BeamNG.drive gets experimental Native Linux support

Quoting: slaapliedjeBut then you get into the conundrum of which version of Proton?

Theoretically, yes.
But then we are back to probability. The probability of a game working on the latest version (if working on Proton at all) is very high. Just like the probability of a native game running as good or better on Proton is very high. And vice versa, if a game doesn't work on the latest version it probably won't work on earlier versions either.

Simply put I play exclusively on Proton, so I have some mileage on it. And it's been quite a while since I had to choose an earlier version to run a specific game. It's happened, yes, but it's one or two titles and maybe two years ago - maybe even longer.
And, come to think of it, then it's always been to go from experimental to latest stable.

Bu that's just my experience. That's not to say it won't or doesn't happen anymore. I'm sure it will. An extra layer does add complexity.
It's just that statistically speaking Proton works bloody well, and increasingly so for each month.


Last edited by Beamboom on 22 June 2022 at 7:32 am UTC

Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: slaapliedjeBut then you get into the conundrum of which version of Proton?

Theoretically, yes.
But then we are back to probability. The probability of a game working on the latest version (if working on Proton at all) is very high. Just like the probability of a native game running as good or better on Proton is very high. And vice versa, if a game doesn't work on the latest version it probably won't work on earlier versions either.

Simply put I play exclusively on Proton, so I have some mileage on it. And it's been quite a while since I had to choose an earlier version to run a specific game. It's happened, yes, but it's one or two titles and maybe two years ago - maybe even longer.
And, come to think of it, then it's always been to go from experimental to latest stable.

Bu that's just my experience. That's not to say it won't or doesn't happen anymore. I'm sure it will. An extra layer does add complexity.
It's just that statistically speaking Proton works bloody well, and increasingly so for each month.

As a counterpoint I'd like to note that I first got a game working on Proton two days ago, but in all my time of playing native titles the only ones I've found to not work any more are my old Loki games. And at that I've had some luck getting Alpha Centauri working, although it takes some fiddling around.
Mind you, it may be that some of the games I've played in the past would be problematic now and I just haven't tried them lately. Still, my experience hasn't involved a lot of this "native games going bad" thing that I hear a lot about.

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: slaapliedjeBut then you get into the conundrum of which version of Proton?

Theoretically, yes.
But then we are back to probability. The probability of a game working on the latest version (if working on Proton at all) is very high. Just like the probability of a native game running as good or better on Proton is very high. And vice versa, if a game doesn't work on the latest version it probably won't work on earlier versions either.

Simply put I play exclusively on Proton, so I have some mileage on it. And it's been quite a while since I had to choose an earlier version to run a specific game. It's happened, yes, but it's one or two titles and maybe two years ago - maybe even longer.
And, come to think of it, then it's always been to go from experimental to latest stable.

Bu that's just my experience. That's not to say it won't or doesn't happen anymore. I'm sure it will. An extra layer does add complexity.
It's just that statistically speaking Proton works bloody well, and increasingly so for each month.

As a counterpoint I'd like to note that I first got a game working on Proton two days ago, but in all my time of playing native titles the only ones I've found to not work any more are my old Loki games. And at that I've had some luck getting Alpha Centauri working, although it takes some fiddling around.
Mind you, it may be that some of the games I've played in the past would be problematic now and I just haven't tried them lately. Still, my experience hasn't involved a lot of this "native games going bad" thing that I hear a lot about.

Last time I tried, I managed to get Heavy Gear II to work, and it was just a few years ago. I should try again. But usually it isn't terribly difficult to get such things to work in Linux.

Quoting: Purple Library GuyAs a counterpoint I'd like to note that I first got a game working on Proton two days ago, but in all my time of playing native titles the only ones I've found to not work any more are my old Loki games.

But are you now talking about "real" native binaries, source code fully written to be compiled on Linux, or do you talk about the "ports" (Feral & co)? Because that's a major difference.

I totally believe that "proper" native games runs well as long as the libraries they depend on are available/compatible with your system setup. It should, really.

But I primarily speak about the "ports" we usually find on Steam (I struggle even calling it that) that's based on using libraries that's equivalents of Wine, typically the bigger games. Those have turned out to often run better (better performance) through Proton. Some even technically better (less audio issues etc).

But there are even examples of games made on Unity that has turned out to actually run better through Proton. That's almost tragic :D

But I mean, sure, a lot of native games do run well, especially the smaller/less complex ones. But the million dollar question is: Do they run BETTER than via Proton.
That's the real question. Because if not, there's really no technical reason for Valve to make it more complicated than necessary.


Last edited by Beamboom on 23 June 2022 at 7:26 pm UTC

Quoting: Beamboom

Quoting: Purple Library GuyAs a counterpoint I'd like to note that I first got a game working on Proton two days ago, but in all my time of playing native titles the only ones I've found to not work any more are my old Loki games.

But are you now talking about "real" native binaries, source code fully written to be compiled on Linux, or do you talk about the "ports" (Feral & co)? Because that's a major difference.

I totally believe that "proper" native games runs well as long as the libraries they depend on are available/compatible with your system setup. It should, really.

But I primarily speak about the "ports" we usually find on Steam (I struggle even calling it that) that's based on using libraries that's equivalents of Wine, typically the bigger games.

Not sure. But most of my games are indies, or Paradox. So maybe my stuff just skews to more genuine nativeness.

Some of it is even down to what drivers you use. While AMD drivers are out there in the kernel, I have had less issues with my nvidia setup than I have read others complain about with native versions.

There were quite a few releases that specifically stated there were issues with D GPUs. So that is definitely a factor here. The Deck using AMD hardware may be the main reason they favor Proton over native builds. But I can only report on the things I have tried, and so far running Proton bs Native has for sure caused me mkre issues than not on the Deck.

Quoting: slaapliedjeSome of it is even down to what drivers you use. While AMD drivers are out there in the kernel, I have had less issues with my nvidia setup than I have read others complain about with native versions.

That is actually a very good point. Another factor to consider in this picture.