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Latest Comments by slaapliedje
Hearts of Iron IV released with day-1 Linux & SteamOS support thanks to Paradox
6 June 2016 at 5:20 pm UTC

Anyone who plays any of the Paradox grand strategy games (Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, Europa Universalis) all know that they have huge learning curves. Would be nice if they made them a bit more accessible like Civilization. But then again that may ruin it for the advanced people that love these games.

I ended up trying to sit through a tutorial for CK2, but had other things to do, so still haven't played a full game of it.

Also I do have to complain a bit about their nickel and dime method of DLC. But at least they do expand upon their games for years to come, so it's a love/hate thing.

An EVE Online developer has built an unofficial Linux launcher, game uses Wine
3 June 2016 at 11:22 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: ZeloxIt will take mutch for me to suscribe to a game again.
But I like this idea, hopefully it can be an offical port later down the road.
We need an mmo on linux badly, and a sci fi one is the best one in my opinion.
I will probably try eve when the port is done ^^.

Isn't Vendetta Online for Linux? Seemed to me it was. I don't pay for any MMOs anymore because they are kind of like old retro games for me. I will randomly be 'in the mood' to play them and then I get bored too quickly, and stop playing. I did that with Elder Scrolls Online and probably paid for the subscription for 6 months, 5 of which I never played it. Finally decided to cancel the sub, and by then it'd become free to play anyhow.

I'd rather just have them port Elite: Dangerous over, of course they'd need SteamVR support first, because now that I've played the game in VR, I don't think I could go back to a normal screen!

I did really enjoy Star Trek Online and Age of Conan, I get the craving to play those occasionally as well.

I'd rather have a closer knit group to play something like Neverwinter Nights, or some LAN game fun. Ha, about the only MMO I'd pay for and play a lot would be Ultima Online if they had a native client again.

Steam Machines are dead in the water according to Ars, not quite
3 June 2016 at 4:48 pm UTC

Well, let's just throw this out there, it has been theorized that if Commodore had been able to sell even 100,000 CD32s, they would have remained in business.

So if they actually sold 'less than 500k' I'd say that's a damn good start!

Actually if they released an upgraded model with a 1070GTX in it, I'd buy one. I've been thinking I need something out in my living room because dragging my current tower out there for some room-scale goodness is becoming annoying. They need to patch up the SteamVR/Vive stuff for Linux support, and since most (all?) VR games are created via Unity or Unreal engines, the ports should be easy.

Once they get some of the annoyances fixed up (like was previously mentioned about ETS2 and the controller, I've ran into games where the controller just isn't detected. I don't blame the controller, I blame the developers for only utilizing strictly xbox controllers and not bothering to fix it.) But for just as many games that have issues, there are 1500 more that don't.

I do agree that what SteamOS really needs is the 'apps' that the consoles have, like being able to play Netflix, Amazon Vidoes, etc. Integrate Kodi into big picture mode somehow and that'd help a ton as well. At least they started supporting movies in their store. Though it'd be nice if we could have them not show when we only care about games. I tend to not buy digital movies / music. I'd rather buy the bluray or CD for that.

Also I have to state this, number wise, can we honestly say any other single HTPC style computer has sold anywhere near 500k? My guess would be no.

Dead Island Definitive Edition and Dead Island Riptide: Definitive Edition released, seem to have hidden Linux versions
1 June 2016 at 12:35 am UTC

Anyone know if you can load up save games from your original riptide install? Don't really feel like starting the game over, and I already beat the original Dead Island. Granted, I still need to win Dying Light.

Two Worlds Epic Edition openworld action RPG now on Linux, uses Wine
27 May 2016 at 11:39 pm UTC

I only tried the first one a long time ago and the game mechanic of being resurrected at a shrine that you hadn't discovered yet completely killed it for me. I would die in a fight I couldn't handle, and then transport further away from town into a deadlier area? It was terrible.

My younger brother played the second one and he said it did the same thing. This sounds like they heard it worked under Wine and figured they would resell it. Meh, cheap/pretty game for is. I did read they had fixed a lot of the complaints at least. Not sure where I read that at.

First Steps with OpenVR and the Vive on Linux
24 May 2016 at 2:39 pm UTC

:D That's why I said almost. Certainly a neural interface into 'cyberworld' would put you there. But then again, while we're probably not terribly far away from having such tech, getting over the 'ewww, you want to place a chip in my brain with how crappy software is known to be?' problem.

Guess it could be like Surrogate where they were connected to machines that let them control a physical avatar. That could definitely be interesting, especially thinking how big of assholes people are on the Internet now, imagine anonymously controlled bots running around.

First Steps with OpenVR and the Vive on Linux
23 May 2016 at 10:45 pm UTC

I look at VR this way;

Remember when you pretty much had a 1 button joystick and a black and white TV? Then we got 8 bit computers, so we had a whole keyboard to interact with our games, but still had that 1 button joystick. Then we moved onto a mouse+keyboard, and the games could be a lot more interactive. Not really because of our methods of controlling the systems, but due to the systems becoming more capable as well. Then we started getting gamepads with multiple buttons as a choice, then HOTAS flight sticks, and steering wheels, all things that make interacting with the software more more realistic. It certainly sucks to drive a car with a gamepad. Now we have VR, which gives the head tracking portion of being able to look around. No longer are you turning left and right with a gamepad, well unless you want to. You also get something that no flat screen can really give you, depth. They've tried for years without luck.

If the Leap Motion can take off and get implemented in more games/software the possibilities are pretty endless. So yeah, VR really is a new way to interact with software, and it is almost the ultimate way to do so.

It was mentioned being immersed in a novel. Think Virtual visual novels (which from what I understood, the Abbot's book is such a thing.) Could you imagine an visual novel version of A Game of Thrones? Granted that might be something the porn industry would be into!

By the way, even just using Virtual Desktop to watch episodes of Game of Thrones on a gigantic screen is worth while!

First Steps with OpenVR and the Vive on Linux
18 May 2016 at 5:43 am UTC

I have an HTC Vive and it's the reason I've actually spent time in Windows in the last 5 years for more than the weekend game. It's simply amazing, and anyone who says 'it's just a fad, it'll pass like 3D movies' hey, I like 3D movies, but what I want to see now is 360 degree movies!

While the GearVR is mostly a non-interactive experience, they do have a few games for it, but they're just no way as cool as being able to hook up your HOTAS and play Elite, or a steering wheel to play Project Cars. Even a game as simple as Crystal Rift has an extra amazing thing about being able to reach out to your right to hit a skeleton when normally you would have to completely turn to face it without VR.

Also, Vanishing Realms... having to dodge arrows and fireballs certainly works up a sweat.

These are all early games, mostly sort of demos of the tech though. Imagine if you will GTA 6 or Elder Scrolls 6. There are already some hacks to get it working with 5 of each game. Maybe SteamVR is waiting for some work to be done and for the 1070 GTX versions of Steam Machines to be released.

This kind of reminds me of when 3Dfx cards were first coming out. 3D acceleration used to be laughed off as a niche, and that no one would support it, and initially there were so many different APIs for it, and you only hoped that you had ended up with a card that most games would support.

I recall specifically that a friend of mine was all about graphics in games, and yet he HATED Unreal because it looked SO much better on my system with a 3Dfx card. He eventually got one himself of course. This is the exact same thing.

As I've told people, it is a completely different experience to seeing it in a video. Hell, I brought mine into work and people mostly just played Fantastic Contraptions for hours, and I don't even think that game is all that fun. On the other hand, playing Cloudlands Mini Golf with my family was a blast.

It's pretty inevitable that more games will have native VR support, and hopefully a lot of them end up being ones with more meat in them. As stated, if they can get the right mods and support to make Skyrim perfect, along with something like the Virtuix Omni, it could be a game you could see some people die in. Okay, maybe that's not a good thing, but it seems to happen to some with MMORPGs. speaking, there is seriously nothing more awesome than being immersed in a world with other individuals and roaming around and doing RPG things! I do need to spend more time in AltspaceVR...

I have finally found a way to sort out screen tearing on Nvidia with Linux
15 May 2016 at 6:17 pm UTC

I think I've gotten to the point where they just need to fix the paste buffer stuff in Wayland and I can switch to that, and I always thought one of the things Wayland was supposed to fix is this issue with screen tearing.

That said, I'm not getting a whole lot of tearing right now using Debian Sid on my 55" screen. I haven't done much to the configuration either, beyond installing the nVidia drivers. I really need to fix my laptop though so I can actually USE the nVidia side of things. What would have been nice is if they could come up with a chipset that had a really nice powersaving mode so we wouldn't need this PRIME/Optimus nonsense in the first place! Maybe their 10x0 cards will?

You can grab 4089: Ghost Within dirt cheap on the current IndieGameStand deal
15 May 2016 at 6:07 pm UTC

I didn't realize this series had so many games. I tried playing 5089 on the Vive, still haven't figured out HOW to play the game, but it seemed pretty cool. Will have to play it some more once HTC/Valve fix SteamVR for Linux.