Linux support?

[Mango Juice]

Will we be able to play this on Linux?

[EllaFB]

No plans for a Linux support at the moment. More info here.

[Bulvai]

Try it with Steam Proton.

[Bounty Hunter]

Originally posted by Bulvai:

Try it with Steam Proton.

Nope. Only native.

[YouTube.com/StoneLegion]

I doubt they will support native. That being said due to Steam Deck or whatever it's called I assume the devs will consider supporting it more as in fixing issues or bugs, etc. But I can't see them releasing full out Linux Builds anytime soon. Hard to cater to a couple percent of people.

[JLarja]

With Proton being as good as it is, native support is not very high on our list. In fact (without actually trying the native versions on modern Linux distro) I would recommend Proton emulation over native versions for all the previous games we've released. Changes are you'll get better graphics quality, likely less trouble getting the game running and input working, and possible better performance too. For low-on-resources port Proton is simply superior.

If Linux gaming takes off (for example, because Steam Deck becomes a huge success), then we'll have a reason to consider not-so-low-on-resources port, which may (and probably does) change the picture somewhat. At the moment we have Xbox Series X/S higher on our porting targets list though (not for Starbase currently, but for other future projects).

-JLarja / Frozenbyte

[Solitary]

Originally posted by JLarja:

With Proton being as good as it is, native support is not very high on our list. In fact (without actually trying the native versions on modern Linux distro) I would recommend Proton emulation over native versions for all the previous games we've released. Changes are you'll get better graphics quality, likely less trouble getting the game running and input working, and possible better performance too. For low-on-resources port Proton is simply superior.

If Linux gaming takes off (for example, because Steam Deck becomes a huge success), then we'll have a reason to consider not-so-low-on-resources port, which may (and probably does) change the picture somewhat. At the moment we have Xbox Series X/S higher on our porting targets list though (not for Starbase currently, but for other future projects).

-JLarja / Frozenbyte

Do you test against Proton currently or do you plan to with Steam Deck release? Do you provide or plan to provide some kind of support in case something is not properly working?

[JLarja]

Originally posted by Solitary:

Do you test against Proton currently or do you plan to with Steam Deck release? Do you provide or plan to provide some kind of support in case something is not properly working?

Not at the moment for all of the above. Those would be the first steps, if Linux gaming community gets significant (only then would it make sense to seriously consider native port).

-JLarja / Frozenbyte

[sir.eggy]

-1 for Frozenbyte. Welcome on my Ignore list! Bye Bye Frozenbyte.

[Dolu]

I played most of the closed alpha on linux mint 19.3 using the default steam proton setup. and my impression so far is that i didn't had linux related issues.

The frame rate was quite good (recent PC, high end graphic card), but i have no idea about the situation on smaller configs.

To me, having a native support for linux would obvously be nice, but i don't think that the manpower required for it is justified when proton can give great results.
Eventualy, if some specifics rendering issues are hit, either it could be workaround by the dev, either patched in proton.

[Hughie]

Originally posted by sir.eggy:

-1 for Frozenbyte. Welcome on my Ignore list! Bye Bye Frozenbyte.

How do you expect game developers to support an O/S with such a tiny user base?

[YouTube.com/StoneLegion]

Originally posted by sir.eggy:

-1 for Frozenbyte. Welcome on my Ignore list! Bye Bye Frozenbyte.

Sorry you feel that way. You could've left with some dignity.

Originally posted by JLarja:

With Proton being as good as it is, native support is not very high on our list. In fact (without actually trying the native versions on modern Linux distro) I would recommend Proton emulation over native versions for all the previous games we've released. Changes are you'll get better graphics quality, likely less trouble getting the game running and input working, and possible better performance too. For low-on-resources port Proton is simply superior.

If Linux gaming takes off (for example, because Steam Deck becomes a huge success), then we'll have a reason to consider not-so-low-on-resources port, which may (and probably does) change the picture somewhat. At the moment we have Xbox Series X/S higher on our porting targets list though (not for Starbase currently, but for other future projects).

-JLarja / Frozenbyte

That is awesome. Thanks for the info. Yeah I had a feeling of Steam Deck ended up taking off you either make sure Proton was very stable or even look into other options. At that point you have a handheld console version working well.

[Solitary]

Originally posted by JLarja:

Originally posted by Solitary:

Do you test against Proton currently or do you plan to with Steam Deck release? Do you provide or plan to provide some kind of support in case something is not properly working?

Not at the moment for all of the above. Those would be the first steps, if Linux gaming community gets significant (only then would it make sense to seriously consider native port).

-JLarja / Frozenbyte

Well, I wasn't really asking about native port. You recommended using Proton, but you admit you don't even test against it (and I mean just test, just to see it runs at all) and if even that is too much to ask for, any talks about ports seem absolutely pointless at this moment.
So, yes... that should be the first step at least, and not just "when" linux gaming gets significant. Otherwise you are just creating self-fulfilling prophecy, "linux gaming didn't take off > so we didn't bother to make sure it even works > linux gaming didn't take off".

Linux gaming actually can already be quite significant, but you obviously won't get serious sales if you don't put at least some effort. By that I mean at least ocassional PR and news on linux gaming sites and at least some effort made to ensure the game won't just break after update and leaving users hanging. If people don't even know your game exists then I would be surprised if even Windows gaming would be significant. I only found about this game because of this thread being reported on.

[YouTube.com/StoneLegion]

Originally posted by Solitary:

If people don't even know your game exists then I would be surprised if even Windows gaming would be significant. I only found about this game because of this thread being reported on.

Lauri would be happy to hear that. This is a MMORPG launching to Early Access. From what I hear they rather start small and grow from there vs start big and crash hard and then fight the waves / hoards of people and then finally stabilize when 80% of them vanish (like most launch of games).

It's nice to have smaller numbers and work your way up.

[DipQ]

Hey Frozenbyte, thank you for your honesty and all the great linux ports you guys have done in the past I understand completely that you cannot divert resources for another port at this time.
Here's hoping that the Deck does well enough to warrant at least official support for the game under Proton!

Keep up the great work!

[JLarja]

Originally posted by Solitary:

You recommended using Proton, but you admit you don't even test against it (and I mean just test, just to see it runs at all) and if even that is too much to ask for, any talks about ports seem absolutely pointless at this moment.

I recommend using Proton, because it usually just works. If a user reports that Proton no longer works, we would pay attention, but can't promise anything is done very fast.

This is pretty similar to how we support older Windows versions. If something we do breaks WIndows 7 support, we may not notice before the new build is out. Of course, we have more reason to worry about Windows 7, so we'll try to fix things sooner rather than later.

(As a side rant, please all Windows 7 users update already. That OS is no longer secure for home use and supporting it is a small, yet not insignificant strain for us.)

Maybe at some point we have someone in QA who uses Linux + Proton for everyday testing (I wouldn't be totally surprised if we have already, but will confidently say that we don't, just because I _probably_ would have heard if we did). In that case we could catch possible errors somewhat sooner. So far, I think we've had more problems with GPU drivers on Windows than with Proton compatibility though, so adding a Windows test computer where drivers are vigorously updated to every possible beta version, could make more sense from resource usage perspective (which would lead to better game for Proton users too).

-JLarja / Frozenbyte