Linux native and Steam

[xmichael]

I know there is native Serious Sam 2 for Linux. But why Steam offers me only the Windows version? How to get native game for Linux?

[DogGuts]

+1

[AlenL]

The native Linux version never got out of the beta. If you can still find a a beta version, you might want to try to use it with the content from the Windows version. (That's how it was used originally.) But no guarantees from our side. It wasn't supported even back then.

[SVSDVAL]

Serious Sam, Serious Sam 2, fully support linux officially.
Why steam not support i don't know..., Steam, does not support many of the games that he has in his list, are officially have the native support for Linux.
For example: SSam, SSam2, Trine, Doom 3,Quake4, Eve Online,X2: The Threat, and others ...
why not support , unknown....

[SVSDVAL]

I have to buy from the creators of the game native Linux binaries =(((

[Osirix7]

поиграл бы с удовольствием в нативную

[Kakarott]

Here is a german help to get SS2 Steam version running nativ on Linux:
http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Spiele/Serious_Sam_2#Steam

Still, would love to see the native version of SS2 (and SS TFE & TSE) native on Steam Linux. Would be much easier to install ;-)

(Why not provide the source of the executable like id does? It shouldn't hurt you ;-) )

[dolphinstkom]

я тоже держал на руках нативную версию, хотелось бы приобрести и себе, причем через Steam, ибо теперь с выходом на Linux имеет смысл... не охота покупать непонятно у кого, а потом ставить непонятно как... и жить пора лицензионной версией жизни

[AlenL]

As I noted above. The reason that we don't ship Linux versions of games other than SS3 on Steam is that all those old Linux versions were not finished, and we cannot support them officially (we couldn't guarantee that they work). There are plans to make older games available on Linux, but that will happen later, probably after SS4.

[SVSDVAL]

This applies to all games for the Mac Os and all the developers of these games.
Rus part:
ОК. Так что же вам мешает портировать все MAC OS игры,
которые уже используют OpenGL и OpenAL\SDL.
Вам нужно всего лишь заменить часть системных API вызовов,
отвечающих за управление окнами и сетями.
Больше ничего не нужно делать.

Если вы не желаете поддерживать их, опубликуйте исходники от ССэма1,ССэма2, linux сообщества сами портанут их и исправят все ошибки. Как это сделал ИД-Софтваре,они будут вашими,мы их будем покупать, потому что все ресурсы для игры являются вашими.

P.S.
С уважением, кросс-платформенный разработчик игр.


Eng part:
OK. So what's stopping you to port all MAC OS games,
that Already USE OpenGL and OpenAL\SDL.
You only need to replace part of the api of system calls,
responsible for managing windows and network.
And Nothing more needs to be done.

If you do not want to support them,
publish the source code of SSam1, SSam2,
linux communities themselves port them and correct all errors.
How did the ID-Software,
games will be yours. We will buy them, because all the resources needed for the game are yours.

P.S.
Sincerely, cross-platform game developer.

[AlenL]

SVSDVAL, you are oversimplifying it. :)

Ever tried using, e.g. TLS on OSX? Apple's implementation of it is both pathetically archaic and significantly slower than the one on all other platform's we've seen so far (Windows, Linux, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360). It took us a significant chunk of time to just implement that. I have no excuses for how lazy they (Apple) are when actual quality of backend code is at stake. (Some Apple engineer regarding supporting "storage __thread", which is a standard everywhere else: "Hey - there's nothing shiny to show to the users there - why should be implement this?")

Then you come to the fact that Apple's OpenGL is also a joke. We've had several things in SS3 porting that were counter to the specs, and buggy (driver crashed at valid inputs). And of course, there is no one to complain to - IHVs cannot ship updated drivers, and good luck with having Apple fix those bugs.

The list goes on and on, these are just the tips of the iceberg.

Honestly, it was much less work to make it work on Linux than on OSX.

That said, we already have the tech implemented, and future games will support OSX. But getting the old ones ported is not as trivial as it might seem. These are not some simple games. The engine is quite complex and it's a huge codebase. If they were originally written with OSX in mind, that would be another thing. But we didn't even have any Mac workstations available to us back then. Those were just too expensive.

In general, for every platform where you think there are not enough ports for it, you should ask youself: "what is the platfom vendor doing to prevent ports from happening". And the answer is usually "a lot of things". :P

[SVSDVAL]

Rus Part:
Немного ...

Я бы сказал что макось:
да, не удобна,
да, немного медленная.
да, есть проблемы как со спецификациями так и с самой поддержкой OpenGL

Обычно порт у меня занимал не много времени т.к. весь код отвечающий за работу с ОС, всегда унифицирован и всегда в отдельных модулях.

В общем мы будем очень рады видеть после выхода SSam4 реализацию SSam1-2 в стиме =)

P.S.
Мне самому половину игр стима приходится запускать от WinE, что мне очень не нравится,
снижает количество игр которые я покупаю, а так же снижает Реальное количество Linux пользователей в стиме, так как он запущен через WinE.

Eng Part:
A little ...

I would say that Mac OS:
yes, is not convenient;
yes, a little slow;
Yes, there are problems with both specifications and with the support of OpenGL.

Typically, the port took a bit of time because all the code responsible for working with the OS, always is standardized and always in separate modules.

In general, we will be very glad to see after the implementation SSam4 SSam1-2 in the Steam =)

P.S.
I myself half Steam games have to run from WinE, I really do not like
reduces the number of games that I buy, as well as reduces the actual number of Linux users in Steam,  since it, launched via WinE..

[DOG WITH HOT MILK]

Originally posted by AlenL:

As I noted above. The reason that we don't ship Linux versions of games other than SS3 on Steam is that all those old Linux versions were not finished, and we cannot support them officially (we couldn't guarantee that they work). There are plans to make older games available on Linux, but that will happen later, probably after SS4.

thank you for the support for linux would love to see all the old games get official support.

[[DGA]Lord_Arschbacke]

i would love to have a native Linux Version of this game. Especially with the new patch.

[Sturmlocke]

Originally posted by AlenL:

As I noted above. The reason that we don't ship Linux versions of games other than SS3 on Steam is that all those old Linux versions were not finished, and we cannot support them officially (we couldn't guarantee that they work). There are plans to make older games available on Linux, but that will happen later, probably after SS4.

+1 for that! I'd love to play SS2 on my Ubuntu machine completely native. Wine and Crossover do the trick for now, but native would be awesome.

Cheers,
Soniee

[Dusk of Oolacile]

@AlenL: How about using a wrapper rather than reimplementing stuff? The game already has an OGL mode as far as I know, so there shouldn't even be a performance hit. Wine, eON, Crossover, there are possibilities. It's better to have such port than nothing.