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Should I ask the developers of Son of Nor to remove the native Linux version?
qptain Nemo Sep 22, 2018
I'm considering asking the developers of Son of Nor to remove the native Linux version because it doesn't work but it does work in Wine. So naturally being able to play it with Proton from my native Steam install instead of switching every time is incredibly appealing. I'd like the input of the community because while it seems like a simple rational decision I feel like I might be contributing to setting terrible precedents.

Here's the facts as I know them.

The game used to work but all recent threads on their forums indicate that it doesn't work for anyone on any distro or GPU anymore
[[1]](https://steamcommunity.com/app/264000/discussions/1/1727575977531015762/) [[2]](https://steamcommunity.com/app/264000/discussions/1/620712364037859190/) [[3]](https://steamcommunity.com/app/264000/discussions/0/1760230437370940723/) [[4]](https://steamcommunity.com/app/264000/discussions/0/541907867751336636/)

I have contacted the developers and they attempted to fix the game but their fixes didn't work for me. They've eventually stopped replying after stating "We‘ll look into the stacktrace, but unfortunately it seems to be a 3rd party plugin that is not supported anymore...".

According to the summer steam playerbase leak the game only had about 15k players so despite their commendable effort to support it after my request it's probably not seen as commercially viable for them to continue to do so.

Here's the terminal output from my last test if somebody wants to get dirty and technical. Also it requires a -force-d3d9 option to render correctly in Wine (most likely to due usage of stream output).

So, what do you think?
Cheeseness Sep 22, 2018
My advice is to put this effort into asking Valve (Plagman would probably be the best/most visible person - sorry Plagman <3) to implement the ability to play games via Proton even when there's Linux config present.

This would not prevent developers or Valve (who are probably the ones who're responsible for making sure that defective games aren't sold on the store) from removing their Linux-specific builds, but it would allow for more positive situations for many users across many games, most importantly avoiding the situation where one or two individual users who're experiencing problems might lead to a Linux-specific version that works for other people being removed (as we recently saw with BUTCHER).

I don't have time to follow up on what specifically is going on with this game, but I've had decent success with reaching out to game devs and upstream devs to organise getting bugs resolved and users happy. If a third party plugin is the cause of the problem, that's likely to be less achievable, but perhaps there's an avenue that can be pursued there.
qptain Nemo Sep 22, 2018
If there is at least one person for whom this game runs natively I'd immediately back down. But after seeing people report it not working on any configuration, and testing myself on 2 different GPUs and 2 distros, I'm skeptical.

Point taken, though. It would be good if you could just opt into running any given game via Proton. Perhaps no harm in asking.
Avehicle7887 Sep 22, 2018
Sorry if this seems blunt, but I'm finding it as lame excuse to just proton-ize every game that doesn't work for user xyz, nothing personal. Bear with me for a moment here.

I'm saying this after my recent experience with "Butcher", the dev clearly said something broke with the latest drivers, and yet:

The game runs fine on my GTX 1060 with 396.54.06 (latest drivers as they can be).
The game still runs fine on my Intel HD on Ubuntu 18.04 and Mesa 18.0.

I apologize if I'm sounding rude, but jumping on the Proton bandwagon at the first sign of danger is a terrible, terrible idea. I don't know about everyone else but I surely don't want devs to go "If Linux versions present such a risk, let's just proton-ize our game and wash our hands".

As for the OP's game, I don't own it and I don't use Steam myself.
qptain Nemo Sep 23, 2018
I'm not bothered by your frankness but I'd like to point out that this isn't at the first sign of danger. As I've tried to outline in my original post, this particular situation seems dire, I've even contacted the developers and they've made some attempts to fix it to no avail and there are no signs at all that this game works for anyone.

I understand what you're saying but keeping dysfunctional native Linux versions only for appearances is also not without negative consequences.
Avehicle7887 Sep 23, 2018
Quoting: qptain NemoI'm not bothered by your frankness but I'd like to point out that this isn't at the first sign of danger. As I've tried to outline in my original post, this particular situation seems dire, I've even contacted the developers and they've made some attempts to fix it to no avail and there are no signs at all that this game works for anyone.

I understand what you're saying but keeping dysfunctional native Linux versions only for appearances is also not without negative consequences.

Following your links, it seems this problem has been going on for a while, more than a year too. Considering the long history, it might be worth the proton treatment. I would find it reasonable if they kept offering the native version as well though.
lucinos Sep 23, 2018
here is an idea. Not "perfect" linux ports may be better to be put in an open beta option. That way the default will be proton and the "native" that may also have some advantages will be easily accessible.
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