtle annoying bugs like input and sound problems, rendering glitches, broken controller support etc., while in a way they still do "work". If the game actually needs to be hacked to work in Wine or Wine needs to be hacked to make the game work, I think the effort is better spent making an actual native port instead.

End rant. :P
If a game being on Linux can be done with minimal effort using Wine when it works really damn well, what's the downside exactly? I always prefer native ports (obviously), but when it's quicker for the developer to use something that's already available and works well, there's only really upsides for us. They can also go back and simply upgrade the version of Wine used in future, with ease, to give even better support in future. It's actually quite a good solution for older games.

You have to also remember that older games won't generate much income, which is why native ports for brand new, or much newer games is more worthwhile.
dubigrasu Dec 15, 2016
Tested the game and worked very well on my config in desktop or BPM, you can hardly tell is using Wine (there's only the small Wine popup at the initial setup). Controls are working fine (with M&K or Steam Controller which has already a profile for it)...well, I didn't found any issues.
If there's an issue is not a Wine one, but the acting and dialog in game. They are pretty much awful (IMO) and I really have a very high tolerance for things like that but...
I've heard people complaining about Two Worlds voice-over and I had zero problems with that, but in this one I could'n stomach it (although the over-the-top Nazis were pretty funny). While I enjoyed the game for some degree I eventually gave up because of this.
The best thing would be to cut the sound and put some music while playing.

But I digress, the game works very well.


Last edited by dubigrasu on 15 December 2016 at 3:00 pm UTC
dubigrasu Dec 15, 2016
"the most important thing" GNU/Linux need developers who know more than how to indenture themselves to Microsoft. Supposed everyone decides wine is the best path to profit. Why would they bother to learn to make native games?

I don't think (personal opinion) that this will be an issue.
After a certain point due to the improvements and advances within the popular engines, it will be easier to build native Linux games than screwing around with Wine "ports".

Man, I hate editing my posts because of some stupid misplaced letter.


Last edited by dubigrasu on 15 December 2016 at 3:07 pm UTC
Linas Dec 15, 2016
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If a game being on Linux can be done with minimal effort using Wine when it works really damn well, what's the downside exactly?
That's a big if. And if that is the case, it's fine with me. Unfortunately experience has taught me to be cautious of Wine ports. Limbo, Eador, Dear Esther attempted Wine ports and failed miserably. :(

Although I have to admit that Topware Interactive seem to know what they are doing, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
dubigrasu Dec 15, 2016
Although I have to admit that Topware Interactive seem to know what they are doing, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
They do seem to perfected their scripts. They will still probably have issues with certain configurations (well, Wine), but overall they do work. The dev is also very patient and dedicated while willing to put up various fixes until the bug reports stops, and only then is releasing the Linux version.
Ilya Dec 15, 2016
I loved the movie and I've had it from a bundle for a few years now. Glad I'll finally get to play it!

EDIT: One thing that annoys me is that the trailer is just from the movie. I have no idea what the game looks like, not even what genre it is xD


Last edited by Ilya on 15 December 2016 at 7:08 pm UTC
Purple Library Guy Dec 15, 2016
If the game actually needs to be hacked to work in Wine or Wine needs to be hacked to make the game work, I think the effort is better spent making an actual native port instead.

End rant. :P

I would want to claim that these are somewhat distinct scenarios (well, they could both happen at the same time, but conceptually). If the game needs to be hacked, depending how much, sure, point taken. If Wine needs to be hacked . . . then the result is, after the game works Wine is a little bit better. If enough people do that, Wine might be quite a lot better. Da power o' open source in action.
LinuxGamesTV Dec 15, 2016
Thanks for messaging me about it BdMdesigN!

No problem Liam.

I will test this game this week, but i hope they fixed the achievement problem.
Linas Dec 15, 2016
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I have had zero issue with the original version of Limbo, one of the best games I played on Linux.
You sure it was the Wine port? Because they made a native port later on, and that was good. But the Wine wrapped one never worked properly for me.
Snowdrake Dec 15, 2016
One thing that annoys me is that the trailer is just from the movie. I have no idea what the game looks like, not even what genre it is xD
https://youtu.be/00T2nDqPLqg
It's basically a cheap and repetitive space shooter (with poor controls on top of that). I wouldn't recommand this game based on the gameplay, but if you enjoyed the movie (and b-movie's acting) you can give it a shot (or try the demo on steam first).
m2mg2 Dec 15, 2016
Although I have to admit that Topware Interactive seem to know what they are doing, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
They do seem to perfected their scripts. They will still probably have issues with certain configurations (well, Wine), but overall they do work. The dev is also very patient and dedicated while willing to put up various fixes until the bug reports stops, and only then is releasing the Linux version.

I don't have an issue with Wine ports of older games if they work well. I haven't seen a lot that do that though. Two Worlds had black and gold effects in the background, Enclave messed with my screen brightness. I had to replace the gog Wine version with my native Wine in Flatout I and II after a system update because they no longer started. They are all fairly minor issues with the exception of Enclave which is very annoying, although a lot of less experienced users probably wouldn't have been able to modify Flatout I and II the way I did. I am grateful for the ports but a little more testing and little less fixing required would be nice.
rustybroomhandle Dec 16, 2016
Time to put on some Laibach.
dubigrasu Dec 16, 2016
...Two Worlds had black and gold effects in the background, Enclave messed with my screen brightness...
Yes, those were issues during beta testing, but they are fixed now.
Both games were in beta for roughly three weeks and only when the bug reports stopped they released the final versions.

The weird distant effects in TW OTOH are present in the Windows version too if you set the HDR slider to high values in clear sunny weather.
The same for Enclave, even in Windows on certain configs it has lighting issues (too bright or too dark). One sure way to trigger the brightness bug even now is to alter the video settings while in game. So basically you need to restart the game after that, this is still an issue, yes.
Enverex Dec 16, 2016
[quote=Purple Library Guy]
If Wine needs to be hacked . . . then the result is, after the game works Wine is a little bit better.

This is incorrect, Wine will never accept per-program or specific "hacks" to make things work, only properly rewritten code that correctly works as Windows would. So there's no benefit back to the community in this instance.
Purple Library Guy Dec 17, 2016
[quote=Enverex]
If Wine needs to be hacked . . . then the result is, after the game works Wine is a little bit better.

This is incorrect, Wine will never accept per-program or specific "hacks" to make things work, only properly rewritten code that correctly works as Windows would. So there's no benefit back to the community in this instance.

That strikes me as loading in rather a lot of assumptions.
Enverex Dec 22, 2016
Which bit(s) were assumptions? You used the word "hacks" so I assume you meant "not really great bits of code, but at least it gets the game working" which is typically what the word hacks means when applied to code.

The bit regarding how Wine accepts code isn't an assumption, it's fact as I've worked closely with Wine for a long time. Basically nothing gets accepted until it's triple checked and even then only if it appears to be the "proper way" of implementing something.
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