Just like Valve said to us they would do so, Half-Life: Alyx is now available on Linux using the Vulkan graphics API. This arrives as part of a big update that went out today which also brings in modding tools and Steam Workshop support, it's going to be very fun to see what the community comes up with for Half-Life: Alyx.
For the modding side Valve released new versions of Hammer (the Source 2 level editor), a Material Editor, a Particle Editor, Source Filmmaker and more for people to tinker with. However, these tools are usually only available on Windows. Valve did say this is only the first Beta of the Alyx Workshop tools suite though, so we may see support for that too properly in future.
If you previously used the Proton compatibility layer to play Alyx, Valve said to follow these steps to reset it to the new Linux supported build:
- Go in the Properties for Half-Life Alyx by right-clicking the game in your Steam Library
- Check the "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool" box
- Uncheck the box, and the download will properly complete.
For the Linux version, Valve are recommending an AMD GPU with the Mesa RADV driver for "best results". It may seem like Valve are giving NVIDIA the cold shoulder here but on Linux NVIDIA are missing some big quality of life features for VR. It will work with an NVIDIA GPU but the experience might not be great.
Really fantastic to see such continued Linux support from Valve. It was only earlier today in our round-up article that we listed it as an interesting upcoming game!
You can find Half-Life: Alyx on Steam, it requires a VR headset.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
we need benchmarks comparing the performance on windows and linux...
Benchmarks...Someone else will need to. I do not own a VR set, too expensive for me.
we need benchmarks comparing the performance on windows and linux...
Benchmarks...Someone else will need to. I do not own a VR set, too expensive for me.
we need benchmarks comparing the performance on windows and linux...
I wonder how you would actually do that. The best I know how to get is a frametime graph.
This is amazing that Valve continues to push Linux gaming further and further, congrats to them they deserves my support <3
One would assume Valve wanting to promote SteamVR on Linux (especially now with HL:Alyx coming out) would use GOL as a review platform. Why they haven't sent you an Index kit already is beyond me.Benchmarks...Someone else will need to. I do not own a VR set, too expensive for me.
we need benchmarks comparing the performance on windows and linux...
Perkeleen_Vittupää May 15, 2020
Yep, you got it: not a fan of VR. Probably will buy it eventually anyways just to show support!
Sil_el_mot May 15, 2020
Edit: It's still only listed with Windows as supported platform though?
Last edited by Beamboom on 15 May 2020 at 9:34 pm UTC
... from serious stuttering. In the VR world, it's called reprojection. I do not suffer from this on Windows with the same hardware.
Windows has all that async reprojection + motion smoothing that is not yet in the Linux steamvr.
Anyway, I simply avoid it by choosing settings that almost never exceed the allocated frame times and putting it on legacy reprojection. But that's for nvidia though.
I'll replay this tomorrow and try the gnome run :D
Edit: It's still only listed with Windows as supported platform though?I think the product page update takes time until they refresh the CDN cache.
TheRiddick May 16, 2020
At this point it time I might need to get into programming myself and make my own Linux Quest Oculus SteamVR streaming app... probably take me forever as I'm a bit of a dummy :(
Last edited by TheRiddick on 16 May 2020 at 12:58 am UTC
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