ROCKFISH Games have now launched EVERSPACE 2 and it looks awesome! One of their original Kickstarter promises did not make it though, with Native Linux support being cancelled as they will support it with Proton instead.
Despite repeatedly mentioning a Native Linux build would come, even as recently as mid February, they decided not to go through with it. Why? They said Vulkan support in Unreal Engine 4 is "broken and incomplete" and it gave between "50% - 80%" of the performance compared with just running the Windows version in Proton. There were other issues, like VRAM leaks causing crashes. After they spoke with Epic Games, they said it's clear Unreal Engine 4 won't get fixed up with the focus now on Unreal Engine 5 and ROCKFISH don't have the time to fix up the game engine.
They shared a screenshot as a quick example showing the Native build with Vulkan, their Windows build with DXVK and the Windows build with VKD3D-Proton and the performance difference speaks for itself really:
The good news is they plan to ensure it does work well with Proton and they will continue to optimize it there. Any Kickstarter backers not happy can request a refund too which is good to see.
As for Steam Deck, dedicated optimizations for it are also still planned.
For players on other stores like GOG, it does make things more complicated, since Steam is the only store to officially support a translation layer like Proton. However, you can try with Heroic Games Launcher.
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Direct Link
Direct Link
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: GuestSeems we're in agreement then--they want to get out of the game engine business, I want them out of the game engine business, everyone will be happy.Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: shawnsterpMy takeaway from this is that — once again — Epic Games is playing a role in the quality of Linux gaming.I'm going to be pleased when Godot and other open source game engines eat that space. And I think they will.
Do you know that Epic was a huge help in developing Godot 4, right? The $250k grant they gave Godot is paying the main developers' salaries for years (they are from Argentina and Brazil, wages are way lower than US/EU).
Either that or they are fools who underestimate the potential of open source software even after all these years of it eating various lunches, and intended the cash as an empty PR gesture. I'm fine either way, really.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 7 April 2023 at 8:14 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
Oof just nearly bought this thinking it would have native Linux like the first one did. I guess I'll wait until they can be bothered with Linux support in Everspace 3. This is akin to developers releasing microtransactions updates a month after the reviews come out.
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: CyrilYou don't start to "port" your game on Linux 1-2 months before the full release.
They never spoke about their difficulties about the Linux version, and yet they announce on the release day that there won't be Linux native, it's just dishonest.
I hate to have been right, but I called this a while back when, despite talk of progress and how in their exact words supposedly during development "Unreal Engine 4’s Linux support is in a much better state", there was no sign of a non-Windows build for any beta or early access etc. I really think they just hit the Export to Linux (and Mac) button recently and found out that they'd have to put some work into it after all.
1 Likes, Who?
Chuckaluphagus Apr 7, 2023
I backed the Kickstarter campaign for Everspace 2, based on my experience with the first one. I don't often care for playing games in early access, so I waited until the 6th for the full 1.0 release. I've already put in too many hours out of the last 24, and I have a few thoughts:
1) It plays very well on my system (Ubuntu 22.04, Ryzen 5600X, Geforce 3060 RTX, using Proton Experimental). I've played so far at 1920x1080 and all the graphics settings at maximum ("Epic"), and it's smooth and lovely to look at. I will likely tweak the balance of graphics settings and resolution to find a sweet spot, but no concerns at all so far.
2) The only crash/freeze I've had so far is when I received the first side mission, and there was a prompt to press Alt to see its location on the map. Doing so froze the game, and I had to close it down and restart it. Fortunately, the game saves checkpoints automatically whenever you enter a system, so I hadn't lost that much time. Viewing the map normally (pressing "M", or choosing the map screen in the in-game interface, cause me no problems.
3) Some of the user interface has been unclear so far. For instance, I think I had 6 hours in the game before I figured out how to spend Mainframe stacks to upgrade my attributes. There's nearly nothing calling that out on the screen. I have similar, albeit lesser difficulties following the crafting/modification menus. Better highlighting or graphical prompts would be welcome.
4) I'm having a lot of fun! I'm playing on the default difficulty, and I am finding it a little too easy - I'm likely to bump that up one notch for more of a challenge. But, the flying is great, the sense of speed when I fire the emergency boost is terrific, and the weapons are very satisfying. There is tons to explore alongside the story missions, and everywhere you go is packed with little secrets. On the first planet I visited,.
I will keep playing, there's tons to do and I have only just started to delve into some of the mechanics.
1) It plays very well on my system (Ubuntu 22.04, Ryzen 5600X, Geforce 3060 RTX, using Proton Experimental). I've played so far at 1920x1080 and all the graphics settings at maximum ("Epic"), and it's smooth and lovely to look at. I will likely tweak the balance of graphics settings and resolution to find a sweet spot, but no concerns at all so far.
2) The only crash/freeze I've had so far is when I received the first side mission, and there was a prompt to press Alt to see its location on the map. Doing so froze the game, and I had to close it down and restart it. Fortunately, the game saves checkpoints automatically whenever you enter a system, so I hadn't lost that much time. Viewing the map normally (pressing "M", or choosing the map screen in the in-game interface, cause me no problems.
3) Some of the user interface has been unclear so far. For instance, I think I had 6 hours in the game before I figured out how to spend Mainframe stacks to upgrade my attributes. There's nearly nothing calling that out on the screen. I have similar, albeit lesser difficulties following the crafting/modification menus. Better highlighting or graphical prompts would be welcome.
4) I'm having a lot of fun! I'm playing on the default difficulty, and I am finding it a little too easy - I'm likely to bump that up one notch for more of a challenge. But, the flying is great, the sense of speed when I fire the emergency boost is terrific, and the weapons are very satisfying. There is tons to explore alongside the story missions, and everywhere you go is packed with little secrets. On the first planet I visited,
Spoiler, click me
I went down a completely unmarked mineshaft that I spotted from the air, and found a derelict ship, piloted by a robot, that had been stuck down there for 130 years. I towed it back to the nearby mining base, and I hope something comes of that later
I will keep playing, there's tons to do and I have only just started to delve into some of the mechanics.
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: CyrilQuoting: EagleDeltaI disagree. As I work in Software Development you have two competing problems as a company:
1. Make promises to get buy-in ahead of time or the project never gets off the ground.
2. You simply don't know what you don't know until you get to that point. The reality being that UE5 was not available when Everspace 2 started development and they were able to port Everspace 1 to Linux before. Imagine the surprise when you finally get to that work, only to find that the promise you had to make to get funding now no longer is viable from a technical standpoint without starting the entire project over on a new engine.... which is infeasible this late.
This issue doesn't happen as much in Tech due to the fear of customer churn on very expensive services. By comparison, once Game Devs (and Engine Devs) get their money, it's on to the next project since that up-front revenue does nothing but fade off over time. And, sadly, this part of the issue falls squarely on gamers' shoulders. As long as gamers continue to pay for things despite what GameDevs and Engine Devs do, there won't be any incentive to stop.
Sorry but you don't understand, the point isn't only a technical one.
You seem to find excuses where there are none...
When you promise a Linux version (or macOS), you do it from the start to avoid the maximum of issues, that was repeatedly said on this website from many people.
You don't start to "port" your game on Linux 1-2 months before the full release.
They never spoke about their difficulties about the Linux version, and yet they announce on the release day that there won't be Linux native, it's just dishonest.
They lied to us dude, it's simple.
Bonus (as I posted in the forum "Crowdfunding page suggestions"): https://www.youtube.com/live/CxYPVee36sY?feature=share&t=3250
Dare to tell me this guy is honest...
But yeah, this time I learned the lesson: never a trust a dev even if they released their previous game on Linux. I'm tired of it and, UE4 issues or not, I don't think I'm the only one.
Most likely is that doing the port once the game was complete worked for the first game, so they though in error that it would be the same with the new game, especially since they switched to Vulkan which works great on Linux. Of course they should have checked how well UE4 handles Vulkan on Linux before but then there are always lots of things that one could do.
In the end I don't really understand the outrage here. Are you guys on the "I will only buy native games" side arguing that they should have released the native version with horrible performance and have every Linux gamer switch to the proton version anyway due to the performance difference?
exit: of course I understand the outrage, I mean it was a kickstart goal that was met so they didn't deliver what was promised, should have worded that part differently.
Last edited by F.Ultra on 8 April 2023 at 12:59 am UTC
3 Likes, Who?
As Linux gamers, I think we should one more time praise Timmy, "the fighter for freedom", for supporting Linux with UE4 *that* good.
If it weren't Valve...
P.S. I still can not believe how people helped him in his holy quest of canibalizing the market by writing a Linux launcher for him...
Last edited by sudoer on 8 April 2023 at 12:32 am UTC
If it weren't Valve...
P.S. I still can not believe how people helped him in his holy quest of canibalizing the market by writing a Linux launcher for him...
Last edited by sudoer on 8 April 2023 at 12:32 am UTC
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: F.UltraQuoting: CyrilQuoting: EagleDeltaI disagree. As I work in Software Development you have two competing problems as a company:
1. Make promises to get buy-in ahead of time or the project never gets off the ground.
2. You simply don't know what you don't know until you get to that point. The reality being that UE5 was not available when Everspace 2 started development and they were able to port Everspace 1 to Linux before. Imagine the surprise when you finally get to that work, only to find that the promise you had to make to get funding now no longer is viable from a technical standpoint without starting the entire project over on a new engine.... which is infeasible this late.
This issue doesn't happen as much in Tech due to the fear of customer churn on very expensive services. By comparison, once Game Devs (and Engine Devs) get their money, it's on to the next project since that up-front revenue does nothing but fade off over time. And, sadly, this part of the issue falls squarely on gamers' shoulders. As long as gamers continue to pay for things despite what GameDevs and Engine Devs do, there won't be any incentive to stop.
Sorry but you don't understand, the point isn't only a technical one.
You seem to find excuses where there are none...
When you promise a Linux version (or macOS), you do it from the start to avoid the maximum of issues, that was repeatedly said on this website from many people.
You don't start to "port" your game on Linux 1-2 months before the full release.
They never spoke about their difficulties about the Linux version, and yet they announce on the release day that there won't be Linux native, it's just dishonest.
They lied to us dude, it's simple.
Bonus (as I posted in the forum "Crowdfunding page suggestions"): https://www.youtube.com/live/CxYPVee36sY?feature=share&t=3250
Dare to tell me this guy is honest...
But yeah, this time I learned the lesson: never a trust a dev even if they released their previous game on Linux. I'm tired of it and, UE4 issues or not, I don't think I'm the only one.
Most likely is that doing the port once the game was complete worked for the first game, so they though in error that it would be the same with the new game, especially since they switched to Vulkan which works great on Linux. Of course they should have checked how well UE4 handles Vulkan on Linux before but then there are always lots of things that one could do.
In the end I don't really understand the outrage here. Are you guys on the "I will only buy native games" side arguing that they should have released the native version with horrible performance and have every Linux gamer switch to the proton version anyway due to the performance difference?
exit: of course I understand the outrage, I mean it was a kickstart goal that was met so they didn't deliver what was promised, should have worded that part differently.
Atleast for me, it's not not buy game, but not support them on kickstarter. Is good idea buying game years before release from developer who proved he is not trustworthy?
0 Likes
EagleDelta Apr 8, 2023
Quoting: RaabenQuoting: CyrilYou don't start to "port" your game on Linux 1-2 months before the full release.
They never spoke about their difficulties about the Linux version, and yet they announce on the release day that there won't be Linux native, it's just dishonest.
I hate to have been right, but I called this a while back when, despite talk of progress and how in their exact words supposedly during development "Unreal Engine 4’s Linux support is in a much better state", there was no sign of a non-Windows build for any beta or early access etc. I really think they just hit the Export to Linux (and Mac) button recently and found out that they'd have to put some work into it after all.
I think this is important to note. They were originally waiting for Linux support to be in a better place on UE4 than it was. IIRC they had issues with the porting process with Everspace 1..... but you can't have an entire company, especially a small one, switch to a brand new engine on a whim, meaning they were kind of locked in at that point.
Sure, any dev team can learn a new language or tools as needed, but that takes lead time. There's a good chance that the margins on Everspace 1 didn't provide enough funds to pay devs to learn new tools and I can't imaging backers backing a kickstarter where part of the funds are to "learn" new tools
0 Likes
EagleDelta Apr 8, 2023
Quoting: ArtenAtleast for me, it's not not buy game, but not support them on kickstarter. Is good idea buying game years before release from developer who proved he is not trustworthy?
Don't EVER PAY FOR ANYTHING ON KICKSTARTER AND ASSUME YOU'RE BUYING ANYTHING. Kickstarter is very, very clear in their notice that you are "Not preordering a product, but funding the possibility of that project being completed". It's on a big banner at the end of every project's campaign page. You are for all intensive purposes a "light" investor in the product and your return is a completed product rather than a stake in the company..... if it makes it to fruition. You are taking a risk on the project basically, not buying something.
Last edited by EagleDelta on 8 April 2023 at 2:03 am UTC
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: tgurrPromising something in a Kickstarter campaign and then not fulfulling the promise is another cup of tea though but at least they offer refunds.If they'd promised it, not delivered, and not given a refund, that would be fraud, so... they had to give refunds.
1 Likes, Who?
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me