Linux support

[GoogleFrog]

Unfortunately, we have been unable to produce a Linux build that passes all the Steam quality control tests. We have decided to release without Linux as the alternative at this point is to delay the release for some unknown length of time. The standalone installer still works and syncs with online multiplayer so it is not like we are dropping Linux completely.

We aim to add support after release. This would be helped along by linux testing and support from within the community.

[wesleygray]

Bummer. So how do we "help along" by testing the Linux Steam build? Is there a Linux Steam beta somewhere?

[GoogleFrog]

After the release we will look further into making a beta build or package which can be tested through Steam. It is not clear at the moment how to make an opt-in beta which supports more platforms than the default steam package. We are wary of touching the build configuration this close to release in case we make a change that requires further review by valve.

[Vermind]

I'm in for testing too. I have been testing the pre-launch build on Linux without any issues. Ubuntu 17.10, Linux Mint 18.3, Ubuntu 18.04.

[liberodark]

For me not work on intel skylake !
But i can try my on nvidia now !

[Kandarihu]

Well, thanks for the heads up. I look forward to playing this on my Linux computer. But I still have my standalone game to play which is going to have to be good enough for the time being.

[Drako]

Argh hope linux will Come soon on beta

[LiNuX-leillo]

If you need some help, count on me

[huw]

Oh no, I was looking forward to this! I'll try the itch.io version but it would help to know where the Steam build is lacking so that the community can help fix it.

[gajop]

The biggest problem for the Linux version is the difficulty in installing system packages in a general purpose way (as seen with itchio version), and the apparent lack of success in using existing libs provided by Steam.

The libs in question are SDL2, mono, and maybe a few others. The main reason for this, is lack of a Linux dev in the core ZK team, so if you want to contribute I recommend going to GitHub and checking Linux release related issues. This is an open source project after all, and in cases like this, it moves best with community help.

PS: I'm also a Linux player, and for now, I'd recommend people grab the game from the site, usually works with no issues. You can play with Steam players without a problem.

[ikinz]

Steam runtime has all the libs spring needs and we managed to make a portable build of the C# launcher, so that's done. The problem was with SteamOS big picture mode where the window would never show. There's a ridiculous X attribute hack (see https://github.com/ZeroK-RTS/Zero-K-Infrastructure/issues/2196 ) that should fix it, but I never got around to try it.

It also segfaulted for steam reviewers on "Ubuntu 17.0" which I presume is a typo for 17.04 since 17.10 worked great for everyone who tried, but I think they just care about SteamOS.

We made quite a collective effort to get it in time for the release, me and Aquanim even installed SteamOS on real machines to test, sunk so many hours into it. Shame we hit this SteamOS bug.

[gajop]

Oh sorry for spreading misinformation, I guess things changed for the better recently.
So wait, this got rejected because of SteamOS big picture mode? Who even uses that :|

The segfault thing might be more important, at least to me personally. Do you have any link to that?

[Squiddy]

Originally posted by gajop:

Oh sorry for spreading misinformation, I guess things changed for the better recently.
So wait, this got rejected because of SteamOS big picture mode? Who even uses that :|

Big Picture Mode is what SteamOS basically is. Valve's own Debian-based Linux distribution designed for big screens like a TV. So anyone on SteamOS sees it by default.

[Pierre-Loup]

The rootcause of the problem isn't the missing X attribute, it's statically linking with Xlib (and a bunch of other libraries, and exporting their symbols globally, which is rather ill-advised) rather than picking it up from the Steam Runtime. This prevents the overlay from being able to attach at all; this will prevent the game from working on SteamOS, but also break Steam Input and In-Home Streaming, as well as various other smaller Steam features that all depend on the overlay functioning properly. When you have a version where the overlay works well when started from Steam, that one should pass content review.

[gajop]

Nice to have a response from Valve.
I think changing how stuff links shouldn't be a big problem.
Ironically, quite some time ago, we decided to use static linking for the engine (Spring) on Linux, to simplify distribution as players wouldn't need to do any complicated package installation. As this is a thing Steam essentially seems to be handling for us, we could just create a Steam version that dynamically links with the appropriate Steam libs.

[Madpinger]

Well, when you're ready I can prob get a copy and help test, as my brother just poked me about this, good to see more RTS's ^.^