Could Linux be a better gaming OS than Windows?

[Kasyx]

http://farbeyondtheedgeofreason.blogspot.com/2008/07/could-linux-be-better-gaming-os-than.html

From the article:

Linux and Mac users alike will both know that Windows has by far the lion's share of the computer gaming market. Now, you could buy a console, but there are certain types of games (mainly RTS and things like that) which don't often seem to appear on consoles, and are limited to Windows, so by and large if you want to play these types of games you're limited to using Windows. So Windows is currently the only reasonable choice for if you want to play this type of game, as well as many others. A colleague of mine who is a hardcore PC gamer has also told me that FPS games are better suited to the PC.

Now I, being the Linux zealot that I am, am all for Linux gaming. In fact, I would go so far as to say that when gaming on Linux becomes "main-stream", it will probably be the largest driving force in giving Linux a bigger desktop OS market share. However, that said; Linux is just not there.

Using Linux alone on my main (once "gaming") PC, I know what a total bitch it can be to get games running on Linux (with the tools currently available to us). For gaming, Linux is pretty much the perfect architecture (could you imagine the system optimization HOWTOs were games being released for Linux?), and I think the aforementioned article does a good job of getting that across (I salivate at the thought of building a Gentoo system optimized for gaming). However, I don't think we are going to see any sort of gamer mass exodus from Windows to Linux until games are made to run natively on a Linux system.

Wine, Cedega and Crossover are great, and the people behind them have done an amazing job. But, right now, due to the amount of fiddling and configuration required to get games running (under Wine, at least - I can't really speak for Cedega), it is more a path for the hobbyist or hardcore Linux zealots out to prove Windows gamers wrong (*takes a bow*). For example, just getting World of Warcraft to run decently on my install of Ubuntu Hardy, I had to download additional dll files, manually edit my Config.WTF file (WoW config) and pretty much dance around a baobab tree naked when the planets were in the exact right alignment . And I am still having trouble with the sound; I can't run TeamSpeak (built natively for Linux) whilst I am playing WoW (which is pretty much the equivalent to being denied coffee or cigarettes whilst one writes Perl), in order for my sound to actually work in WoW, I have to close Firefox, and vice versa - I can't listen to music whilst I play. I have a dual-screen set up, so whilst I was running Windows, I would watch a movie or something whilst playing WoW, or even play Eve Online on the other screen whilst playing WoW. With Linux, I can't even get SOUND whilst Firefox is running.

"But Kasyx!" I hear you say, "WoW and TeamSpeak use OSS, as do browser videos, so why don't you run WoW within an alsa wrapper?"

"My fellow forumites," I respond, putting on my best Wise-Old-Man voice, "because when I do, it CRASHES."

Now I am not saying being able to run Windows-native games on Linux with minimal framerate loss is not pretty damn impressive - I'd love to see Windows so much as attempt to emulate Frozen Bubble... Or NetHack - but it is by no means ushering in the future of Linux gaming.

Please remember that I speak solely from my own experience in this regard, and others may have their system running Windows games perfectly. I am also by no means saying that Linux gaming is impossible (I'm running games on Linux, aren't I?), but rather that our dream of Linux becoming the number one PC gaming architecture will not even consider attempting to come to fruition until more developers start releasing Linux-native games.

 

[icyrus]

For linux to become a viable gaming platform a few things have to happen first.

- Most importantly nVidia or ATI need to embrace opengl and get new gaming-focused development on it happening. They also need to make sure their cards support it as well as DirectX.
- nVidia and ATI need to release proper open source drivers for linux and not make them a secondary concern to their windows drivers.
- To qualify this next statement let me be clear that I haven't used linux on the desktop in a few years but they really need to fix the sound issues.
- Unified package management.

There are other things that linux devs can do to make it more attractive for game developers to deploy on linux like:

- An open Steam equivalent.
- A mechanism for playing games directly off of disc instead of requiring an install first.

However, DRM will be an issue for game studios.

 

[Lino]

http://farbeyondtheedgeofreason.blogspot.com/2008/07/could-linux-be-better-gaming-os-than.html

From the article:


Now I, being the Linux zealot that I am, am all for Linux gaming. In fact, I would go so far as to say that when gaming on Linux becomes "main-stream", it will probably be the largest driving force in giving Linux a bigger desktop OS market share. However, that said; Linux is just not there.

Using Linux alone on my main (once "gaming") PC, I know what a total bitch it can be to get games running on Linux (with the tools currently available to us). For gaming, Linux is pretty much the perfect architecture (could you imagine the system optimization HOWTOs were games being released for Linux?), and I think the aforementioned article does a good job of getting that across (I salivate at the thought of building a Gentoo system optimized for gaming). However, I don't think we are going to see any sort of gamer mass exodus from Windows to Linux until games are made to run natively on a Linux system.

Wine, Cedega and Crossover are great, and the people behind them have done an amazing job. But, right now, due to the amount of fiddling and configuration required to get games running (under Wine, at least - I can't really speak for Cedega), it is more a path for the hobbyist or hardcore Linux zealots out to prove Windows gamers wrong (*takes a bow*). For example, just getting World of Warcraft to run decently on my install of Ubuntu Hardy, I had to download additional dll files, manually edit my Config.WTF file (WoW config) and pretty much dance around a baobab tree naked when the planets were in the exact right alignment . And I am still having trouble with the sound; I can't run TeamSpeak (built natively for Linux) whilst I am playing WoW (which is pretty much the equivalent to being denied coffee or cigarettes whilst one writes Perl), in order for my sound to actually work in WoW, I have to close Firefox, and vice versa - I can't listen to music whilst I play. I have a dual-screen set up, so whilst I was running Windows, I would watch a movie or something whilst playing WoW, or even play Eve Online on the other screen whilst playing WoW. With Linux, I can't even get SOUND whilst Firefox is running.

"But Kasyx!" I hear you say, "WoW and TeamSpeak use OSS, as do browser videos, so why don't you run WoW within an alsa wrapper?"

"My fellow forumites," I respond, putting on my best Wise-Old-Man voice, "because when I do, it CRASHES."

Now I am not saying being able to run Windows-native games on Linux with minimal framerate loss is not pretty damn impressive - I'd love to see Windows so much as attempt to emulate Frozen Bubble... Or NetHack - but it is by no means ushering in the future of Linux gaming.

Please remember that I speak solely from my own experience in this regard, and others may have their system running Windows games perfectly. I am also by no means saying that Linux gaming is impossible (I'm running games on Linux, aren't I?), but rather that our dream of Linux becoming the number one PC gaming architecture will not even consider attempting to come to fruition until more developers start releasing Linux-native games.

I have often many times done my best using Cedega/Wine to run certian Windows games, however there comes a time when one just wants to insert the games disc and it works. Until that happens I'll have to have a copy of Windows on my PC.

For linux to become a viable gaming platform a few things have to happen first.

- Most importantly nVidia or ATI need to embrace opengl and get new gaming-focused development on it happening. They also need to make sure their cards support it as well as DirectX.
- nVidia and ATI need to release proper open source drivers for linux and not make them a secondary concern to their windows drivers.
- To qualify this next statement let me be clear that I haven't used linux on the desktop in a few years but they really need to fix the sound issues.
- Unified package management.

There are other things that linux devs can do to make it more attractive for game developers to deploy on linux like:

- An open Steam equivalent.
- A mechanism for playing games directly off of disc instead of requiring an install first.

However, DRM will be an issue for game studios.

I agree mostly but

a) The Nvidia/Ati drivers have improved a lot this year, and installing them has become a breeze.
b) The sound issues in linux, are improving a lot, especially with the advent of Pulse Audio, if more programs moved away from ALSA and OSS to Pulse I believe most of the audio issues in linux would be solved.

 

[Swift-wp]

I totally agree with that article. Also what Kasyx said, we can optimize memory usage so much more better in Linux, it should be able to run games much more smoothly. I remember reading an article where this one guy said he actually got better frame rates in Doom3 on Linux than in Windows.

 

[flarkit]

I really do wish a few independent companies would release OpenGL-based games into the retail market. I'd buy:

- A Diablo3-like game for Linux (heck, I'd probably buy a proper OpenGL Diablo2, just to make a point)

- A StarCraft2-like RTS

- An FPS a la UT3 (or does the existing version's sound work fine under Linux?)

Why not? Has anyone spent time on the existing FPS and RTS games available for Linux? Methinks it's time to try...

 

[remybfg10k]

Can i just mention something guys, there will never be a mass exodus of gamers until Linux itself is easier to use ala windows, as most gamers unfortunately just want their OS's pre installed, easy to use/configure etc

Your thoughts?

 

[w1z4rd]

Can i just mention something guys, there will never be a mass exodus of gamers until Linux itself is easier to use ala windows, as most gamers unfortunately just want their OS's pre installed, easy to use/configure etc

Your thoughts?

That housewives are now using linux ( http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/09/1227225 ) and it is easy (depending on how far you wanna push it).

Gaming vendors need step up to the plate.. the OS is fine.

 

[flarkit]

Can i just mention something guys, there will never be a mass exodus of gamers until Linux itself is easier to use ala windows, as most gamers unfortunately just want their OS's pre installed, easy to use/configure etc

Your thoughts?

Can you substantiate that point, maybe? I'm an avid gamer, but don't require my OS to be preinstalled at all.

 

[milomak]

is a linux UT3 client abvailable yet?

 

[Alan]

I'll never consider using Linux as my main OS until games become more compatible with it. Even then what about older games I still play. I'm not even an avid gamer so I can't see gaming on Linux becoming 'mainstream'

 

[general_koffi]

It's conceivable, but first DirectX would have to lose its near-monopoly.

Also, it's MUCH easier to support a single type of OS than the dozens of Linux distros.

Then again, someone could make a distro of Linux specifically designed for gaming, provided developers were willing to use OpenGL (or something similar), and gaming hardware manufacturers (NVIDIA, AMD, Creative, Logitech etc...) were willing to provide decent driver support.

But at the moment, it's much easier and more profitable to code just for Windows. It's what the vast majority of PC users in general use.

I mean, game developers have the option of developing for Mac, which would be easier than Linux in some ways. (There's only one version of it really, and driver support is more unified.) They still don't.

what about older games I still play

Well, it's usually easier to run older games through Wine etc.

 

[koffiejunkie]

Guys, you gotta be careful. When you say "games on linux" you are more than likely referring to running software written for Windows under an emulator or some sort of wrapper on Linux. It's a hack, at best. Neither Linux nor the game was meant for it. You cannot judge Linux as a gaming platform based on that.

Several years ago, when Quake 3 Arena was still all the rage, the Linux version (native, no wrappers or emulators) outperformed the Windows version on my, and just about every other Linux user I knew's machines. The difference was between 2 and 5 FPS, which doesn't sound like much, but back in the day 30FPS was considered pretty good on a TNT2, so it's a BIG difference. On my humble Celeron 500, Return to Castle Wolfenstein was actually playable on my machine under Linux (again, natively Linux binary), while it just wasn't under Windows.

Both ATI and nVidia had *full* support for OpenGL back then already (3dfx too, at some point). They still do. Linux is, and has been ready for serious gaming for the better part of a decade. All that's needed is for game developers to actually build the software for Linux. And not toss around with wrappers and building wine into the game to run under Linux. Do it properly, FFS. ID Software has been doing it for years, it can be done.

 

[.Froot.]

I experience better performance in Linux than in Windows...
Nvidia supports Linux pretty well, ATI is bringing out a decent linux driver soon...

 

[koffiejunkie]

I know people are generally pretty grumpy about the ATi driver, but anyone who used Linux with an nVidia card circa 2000 will be able to tell you the nVidia driver wasn't a pretty business either, there were lots of issues and it was tricky to install.

Until the Radeon 8500 were released, ATi provided the opensource devs the full specs for their cards, and hardware 3D just worked out of the box for everyone. With the Radeon 8500 they started including some components that were licensed from third parties, for which they could not provide the specs (NDA). So instead of giving us a crippled opensource driver, they opted to give us a fully functional closed driver.

I know this goes against some purists grain, but they really did that in the interest of their users. Of course, developing your own driver for an operating system you've never dealt with before is no trivial task, so obviously it's not going to be as polished as the nVidia one. But it's getting better every time, and we have full 3D on our ATi cards.