Reddit seems to be buzzing with information from SteamDB (full credit to them for finding it) showing indications that Valve might be adding support for compatibility tools to enable you to play games on operating systems they weren't designed for, like Wine.
I won't copy all of it, but a few interesting bits do certainly stick out like the string named "Steam_Settings_Compat_Info" where the description reads "Steam Play will automatically install compatibility tools that allow you to play games from your library that were built for other operating systems.".
There's also "Steam_Settings_Compat_Advanced_Info" which reads as "You may select a compatibility tool to use with games that have not been tested or verified to work on this platform. This may not work as expected, and can cause issues with your games, including crashes and breaking save games."
Valve do also have a Valve Compatibility Manifests and Valve Compatibility Manifests for Beta Testing set of packages that show up on SteamDB.
That certainly sounds like something Wine related, perhaps with a sprinkle of something like DXVK, don't you think? However, it could even just be DOSBox, a Valve-sponsored tool or anything—we simply don't know enough at this point.
Having the ability to use tools like Wine from within the native Linux Steam client, is actually something that has been requested for a long time by quite a number of people. It could certainly make using Wine less of a hassle for Steam games. If so, it might even give developers a better idea of how many people are on different operating systems if it showed up in their statistics when someone's using such a feature.
It might even be quite a smart business move for Valve, as it might push more people to buy games that have a decent enough rating through one of these compatibility tools.
It could all end up being nothing, so take it with your usual pinch of salt. Even if it does end up being a real feature, it could be quite a long way off too. I'm only posting it because I personally found it quite interesting, I'm pretty sceptical about it for a number of reasons, but doesn't stop it being somewhat exciting too.
What are your thoughts?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: GuestCould Valve be creating an SDK for Steam?
Developers will no longer need to target the OS, and instead just code games direct for the Steam API.
Now that would seriously shake up Microsoft.
They have a SDK, but it's intended for Steam integration with the application. I don't see how what you say could be possible as now days most games are being developed over a well known engine (in-house or for public usage). Also, there is no way that Steam can create an OS abstraction layer without the support of the main engines of the market, not to mention that many of them have their own multiplatform support.
If this tools are for developers, I doubt that it's what all people is thinking about. If this tools are intended for steam users, then it may be an steam integration with Wine or DosBox.
As a developer, I have all of my multimedia tools on my Linux drive (and quite a few of my programming tools). I'll probably need to keep Windows 7 around for a while, as I run Unity and Unreal off of that and their Linux distros, shiny as they are, aren't quite up to par with Windows and Mac yet; but it could be years before this comes to fruition anyway. As of Wine breaking through the DirectX 11 & DirectX 12 problem, I imagine that this move is going to go very well.
All the same, my gut tells me that developers are going to have to opt-in for large parts of this. I don't know why they wouldn't, outside of edge cases, but moving to new platforms is something of a small liability. Wine, and most of its kin, is black box reverse-engineered and is prone to mild slip-ups that can't be tested for. I've never dealt with any issues that were that serious, but it may slightly modify the end user experience. In the best case this is going to cascade into a change in the review system, like showing what platforms the game was run on, and allow for review filtering by that.
Speaking of alternative platforms, any word on how well Steam runs on ReactOS? That might also be worth looking into.
Quoting: liamdaweQuoting: DamonLinuxPLWell this is amazing news but I have been disappointed with such things many times. Worst of all if it will be a compatible profile for running games from xp/vista/7 in Windows 10 :DYou know, it didn't even occur to me (it should have) that it could indeed be for Windows games no longer running on later versions of Windows...
Although, it would be a little amusing if that feature was in both Windows/Linux and used Wine for both. There must be a few games by now that run better in Wine than on the latest version of Windows due to how many changes it's been through. There's a reason we see a lot of remasters coming out after all part of their feature is usually "now works on latest operating systems".
Tbh i prefer to play old games on Wine than Windows 10 because they all work much better. I even need to do more fixes to work proper on Windows 10
Quoting: GuestCould Valve be creating an SDK for Steam?
Developers will no longer need to target the OS, and instead just code games direct for the Steam API.
Now that would seriously shake up Microsoft.
isnt that what vulkan should be? vulkan was made to bring games to other OS.
id software told us how easy it is to port doom to linux. maybe someone can ask feral interactive how much work it would be to port RotTR/mad max from the LINUX VULKAN version to a Windows VULKAN version. that would be very interesting
Quoting: GuestThe only way this could happen is if developers officially supported whatever thing that was being used
Or if Valve had QA for such games and whitelisted them for compatibility run. Note the option for "unsupported" run. If someone chooses unsupported run explicitly, no one will accept their complaints later and the answer will be "it's not supported" :)
Quoting: GuestWine users should be banned or disadvantaged somehow. DXVK development is something that should stop immediately. R.I.P. Linux.Chill out, seriously. You sound like some elitist who doesn't want more people to start using Linux.
Last edited by Shmerl on 15 August 2018 at 3:03 am UTC
ElectricPrism Aug 15, 2018
Quoting: GuestIt would be awesome, but also very bad because Valve would be in complete control.
Be realistic. Where would Linux Gaming be in 2018 if Valve hadn't stepped in in 2013. Valve already is a MAJOR influence and has some measure of control.
Can we stop acting like abused children who are scared of someone who is not us being in control? Valve have proved themselves trustworthy and I expect things to stay that way as long as Gaben is alive.
Quoting: GuestWine is the worst what ever happened to Linux gaming.
What a ridiculous polarized extreme statement. I resent such blatant FEAR mongering.
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FTA:
QuoteValve might be adding support for compatibility tools to enable you to play games on operating systems they weren't designed for, like Wine.
This would be a absolutely brilliant full-steam-ahead tactic! The majority of /r/pcgaming has said that they would switch to Linux if all their games worked.
As a 2018 tactic, it's brilliant, maybe around 2025 it can be depreciated after the platform war for gaming is over and our market-share explodes.
I am actually looking forward to playing some old windows games hassle-free -- Rock of Ages, Burnout Paradise and the Final Fantasy series that I already bought but haven't touched since I went full Linux and had no time to dick around setting them up.
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ VOVO TAKE MY ENERGY ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Quoting: mylkaisnt that what vulkan should be? vulkan was made to bring games to other OS.
id software told us how easy it is to port doom to linux. maybe someone can ask feral interactive how much work it would be to port RotTR/mad max from the LINUX VULKAN version to a Windows VULKAN version. that would be very interesting
Vulkan is not a SDK, is just a graphic API. Unfortunately, porting an application to another OS is not just about the graphic API.
Don't get too exited people, it could be nothing.
orochi_kyo Aug 15, 2018
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