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: x_wingQuoting: 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).
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"
ElectricPrism Jan 14, 2019
Quoting: liamdaweYet 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
Quoting: tmtvlQuoting: 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.
Doom is on whitelist and the multiplayer doesn't work either.
orochi_kyo Jan 14, 2019
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.
Quoting: orochi_kyoThere 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
Quoting: orochi_kyoThere 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:
Quoting: Malthe 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.
Quoting: RoosterActually it does, as noted here where I took screenshots too. I just tested again today and it works.Quoting: tmtvlQuoting: 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.
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.
Micromegas Jan 14, 2019
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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