Sad news, as it seems there's just no chance of Killing Floor 2 coming to Linux any more as Tripwire can't find a developer.
Going back to February of last year, Knockout Games sneaked out before that they were working on it, but not all contracts work out of course. I assumed they had parted ways, since later in August of last year Tripwire then said it wasn't in active development. I was hoping Knockout Games (or anyone) was just quietly working on it, but I guess not.
Here's what Tripwire have now said about it:
Currently all progress on a Linux Client is indefinitely on hold. While progress was made towards getting the game client to run on the platform, we have been unable to find a person or persons to finish the work needed to make a client.
The major bottleneck has been getting the rendering system up and running (the key part of the client) as the engine now works on platform (the server is the engine minus a client and loading assets it doesn't need to render/trigger). During Killing Floor 2's development a choice was made to rewrite the DirectX rendering system. This in turn means many of the "turn key" Unreal porting solutions that existed do not apply to Killing Floor 2, as they all assume that the game is using the default Unreal 3 rendering pipeline.
So far the third parties we have talked to either do not want to undertake the creation of a new OpenGL rendering pipeline from the ground up (due to time and effort involved) or have quoted a price that makes it beyond consideration (the cost versus estimated return math does not come even close to making sense based on previous Killing Floor 1 Linux sales when charted against Killing Floor 2).
If that changes, we will be happy to re-open development of a Linux client, but until that point it is on hold.
I was really looking forward to playing Killing Floor 2 one day, but it seems like it's not going to happen. Thankfully we have a lot of other great games, but it still stings a bit to hear this.
It's genuinely sad that a developer has again locked themselves into one single closed API. The annoying thing, is that they're using the sales of the original in their considerations of Linux being worth it or not for the new game. This is after previously confirming they will do it, multiple times. The problem I have with that, is Killing Floor was released for Windows in early 2009 and released for Linux in late 2012, that's well over three years after the original release when many people will have already owned it. Heck, even I already owned it, as I knew many people already did. This is part of the problem with Linux versions coming late—you will lose sales and then you will look at it like Linux sells even less than expected.
Thankfully, with game engines now having better support for OpenGL (and Vulkan support is slowly getting better), this is less of a problem for newer games—if they use an up to date version that is.
I still hope one day either someone like Ryan "Icculus" Gordon or another Linux porting champion can take another look, but considering how much work they've made for themselves, it doesn't sound likely.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: knroWell, given Linux users are like %0.25 of Steam users, why would they even care? They chose D3D which can target over 90% of the potential users out there.
I understand that part, and I agree.
But don't forget that they announced it with linux support - and kept promising it. Breaking promises isn't justified by saying "small user base" ;)
Quoting: GuestQuoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: GuestI see the usual garbage and slagging off the developers is being posted...
Why did they use Direct3D ? Simple. It's the best API for the desktop platform. Doesn't matter about "vendor lock in" when 90% of your market is on the platform where that doeesnt matter.
If they had just used Direct3D, that would be normal and fewer fusses raised. Porters are used to working from Direct3d-->OpenGL and surely have tools for doing so. The issue here is that they apparently took Direct3D and heavily modified it, resulting in a custom thing that nobody has any idea how to port from. I would be willing to bet that's caused plenty of problems besides just difficulty porting to Linux; it sounds like a really dumb move.
Further, they apparently did this while claiming quite positively that they intended to do a Linux port, even though one would think it pretty dashed obvious that those two things were unlikely to be compatible.
Sorry if it's not what you meant, it just sounds (to me) like you're misunderstanding. They didn't modify D3D at all. They changed how they used it inside of the engine code.
It can still affect D3D -> OpenGL effort, especially if done from a source code level where some porters were familiar with the "old" Unreal3 engine code only, but it's not like a new graphics API is created.
My mistake.
Quoting: GuestI see the usual garbage and slagging off the developers is being posted...
Why did they use Direct3D ? Simple. It's the best API for the desktop platform. Doesn't matter about "vendor lock in" when 90% of your market is on the platform where that doeesnt matter.
It matters entirely when you a) claim to support Linux/SteamOS, b) later tweet about that support, AND c) your founder and president even advocates SteamOS in an interview.
In the same interview, Gibson even claimed to believe that "almost every PC game will end up on Linux eventually". Yeah. That won't really happen unless he does something about that shoddy engine decision, will it?
It's nice that you defend developers, Jaycee (you are one, I seem to remember?), but Tripwire don't deserve it in this case. Another broken promise.
Icing on the cake for me was that they locked their Steam forums such that you may only post if you already own the game. Just why? So frustrating, cos until recently, we didn't even have any way to show support for a Linux client. I've got it wishlisted now, but honestly, after the extent of both their broken promises and lack of communication regarding this, I'm not sure I can bring myself to support them.
And finally, Yashiro, in his update closing the 450+ odd comments requesting a Linux client... actually has the bare-faced gall to suggest that Linux sales of KF1 didn't justify the investment... just, holy shit. He's using a 2009 game released solely for Windows and which got an indirect port TWO YEARS later, plagued with texture issues, as an additional justification for not porting KF2?!?
Nope. I'm out.
Quoting: kalinDo you ever use opengl? OpenGL was and still is abomination. There is a reason for people to prefer direc3d. Why opengl is so fucked up is another topic. Currently I learn vulkan and don't have opinion on it for now.
Please be informed and don't trow statements just like that. Negativism never help. The studio is free to do what ever they want to do with their products. Stop blame them for not porting game that you probably never buy anyway.
OK... now tell me the reason why Id Software always prefers OpenGL?
Quoting: johndoehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distributionQuoting: kalinDo you ever use opengl? OpenGL was and still is abomination. There is a reason for people to prefer direc3d. Why opengl is so fucked up is another topic. Currently I learn vulkan and don't have opinion on it for now.
Please be informed and don't trow statements just like that. Negativism never help. The studio is free to do what ever they want to do with their products. Stop blame them for not porting game that you probably never buy anyway.
OK... now tell me the reason why Id Software always prefers OpenGL?
You can't expect all the people to behave the same way also you can't expect devs to make the same choices.
Quoting: Guests/Id Software/John Carmack
And Carmack has since gone on to say that these days he would choose Direct3D. When Carmack was voicing his preference of GL, we were talking about Direct3D 7 and maybe early 8. 9, 10 and 11 are a whole different kettle of fish. GL simply has not kept up to speed.
Yes, these days Direct3D (DX11, DX12) gained in peformance, but before that...;)
MS did/does anything to pull any developer on their side... why should you struggle with OpenGL when you can have it the easy/cheap way.
Quoting: kalinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution
You can't expect all the people to behave the same way also you can't expect devs to make the same choices.
Don't understand me wrong.
I said (wrote) that surely the developer showed the right way, but the publisher (employer) took the easy/cheap/fastest way.
Quoting: GuestWho cares about "before that" ? No, MS did not pay Carmack to say D3D is better. It simply is for many reasons... no extension hell, rigorous testing standards, support for proper multithreading...
GL has simply not kept up to speed. Ask any developer who has used GL seriously and they will tell you that. Pretty much everything Rich Geldreich has said on the subject, for example.
Who cares? - me for example.
MS did not pay Carmack - I did not say that.
No extension hell... - I already said that OpenGL is more complex.
Before Bethesda took id Software all their games where available for Linux native.
Nowadays DOOM/RAGE developers are not able to deliver a linux installer anymore.
What do you think about this? - maybe you know more than me?
spoonie_au Jan 20, 2018
Quoting: johndoeAt the time Rage was released, John Carmack simply declared Linux "didn't pay the bills", and thus announced it would never get ported on Linux. Several months after this he left id, Linux support for Quake Live was abandoned, TTimo left too, and now id is just a Bethesda subsidiary which tries to emulate its own community's success (see Brutal Doom...) Now Quake Champions has been announced and it's nothing else than a poor Quake skin for Overwatch. I'm not even sure they'll be able to capture Quake's unique physics engine, and well, I don't really care, as I won't get to play that ludicrous attempt at making easy money since it's staying clear of my OS.Quoting: GuestWho cares about "before that" ? No, MS did not pay Carmack to say D3D is better. It simply is for many reasons... no extension hell, rigorous testing standards, support for proper multithreading...
GL has simply not kept up to speed. Ask any developer who has used GL seriously and they will tell you that. Pretty much everything Rich Geldreich has said on the subject, for example.
Who cares? - me for example.
MS did not pay Carmack - I did not say that.
No extension hell... - I already said that OpenGL is more complex.
Before Bethesda took id Software all their games where available for Linux native.
Nowadays DOOM/RAGE developers are not able to deliver a linux installer anymore.
What do you think about this? - maybe you know more than me?
There was a time, id was an innovative company, the FPS leader for a little more than ten years. The Rage flop and Zenimax buyout just destroyed this company.
Last edited by omer666 on 20 January 2018 at 4:39 pm UTC
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