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^ Agreed. Doesn't make much sense. Cachy handles this so well, exactly as you say.

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Quoting: chr- when this work is finished: Wine (arm) itself can run outside FEX (and Wine would use FEX still for the x86 games)

Possibly/hopefully. This is all best guesses. I think the Android patches that went into this release was only to make it build again on modern platforms?

Would be fun if someone could interview the developer(s) and find out what their plans are!

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyOh, agreed. I don't mean to say the Deck hasn't had a huge impact. It's been an amazing catalyst. And even now, I notice game developers are often doing this or that that benefits Linux use because they're targeting the Deck, rather than desktop Linux. It looms large in people's imaginations.
Nonetheless, it's interesting to notice that the recent end of the 5-month-rolling shows desktop Linux at three times the size of Deck, and rising fast where Deck is fairly static.

For sure. The way I interpret the data is something like this:

Up to 2021, Linux gaming is basically a punchline for people that had never tried it.

July 2021, the Deck is revealed and everyone that tries it really likes it - especially the software. Lots of coverage.
"Isn't Linux gaming just a punchline?"
"Nuh uh."
Little bump.

2022, the Deck is released and the Linux total goes up by how fast Valve can make units. The now-acknowledged benefits of Linux gaming are still seen as just a Deck thing - "maybe when SteamOS is released for desktop PCs I'll consider switching." Desktop Linux stays pretty flat.

2023, the initial rush of purchases is over and Windows-based competitor devices start to be released. Deck growth slows down. Now people can directly compare the Linux experience with the Windows experience on the class of hardware that's still newsworthy. Linux smashes it. Desktop Linux starts to grow. "I guess Linux really is better than Windows."

2024 and the conversation has completely turned around for those touched by gaming-adjacent coverage. Linux is seen as the desirable option, and people consider the balance between the pain of switching and the pain of using Windows (the latter of which is widely viewed as considerable because of Microsoft choices). Desktop Linux usage explodes. Game devs and publishers appreciate the mainstream sentiment about the Deck and put in special effort even though the Deck is at the same "punchline" levels of usage as desktop Linux used to be. Something not being allowed to work on Linux now needs to be justified rather than being accepted as the natural order of things.

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Quoting: GerarderloperIs this Android Driver meant as a alternative to Valves FEX layer?

Quoting: GoEsrNo, it's meant for getting Windows games to run on Android. It uses FEX for ARM compatibility.

So do I understand correctly that:
- before: both games (x86) and Wine (x86) have to be run inside FEX
- when this work is finished: Wine (arm) itself can run outside FEX (and Wine would use FEX still for the x86 games)

And this would probably give greater stability and performance.

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Quoting: kaktuspalme

Quoting: Purple Library Guy11% for English speaking . . . that's insane. But, once again says to me that something needs to be done about China not doing Linux.

I still don't understand why asian countries and china especially adopt Linux slower then the rest of the world. One would think they would be happy not relying on US closed source Software.

Asians like gachas and all sorts of multiplayer titles and a lot of them doesn't work under Linux. Valorant? a BIG FAT NO! Hoyoverse titles? A BIG FAT NO!

And this is what M$ is clinging to, Kernel Anticheat games.

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I will never understand the "distros" that mostly change the default DE.
There should simply be a "Ubuntu Community Edition" or something, with a choice of DE at install.
No point in splitting resources over like 50 almost identical *buntu.

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Y'all are debating whether 3 terminal commands for Nvidia drivers disqualifies Fedora, it's like saying don't recommend Arch because you have to partition manually 🤦

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: Purple Library GuyThanks for the graph. Man, the serious growth is actually desktop Linux not Deck, eh?
(side note: Looks like the Chinese don't use Mac a whole lot, either)

There's been such a difference in the conversation about Linux gaming from the gaming press, YouTubers, and general tech people since Valve released their high-profile Linux gaming demonstration device. Even if you've never held a Deck in your hands you know that Linux gaming is awesome - something that we've known for ages, but the wider population needed to be shown.

Oh, agreed. I don't mean to say the Deck hasn't had a huge impact. It's been an amazing catalyst. And even now, I notice game developers are often doing this or that that benefits Linux use because they're targeting the Deck, rather than desktop Linux. It looms large in people's imaginations.
Nonetheless, it's interesting to notice that the recent end of the 5-month-rolling shows desktop Linux at three times the size of Deck, and rising fast where Deck is fairly static.

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyThanks for the graph. Man, the serious growth is actually desktop Linux not Deck, eh?
(side note: Looks like the Chinese don't use Mac a whole lot, either)

There's been such a difference in the conversation about Linux gaming from the gaming press, YouTubers, and general tech people since Valve released their high-profile Linux gaming demonstration device. Even if you've never held a Deck in your hands you know that Linux gaming is awesome - something that we've known for ages, but the wider population needed to be shown.

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Thanks for the graph. Man, the serious growth is actually desktop Linux not Deck, eh?
(side note: Looks like the Chinese don't use Mac a whole lot, either)

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Now that I'm back near my computer, here's the usual graph breaking down the proportions between Deck and desktop Linux. Now with a five-month moving average to smooth out some of the noise.

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Thanks so much!
Your trick work!

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KwaXR-7fZE

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Hi, I have tested Subnautica on Epic Games with the Heroic Games Launcher with Wine 11.6 Staging i copeyed the files into the game folder and started the game BepInEx started without having to add the DLL overrides

Games that use BepInEx look like they will run out of the box without needing to manually add the DLL overrides

Release notes
The Wine development release 11.6 is now available.

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Really looking forward to the full release of Skull Horde on April 10th. Skull Horde is an insta-buy for me. I have been playing the demo on and off for about 10 months. The demo has been updated many times and just keeps getting better. I only had one issue. Due to my poor eyesight, I kept losing track of the "flying skull necromancer" on my LCD Steam Deck. When I looked in the options, there was a setting under Settings->Camera->Zoom that solved my problem.

I would say that 8BitSkull is one of my favorite Steam Deck game developers. I have spent may hours on BORE BLASTERS and Void Scrappers. They support Native Linux, the graphics/audio are great and the performance is fantastic on the Steam Deck.

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Quoting: Nickname

Quoting: kaktuspalme

Quoting: WORMI got asked to submit my specs 3 times this last month lmao

All different devices but all Linux

Whenever I get asked, I get asked on all the devices I have. To me it looks like they select random users, not random pcs.

I would say its on a per device basis, you probably get asked on all devices the same day by chance.
The survey gets automatically triggered if one year has passed, there is a counter in the .steam/steam/config/config.vdf file. (path can vary a bit by distro)

Maybe my memory is wrong, but as far as I remember I got asked on all devices at least the last 3 times. I also didn't install all my devices on the same day. In fact I installed CachyOS some weeks ago and got asked there as well.

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I already use the mobile app to install the games remotely on my PC!

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Quoting: Chinstrap Does this mean the WINEDLLOVERRIDES command is no longer needed? That would make modding some games less of a headache.

See above. In some cases you can now avoid overrides, but not always clearly. So experiment and see what works and what doesn't, but it's still an improvement.

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With this change now in place and shipped in Wine, it means that if the DLL company name attached is not Microsoft (so a custom one supplied with the mod or game), Wine will automatically use it over the Wine version.

Looks like it partially works for Cyberpunk 2077 mods, but not fully. I was able to remove version.dll override and still load Cyber Engine Tweaks, but winmm.dll override is still needed to load some other CP2077 mod tools.

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Quoting: LinuxwarperI really dont think W10 EOL had as much to do with this.

Don't you see the graph of the article? It has a lot to do.

You are totally right about all the work, but EOL is the final push many people required. At the end everything works together: software development, W11 sloperating system, hardware support, the increased user base over the last 5 years and finally the media that jumped on board last year to push Linux. Still, without W10 EOL we would be around 3.x% in best case scenario, I am pretty sure (which would also be 300% of 5 years ago, so the trend is present with or without EOL).

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Quoting: spacemonkey

Quoting: pete910

Quoting: spacemonkeyOr could this be people joining Linus' (LTT Linus) Linux Challenge?

That was last year was it not?

Which failed IIRC.

They are doing another one now. As we speak.

Don't tell me! Nothing works also all programs crash.....

Odd that prety much any distro works on just about anything apart from some real weird obscure setup.

Maybe I’m been a bit cynical 😁

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Quoting: kaktuspalme

Quoting: WORMI got asked to submit my specs 3 times this last month lmao

All different devices but all Linux

Whenever I get asked, I get asked on all the devices I have. To me it looks like they select random users, not random pcs.

I would say its on a per device basis, you probably get asked on all devices the same day by chance.
The survey gets automatically triggered if one year has passed, there is a counter in the .steam/steam/config/config.vdf file. (path can vary a bit by distro)

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Quoting: omeganebula

Quoting: NarvarthBe careful with HB : there are several ways you could lose your keys if you don't use them right away: the keys have an expiration date, and they can go out of stock overnight. It also appears that HB transfers keys from Steam to the Epic Store without warning anyone.

There's nothing shady about it, HB makes it quite clear imo. Game devs simply don't want the keys to end up on reseller sites.

I bought the game for Steam, not a key for the Epic Store, and no, this information wasn't mentioned anywhere, only the expiration date, which wasn't a thing before and it's also crazy : I bought a game and it "expires". And your [key can suddenly become "out of stock" overnight](https://www.reddit.com/r/humblebundles/comments/1da5l2h/the_situation_with_the_keys_out_of_stock_is/). That isn't mentioned anywhere.

Quoting: omeganebulaGame devs simply don't want the keys to end up on reseller sites.

That's not the case on Fanatical. So this is an issue specific to HB, not the developers. They also [changed the rules in 2024](https://twistedvoxel.com/humble-bundle-unused-unclaimed-game-codes-will-expire-after-3-years/), but games bought before this date [may also expire](https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Humble_Bundle_alters_terms_of_sale).

HB isn't at all what it used to be.

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Quoting: LinuxwarperDevs of software like Mangohud, GoOverlay, vkVasalt, DXVK, Proton GE and the many whose dedication and work (may) have gone unnoticed. Linux simply got better one line of code at a time until it culminated in good usability.

Very much so. And it's hard to find Windows equivalents of these tools that work just as well as the Linux-based ones. I'm thinking of Mangohud in particular.

Quoting: Linuxwarperpeople would still be using Windows, EOL or not.

I manage the tech for the small business where I work. My employer has no intention of tossing out perfectly good hardware just to meet the requirements for Win11. I did the research and offered the option of transitioning to Linux. My employer was quite prepared to remain on Win10, EOL or not. When I discovered that the extended support program existed, and could be had for free simply by registering a Microsoft Account, my employer jumped on that rather than switching to Linux. The $30 USD a year option to extend that support to 3 years will likely be embraced if there is no free option to continue. I still hold out hopes of convincing my employer to eventually move to Linux. We'll see.

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Quoting: scainePerhaps the DLC was simply out of their hands - a literal deal breaker, and this compromise at least gives anti-DRM folk the option to play at last.

There's also the remote possibility that it's a technological limitation. That something in the way the DLC is installed by the main program can't be done with an offline installer. Unlikely, but you never know ...

Quoting: Avehicle7887I wouldn't accept it even at that.

The way I see it - GOG the DRM Free store now selling a game with almost €83 worth of DLC and they require a client to access. Galaxy should ever be mandatory for multiplayer and achievements, not game content.

Purely cosmetic DLC is worth €83? 😲

I get your point. I only install GOG games using the offline installer so this means that the DLC would technically be unavailable to me. But, for those that like to use the GOG Galaxy tool, this would be a reasonable solution. Since they use Galaxy anyway, there would be no perception of DRM.

And, actually, if you think about it, this could even be a way of encouraging the use of the Galaxy client ...

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"optimizations to reduce the amount of data being transmitted between the GPU and CPU over the PCIe bus interface"

Or in other words, they made a horrible job in first place and now they're fixing their drawcall issues that shouldn't be any issue from begin on. At least they are fixing it. It is the most important thing to optimize on any game before releasing it, no matter what content it has.

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Quoting: williamjcm

Quoting: r2rXI wonder if unlocking the Cosmetic Pack DLC by launching via Heroic Games Launcher would suffice, as an alternative to GOG Galaxy.

If Heroic's Galaxy implementation supports ownership checks, maybe™.

I wouldn't accept it even at that.

The way I see it - GOG the DRM Free store now selling a game with almost €83 worth of DLC and they require a client to access. Galaxy should ever be mandatory for multiplayer and achievements, not game content.

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Quoting: Linux_RocksI remember when I had a big chunk of my huge ass Steam library installed. So many updates when I'd boot up the computer. lol

(Yes, I usually shutdown my computer when I'm done and shut the monitors and speakers off too. The only difference from back in the day is no static covers to put on afterwards. Even in standby, it's still probably electricity pumping CO² into the atmosphere.)

I feel you!

About five years ago, I moved from a rural village with gigabit+ FTTH internet to the center of a picturesque Dutch fortified town. Surprisingly, despite moving to a much livelier area, I was stuck with an ancient 8Mbit DSL connection.

When my friends got back into gaming during COVID, I constantly needed to download new games. Since those downloads took hours on that slow line, I usually had to run them while I was away at work. However, I also try to conserve energy, especially after the war in Ukraine caused electricity prices to spike. To avoid leaving my computer running all day, I used my OpenWrt router or Home Assistant to wake my PC via LAN and handle the downloads on SteamCMD through SSH or Cockpit. It was the perfect way to get my games ready without wasting power. After the downloading was done, a simple shutdown command would make the PC go off again.

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Quoting: NarvarthBe careful with HB : there are several ways you could lose your keys if you don't use them right away: the keys have an expiration date, and they can go out of stock overnight. It also appears that HB transfers keys from Steam to the Epic Store without warning anyone.

There's nothing shady about it, HB makes it quite clear imo. Game devs simply don't want the keys to end up on reseller sites.

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Does this mean the WINEDLLOVERRIDES command is no longer needed? That would make modding some games less of a headache.

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