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.
Last edited by Lomkey on 13 January 2019 at 5:51 pm UTC
Quoting: YupyI 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.
Quoting: massatt212Quoting: pbQuoting: massatt212EAC 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.
Quoting: EikeQuoting: 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 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.
Quoting: tony1abDon'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.
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.
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
Quoting: mylkai 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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