Apparently now a Quality of Life Update means adding a launcher to existing games and breaking them, if you're 2K that is.
Just recently BioShock Remastered 1 & 2, plus BioShock Infinite all had this "Quality of Life Update". Expecting some sort of bug-fix and polishing that the name implies, it was nothing of the sort. Instead, the patch notes for all three simply state:
This week's update features various quality-of-life improvements, including:
- Account linking option added in-game
- The addition of a new Launcher which includes a Store to purchase new content
For BioShock Infinite I can confirm the update breaks launching the older Native Linux port from Virtual Programming. Not great for those of you sticking to Native versions and paid for that.
Looking over various reports, many people are mentioning that the launcher update has broken all three for them on Steam Deck. Confusing though, as testing all three across desktop Linux and Steam Deck and all three worked out of the box for me with Proton 7.0-4 and no other changes and I wasn't even shown a launcher on Steam Deck. All good, until I tried running them again on desktop and sometimes the launcher just doesn't show up so they don't run. Frustrating.
You can see my video guide on how to switch between Proton versions or a Native Linux build if it exists.
Infinite was noted to be Unsupported on Steam Deck anyway, but forcing Proton 7 makes it work in my testing.
As for BioShock Remastered 1 & 2, neither of them had a Native Linux version so players on desktop Linux and Steam Deck were using Proton. The problem here is that both had been through Deck Verified with the first being "Playable" and the second being "Verified".
Thankfully, the community has stepped in to provide multiple workarounds for these games if the launcher has broken them for you. If you add these as a launch option (under Properties for each game) it should work for all titles across desktop Linux and Steam Deck to skip the launcher and I've tested them personally working:
BioShock Remastered 1:
bash -c 'exec "${@/2KLauncher\/LauncherPatcher.exe/Build\/Final\/BioshockHD.exe}"' -- %command% -nointro
BioShock Remastered 2:
bash -c 'exec "${@/2KLauncher\/LauncherPatcher.exe/Build\/Final\/Bioshock2HD.exe}"' -- %command% -nointro
BioShock Infinite:
bash -c 'exec "${@/2KLauncher\/LauncherPatcher.exe/Binaries\/Win32\/BioShockInfinite.exe}"' -- %command% -nointro
There's been a lot of unhappy gamers on Windows too, so 2K have a bit of a storm brewing with all three titles getting negative reviews on Steam. Hopefully they will learn from this. It's just another reminder of the problem with launchers and publishers just stuffing them into games with no real benefit to users.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: slaapliedjeI do enjoy wondering around giant open maps and kicking random people off of ledges like in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I don't know why, but I just enjoy watching the physics of enemies falling to their doom. The Jedi Knight games are another that is just fantastic in this way. Flinging storm troopers off ledges and to their doom.That, or you need to watch Space Mutiny, which also features rather a lot of people falling off of ledges to their doom.
Granted, it also made me giggle to play Black and White and pick up the little villagers and toss them about. Maybe I should seek therapy. Haha
Quoting: slaapliedjeYes, well. In any Star Wars setting of course it's their own fault for working for an evil overlord with such cruddy safety standards. So really, they deserve it.Quoting: PenglingI do enjoy wondering around giant open maps and kicking random people off of ledges like in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I don't know why, but I just enjoy watching the physics of enemies falling to their doom. The Jedi Knight games are another that is just fantastic in this way. Flinging storm troopers off ledges and to their doom.Quoting: slaapliedjeThis! This right here is why I keep thinking I should just pack it in and spend my time playing Amiga or DOS or Atari games...Emulation is the backbone of my Linux gaming partly for this reason - though, to be fair, most things that use launchers and want me to sign up for unwanted accounts don't generally overlap with my gaming tastes anyway.
Granted, it also made me giggle to play Black and White and pick up the little villagers and toss them about. Maybe I should seek therapy. Haha
I used to get a somewhat similar charge out of a little board game, not even a computer game--it was a "microgame" called OGRE. You had a little hex map with bomb craters and stuff. One side had a little command post defended by a bunch of high tech tanks and cyberinfantry, armed with tac nukes. The other side had the OGRE, one monstrous cybertank with metres thick unobtainium armour and masses of weaponry, and it was so much fun to charge forward swatting puny tanks like flies or just running over them and losing a couple of treads. You could move through infantry units, too--the rule was you got to move through them for free, they had no effect on you whatsoever, and your antipersonnel weapons would automatically degrade the unit by one without you having to make an attack roll or anything. I wouldn't mind a computer game of that.
slaapliedje Sep 14, 2022
Quoting: Purple Library GuyHaha, I always thought of the lack of a safety inspector for the Empire...Quoting: slaapliedjeYes, well. In any Star Wars setting of course it's their own fault for working for an evil overlord with such cruddy safety standards. So really, they deserve it.Quoting: PenglingI do enjoy wondering around giant open maps and kicking random people off of ledges like in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. I don't know why, but I just enjoy watching the physics of enemies falling to their doom. The Jedi Knight games are another that is just fantastic in this way. Flinging storm troopers off ledges and to their doom.Quoting: slaapliedjeThis! This right here is why I keep thinking I should just pack it in and spend my time playing Amiga or DOS or Atari games...Emulation is the backbone of my Linux gaming partly for this reason - though, to be fair, most things that use launchers and want me to sign up for unwanted accounts don't generally overlap with my gaming tastes anyway.
Granted, it also made me giggle to play Black and White and pick up the little villagers and toss them about. Maybe I should seek therapy. Haha
I used to get a somewhat similar charge out of a little board game, not even a computer game--it was a "microgame" called OGRE. You had a little hex map with bomb craters and stuff. One side had a little command post defended by a bunch of high tech tanks and cyberinfantry, armed with tac nukes. The other side had the OGRE, one monstrous cybertank with metres thick unobtainium armour and masses of weaponry, and it was so much fun to charge forward swatting puny tanks like flies or just running over them and losing a couple of treads. You could move through infantry units, too--the rule was you got to move through them for free, they had no effect on you whatsoever, and your antipersonnel weapons would automatically degrade the unit by one without you having to make an attack roll or anything. I wouldn't mind a computer game of that.
I bought the giant OGRE box they had on Kickstarter. They have the old computer game and now a new version of it too.
https://www.mobygames.com/game/ogre
https://store.steampowered.com/app/517780/Ogre
Last edited by slaapliedje on 14 September 2022 at 8:19 pm UTC
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me