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.
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It sucks but I can't blame the dev fully. Proton is a great savior for games that don't get updated or don't have heavy DRM.
Last edited by Lomkey on 13 January 2019 at 5:51 pm UTC
Last edited by Lomkey on 13 January 2019 at 5:51 pm UTC
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It sucks for you but thanks for sharing your experience. I too will never buy non officially supported proton games.
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So I guess Proton needs to look at making sure various anti-cheat thingies work under Proton. There aren't that many of them and each of the popular ones presumably gets used by many games, so it should be worth focusing on it a bit. Unless there's some fundamental reason why anti-cheat software should be un-Wine-able?
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I messaged EAC 2 months ago about Steam Proton their reply was:
Hello Romeo,
Thank you for contacting us!
Steam Proton is currently not supported by Easy Anti-Cheat. We're looking into possible future support however and will notify the players if and when that happens. Our apologies for the inconvenience.
If there's something else you need assistance with, let us know.
Despite the trouble have a fantastic day!
Also a reply from Scavangers Studio about supporting Linux on Darwin Project:
Hey there, thanks for reaching out to us! A lot of us on the team would like to, but this is not currently planned. Write back if you have more questions!
Don't reach them. Reach Valve. Reach Proton support forums.
They're who, proudly, want to make all the games playable in linux.
They will do their best to make it compatible by fixing things in proton's code by programming, or by making deals with the developers.
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I like that Proton allows me to play Windows games that I had piled up over the years. But I'm more comfortable buying a Windows game on GoG and getting it working in Wine/Lutris than Proton. I have yet to buy a game through Steam that I'd only be able to play via Proton. That doesn't mean I'll never be comfortable enough, but I'm not yet.
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EAC aka Epic Games lol
Nah, they're an independent company based in the fatherland of Linux, a.k.a. Suomi.
last time i check Epic Bought that Company
https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/epic-games-acquires-kamu-1202971927/
OMG, this lowers the chances dramatically, that EAC will work good with proton. IMHO Epic will not help Valve to get more Games to Linux. I am sure, they will use this as a weapon.
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Hmm, 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 think that a lot of people want to have the possibility to play with their friends. Even if they do not use this function a lot, it has to work.
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Don't reach them. Reach Valve. Reach Proton support forums.
They're who, proudly, want to make all the games playable in linux.
They will do their best to make it compatible by fixing things in proton's code by programming, or by making deals with the developers.
Is the game on the Steamplay whitelist? No? Then don't expect support. The whitelist exists for a reason.
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And 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.
ONLINE games with anti cheat
i dont think they make witcher 3 unplayable with proton
i also dont think, that bethesda updates the buggy new vegas (they have enough problems creating a new fallout ENGINE)
you also can play GTA5 single player. so if you just want to play the story, youre good to go
i bought a few windows games and i played them with proton. if they wont work tommorrow i wont regret it, because i had fun and there are just a few games i played twice in my life
just use your brain before you buy a windows game, but dont denigrate proton at all
btw. a little story about "support" of native games
i bought Dead Island Definitive Collection
Dead Island Retro Revenge works with proton
DI + Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition wont work. they worked with ubuntu 16.10 but after i updated ubuntu it doesnt work anymore
i wrote a mail to the developers AND the publisher.
developers just said, that they look into it.
publisher said: "sorry we just support ubuntu 16"
i wrote them back: "but this game is just 2yrs old, can u please give support"
i never heard from them again!!
so here is what happens to SUPPORT OF NATIVE VERSIONS
they also show you the finger
Last edited by mylka on 14 January 2019 at 3:28 am UTC
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i bought Dead Island Definitive Collection
Dead Island Retro Revenge works with proton
DI + Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition wont work. they worked with ubuntu 16.10 but after i updated ubuntu it doesnt work anymore
i wrote a mail to the developers AND the publisher.
developers just said, that they look into it.
publisher said: "sorry we just support ubuntu 16"
i wrote them back: "but this game is just 2yrs old, can u please give support"
i never heard from them again!!
so here is what happens to SUPPORT OF NATIVE VERSIONS
they also show you the finger
Well, I agree That Techland is far away from giving a good support for Linux (but seems that it's also bad on Windows, so maybe is not only with us...), but in this case the problem is on Mesa side:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=107990
I'm able to play both games by building Mesa without glvnd support. My workaround simply requires to add in to the linker path the location of my built libGL.so.1.2.0 (i.e. I keep using the other system wide Mesa libraries).
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i bought Dead Island Definitive Collection
Dead Island Retro Revenge works with proton
DI + Dead Island: Riptide Definitive Edition wont work. they worked with ubuntu 16.10 but after i updated ubuntu it doesnt work anymore
i wrote a mail to the developers AND the publisher.
developers just said, that they look into it.
publisher said: "sorry we just support ubuntu 16"
i wrote them back: "but this game is just 2yrs old, can u please give support"
i never heard from them again!!
so here is what happens to SUPPORT OF NATIVE VERSIONS
they also show you the finger
Well, I agree That Techland is far away from giving a good support for Linux (but seems that it's also bad on Windows, so maybe is not only with us...), but in this case the problem is on Mesa side:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=107990
I'm able to play both games by building Mesa without glvnd support. My workaround simply requires to add in to the linker path the location of my built libGL.so.1.2.0 (i.e. I keep using the other system wide Mesa libraries).
in my opinion, it is still the responsibility of the developers to make the game workable, if they know the problem
you can not ask the buyers to compile their own mesa
either change the game, so it works with new mesa versions, or help mesa to fix it. they werent willing to do anything
my point was, that nobody can expect lifetime support for a game. so it doesnt really matter if you buy a PLATINUM proton game, or a native version, because a new game update can break the game and so can a new linux distro/driver update and then they say "sry we only support old distros with old drivers"
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ElectricPrism Jan 14, 2019
This is why I severely limit buying Proton/SteamPlay Games. Gamers can't be easy on developers for fucking us over like this, Native Platform games are always #1 in my book. Proton 2nd, 3rd or more commonly not at all.
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Yet here we are and now today I'm seeing reports that GTA5 online is also now entirely broken...A solution is in sight for GTA5 Online. With a workaround you get the game up and running (again). At Github two users already report that they can play online again with this approach.
-> https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/37#issuecomment-453889173
There will also be a tutorial later on how to fix this.
So it is not up to Rockstar to exclude Linux players. And I expect the basis for this workaround to be included in the official packages of DXVK, Wine and/or Proton (depending on what needs to be adjusted) in the medium term.
Last edited by KuJo on 14 January 2019 at 9:28 am UTC
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Don't reach them. Reach Valve. Reach Proton support forums.
They're who, proudly, want to make all the games playable in linux.
They will do their best to make it compatible by fixing things in proton's code by programming, or by making deals with the developers.
Is the game on the Steamplay whitelist? No? Then don't expect support. The whitelist exists for a reason.
Doom is on whitelist and the multiplayer doesn't work either.
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At this point the only games I have on my Steam account that are not Linux native are two games I received free from Humble Bundle promotions. Of course, Half-Life and Half-Life 2 weren't Linux native when I bought them (1999 and 2004; original Half-Life added to my Steam account in 2004), but they were the only two games I had on Steam before Steam started supporting Linux.
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orochi_kyo Jan 14, 2019
There are more than 3k games with gold status on Protondb, 3000 games you cannot play before without tweaking Wine, others were always unplayable, and you all are whining because a sh!tty Battle Royale game doesnt work, anymore? LOL, cant care less if KIDS are wasting their time playing this cancer called Fortnite, Single player games still have a niche and as I can play those games story or single player modes Im ok with it.
Single players games are strong yet, because since everyone else in playing Fortnite/PUBG some devs doesnt even try to make multiplayer games anymore, they go single player.
Too much whining, that is why some devs prefer to make WIndows games only, yeah Windows gamers are a bunch of whiners too but at least they are a much bigger market than us.
Single players games are strong yet, because since everyone else in playing Fortnite/PUBG some devs doesnt even try to make multiplayer games anymore, they go single player.
Too much whining, that is why some devs prefer to make WIndows games only, yeah Windows gamers are a bunch of whiners too but at least they are a much bigger market than us.
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There are more than 3k games with gold status on Protondb, 3000 games you cannot play before without tweaking Wine, others were always unplayable, and you all are whining because a sh!tty Battle Royale game doesnt work, anymore? LOL, cant care less if KIDS are wasting their time playing this cancer called Fortnite, Single player games still have a niche and as I can play those games story or single player modes Im ok with it.
Single players games are strong yet, because since everyone else in playing Fortnite/PUBG some devs doesnt even try to make multiplayer games anymore, they go single player.
Too much whining, that is why some devs prefer to make WIndows games only, yeah Windows gamers are a bunch of whiners too but at least they are a much bigger market than us.
Putting aside the fact that (in the free world at least) every game genre has the same dignity, the take away from this post is that any platinum game (including single player games) can become borked overnight if the developer decides to adopt a library that is not wine compatible. And such libraries do not include just the vast majority of anti cheat stuff but also DRM stuff. And if it happens that you bought such former platinum game on the basis that it used to be proton compatible you have no entitlement to get obtain a refund from Valve. It will be interesting to see if Valve will agree to a refund if this ever happens with supported games though.
Last edited by Mal on 15 January 2019 at 10:59 am UTC
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There are more than 3k games with gold status on Protondb, 3000 games you cannot play before without tweaking Wine, others were always unplayable, and you all are whining because a sh!tty Battle Royale game doesnt work, anymore? LOL, cant care less if KIDS are wasting their time playing this cancer called Fortnite, Single player games still have a niche and as I can play those games story or single player modes Im ok with it.What's with the attitude here? It's really quite poor and I'm shocked to see that from people here.
Single players games are strong yet, because since everyone else in playing Fortnite/PUBG some devs doesnt even try to make multiplayer games anymore, they go single player.
Too much whining, that is why some devs prefer to make WIndows games only, yeah Windows gamers are a bunch of whiners too but at least they are a much bigger market than us.
Your personal preferences for what to play are no better than anyone else's, please don't ever act high and mighty about what games people like, it's quite pathetic.
Your argument on people "whining" is completely idiotic. Anyone would be unhappy when a game they enjoyed suddenly stopped working.
Mal hit the nail on the head with this bit:
the take away from this post is that any platinum game (including single player games) can become borked overnight if the developer decides to adopt a library that is not wine compatibleWhile Darwin wasn't Platinum, the overall point is what's true.
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Actually it does, as noted here where I took screenshots too. I just tested again today and it works.Don't reach them. Reach Valve. Reach Proton support forums.
They're who, proudly, want to make all the games playable in linux.
They will do their best to make it compatible by fixing things in proton's code by programming, or by making deals with the developers.
Is the game on the Steamplay whitelist? No? Then don't expect support. The whitelist exists for a reason.
Doom is on whitelist and the multiplayer doesn't work either.
The whitelist, also, isn't specifically about what titles get support. Valve are aiming to support as much as possible and you absolutely should report issues with games that have problems. The entire point of their bug tracker is to help with this, so they can see what they can whitelist and what they need to sort out.
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Micromegas Jan 14, 2019
If a game which is even whitelisted on Valve's Proton list stops working without hope to be fixed soon it sends a strong signal to me: Don't buy multiplayer games which only (might) run via Proton.
Proton is dead for me for multiplayer Windows only games if there isn't an official commitment by the game developer (!) to support their game on Proton.
Even if Valve might be able to fix games that once worked via Proton but stopped working because of updates to the game (new game features, a new game GUI, added multiplayer or just patched bugs etc.) Proton is not a substitute for native Linux games. This incident is a clear example of this sad truth.
Proton is dead for me for multiplayer Windows only games if there isn't an official commitment by the game developer (!) to support their game on Proton.
Even if Valve might be able to fix games that once worked via Proton but stopped working because of updates to the game (new game features, a new game GUI, added multiplayer or just patched bugs etc.) Proton is not a substitute for native Linux games. This incident is a clear example of this sad truth.
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