Feral no longer porting A Total War Saga: TROY to Linux, citing less demand since Proton

There is demand for native ports. But if Feral needs months or years to port a game, than I can't blame the people who try proton instead. Games need to be ready on day-1 or a few days after. But not many people want to wait of proton is a working solution.

Yup, native would be nice, but it takes them too long, so I always play with Proton.

I've always had some special attachment to Feral, being the most active porting house to bring use many awesome titles, but things have changed... Unfortunately. I whish them the best of luck.

As for Proton, it's probably the cheapest solution that Valve could come up with that will please developers and lure them to SteamOS (mark my words, I didn't say Linux desktop).

Imo, Valve's Linux gaming strategy was never targeted at desktop usage. The desktop war has been lost a long time ago. Not much moved or will move that needle. The Steam Deck is becoming the corner stone of Valve's strategy and Proton is the way forward, for them, like it or not. It's not targeted at techy savy Linux (or not) users, it's targeted at those that just want to turn on the thing, sit back on the couch and play. It might end up helping Linux desktop, but it's going to be a side effect. I think that what Valve is targeting at, is a Windows computer besides a SteamOS Steam Deck.

Seriously I can deal with that even if it's not my first choice scenario. Thanks to Feral for all it did for us and thanks to Valve for creating the opportunity. It's been a fabulous ride so far... And, for me, away from Windows. Personnallly, on this point, it's "mission accomplished".


Last edited by Mohandevir on 27 July 2021 at 6:28 pm UTC

This is a sad news really.R.I.P Feral future linux ports. Yes this was coming. I saw double rainbows in the sky and winter suddenly changed into summer in 2 seconds. From those signs I knew that there would be no TROY port.. Still Proton kills the need of Linux game ports. Future seems bad but on the other hand making the linux ports wouldn't be simply enough to increase player percentage when it comes to OS statistics in which Windows rules. Probably Steam Deck( which uses Proton) is the the best option to change the situation.Hopefully even slightly.

For anyone wonders if the game will work at day 1 or not ; i grabbed it last year when it was free on EGS for 24 hours ( perma keep ) :

It works on Wine+DXVK since day 1. So Feral porting this or not really shouldn't matter.

its not the fact it works its the fact its not native and proton is the reason its not native

I've always had some special attachment to Feral, being the most active porting house to bring use many awesome titles, but things have changed... Unfortunately. I whish them the best of luck.

As for Proton, it's probably the cheapest solution that Valve could come up with that will please developers and lure them to SteamOS (mark my words, I didn't say Linux desktop).

Imo, Valve's Linux gaming strategy was never targeted at desktop usage. The desktop war as been lost a long time ago. Not much moved or will move that needle. The Steam Deck is becoming the corner stone of Valve's strategy and Proton is the way forward, for them, like it or not. It's not targeted at techy savy Linux (or not) users, it's targeted at those that just want to turn on the thing, sit back on the couch and play. It might end up helping Linux desktop, but it's going to be a side effect. I think that what Valve is targeting at, is a Windows computer besides a SteamOS Steam Deck.

Seriously I can deal with that even if it's not my first choice scenario. Thanks to Feral for all it did for us and thanks to Valve for creating the opportunity. It's been a fabulous ride so far... And, for me, away from Windows. Personnallly, on this point, it's "mission accomplished".

Or they could go on making a killing by porting to switch since it runs linux and contracts are easier to get

Exactly what i was afraid of, and why i can't say if Proton is a good thing or not.

Disclaimer: I actually exclusively buy games with native support. That said...

The way I see it there are really two possible futures (10, 20 or whatever years from now):

1. Linux doesn't have a big market share among gamers. In this case, it really didn't matter that proton stopped native ports. People just didn't come to Linux to game, and we few should at least be happy we have a way to play games.

2. Linux gets a significant market share. In this case, do you really think developers will continue relying on Proton? If Linux does get a significant market share among gamers, I don't have a doubt that companies will start doing native ports, simply because you can't have a significant portion of your revenue be at the mercy of some translation layer you can't control.

In short, either proton is irrelevant or good. There is no scenario where proton would be a bad thing long term.

I agree, but the risk is to be in the "1" case partly because of Proton (there is a bias - no offense - in your statement because you start in the future, not now, but i understand your reflexion).

Proton exist -> devs dont have to make native port -> the majority of games are branded "Windows Only" -> users see many "Windows Only" games -> they dont see Linux as a viable Platform (or they dont want to buy games not supported with Proton).... 10 years later... "1" case.

I dont say that is our future (i dont read the future), just a scary possibility.

Hopefully, Steam Deck may change this vision, maybe.


Last edited by DebianUser on 27 July 2021 at 6:32 pm UTC

I've always had some special attachment to Feral, being the most active porting house to bring use many awesome titles, but things have changed... Unfortunately. I whish them the best of luck.

As for Proton, it's probably the cheapest solution that Valve could come up with that will please developers and lure them to SteamOS (mark my words, I didn't say Linux desktop).

Imo, Valve's Linux gaming strategy was never targeted at desktop usage. The desktop war as been lost a long time ago. Not much moved or will move that needle. The Steam Deck is becoming the corner stone of Valve's strategy and Proton is the way forward, for them, like it or not. It's not targeted at techy savy Linux (or not) users, it's targeted at those that just want to turn on the thing, sit back on the couch and play. It might end up helping Linux desktop, but it's going to be a side effect. I think that what Valve is targeting at, is a Windows computer besides a SteamOS Steam Deck.

Seriously I can deal with that even if it's not my first choice scenario. Thanks to Feral for all it did for us and thanks to Valve for creating the opportunity. It's been a fabulous ride so far... And, for me, away from Windows. Personnallly, on this point, it's "mission accomplished".

Or they could go on making a killing by porting to switch since it runs linux and contracts are easier to get

You mean Feral? I hope so and wish them well... Personnally I have no Switch to benefit from that.

If the Steam Deck is successful eventually developers will start producing Linux builds themselves, as it'll be easier to select Linux as a build target in your game engine than to produce a Windows build and run it through wine and try to investigate issues while an extra layer is sitting between your code and the OS.
The problem right now isn't that producing a Linux build is hard, it's actually easier than using Wine (if you are using a game engine with Linux support that is); the problem is that developers aren't interested in targetting Linux in the first place.

I tried some Total War games using wine. I explicitly say wine, because "Proton" never worked with them for me. And then neither did wine. So native ports was the only option I had to play those games (and Rome Remastered is next on my to-play list when I get some free time again).

Furthermore, same problem for the Tomb Raider series. I couldn't play any of those via wine. Native versions though, they run perfectly fine, particularly Rise of the Tomb Raider (owing to 6 cores being highly beneficial).

So this news is, for me, unwelcome and pretty sad.

Feral's ability to take some other company's after-the-fact code dump and beat it, batter it, and polish it into an excellent Linux game, while seemingly magical, wasn't even the best thing about them. Their customer support was way better than any first-party game developer. I'm certain that they made much less money from their Linux ports than from their Mac or Switch ports, but dealing with them you'd always get the impression that your platform was absolutely the most important one in the world.

From other devs we're going to get a response that varies from "get Valve to fix it" to "go stick your head in a pig."

If the Steam Deck is successful eventually developers will start producing Linux builds themselves, as it'll be easier to select Linux as a build target in your game engine than to produce a Windows build and run it through wine and try to investigate issues while an extra layer is sitting between your code and the OS.
The problem right now isn't that producing a Linux build is hard, it's actually easier than using Wine (if you are using a game engine with Linux support that is); the problem is that developers aren't interested in targetting Linux in the first place.

Or they could just use Proton, which is open source, and create a Proton wraped version of their games, too.

There are multiple exemples of games running better with Proton than the native ports (even better than when run on Windows, in some other cases)... Mad Max, Rocket League, Witcher 2 are 3 such exemples that I personnally witnessed (Proton > Linux port).


Last edited by Mohandevir on 27 July 2021 at 6:36 pm UTC

Even if it was slow, even if today it works better via proton, i will never thank Feral enough for porting Grid Autosport to Linux with full support for my steering wheel and ffb.
So many days of pure fun, I'll never forget them.

Thank you Feral, maybe you'll find a way to break into the proton gaming market.

If steamdeck proves to be a huge sucess, maybe there'll be a demand to optimize performance for the steamdeck, this might create a new wave of native linux ports.

I guess I should point out that Valve have never said anything they do is intended to lead to more native ports. Quite the opposite actually - they've officially said not to bother!

So just like Google never said that Stadia would encourage native desktop GNU/Linux game development and people kind of assumed it would happen, Valve have never said it either and it probably won't happen.

This was one concern long ago about the approach VP did, but at least they supported the title running under GNU/Linux. There's not even that here, and native development (and support) is being discouraged - the result of which is this news. I can't see it ending well for GNU/Linux desktop gaming.

It would make more sense to me to encourage devs/publisher to provide native builds and have Proton as a fallback.
Best would be to establish in-house know how and awareness for nativ ports. Doesn't happen this way.

Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.

I guess I should point out that Valve have never said anything they do is intended to lead to more native ports. Quite the opposite actually - they've officially said not to bother!

So just like Google never said that Stadia would encourage native desktop GNU/Linux game development and people kind of assumed it would happen, Valve have never said it either and it probably won't happen.

This was one concern long ago about the approach VP did, but at least they supported the title running under GNU/Linux. There's not even that here, and native development (and support) is being discouraged - the result of which is this news. I can't see it ending well for GNU/Linux desktop gaming.

It would make more sense to me to encourage devs/publisher to provide native builds and have Proton as a fallback.
Best would be to establish in-house know how and awareness for nativ ports. Doesn't happen this way.

Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.

Proton (and Steam Deck) will gain compatibility at a similar time frame than other consoles on the market. Consoles usually play catch up with PC, anyway.

Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.

This so much. DX12 even now with Valve's backing is still not on par - and it's 6 years old now. A future relying on Proton is a future of perpetual catchup at Microsoft's whim.

I guess I should point out that Valve have never said anything they do is intended to lead to more native ports. Quite the opposite actually - they've officially said not to bother!

So just like Google never said that Stadia would encourage native desktop GNU/Linux game development and people kind of assumed it would happen, Valve have never said it either and it probably won't happen.

This was one concern long ago about the approach VP did, but at least they supported the title running under GNU/Linux. There's not even that here, and native development (and support) is being discouraged - the result of which is this news. I can't see it ending well for GNU/Linux desktop gaming.

It would make more sense to me to encourage devs/publisher to provide native builds and have Proton as a fallback.
Best would be to establish in-house know how and awareness for nativ ports. Doesn't happen this way.

Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.

Proton (and Steam Deck) will gain compatibility at a similar time frame than other consoles on the market. Consoles usually play catch up with PC, anyway.

But console builds ARE native builds.
They are fine in this picture.

All I wanted to highlight is, you're creating strong unhealthy dependencies on MS.

I guess I should point out that Valve have never said anything they do is intended to lead to more native ports. Quite the opposite actually - they've officially said not to bother!

So just like Google never said that Stadia would encourage native desktop GNU/Linux game development and people kind of assumed it would happen, Valve have never said it either and it probably won't happen.

This was one concern long ago about the approach VP did, but at least they supported the title running under GNU/Linux. There's not even that here, and native development (and support) is being discouraged - the result of which is this news. I can't see it ending well for GNU/Linux desktop gaming.

It would make more sense to me to encourage devs/publisher to provide native builds and have Proton as a fallback.
Best would be to establish in-house know how and awareness for nativ ports. Doesn't happen this way.

Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.

Proton (and Steam Deck) will gain compatibility at a similar time frame than other consoles on the market. Consoles usually play catch up with PC, anyway.

But console builds ARE native builds.
They are fine in this picture.

All I wanted to highlight is, you're creating strong unhealthy dependencies on MS.

Yep, but what I mean, it's that the user that knows nothing about PC architecture that will buy the Steam Deck because of the hardware will not notice that distinction. On the surface, it's the same.

Well in the end, wine is a collection of native libs.

But i see it like this: We are currently in a valley for native ports that would have come sooner or later after the end of the original steam machines. Proton has just accelerated this. BUT when the SteamDeck manages to break the hen and egg problem things will get better again, and Proton plays a big part in making the SteamDeck a success. So in this way Proton is also accellerating (or even making it possible) the way out of this valley.

If the steam deck is a success with a huge playerbase and windows makes the DX13 move mentioned in the previous post, then this is the point where developers need to finally make an active decission if they want to support the platform or not and can no longer rely soly on valve.

Still no guaranty for native ports, but at least they would have to ignore DX13 and use Vulkan, hurting M$'s monopoly in other ways.

For anyone wonders if the game will work at day 1 or not ; i grabbed it last year when it was free on EGS for 24 hours ( perma keep ) :

It works on Wine+DXVK since day 1. So Feral porting this or not really shouldn't matter.

its not the fact it works its the fact its not native and proton is the reason its not native

Problem is: As long as porting houses like Feral can't provide day 1 Linux ports; all of those efforts are futile.

Proton matured to a point where it can run those titles at day 1 ( as opposed to Feral ports that takes months, years in some cases ) + Feral ports comes with multiple downsides besides lacking at working day 1 department:

-Multiplayer is Linux+Mac which in most cases makes MP portion of those games useless
-Patches arrive late
-Save files differs between Windows build vs Feral ports. Windows saves doesn't work on Feral builds, Feral build saves doesn't work on Windows
-Large portion of mods usually doesn't work on Feral ports

So those porting houses are lacking in competition and they just decide to not compete.

I have tons of Feral ports btw, some of them are excellent, some are mediocre. I also bought Total War Rome Remastered when it gone live. It supports Linux since day 1+MP works across Windows,Linux,Mac+mods works too.

If Feral wants to be competitive they should try to provide day 1 support with no downsides. There are many TW Warhammer players on Linux that are just using Proton despite Feral ported them. Because MP works with Windows players+performance is usually better than Feral builds+no need to wait for patches to drop on Feral builds.

predictable.
now everything is on deck, its will be a big sucess, no questionsa bout it, the pre sale numbers already showed this (110k / 90 minutes, roughly 1 million a day maybe more) the question is:
will deck users install windows on it? or not?
if they do, then we will rely on proton forever to get more games, if they dont, then we finally can break the curse, the chicken and egg problem.

valve is puting the eggs out there, now we just need the chicken.
or its the opposite?