After spending a good few hours enjoying the Battle Royale game Darwin Project [Steam] on Linux thanks to Steam Play, it has come to an abrupt end.
I wrote about it working only recently in December. Much to my surprise, it only really needed a quick manual adjustment to pick the region you wish to matchmake in. Then it worked pretty much like any other game, exactly what Steam Play is supposed to do and I was happy.
Sadly, the game has recently updated and the game is now unplayable due to Easy Anti-Cheat. It will allow you into a game and then very quickly kick you back to the main menu with this message:
While Steam Play is an interesting attempt to help with the circular issues surrounding Linux gaming, with not enough games being here for more people to seriously consider it and not enough users for a lot of game developers to also seriously consider it, multiplayer games like this will continue to be a sore spot.
I'm not about to say anything like "native Linux games or bust" here, that's not the point. Quite a few Linux games have multiplayer that's locked down to Linux only or Linux and Mac only too. Sure they work but that's still not great either. However, this should serve as a little reminder that at least with a game that's supported, you wouldn't expect to suddenly not be able to play as is the case here.
Perhaps, to help with things like this Valve could have a section on their store that tells people what anti-cheat solutions are used? It’s not a huge ask, they already do something very similar for DRM measures like this shot for RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard:
At least if they did this for systems like Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye, it might help Linux gamers using Steam Play make some more informed decisions on their purchases. It would help cut down frustration for both players and developers.
I still personally remain rather bullish about the future of Steam Play, warts and all. Multiplayer titles are going to remain the big barrier, which I am hoping a solution will one day be found for those developers that will not do a supported Linux version. EAC and BattlEye both support Linux and there's Linux games using them, so perhaps they can eventually do something about it directly in collaboration with Valve somehow. For single-player titles, I imagine most of the issues can be worked around easily enough given enough time.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: EikeMight I dare to say "Native Linux gaming FTW!"...?Sounds radical and extremist. I like it.
QuoteEAC and BattlEye both support Linux and there's Linux games using them, so perhaps they can eventually do something about it directly in collaboration with Valve somehow.Huh, I actually thought they didn't support Linux since they don't work with Steam Play / Proton (and I assume WINE) at all. Anyway, it would be freaking great to see that happen. There are so many Windows games I would want to play on Linux that are blocked by those anticheat solutions.
There is just no guarantee that the game will still work in a few weeks / months / years and if you get issues in the future you are left in the rain since the game was never made to be run on Linux.
Quoting: WendigoAnd this is exactly the reason why I would never buy a Windows game even if it has platinum status for Proton.Yet people on Reddit and Steam sent colourful words my way, when I told them any single update could break a game in Steam Play.
There is just no guarantee that the game will still work in a few weeks / months / years and if you get issues in the future you are left in the rain since the game was never made to be run on Linux.
Yet here we are and now today I'm seeing reports that GTA5 online is also now entirely broken...
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 13 January 2019 at 12:47 pm UTC
To be honest, many anti cheats (read: always-online-DRM) used on online games either free or paid are always designed and tested on Windows based PC almost entirely and sometimes, exclusively. This is one of the reasons why I'm still going to cyber cafe sometimes to play online games with my friends.
Quoting: EikeI'm partly disagree with your 'bet' because no thanks to Fortnite/PUBG, it's becoming a trend where most of mainstream AAA gaming publisher/developers are going towards gaming-as-services model because it's making money. Especially F2P model (or better name, P2W).Quoting: einherjarHmm, sad. Without Multiplayer Games working Cross-Plattform, Linux is o Nogo for nearly every gamer....
I'd bet that most players aren't playing online multiplayer to begin with. (I read even Call of Duty has more offline than online players.)
I'm not saying ol'skool DRM-Free offline game are not extinct. Infact it's getting thriving, especially quality of Indie nowadays getting better and better.....
.....not forget it's double-edge sword, more and more quantity of poop indie games.
Quoting: WendigoAnd this is exactly the reason why I would never buy a Windows game even if it has platinum status for Proton.
There is just no guarantee that the game will still work in a few weeks / months / years and if you get issues in the future you are left in the rain since the game was never made to be run on Linux.
Was about to write the exact same.
I'm really thankfull for proton for playing old games or games that i got in a bundle (and that the devs see it as a linux-"sale"), but i won't buy a not officially supported game for more than a few bucks...
Quoting: ScooptaQuoting: Code Artisani am surprised that easyanticheat does support Linux since it needs to operate at the kernel level.Just because the windows version runs in kernel space means nothing for the Linux version.
By enforcing open-source through GPLv2, Linux makes anti-cheats impossible to be effective. You will never see something like ESEA on linux.
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