os support (linux)

borartr · Dec 20, 2014

hello, the newest thread i found regarding this is about one and a half years old, so i think its time to get a fresh and official statement on this.
im specifically interested in the linux support, which was never fully declined, but also never approved (which often means that it will never happen). can i get a confirmation wether a linux port is planned or not. im not that much interested in release dates, but linux support is a must have feature for me. i would gladly buy this game for me and a friend, because i really enjoy the game aspects this game focuses on (like physics driven combat), and missing linux support is the only thing holding me back. if you can promise it, even month late than windows release, id be very happy.

thanks and bye

ZaratanCho · Dec 21, 2014

Some people got the combat demo to run on linux using wine. There is an old thread in the insider forum about it.

Don't know about actual linux port, if i have to to guess it will probably happen, but after release.

borartr · Mar 13, 2015

k but guessing isnt specific enough for me, i expect the devs to state clear what they plan atleast. i will not demand any dates or promises, but please atleast state whats your plan, devs. one should be able to say this, because its something that needs to be planned. if its not, just say and i know.

Tony · Mar 13, 2015

One thing I can say for certain is that a native Linux client is not high on their priority list right now, especially since they are running behind on their initial launch schedule. I highly doubt you'll get a specific answer right now since this is likely something they'll consider when SG is in a more feature complete state and not before.

Pilluminati · Mar 13, 2015

A port shouldn't be hard to make since they're using opengl and openal and not relying on any proprietary windows specific stuff from what I've gathered from their posts. Getting it run on wine was extremely simple too, all I needed was openal which many distros come included with and it ran with identical performance. Packaging it for all the different distros is probably a pain in the ass though, so I suspect it'll only be available for linux on steam. But like Tony said, it's not a priority atm and you can run it just fine on Wine atm.

Madoc · Mar 14, 2015

For reasons that may not be obvious an actual Linux port would represent a significant time investment and it's something we are not promising yet. Indeed the only external libraries / APIs the game relies on are OpenGL and OpenAL which are cross platform so even as it is it should run perfectly well under WINE.

We've recently switched to using OpenAL soft (http://kcat.strangesoft.net/openal.html) I'd be interested to know how this affects running the game under WINE.

borartr · Mar 14, 2015

that sounds very good. i am currently thinking of just buying your game due this dependency which will for sure at least allow linux versions via wine (i only use linux). a good port would be nice, but i can fully understand that this is not your focus now, i wouldnt even recommend it myself. still, i think that you should be able to tell about your plans for future. i mean, after the 1.0 release youll probably wait a few weeks for feedback or big issues, and you have earned some rest for sure. but what after that? given, there is enough money to keep the project running, will you focus on creating new content, will you implement new features primarily? in this stage, i would consider putting the linux port, especially because due to your dependencies this can turn out to be easier than expected. "For reasons that may not be obvious [...]" do you know this reasons (i cannot extract this form your quote)? if you can tell them i beg you to name them, i am really interested.
or did you not make any plans to that stage, which would explain your uncertainty of course.

Pilluminati · Mar 14, 2015

@Madoc Just to let you know there's stuff like this http://wineskin.urgesoftware.com/tiki-index.php
Wine wrappers basically. I know many people don't like them and even consider it "lazy", but it may be an easy way to make a quick port for both OSX and linux. And in the case of SG the lost performance is almost negligible. Could be something to consider for exanima to reach a wider audience hopefully without spending too much effort on the port.

borartr · Mar 16, 2015

i can not recommend this, for the reasons you said (its quite depreceated since witcher 2 failed this). especially since the dependencies are that low, this seems like a big trade off which simply is not needed to be taken.

ive read on kickstarter: "Some of the important features that we hope to include are a multiplayer version on at least LAN and support for Mac and Linux platforms." in the section for stretch goals. if this is true and you consider linux support as one of your priorities for additional funds, i will happily back this game and support this.

Pilluminati · Mar 17, 2015

borartr said:
i can not recommend this, for the reasons you said (its quite depreceated since witcher 2 failed this). especially since the dependencies are that low, this seems like a big trade off which simply is not needed to be taken.

ive read on kickstarter: "Some of the important features that we hope to include are a multiplayer version on at least LAN and support for Mac and Linux platforms." in the section for stretch goals. if this is true and you consider linux support as one of your priorities for additional funds, i will happily back this game and support this.

Witcher 2 used directx while SG uses openGL and it didn't use wineskin http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=mty5odm the low amount of dependencies also means that it runs better since the wine layer is required less. I can tell you the game runs absolutely fine on Wine. I noticed maybe a difference of 1-3 fps which could be because of the worse driver support or anything really. I wasn't suggesting this as a final solution. It was so they could perhaps support the other platforms early on with as little effort as possible while still providing acceptable performance. The performance I get with SG on Wine is more than acceptable.

EDIT: Just noticed wineskin is only for OS X. I'm sure there are other wrappers though.

borartr · Mar 20, 2015

hi i just bought the beta tier and downloaded exanima. would be nice if you can tell me how to get it run. currently the setup starts in wine but requires me to use some shady C:/ path, any attempt to write something useful there is ignored. im very inexperienced with wine, sorry for that.

you can also write me pn, but i think probably more people are interested in this and once encountering the same problems will be grateful to find this topic, which also saves time for the people who answer.

Murf · Mar 20, 2015

Bet @Pilluminati will be able to point ya in the right direction if @Madoc or @Brendan doesn't see it first.

Brendan · Mar 21, 2015

borartr said:
hi i just bought the beta tier and downloaded exanima. would be nice if you can tell me how to get it run. currently the setup starts in wine but requires me to use some shady C:/ path, any attempt to write something useful there is ignored. im very inexperienced with wine, sorry for that.

you can also write me pn, but i think probably more people are interested in this and once encountering the same problems will be grateful to find this topic, which also saves time for the people who answer.

I've just uploaded a basic self-extracting archive version of the installer, give that a go - you have to specify the installation path manually but you can extract/copy and run the game from anywhere you like, it's a self contained folder with no dependencies or registry entries etc. (it auto creates a folder with the .ini and .log file in %appdata% on launch but that shouldn't be a problem).

borartr · Mar 22, 2015

id like to, but i get error:
404 - Not Found

Brendan · Mar 22, 2015

borartr said:
id like to, but i get error:
404 - Not Found

Sorry I updated it last night to include the hotfix and messed up the link - try again now!

borartr · Mar 22, 2015

thanks, but i dont get it to install. now i get errors "Cabinet is not valid.", while i have a generic ubuntu 14.04 (up to date) and enough space. probably this is just due to my own inability.

i want to stress that you do not need to put that much effort into these problems of mine (though i highly appreciate it), especially since they only result from unintended use of your product. i will definitely not take offence in you ceasing this discussion and focusing on other stuff now.

Brendan · Mar 22, 2015

borartr said:
thanks, but i dont get it to install. now i get errors "Cabinet is not valid.", while i have a generic ubuntu 14.04 (up to date) and enough space. probably this is just due to my own inability.

i want to stress that you do not need to put that much effort into these problems of mine (though i highly appreciate it), especially since they only result from unintended use of your product. i will definitely not take offence in you ceasing this discussion and focusing on other stuff now.

It's not a problem, it's good to have an easy way for Linux users to play as others have said it should work well in WINE as there are no real dependencies and it's OpenGL etc. Are you using WINE or similar emulation or a windows VM to try and extract it? It's a simple self-extracting archive but it is still a Windows package so WINE or some kind of Windows emulation will still be necessary...

borartr · Mar 23, 2015

yes i was using wine, mostly from ubuntu store. found three different (?) versions there, e.g. a meta package and a graphical frontend called playonlinux. none of them worked. the installer starts, i am able to accept license (for the self extracting installer you uploaded), but when i choose a path i get the stated error. of course i was taking care to choose a "windows path" like "c:\program files\", which was also possible through wine. these folder also exists in the expected location (which is like ~/.wine/drive_c/ or something like this), still i get this error.

borartr · Mar 24, 2015

since the problem seems to be just the installation/extraction (for the moment), maybe a fast and easy solution would be to upload the already extracted archive.

Brendan · Mar 24, 2015

borartr said:
since the problem seems to be just the installation/extraction (for the moment), maybe a fast and easy solution would be to upload the already extracted archive.

The problem with this is that we need to enforce acceptance of the EULA, if you could extract the files elsewhere somehow then transfer them to Linux it might/should work. Unfortunately I have no experience with Linux myself so maybe someone else could offer some more useful advice.