Latest Comments by scaine
Linux Mint 21 is out now and you can easily upgrade
8 August 2022 at 9:05 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: RandomizedKirbyTree47I've been using Mint as my main distro since 2016, and this update was harder to install than either of the previous two major version updates. The upgrade script got stuck trying to update the deb package "context," (a dependency of texlive-full). I aborted mintupgrade and tried to run  sudo dpkg --configure -a
But that just got me stuck on the same package. Then after fiddling some more I tried using "sudo dpkg -r" to manually remove context and its reverse dependencies. Then I tried running mintupgrade again, but it got caught with an error saying "there are 1220 packages that need to be upgraded." Rather than upgrade them automatically, the mintupgrade program got stuck in a loop of telling me to upgrade deb packages until I aborted it and ran sudo apt upgrade...

...except my apt configuration had somehow been broken, so I was left with three packages that couldn't be upgraded. I tried mintupgrade again, and this time it got caught in a loop telling me "there are 3 packages that need to be upgraded." So I aborted again, apt purge'd those three packages, and then ran mintupgrade yet again. That time it worked. After rebooting, I reinstalled texlive-full.

The developers said mintupgrade was supposed to be more beginner-friednly than the upgrade process from Mint 18.3->19 or 19.3->20, but for me it was the opposite. It feels so disappointing, because I've liked almost every other mint-specific change in the last six years.

Now that I've actually finished upgrading, I really like it. I'm impressed that they managed to rebase Cinnamon on an almost completely different window manager and still preserve all the features I love, and I look forward to using this operating system base for the next two years. Hopefully they can iron out the bugs in mintupgrade before 2024.

Hrm. Maybe I'll wait a month or two.

Well, last time I used Mint, it was Mint 19 and I was amazed to discover that there was no upgrade path to Mint 20. It was basically just "re-install". The forum had some unofficial instructions you could follow, but they didn't pan out for me and I ended up re-installing for Mint 20. I jumped to PopOS shortly thereafter, then most recently (and for the past 7 or 8 months or so) to Endevour. Dpanter has recently convinced me to try Siduction, so that'll be my next distro hop.

But it's a shame I'm disto-hopping at all, tbh. I used Ubuntu and only Ubuntu from 2004 right up to 2018, but when Ubuntu 18.04 came out, they'd discontinued Unity and doubled down on snap and I jumped to Mint, feeling pretty disillusioned. It was a great experience though, so every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose.

I'd never have guessed that only 3 years later, I'd be running a rolling release and Plasma, but here I am.

I'll always have a soft spot for Mint though. I'm so glad they have an upgrade script at all!

VRChat adds Easy Anti-Cheat, community not happy but Linux and Steam Deck work fine
30 July 2022 at 10:00 am UTC

Quoting: UnholyVisionIt's not all free
I wasn't implying they don't make money. I was pointing out that the model of giving away a free game in the hopes it becomes popular enough to monetise RELIES on a tiny, miniscule capex. And that rules out a server-side game.

Quoting: UnholyVisionAs for funding well just last year this happened. Link before that link link. If you follow the bread crumbs through the years you will see each year they've been growing in funds, so they could have potentially put some of that money towards such an endeavor.
But they couldn't because:
a) they were years into development by the point they were making money for their VC funding backers and
b) those backers backed the original model, so making server-side changes to counter a problem they didn't even have would have been a ridiculous move.

I stand by what I said.

Modern Diablo game engine devilutionX sees new release, how to get it on Steam Deck
29 July 2022 at 3:25 pm UTC Likes: 2

That Tristram village music was an absolutely HUGE part of my early memories of PC gaming. Despite later cheating making the multi-player unplayable, I have to say, Diablo was immense. Looks pretty dated now (at least the movement/animation), but I'll always have happy memories of it. Big thumbs up to DevilutionX and its devs from me!

Just King blends Vampire Survivors action with Slay the Spire progression
29 July 2022 at 11:42 am UTC Likes: 1

Dammit! Just managed to wean myself away from Nomad Survival after nearly 20 hours, and now this!? <sigh> Okay then.

Proton Experimental brings support for Unravel Two, fixes up Civilization IV
29 July 2022 at 11:36 am UTC Likes: 2

And for anyone wondering what HROT stands for... it doesn't. Literally the name of the game! Mystery solved.

VRChat adds Easy Anti-Cheat, community not happy but Linux and Steam Deck work fine
27 July 2022 at 4:06 pm UTC Likes: 7

Server side AC isn't a silver bullet to every problem. In the case of VRchat, it might be a good solution, but look at their model - it wouldn't work. Remember that SS-AC is computationally very expensive, because everything happens on the server (duh!) and now remember that VRchat is a free game.

It's easy to see its success in hindsight and say "lazy devs, should have used server side", but that's not how a business model works. There's uncertainty and success is the biggest uncertainty of all, so you're not buying a massive server cluster (or paying for an elastic version in a cloud instance) for a free game in the earnest hope it does well and you can sell skins. Nope, you move everything client side and if you're successful, then you can cross/burn those bridges when you come to them.

Honestly, SS-AC usually introduces so much lag/latency that it's rarely a good solution. I think Faceit and Fair..fight (I think?) are the only two vaguely viable solutions out there AND THEY STILL RELY ON CLIENT SIDE PROTECTIONS! The Fairfight, I seem to remember needed kernel/rootkit client side protections, I think.

So please have some empathy here. This situation is because cheaters are dicks. Not devs. They're just trying to earn their living like everyone else. They're not "lazy" or "incompetent" just because cheaters are assholes.

GOverlay for configuring the MangoHud performance overlay new release out
22 July 2022 at 8:53 am UTC

Quoting: benjamimgois
Quoting: scaineI need to look into ReplaySorcery. I've been using OBS and its ReplayBuffer, but because OBS can't auto-detect game windows, you have to remember to change the "Game Window" source every time you play. But with this, provided you launch the game with mangohud enabled, you'd get instant replay through ReplaySorcery, which I love the sound of.

The problem with Replaysourcery is that it seems abandoned. I'm still considering if keeping it inside goverlay worth the effort in the future. But gpu-screen-recoder is a project that i keep an eye on.

GPU screen recorder looks great, but currently no support for AMD or Intel just yet. Definitely the best option in terms of overall performance impact though, I think!

It's disappointing that development of ReplaySorcery has dried up though, considering that it only made a splash in 2020 and was still launching features as recently as last year. Looking at the github, the author is looking to pass the torch as (s)he no longer uses Linux as their main O/S and needed to find a bit of separation from work/hobbies.

Ex-Zodiac is a fast-paced 3D rail shooter inspired by the likes of Star Fox out now
21 July 2022 at 8:33 pm UTC Likes: 1

I don't think this could be any more Space Harrier if it actually even had a license to be Space Harrier! And that's definitely a good thing!

GOverlay for configuring the MangoHud performance overlay new release out
21 July 2022 at 12:07 pm UTC Likes: 2

I need to look into ReplaySorcery. I've been using OBS and its ReplayBuffer, but because OBS can't auto-detect game windows, you have to remember to change the "Game Window" source every time you play. But with this, provided you launch the game with mangohud enabled, you'd get instant replay through ReplaySorcery, which I love the sound of.

Souls-like game Hellpoint: Blue Sun major expansion DLC is out now
19 July 2022 at 11:01 am UTC Likes: 2

I loved Hellpoint so much that I ended up buying a FromSoftware game - Dark Souls 3. It was rubbish. Very pretty graphics, but unlike Hellpoint, the monsters in DS3 "cheat" by many of them having unlimited stamina. That means that every fight is a basically just a test of your reactions, which becomes extremely tedious. Hellpoint had a really nice balance in this regard, that the monsters would eventually have a cool down that you could exploit between attacks. Still brutal, but fairly so.

Elden Ring has much the same problem, but at least in that game you can just farm extra levels if you find a fight too difficult.

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