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Latest Comments by g000h
How to be a great advocate for a niche gaming platform
21 June 2018 at 3:09 pm UTC Likes: 8

Feel I can share some of my perspective on this:

A big thing that stops the average person from adopting Linux is technical ability. The average person never installs an operating system and frankly doesn't want to install one. They just want it there on the PC/laptop which they purchase. Of course, when their Operating System (or hardware) stops working, then often they can't solve the problem themselves and need to find someone technical to help them out. [It would be good to have lots of decent quality walk-through videos and tutorials on the web, explaining how to do things - for new adopters. Too many videos ramble and don't provide concise information.]

If that person received a computer with no OS, then Linux is actually a very pleasant experience to get up and running. Also, when a person has an old computer where maybe the Windows install is messed up and needs replacing, these computers can be refreshed with a Linux install and a simple desktop (e.g. XFCE). Linux with a lean desktop can run amazingly well on low-spec or old hardware. [I personally have Xubuntu on a 4GB RAM Chromebook with Celeron processor, and it boots up to the desktop in less than 10 seconds.]

What these people need is help (to install) and encouragement (it'll run nice and fast, you won't get any viruses, it is legal and free, and there are plenty of games to play on it - Steam, GOG, itch, etc.) Linux enthusiasts can help with this. It helps to be friendly and pleasant to newbies. A RTFM attitude does not help with user adoption.

Also, there are many people who'd be happy to give Linux a go, *but* don't want to get rid of Windows, and we can help them to get a dual-boot environment set up. Tell them all the great things about Linux - The fact that the OS isn't spying on them, you can have a very fast resource-light machine (which boots in seconds), you don't have to suffer the slow-downs that occur in Windows every time it goes through patch updates, the fact that you don't have to reboot Linux anything like as often as Windows, the fact that you can customise the system any way you want (not restricted like the Mac / Windows world).

Aside from platform adoption, which I've just been mentioning, many of the points made by mdiluz I'm in complete agreement with. One thing I'd like to see is less confrontation in the Linux gaming forums and posts. It isn't winning us friends to fight amongst ourselves (e.g. GOG vs Steam, Debian vs Redhat, DRM-free vs DRM, and name-calling and derision between competing sides. Sure, discuss things, but keep it polite and respectful.)

On the subject of game developers, we Linux game-purchasers, need to be polite and respectful there as well!!!

Vehicle battle game 'Robocraft' is now completely lootbox-free
20 June 2018 at 7:56 pm UTC

Quoting: Gryxx
Quoting: mortigarWorks on Manjaro, so it should technically work on any arch distro. Just tried it!
I've asked brother, he still has VAC error on launch (Opensuse)
Still, nice to know I'm not limited to Debian-ish distros to play

I'd be tempted with your situation to run a dual-boot system, then if a specific game does not work under distribution A then you can boot up to distribution B and play it instead.

To set up such a system, I'd probably use GPT partitioning and UEFI bootloaders, as well as LVM to partition everything. It would probably take some experimentation to get it just right.

Something "like this"...

500G drive

/dev/sda1 EFI partition 200M
/dev/sda2 boot1 1G
/dev/sda3 boot2 1G
/dev/sda4 LVM partition for volume group vg1 497G

/dev/mapper/vg1-swap swap area (share between distros) 8G
/dev/mapper/vg1-root1 root file system for one of your distros 50G
/dev/mapper/vg1-root2 root file system for another of your distros 50G
/dev/mapper/vg1-home1 /home file system 100G
/dev/mapper/vg1-home2 /home file system ~ might be able to share or not ???G
/dev/mapper/vg1-games /home/games file system, where you tuck away your steam folder ???G

Assuming that you'd mount areas of each distro for each boot environment, i.e. swap area would be shared between both and "maybe" games (steam folder) could be shared between both.

If not sharing any of the Logical Volumes between each boot distro, then you could perhaps arrange it so that your primary distro has bigger Logical Volumes, and your second boot distro has smaller Logical Volume space. Another example below:

/dev/mapper/vg1-swap swap area (share between distros) 8G
/dev/mapper/vg1-root1 root file system for your primary distro 50G
/dev/mapper/vg1-root2 root (inc home) file system for your secondary distro 50G
/dev/mapper/vg1-home1 /home file system for your primary distro 350G

There's quite a number of possible directions you could go with this. I'd also be tempted to consider having very small (empty) home directories, and storing most of my files (docs, video, music, games) in a separate directory structure which I would then access from each distro.

Also, using LVM allows for relatively easy resizing of the partitions should you wish to change things around later.

Vehicle battle game 'Robocraft' is now completely lootbox-free
19 June 2018 at 1:55 pm UTC

I wonder how many more games developers are going to change their business models in a similar fashion. For a change, I expect this is the result of people voting with their feet.

Total War: WARHAMMER II confirmed for Linux, to release later this year
18 June 2018 at 12:39 pm UTC Likes: 2

Now Feral can put the same teaser back up for their next Radar Teaser - Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - seeing as it matches the clue so well. =P

Croteam are having a big sale to celebrate 25 years
18 June 2018 at 9:14 am UTC

Quoting: Ray54
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Ray54Can I assume that Serious Sam Classics: Revolution would give me HD TFE and HD TSE under fusion (even if other parts of Revolution may not work) or do I need to buy HD TFE and TSE separately?
No, Revolution is completely different project from another developer, it won't give access to any Fusion's content. To play SSHD in Fusion, you need to buy HD TFE and TSE on Steam.
I think that I am mostly there in getting HD TFE working, as my Steam library entry for Serious Sam Fusion now has 3 items: The First Encounter, flat support and BFE. However, when I start Fusion it automatically goes into BFE. I was expecting a menu in Fusion giving me an option of First Encounter or BFE (as I have no separate First Encounter game listed in Steam)?

As I already had Fusion when I bought the combined First Encounter and Fusion package today, Steam did not re-download Fusion. Do I need to re-install Fusion every time I add a new Fusion compatible game?

My experience with this is "no", you shouldn't need to get the Fusion component more than once.

Croteam are having a big sale to celebrate 25 years
15 June 2018 at 6:42 pm UTC

Quoting: Kels
Quoting: Ehvis
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: KelsSo you're a smart bunch, having chosen Linux and all. So let me pose a brain-teaser to you.

If I were to buy only one Serious Sam game, which would it be?
Fusion

Fusion can't be bought directly. It's included with the games that are supported by it.

As for choice, what razing32 said. Depends on taste. Although, with these prices there's little reason to actually choose one. Other than a thought experiment. :D

I have a budget that tends to approach zero, so I normally can't justify spending more than a few bucks on games here and there.

I'd buy the full bundle...

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2634/Serious_Sam_Complete_Pack/

It is currently 87% off. Virtually all of it runs on Linux thanks to Fusion. I have bought it twice over myself. 87% off is a Serious Fewking Discount.


If not that, then SS 3: BFE is the most up to date FPS, until SS4 comes out (Spooge!).

GOG are giving away Ziggurat in the second week of their Summer Sale
13 June 2018 at 12:49 pm UTC

Quoting: Nanobang
Quoting: adamhmUpdated list of older/classic games currently on sale on GOG that I've made Wine wrappers ...

I was just gonna go and get the free copy of Ziggurat (with only 1 hour left on the deal) but thanks to you I now also own Saint's Row 2, Witcher, and Jade Empire. :)

Thanks for your work!

and Sunless Sea ??

GOG are giving away Ziggurat in the second week of their Summer Sale
11 June 2018 at 2:14 pm UTC Likes: 1

Well, I'm happy to get my hands on the GOG DRM-Free download version, but owned this game on Steam anyway. I'm quite a fan of Ziggurat. It has procedurally generated levels, which gives it decent replayability. Lots of different monsters, which change from dungeon floor to dungeon floor (i.e. you get more advanced types on later floors). Also the end-of-floor bosses are different per game-run. Liking the weapon variety and upgrade variety too. Unlocking the extra game playable characters is an incentive to keep on coming back, too.

It is difficult, and I rarely complete a full run to the end. Normally I meet my maker on Floor 2 or 3.

Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass has new screenshots and a much bigger world
11 June 2018 at 10:58 am UTC Likes: 2

This is practically the top new game release that I'm looking forward to, on Linux. This makes up for Doom and Shadow Warrior 2 not being on Linux.

Day one purchase, assuming the Linux release coincides with the Windows release. And I'm happy to trust that Croteam will do a fantastic job of it. Hey, I might even buy the T-shirt ;)

Play It Now - MidBoss
11 June 2018 at 4:26 am UTC Likes: 1

Kerr-ching! Just bought a copy. On Humble store = DRM-Free Download + Steam key.

One review I read suggested people who like FTL and Darkest Dungeon would probably appreciate this too. (Well, I'm nuts for FTL, heh.)

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