Transhuman Design has removed the Linux version of BUTCHER due to issues in favour of Steam Play (updated)

Sad news. But that kind of move from developers was to be expected since Steam Play was announced.

I don't know about the full game (way too pixelated for me to enjoy) but I just went ahead and tried the demo which uses Unity 5.5.1f1 and it runs just fine on Nvidia 396.54.06.

Well, it makes me feel uneasy. I surely don't want this to become a trend.

On the other hand, it reminds me of Xenonauts, where the dev coudn't keep the Linux version updated since it was ported by a third party, and they left us Linux users to play a dated version (which locked us out of many MODs and the CE). I mean, I'd rather play the latest version via Proton than be locked to the dated one.

I don't know. I'm all for virtualization, but since there's no big bucks in porting games for Linux, this might discourage developers from supporting linux and just leave us to emulate their games if we want to play them.

I hope once the developer unclutters their schedule they'll make some time to make a proper Linux port.

Anyway, I'll try to keep my money on Linux supported games and just regretted having bought a couple of Windoze only games, that run pretty good on Proton. :S::S::S:


Last edited by Linuxpunk on 20 September 2018 at 10:12 pm UTC

Mmm not surprised Steam play is an easy out

Quoting: GuestSay if a developer REALLY wanted an easy out, and steam play wasn't a thing.. They could just as easily just not update a native linux build if they wanted out, don't ya think?

Which is precisely what the Xenonauts developers did.

"Worth noting this is only on Steam of course, the native Linux builds are still available from Humble Store, GOG and itch.io."
So it will be a problem for itch.io and GOG users at least. Therefore it's not a satisfactory solution. For me it could be acceptable it it were availlable on Steam only.

Quoting: GuestNot fixing a broken linux build is also an easy out.

Exactly. Ever since Proton launched I've been hoping that Taleworlds would pull the broken Linux version of Mount & Blade Warband and let us use the Windows version.

QuoteEdit: just tested my GOG version of Butcher, works just fine on a fully up to date linux mint install lol

Was the game really that broken for people? does seem like a stupid move

So it sounds as if, in this particular instance, it may indeed have been a bit of a cop-out. But in principle, I think this sort of thing is beneficial. As Liam says, maybe Valve making it possible to decide which version to run in the Steam client would be a good idea.

And so the cancer begins to spread...

I have zero problem with this at all. If it results in more playable, more reliable titles for Linux players, I'm fine with that. Even better, if word spreads among devs that this is a good approach, hopefully they'll bring over titles they wouldn't have otherwise. Look at Everspace. They almost dropped the Linux version because of platform specific development difficulties. Maybe in the future, such decisions won't need to exist...

Developers should not be allowed to pull native versions after selling them.
What we need is the ability to choose whether we want to install the native or foreign version in Steam.

If a developer is willing or forced by circumstances to take the reputation hit of recommending the non-native version over the busted native one - so be it, but the choice which version to use needs to stay with the customer.

Quoting: iiariI have zero problem with this at all. If it results in more playable, more reliable titles for Linux players, I'm fine with that. Even better, if word spreads among devs that this is a good approach, hopefully they'll bring over titles they wouldn't have otherwise. Look at Everspace. They almost dropped the Linux version because of platform specific development difficulties. Maybe in the future, such decisions won't need to exist...

As already said here, maybe one day we have unified gaming platform for all OSs. It could be based upon Win32 and Vulkan. Personally I have no problem with that. Still GOG and itch.io users won't like it, at least until those shops adopt a solution like Proton themselves.

Quoting: iiariI have zero problem with this at all. If it results in more playable, more reliable titles for Linux players, I'm fine with that. Even better, if word spreads among devs that this is a good approach, hopefully they'll bring over titles they wouldn't have otherwise. Look at Everspace. They almost dropped the Linux version because of platform specific development difficulties. Maybe in the future, such decisions won't need to exist...

I strongly wonder how many of those "platform specific development difficulties" have more to due with Linux being a secondary (or tertiary) thought in the development process than an issue from the get go.

If these developers focus on Windows first, then port their code, the work load is significantly higher than building for all platforms at once.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but most of these games that drop Linux (either before or after release) are games that weren't developing for both platforms in tandem.

Quoting: HoriI don't know about this particular game but I have 2 games in my library that are completely broken on Linux and I'd rather play them through Proton instead. One is Sheltered which worked like 2 years ago and since then it always failed to start at all, and the second is event[0] which never worked for me, being unable to start up as well.

This highlights an awkward sitaution that often goes overlooked. I can't speak for Sheltered, but Event[0] worked for me before release, and continues to.

Statistically speaking, it is normal for any given game to just not work for a few users. Individually, none of us really have a chance to appreciate what the majority of other Linux users are experiencing, and there's a tendency for Linux users to assume that their own experiences represent everybody's (both positively and negatively - I still have people telling me that DotT and FT are perfect ports, when they've only run it on one machine).

Should a Linux-specific version of a game that runs for some people but not for others be removed to appease those that can't? I'd be pretty ticked off if a Linux-specific version of a game that I was enjoying was removed.

With it being possible for users to run stuff in Proton themselves (either manually or with a helper, it's hard to see much value in asking for Linux-specific versions of games to be removed if they're work for someone (and even when they're not, it's probably better to focus on the selling of non-working games being Valve's responsibility to deal with).

Quoting: SchattenspiegelDevelopers should not be allowed to pull native versions after selling them.
What we need is the ability to choose whether we want to install the native or foreign version in Steam.

If a developer is willing or forced by circumstances to take the reputation hit of recommending the non-native version over the busted native one - so be it, but the choice which version to use needs to stay with the customer.

I sympathise, but the problem in this case is, the developer states to be unable to make the broken Linux version work again. He didn't change anything. It just stopped working, because of incompatibilities of software over which he has no control. It might be hard to make him liable. I don't even know if it's a good idea to go that far..

We knew this sort of thing would happen in the short term. We're after more Linux users first, then more native titles once we're an economic force worth catering to.

Quoting: Cheeseness

Quoting: HoriI don't know about this particular game but I have 2 games in my library that are completely broken on Linux and I'd rather play them through Proton instead. One is Sheltered which worked like 2 years ago and since then it always failed to start at all, and the second is event[0] which never worked for me, being unable to start up as well.

This highlights an awkward sitaution that often goes overlooked. I can't speak for Sheltered, but Event[0] worked for me before release, and continues to.

Statistically speaking, it is normal for any given game to just not work for a few users. Individually, none of us really have a chance to appreciate what the majority of other Linux users are experiencing, and there's a tendency for Linux users to assume that their own experiences represent everybody's (both positively and negatively - I still have people telling me that DotT and FT are perfect ports, when they've only run it on one machine).

Should a Linux-specific version of a game that runs for some people but not for others be removed to appease those that can't? I'd be pretty ticked off if a Linux-specific version of a game that I was enjoying was removed.

With it being possible for users to run stuff in Proton themselves (either manually or with a helper, it's hard to see much value in asking for Linux-specific versions of games to be removed if they're work for someone (and even when they're not, it's probably better to focus on the selling of non-working games being Valve's responsibility to deal with).

So you think it to be the best solution the developer leaves a game on the shelf that is working for almost no one anymore, because of its incompatibilities with newer drivers? No big deal maybe if you can easily choose which version you want to use, but even when that is finally possible, maybe there should be a warning at least..


Last edited by Nevertheless on 20 September 2018 at 11:42 pm UTC

Quoting: NeverthelessSo you think it to be the best solution the developer leaves a game on the shelf that is working for almost no one anymore, because of its incompatibilities with newer drivers? No big deal maybe if you can easily choose which version you want to use, but even when that is fianlly prossible, maybe there should be a warning at least..

I was speaking specifically to the case of Event[0], but it likely applies here too. How accurate is the developer's assessment that the problems are driver related? As Liam highlights in the article, there's not really enough information here to know for sure.

Reading through the thread that Liam linked, it has the hallmarks of a known issue that can cause garbage values to be used for screen/window resolution. I haven't dug into the specifics of the problem for a while, but IIRC, it was either an X or a xrandr update that caused the problem to manifest, and it became redundant when Unity switched to SDL for windowing.

On that note, @Hori, could you check your Event[0] prefs file and check that it doesn't have bonkers mad resolution settings? When the problem I mentioned above occurs, the bad values can get written to the prefs file.

Quoting: GuestTrue, and the best solution is to allow linux users to have the choice on the matter, giving the option to run native linux games under proton is a better approach and suprised Valve didn't have the foresight to see this

It would make sense (to me) to put the effort that people have been putting into asking to have Linux-specific versions removed into requesting that Valve add an option to choose in the Steam client.


Last edited by Cheeseness on 20 September 2018 at 11:42 pm UTC

Quoting: CheesenessI was speaking specifically to the case of Event[0], but it likely applies here too. How accurate is the developer's assessment that the problems are driver related? As Liam highlights in the article, there's not really enough information here to know for sure.

Reading through the thread that Liam linked, it has the hallmarks of a known issue that can cause garbage values to be used for screen/window resolution. I haven't dug into the specifics of the problem for a while, but IIRC, it was either an X or a xrandr update that caused the problem to manifest, and it became redundant when Unity switched to SDL for windowing.

Don't ask me if he's right.. :) However, the result will be the same either way. The developer will not fix the problems, and I guess it will not be easy to prove him wrong with his assessment, even for someone who knows better like maybe you..
Now, if the dev chooses to leave the native version online, as it is, and if the customers get the option to choose versions, who will support them? The dev for the native version or Valve for Steam Play? I think it's possible Valve won't support a game that has a native version, and the dev clearly states it's broken, so he won't either. And maybe that is one good reason he pulled it of the store. Still, who supports GOG and itch.io users now?

Quoting: SchattenspiegelDevelopers should not be allowed to pull native versions after selling them.
What we need is the ability to choose whether we want to install the native or foreign version in Steam.

If a developer is willing or forced by circumstances to take the reputation hit of recommending the non-native version over the busted native one - so be it, but the choice which version to use needs to stay with the customer.

Quoting: SchattenspiegelDevelopers should not be allowed to pull native versions after selling them.
What we need is the ability to choose whether we want to install the native or foreign version in Steam.

If a developer is willing or forced by circumstances to take the reputation hit of recommending the non-native version over the busted native one - so be it, but the choice which version to use needs to stay with the customer.

I mostly agree with this.

For a couple of years now I've moved to only spending money or time investments in Native Linux games only. The reason for this being that my experience with Wine has shown it to be relatively unstable, especially with online games. If a developer were to implement a feature, such as anti-cheat, that breaks the compatibility, then there is no obligation for them to fix it meaning the game could be left unplayable indefinitely.

Granted, in this case it seems that developer is incapable of finding the issue with the linux version, however I shudder what to think if it becomes the norm for games to get rid of native linux support in favor of emulators, only to later abandon support for the emulator, with the claim that they don't support linux anyways. I think it just looks bad on the company.

I'm curious to see how developers and valve will end up handling games that work on steam play, and then suddenly stop working. It seem likely to me that neither will end up taking the appropriate measure to ensure the level of support that a native client should have (which should be refunded if it stops working imho).

Quoting: Nevertheless

Quoting: CheesenessI was speaking specifically to the case of Event[0], but it likely applies here too. How accurate is the developer's assessment that the problems are driver related? As Liam highlights in the article, there's not really enough information here to know for sure.

Reading through the thread that Liam linked, it has the hallmarks of a known issue that can cause garbage values to be used for screen/window resolution. I haven't dug into the specifics of the problem for a while, but IIRC, it was either an X or a xrandr update that caused the problem to manifest, and it became redundant when Unity switched to SDL for windowing.

Don't ask me if he's right.. :) However, the result will be the same either way. The developer will not fix the problems, and I guess it will not be easy to prove him wrong with his assessment, even for someone who knows better like maybe you..
Now, if the dev chooses to leave the native version online, as it is, and if the customers get the option to choose versions, who will support them? The dev for the native version or Valve for Steam Play? I think it's possible Valve won't support a game that has a native version, and the dev clearly states it's broken, so he won't either. And maybe that is one good reason he pulled it of the store. Still, who supports GOG and itch.io users now?

A user in the thread has just mentioned they're able to run the demo after deleting their prefs file, which is in line with my suspicions, so it looks like the game was never "broken" per se, and there's a simple client-side workaround.

As for whose responsibility it is to support users, people using Proton are Valve's problem to deal with, people using Linux-specific versions are the developer's problem to support. That's what was laid down in the Steam Play update/Proton announcement post, and I think it's fair to demand that that be adhered to.