Doom 2016 supports Vulkan and at GDC this year developers from id Software talked a little about it, including how easy a Linux version could have been.
In response to this question from Alon Or-bach (Samsung) around 45:40 in the below video: "One of the hot topics around Vulkan in terms of cross-platform and how much benefit do you find of having one API that's targetting both mobile and desktop platforms".
Dustin Land, a developer at id Software said this in reply:
"So we did Linux dedicated servers for Doom 2016 and a few of us who are Linux heads in the studio decided, let's take it the full way. All we had to do was change the surface that we are creating for the Linux version and it just ran, out of the box and performance was equivalent. Having a small driver actually helps a lot there."
This does beg the question: Why isn't it actually on Linux, if it worked as well as it sounds? Most likely a management decision from someone within id Software or ZeniMax Media. However, it's also possible the developers didn't pitch it of course. We just don't know, either way it's a real shame.
You can see the full video below:
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What are your thoughts? I would absolutely buy a copy of Doom if it was on Linux.
Slightly related, on the topic of Vulkan: In these slides from Khronos Dev Day: The Vulkan Sessions, when showing off games using Vulkan a bunch of them are actually from Feral Interactive. It even includes the upcoming Rise of the Tomb Raider as well as their previous Linux ports which have Vulkan support. It's pleasing to see Feral get more recognition for their hard work both in terms of Linux gaming and using Vulkan.
Thanks for the tip mirv!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Luke_Nukem Mar 25, 2018
Wow... This annoys me so much now that I know It could have been.
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Oh dear how much ridiculous speculation I find here, presented as facts. I don't even know where to start, but an idea doesn't automatically transform into reality, guys.
1 Likes, Who?
Valve is going to shutter soon if they don't get behind a non-crypto-mining spec box.Are you serious? With the cash they're raking in, their hardware efforts are largely irrelevant. Which explains the lack of a proper push.
Even if/when MS clamps down on third party storefronts, Valve will survive. Not unscathed, but at least they don't have to play it safe to appease investors due to being privately owned.
Oh dear how much ridiculous speculation I find here, presented as facts. I don't even know where to start, but an idea doesn't automatically transform into reality, guys.Have you never been to the Intertubes before? It's the magical place where every Dick and Jane is an expert, and opinions
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So I guess at the head of zenimax there are some weird people.
Donald Trump's brother - Robert S. Trump - sits on Zenimax's board of directors.
Fun fact: Donald Trump blamed brutal computer games after the last gun rampage.
After displacing Christopher Weaver from ZeniMax, the company is run by old people who have nothing to do with computer games. These people are experienced in business and do many things right, I think. But they have no real love for Games I suspect. I think they work in a similar way to the big film studios. They give the makers (Bethesda) a lot of freedom, but always make strange decisions.
5 Likes, Who?
So I guess at the head of zenimax there are some weird people.
Donald Trump's brother - Robert S. Trump - sits on Zenimax's board of directors.
Fun fact: Donald Trump blamed brutal computer games after the last gun rampage.
After displacing Christopher Weaver from ZeniMax, the company is run by old people who have nothing to do with computer games. These people are experienced in business and do many things right, I think. But they have no real love for Games I suspect. I think they work in a similar way to the big film studios. They give the makers (Bethesda) a lot of freedom, but always make strange decisions.
That sounds about right. I had no idea Trump's brother was on the board, that does explain things.
As you say - they are good business people with no love for games...and yes the film industry is run like this too.
Sad.
1 Likes, Who?
Sad that ID Software has a GNU/Linux port that they won't share with us. Previously, they would just release the binaries without any marketing/business fuss and it worked great that way.
Sad that some people are buying the game to play it on Wine. They won't miss your money.
Sad that some people are buying the game to play it on Wine. They won't miss your money.
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Previously, they would just release the binaries without any marketing/business fuss and it worked great that way.This is why I don't understand all the people trying to defend them for marketing reasons. They've done it before, and it absolutely would increase sales.
I still have my retail DOOM3 CD's which are windows only, and I happily purchased it because the Linux binaries were downloadable online.
Plenty of games have released for Linux with the mutual understanding between the developers and the community that it isn't going to really be supported and anyone who buys it for Linux is basically "on their own". It's not a new concept.
Last edited by ison111 on 25 March 2018 at 5:31 pm UTC
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I played a lot of id games on Linux, and would love to support them, but I'm unwilling to give them a dime until they do Linux ports.
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I played a lot of id games on Linux, and would love to support them, but I'm unwilling to give them a dime until they do Linux ports.
legally you can't play them on linux. You have to buy them on steam for the data files (as I did because I no longer have a CDROM so I can't read my old discs).
Then you can play gzdoom, ecwolf, darkplaces, dhewm3.
What I really don't get is Skyrim. They can easily port that to mac and linux. Yet they still shit on me...
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Got a simple solution to all your problems with zinimax. Get valve to buy out ID software.. problem solved.
4 Likes, Who?
Oh dear how much ridiculous speculation I find here, presented as facts. I don't even know where to start, but an idea doesn't automatically transform into reality, guys.Have you never been to the Intertubes before? It's the magical place where every Dick and Jane is an expert, and opinionstrumpare better than facts.
Oh I have, but I did hold the Linux community in higher regards. That was... Until I met the Linux gamers.
I mean, seriously. I too can enjoy a good speculation now and then, but then I don't present it as facts, I don't state "this is how it is" and pretend to sit with the answers when I have zero actual insight.
A fact can always be backed by evidence, guys. Everything else are speculations.
Last edited by Beamboom on 26 March 2018 at 8:12 am UTC
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For new games, yes, WINE hurts Limux gaming.
Probably most Linux users, like me, don't buy anymore much Windows only stuff but rather Feral etc. games.
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Sputnik_tr_02 Mar 26, 2018
Congratulations to all Wine users and dual booters for giving them a reason to ignore Linux. Wine is the worst what ever happened to Linux gaming and the reason why Linux has no chance on gaming market.
Hate me but it's the truth.
Sorry but i don't think that is true. Think about Windows phones, it failed not because hardware was bad or OS was bad, it failed because there was lack of apps. I remember there was a plan to run android apps on windows phones but that idea scrapped for the same reason you pointed and we all saw what happened in the end, windows phones are dead.
Future of linux gaming depends on linux market share on desktop computers and i think wine is helping on that front not hurting as you claim. For example me, i was a windows user two years ago, was dual booting last year, and now i almost never boot into windows. If it wasn't for the wine i would probably still be dual booting or even worse using windows.
Thing is if Linux market share reaches to a point which cannot be ignored by software makers and game publishers that's when we will start to see more games coming to linux because at that point they would not risk relying on wine.
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Think about Windows phones, it failed not because hardware was bad or OS was bad, it failed because there was lack of apps.Well, the OS being bad certainly didn't help. I don't think any amount of compatibility layers would have saved them.
I don't have much love for Android or iOS, but Windows Phone/Mobile was another level of awful.
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Dustin Land has a Twitter account. Perhaps Liam could contact him and ask about Doom 2016 for Linux?
Nope, that won't help. AAA titles are bound with extremely restrictive licenses per platform. Any first party release which isn't stated in the licenses' terms would cause serious trouble. For example, distribution of third party native Linux binaries of Unreal are still restricted, therefore they are distributed within a Windows installer executable.
Last edited by rea987 on 26 March 2018 at 11:48 am UTC
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Sputnik_tr_02 Mar 26, 2018
Think about Windows phones, it failed not because hardware was bad or OS was bad, it failed because there was lack of apps.Well, the OS being bad certainly didn't help. I don't think any amount of compatibility layers would have saved them.
I don't have much love for Android or iOS, but Windows Phone/Mobile was another level of awful.
Perhaps that is true but i still believe the biggest factor was lack of apps. Same challenge awaits for Librem Phone and i hope they will somehow be successful because i don't have much love for Android and ios either.
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What if the devs at ID Software went ahead and add the Linux version to the existing DOOM 2016 store page? In theory, once the sudden influx of purchases started flowing in then Bethesda will finally see there is money to be made releasing games on Linux.
1 Likes, Who?
ElectricPrism Mar 27, 2018
Give it 2 or 3 years and ID will hopefully open source the code.
Why would they do that?
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Give it 2 or 3 years and ID will hopefully open source the code.
Why would they do that?
It seems they are seeing reasons...
https://github.com/id-Software
1 Likes, Who?
Did they release anything in the last five years? Things might have changed.Give it 2 or 3 years and ID will hopefully open source the code.
Why would they do that?
It seems they are seeing reasons...
https://github.com/id-Software
1 Likes, Who?
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