LinuxGameCast Weekly EP218 – Make Steam Great Again!

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided arrives November 3! VALVE tells Washington State to DIAF, Croteam gets serious about VR, and NVIDIA releases some drivers. Then Mad Max faces the CHAIRQUISITION! All this, plus your hate mail.

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Colour key: Venn Jordan Pedro

Steam News:

What’s the least we can do?
http://www.pcgamer.com/valve-misses-deadline-to-respond-to-washington-state-gambling-regulator-but-says-its-coming-soon/

  • Strongly, worded, letter.
  • It’s not going through Steam servers so it could be difficult to charge them with anything.
  • And remember kids. As armchair lawyers, we are an authoritative source of legal commentary

Toasters
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/19/new-numbers-home-in-on-vive-sales/

  • Unlike the controlla I thought it would have been less.
  • “Further, while the games are quite compelling, there is no can’t miss content”
    • No, they’re not. And if you’re going to contradict yourself in the same sentence, might as well not write it in the first place.
    • There’s not even a single VR game right now which I’d say would remotely compel me to drop €850 on a heavy head attachment.
    • They’re all tech demos.
  • Comparing 3DTV to PC VR equipment is sort of a false dichotomy
  • The TVs were a fixed price, and Even without them, you could still watch 3D content as 2D
  • VR requires a powerful computer, in addition to the headset, and it fails a lot less gracefully.

Steamy fixin (thank nukke)
https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/4668

  • This actually has some relation to the previous story, insofar as if this were the case, valve could potentially be open to legal repercussions
  • Yes, it would be nice if steam handed some control over to the community, but it’s not going to happen
  • Also, getting rid of the Runtime is probably the worst idea for Steam on Linux. We need a stable platform for people to develop against. Which is actually one of the big draws for devs. No ever changing console landscape to develop for. Write it once and it’ll run on all the new hardware.
    • Getting rid of it would be bad idea but the way VALVe handles it, some of the libraries in it are still from Ubuntu 12.04, it’s pretty bad.
    • Hell, for most people with Intel or AMD GPUs, on current distros Steam won’t even start without you removing libstdc++ and libgcc_s from the runtime.
  • There’s a little something the folks from Solus created, it’s called the Linux Steam Integration tool.
  • And it disables Steam’s own runtime and uses your far more current system libraries.
  • It works far better than I expected, I’ve been using it in Solus on the laptop and on this box with Ubuntu 16.04.
  • And if the people who package it for other distros set the dependencies correctly, so that it will pull the needed libraries when you install it, VALVe can tell devs to target the Runtime still and people won’t have to suffer through stupidly outdated library issues on their systems.

Serious VR
http://steamcommunity.com/app/465240/discussions/0/350543368756545137/#c348293230313547574

  • Man, I hope they make /w the Vulkan render on BFE before we hit Serious Cwang.
    • I hope I die a painful death before then
  • Still waiting on Valve time for that linux support.

Mad Requirements
https://www.feralinteractive.com/en/news/677/

  • Big ass Sandbox needs a big ass RAM slot.
  • Check out the memory requirements on MAC.
    • And Linux. IndirectX ain’t gonna run itself, you know!
    • I still can’t find that FSM damned 8GB module.
  • At least I know that if I suffer massive head trauma and attempt to install OSX on this computer, I can still run mad max.
  • It’s hardly using 4GB.

Brick simulator 2.0

http://store.steampowered.com/app/384940/?snr=1_7_7_230_150_1

  • And it includes trading cards!

Tahira 1.1
http://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=396660

  • I don’t know why, but I keep mistaking this game for that white sauce they pour on your falafel
  • Lots of bugfixes in this release, which is the sign of a decent 1.1 release
  • Spanked a few different triggers that were acting out when resuming into combat.
    • That one just writes itself. Too easy.
  • We still need to throw chairs at this one, at some point.
  • The PR company which sent us the keys have been asking about it.

“Spectre” (2692)
http://store.steampowered.com/news/?appids=360950

  • For a second there I thought this had something to do with that crappy Bond movie
  • It’s the spoopy update for Descent
  • New map, an overhaul of the reticle system and some weapon mounting changes to compensate for it
  • Don’t hit PgUp while alive.
    • You’re not my real Dad!

GreenlitRacer
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=777494181

  • Kudos to Super Smashing Great Games on getting through Greenlight in such a short time.
    • #LGCcares
  • Now get crackin’ on those marketing improvements.

Patreon:

Jolly Man


News:

375.10
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/109739/en-us

  • Added GeForce GTX 1050 and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti support.
  • “Added new X configuration options:
    • ForceCompositionPipeline
    • ForceFullCompositionPipeline”
    • Good! I’ve been using these to manage the tearing without having to enable Vsync for years..
  • They’ve also fixed some cursor bounding issues for PRIME users. Nice to see them not giving Geforce mobile users the shaft.

GL 4.5 enabled in i965 (Broadwell+), marked done in RadeonSI and NVC0
https://mesamatrix.net/

  • Been awhile since we covered mesa drivers
  • Now all the drivers supporting recent hardware have openGL 4.5 support
  • Now will they finally start focusing on improving driver speed?
  • I for one am still waiting on the fp64 and vertex attrib extensions to be available for Haswell.
  • I got in touch with Iago Toral, the guy who has been working on those, and he said he’s already sent in 2 patchsets to enable these on Gen7 Intel IGPs, it’s just a matter of time and adjusting things as Intel provides feedback.
  • How much time, exactly, he didn’t know.

1050 pricing
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10768/nvidia-announces-geforce-gtx-1050-ti-gtx-1050

  • AMD announced the RX470 would lower its MSRP to $170 (for a 120W low-to-mid-range card).
  • NVidia walked in, tapped them on the shoulder and said “That’s cute!”
  • I think Dr. Lisa Su and Raja Koduri need to reevaluate the whole “We’re not competing on price”-thing.
    • Because without competing on price you lot aren’t competing, period.
  • Hopefully the MSRP will hold, but even a little variance on the price won’t hurt sales of this card
  • Plus hooray! 75W TDP. Hopefully they’ll even crank out a low profile version and I can upgrade the steambox

A porting house divided cannot stand
https://twitter.com/feralgames/status/789392785073770496

  • Cancelled November 2nd
  • Money says the B team did Mad Max, which is why it took so long!

I’m baaaaaaaack, bitches!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smachteam/smach-z-the-handheld-gaming-pc

  • Look at the benchmarks running on Win10.
  • All the Retro Z-Pads are shite renders.
  • Less powerful than a tablet. Ouch
    • Why would you advertise this?
  • Battery: 5 hours of gaming.
    • I believe that statistic will hold only while playing FTL
    • With the screen set to 1% brightness.
  • They’ve hit their goal of 250K Euros, but the Ouya hit their goal as well and people all over the world are enjoying playing video games on it.
  • They wanted €900,000 last December but killed the Kickstarter two days later.
    • They claimed it was to ‘reset the project’ but running that through the DE-BS-O-TRON9000 exports something along the lines of ‘we didn’t have a working prototype and Kickstarter was going to close it anyway’
  • €900,000 might get the Smach Z shipped if they really really know what the hell they are doing they don’t.
  • If you think this thing can ship for 300K you’re either a FSM damned fool or being stupid on purpose.
  • €300 is a bit too much money to throw away on a promise which I never believed in to start with.

Updated RA
http://www.openra.net/news/release-20161015/

  • Windows XP users will need to upgrade to a supported OS.
    • Bwahahaha
  • I do like the effort put into support as many game data installation methods as possible

Captain Godot
https://github.com/Hirnbix/captain-holetooth

  • Their linux binary downloads are APK files.
    • Mobile AppImage, baby!

CHAIRQUISITION:
CHAIR– Nooope

CHAIRCHAIR– Not sure if want

CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR– Check it out

CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR– Shutupandtakemymonies


Game: Mad Max
Webzone:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/234140/
Devel: Avalanche Studios / Feral Interactive
Engine: Avalanche Engine
Price: 29.99 / CDN 39.99

Wazzat: Become Mad Max, the lone warrior in a savage post-apocalyptic world where cars are the key to survival. In this action-packed, open world, third person action game, you must fight to stay alive in The Wasteland, using brutal on-ground and vehicular against vicious gangs of bandits.

Mandatory Disclosure:  Feral made with the Mad Keys


Makes with the working

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Thank FSM!
    • MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STAAAAAAAHP!
  • Never really goes much above 1GB video memory.
  • So, about that DRM?
  • 50/60 while driving about in the open
  • 24/35 in a camp.
  • Settings on High @1080
  • While not perfect it’s beyond playable.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • It’s definitely a Feral port. As in, if you’re looking out at the massive Wasteland your FerPS will average in the 80’s but if you have the gall to drop down into one of those underground bits, where you can literally see only 10ft in front you, the frames will drop down into the 40s.
  • Also, if a storm happens to hit while you’re in a stronghold, better find a safe spot and walk away from the keyboard, because you’ll be lucky if it hovers in the 30s. For me they dipped down into the low 20’s.
  • The lower the visibility, the lower your framerate. We’re living in bizarro world!
  • That could be explained by my FX 8370E and the fact Feral have a deep intrinsic hate for AMD processors, from their Mac porting years.
  • Because the 1080 never went above 50% GPU utilization.

Total-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Shiny / Sounds

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Say what you will about WB (we’ve said a lot) but man do they know how to make a pretty game.
  • Ironically most of the eye candy is seen driving about the desert.
  • Not to the say the bases/ships look bad but they are all a bit on the generic side.
  • The cars are wicked sweet along with most of the animation rigging.
  • As for the sounds…
  • I think I just heard a War Crier shite himself after getting killed to death.
  • Yeah, we’re done here.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Mr Foxdogg hates it, but I love all the fake ass-aussie accents
  • The map is huge and has a good variety of scenery for a desert wasteland
  • I especially like the designs of the little dungeons you come across. Makes me want to run an apocalypse world game. If only I had players
  • I don’t like how every little action is it’s own cutscene, but that’s not going to lose it any chairs
  • Their Max even sounds a little like Tom Hardy. Although the model straight up looks like nathan drake

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Hey! It’s a sandbox game in which there’s actual detail and textures and the environment isn’t procedurally generated!
  • You can tell, regardless of how big the map is, that the developers put a lot of work into the environmental storytelling.
  • Outside of the game’s events, you don’t get much in the way of exposition from NPC’s.
  • You basically have to piece the backstory to the places from the way the environment is laid out.
  • It’s the whole “Show don’t tell” school of design I like so much.
  • Also, there is nothing as visually satisfying in this as when you german supplex one of the enemies and the physics flip out and he goes flying into the sky!

Total-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Control

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • I know you could play this with a keyboard/gerbil combo but this was clearly made from the ground up to use a controlla.
  • The XClone worked OOTB but there are a few issue.
    • I don’t like holding down buttons to perform an action… especially ones that I have to do over and over and over #petrolcans
    • The other is having to face just so in order to get the button mashy dialogs to make with the showing.
    • And FK help you if you try and do anything while near the back of your car.
  • The controller fighting mechanic works but I would like a few more moves alla Shadow of Hordor.
  • P-man will bitch about how shite the car controls but as the owner of a 79 Magnum… it’s legit.
  • Yes, it’s horrid at first but upgrading the suspension / handling is part of the game.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Credit where credit is due. I get correct prompts on the dualshock 4
  • I would like to do basic things, like loot someone with one hand
    • Or put a weapon in the passenger seat
  • Otherwise, it’s your standard AC/Batman style controls with some questionable button placement
  • Also. Holding buttons to do things. WHY

P-CHAIRCHAIR

  • For a game which focuses this heavily on cars as a staple of the subject matter, the actual driving is a bit lacking.
  • The cars all drive like they’re weightless.
  • Are post-apocalyptic suspensions that good?
  • And this is the real kicker, by the default if you have an Areola Controlla it makes the right Areola send Mouse input while the rest of the buttons are joystick inputs.
  • You know what that does? It makes it so you can’t turn the camera and move/do anything else at the same time! Who’s brilliant idea was this?
  • Thankfully you can just edit the configuration and change it to either Joystick Mouse or just regular Right Analog stick behavior.

Total-CHAIRCHAIR


FUN

V-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • Leveling system is a bit on the confusing side.
  • If anyone sorts that, let me know.
  • I played 12 hours in two days.
  • I don’t play many games 12 hours in a full month.
  • Unlike Skyrimjob / Hordor it did not immediately suck me in.
  • But after 30min of figuring out what the hell was going on I, at the very least, wanted to explore the world.
  • Then I figured out how the upgrade system worked and OMG UPGRADE ALL THE BASE!
  • Seriously, the game is collecting scrap while I sleep.
  • Granted, I could give two FKs about the main story because there are so many side quests and scrap areas to explore.
  • Like Skyrimjob I will probably never finish the main quest but that won’t stop me from putting in another 50hrs dicking around in the sandbox.

J-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • I’m having a blast playing this game
  • It’s gorgeous, controls decently well and has a lot of stuff to do
  • Curbstomping motherfuckers is always a good time
  • Gotta agree with Venn, the leveling system is really weird. You have three or four different things you need to manage
  • I expected Post apocalyptic skyrim, and that’s pretty much what I got.
  • It also appeals to the completionist in me by giving me a big ol’ scavenger hunt. That transforms into a very frustrating scavenger hunt. WHERE THE FUCK IS THE THING? HOW DO YOU EVEN GET THERE?

P-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR

  • The fact we don’t have too many sandbox-type games without voxel graphics on Linux shines this game in an unquestionably favorable light.
  • It looks pretty damn good, it plays suspiciously similar to Shadow of Mordor, and it has several different options of what you can do that anyone will have a different experience. At least for the first half of the game.
  • And if that sounds like a transition to the point where I start enumerating everything that is wrong with this game, you’re starting to get to know me. Stop it!
  • First of all, the hand-to-hand combat was ripped off wholesale from Shadow of Mordor except without the Nemesis system so all you’re doing is alternating between mashing the left click to hitting the right click at certain points or, if you’re skilled enough, using the E button to do a finisher or a really cool reversal.
  • Also, the hand to hand combat is ironically much better executed than the vehicular theircombat.
  • How on earth do you manage to make vehicular combat so frustrating and pointless in a setting where cars are the fulcrum to the entire fucking narrative?
  • More than once I found myself driving into a choke point, getting out of my car and pounded the conga line of enemies that were pursuing me, as they came out of their cars one by one.
  • “Oh, but that motivates you to unlock better stuff for your car!”
    • Does it, now? Because I’ve already unlocked better parts for my car than the story would’ve liked me to.
  • That’s right! There are upgrades you can only unlock by doing the story missions which are worse than those you unlock by lowering threat on someone’s territory.
  • That’s not an organic upgrade system. It’s an asinine “fuck you, that’s why” upgrade system.
  • “Oh but the Archangels…” Bitch my car is objectively better and better balanced than ANY of the Archangels.
  • I can only imagine there’ll be a contrived reason for me to downgrade my car in the story later on, because I need a specific Archangel to progress.
  • And then, there are the races… Fuck the races! Fuck them with the gnarliest, rustiest bit of scrap of scrap metal you can find. Also, don’t bother trying to beat the times. They’ve already been hacked, seeing as there 2second times in races that need you to go halfway across the region.
  • Still, seeing as we don’t get too many games in this genre in Linux, I’m not entirely burnt out on the sandbox. Literal as it may be in this game.
  • And as I’m sure it’ll keep consuming many more hours of my day in the weeks to come, I can safely say it’s worth a solid 3 chairs.

Total-CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Final –CHAIRCHAIRCHAIR


Hate Mail:

Over power
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?jtF29xv

Ease of Killing
https://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?NdPMBtP

Hete
http://linuxgamecast.com/bradley/?RjyTFqth

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