Home Trending Latest threads New posts Developer diaries

Linux support

Jump to latest Follow Reply
  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Show only dev responses
zubozrout said:
So I tried Cities in Motion 2 via Wine & Steam. Sad to report that it doesn't work, although the game seems to be pretty much stable and fluent, when it is closed, it crashes with an error + it doesn't save anything (settings, gameplay)

Unhandled exception: page fault on read access to 0x15f9a2a0 in 32-bit code (0x0071a22b).
I wonder if my recent purchase shows up as Linux or Windows purchase and whether you can see Wine users, as Steam internally does recognise Wine. In addition, I hope to see Linux version of the game because I have no use for it now :)
Click to expand...


There's been some success in getting it working on wine: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=28012 Haven't tried it myself though, as I'm not all that interested in buying games without Linux support anymore

It would be interesting to see how those type of purchases and playtimes are determined. I have a bunch of games I bought when there were only Windows versions, such as CSS, TF2, etc but now play them only on Linux.
 
Shams said:
Through steam we get reports on users/platforms. The reports are very accurate.

/shams
Click to expand...

If someone plays Paradox published Steam games in Wine on Linux (or OS X), do you get stats on that? Steam seems to be able to collect stats about Wine usage but I'm not sure if that data ends up in the analytics a publisher/developer sees.
 
chizu said:
If someone plays Paradox published Steam games in Wine on Linux (or OS X), do you get stats on that? Steam seems to be able to collect stats about Wine usage but I'm not sure if that data ends up in the analytics a publisher/developer sees.
Click to expand...

I would also like to know that. Steam certainly does recognise Wine so it only depends on whether Valve shares it.
 
If you guys at Colossal Order are unsure whether to invest to Linux version of CiM2 or not, why not create a Kickstarter project to get some money? I am sure people would help and although I recently bought CiM2 on Steam (only a few hours before the the 75% discount was announced), I wouldn't mind giving you money again if it would help making a Linux port.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is people using the Windows Steam client to play using wine. Unless steam detects wine and considers it for the statistics, these players would show up as Windows users.

Also, there are a few reasons why the desktop Linux user base is as small as it is:
  • Mentioned chicken-and-egg problem for otherwise interested gaming Windows users. Dealing with wine is often reserved for the adept and patient of users, that have the will and frustration tolerance to go at least elbow deep into the bowels of what is often a hit-and-miss matter.
  • Almost all OEMs exclusively preinstalling Windows
  • Lazy and/or indoctrinated IT managers
  • Other software than gaming not being natively available on Linux, and/or not working on the desired level of quality using compatibility-software (mainly wine related; chicken-and-egg problem again).
  • Some people being disgruntled that a new operating system might also bring along its very new and unfamiliar set of issues, coupled with the unwillingness to learn something new, completely forgetting all the hassle they most certainly had throughout all these years they'd been using Windows. These people usually go back to Windows and rant everywhere on the internet how bad "Linsux" is.
  • People that wouldn't exactly have a technical reason to themselves switch over to Linux not worrying enough about throwing their money at companies (such as Microsoft or Apple) that are constantly trying to create a future where all IT infrastructure, including the last bits and pieces of your device and user experience, is entirely corporate controlled (Certain Trusted Computing models (TCPA/NGSCB), endorsement of certain fastboot and UEFI configurations, school and university buy-out and indoctrination, as well as pretty much anything that Apple does), and don't care about our planet's resources in the slightest, by having people buy new devices before their actual end of life (planned obsolescence, which is a very widespread phenomenon with most things corporate, to be honest), simply by expiring them software wise (Apple - and they aren't only using software to do this, see case with the quickly failing and non-replacable iPod batteries and the related class action lawsuit matter).
  • Measures to make it artificially hard to switch to Linux, such as Microsoft thwarting Linux-compatible office software by applying minor changes to their proprietary formats to make them incompatible time and time again. It's interesting how it's often advocates of corporate IT infrastructure control and software patents that are either having a hard time with free software (as in freedom) compatibility, or are downright hostile to it. (Don't worry, I understand you aren't a part of that crowd. ;) )
  • The above mentioned fastboot & UEFI configurations might very well be cause for a dent in the growth the Linux desktop could have in the next few years, would it not be for these measures. Let's hope for a nice growth curve nonetheless.
 
Last edited:
I've so far bought 2 copies of cities in motion, but I wouldn't mind kickstarting another 20-40 bucks to help a linux version become available.

It's such a beautiful program and since the new Unity supports linux, it should be a doable task!
 
@Shams: Is there anything new about Linux support that you could share with us please? Did Colossal Order already decide whether they'll support our favourite platform? Please, keep us informed. Thanks
 
It's not up to colossal - we're paying for after all :)

We're going to review the case one more time after summer vacations.

Like I mentioned in the live stream yesterday; We don't expect to make money off a linux port - but we want at least to be able to break even. Considering the install base is so small it's hard to do even that.

I'm going to fight for you (us) a bit more and see where we end up. We just released Teleglitch - another game with Linux support - so we're looking closely at that as an indicator of Linux-install base.

/shams
 
Great :D Thank you very much for your response. Even though Linux is not confirmed, I feel much better knowing what is going on and I am glad you personally support Linux too :)
 
With the latest update to Unity 4, does this mean that linux support is now possible? I play CIM on linux all the time with wine, but it's a little chunkier/slower than it should be on a comparable box. In fact it's faster on my laptop with windows than on my desktop with linux. I'd really love to have a linux native version---would make my creation of the hong kong map so much faster if I could do it on my bigscreen linux box.

Hoping for the good news here!!
 
Wouldn't Crusader Kings II and EUIV be good for stats related to Linux as well?

Would be great to see Linux support for this, then we'd be able to play this and Tropico 5 :)
 
d10sfan said:
Wouldn't Crusader Kings II and EUIV be good for stats related to Linux as well?

Would be great to see Linux support for this, then we'd be able to play this and Tropico 5 :)
Click to expand...

Both have about 1.1% Linux adoption - so I really hope not :(

/shams
 
Shams said:
Both have about 1.1% Linux adoption - so I really hope not :(
Click to expand...

How is that counted? I probably bought both games on Windows, but now I am playing them on Linux. There are still people reluctant to move to Linux because so few games are there.
 
Svip said:
How is that counted? I probably bought both games on Windows, but now I am playing them on Linux. There are still people reluctant to move to Linux because so few games are there.
Click to expand...

IIRC - A: OS used to buy game and then B: which OS was used to play the game in (on average) - B overrides A if enough game time is logged.

So all you Linux gamers - you want to support the cause - buy on Linux and play on Linux - which I kinda don't get why you're not doing already if you're so adamant about this OS.

/shams
 
@Shams: It is not that easy to accomplish with the games I would like to play. Yes, I bought Crusader Kings II through my Linux Steam client, but I don't play it at all as I don't like that type of game. I would buy other Linux titles, but I like them even less. Also, I am a student so don't have that much money to spare just to show my good will, yet I already did it not only with Paradox Interactive games.

Then I bought Cities in Motion II, but I can't play it on Linux as it is not available for my platform of choice yet, but I am really looking forward to it and I am glad you've finally decided to make a Linux port. And since the original CiM will also be available for Linux, I'll purchase that title as well.
There is a big lack of games like Cities in Motion on Linux, so I expect the number of purchases for that genre may be relatively higher. Also, the more games are available for Linux, the more players are going to switch to it, thus the number of Linux players will eventually increase.

Thank you for making Linux better, you are helping make the history and as it was written on gamingonlinux.com, we (Linux users) won't forgive you your support in these difficult times. We all (users and developers) just have to jump over to the "Linux era" together if it is ever going to happen.
 
Last edited:
Shams said:
IIRC - A: OS used to buy game and then B: which OS was used to play the game in (on average) - B overrides A if enough game time is logged.

So all you Linux gamers - you want to support the cause - buy on Linux and play on Linux - which I kinda don't get why you're not doing already if you're so adamant about this OS.
Click to expand...

Well, when Crusader Kings II was released, there was no Linux version (nor a Steam Linux client), so I had to use Windows to buy it. Because in addition to being a Linux user, I am also a pragmatist. But with more games coming out for Linux, I am now deliberately avoiding games not for Windows. Because I hate dual-booting. And well, I hate using Windows. I use it enough at work all ready. You still can't drag windows by holding down alt there.
 
Shams said:
IIRC - A: OS used to buy game and then B: which OS was used to play the game in (on average) - B overrides A if enough game time is logged.

So all you Linux gamers - you want to support the cause - buy on Linux and play on Linux - which I kinda don't get why you're not doing already if you're so adamant about this OS.

/shams
Click to expand...

It's more about balance. I can either spend half of the evening switching systems or i can play instead of that. I personally see this as service to the customers to release linux client. I recently am finding myself more and more thinking "oh but this game has no linux client, maybe i don't want to play it that much".
But yea majority of my games i buy on windows for obvious reasons altho i can change this fairly easily (just log steam on my linux machine for that bit).

I would love to build my next PC windows-free but there are few games that don't work or i would spend too much time getting them running in WINE and then even more time patching them... Been there, done that. Not so awesomely spent time i can tell.
 
Is there already an ETA you can share for Linux release? If I understand it well, CiM is almost ready and even though I would much rather like to play it's successor, there will be at least something I can enjoy while waiting for CiM2 to be released. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back