Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 876 posts

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#101

Post by jsheard »

blibble wrote: post #18

kinda funny that Microsoft has tried and failed multiple times to make Windows on ARM work and then valve is probably going to succeed, to Microsoft's detriment

A funny detail is that Microsoft's mostly fruitless ARM efforts unintentionally ended up being a boon for Valves ARM effort. From MSVC 2019 they started augmenting x86 binaries with undocumented metadata specifically to assist the Windows x86-on-ARM emulator, but then the FEX team figured out how that works and implemented the same optimizations in their emulator, greatly increasing the performance of most recent Windows games on ARM Linux.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#102

Post by buildbot »

jchw wrote: post #73
ZiiS wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works in the sense it allows you to run the game; but it does not prevent cheating. Obviously, Window's kernel anti-cheet is also only partially effective anyway, but the point of open-source is to give you control which includes cheating if you want to. Linux's profiling is just too good; full well documented sources for all libraries and kernel, even the graphics are running through easier to understand translat…

Anti-cheat is a misnomer; it's much more about detecting cheats more than it is preventing them. For people who are familiar with how modern anti-cheat systems work, actually cheating is really the easy part; trying to remain undetected is the challenge. Because of that, usermode anti-cheat is definitely far from useless in Wine; it can still function insofar as it tries to monitor the process space of the game itsel…

Speaking of Anti-Cheat and secure boot, you need SB for Battlefield 6. The game won't start without it. So it's happening!

I don't hate the lack of cheating compared to older Battlefield games if I am going to be honest.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#103

Post by ewzimm »

rincebrain wrote: post #93
bigwheels wrote: post #89

Any leads on when the next generation of Steam Deck will be released? Hoping it could be sometime in 2025, but suspect it will be more like 2026. Over the holidays I was playing GTA: San Andreas on a Nintendo Switch. It's fun but so underpowered for a game released in 2004 (Yes, 21 years ago! Damn..). I'm really craving something more. As a sidenote, it's really cool Valve allows installing SteamOS on any hardware. T…

I would assume Steam Deck 2 isn't dropping before at least H2 2026, if not later, if they didn't bring it out with the announcement of the other devices.

Valve's only official statement as far as I know is that it will come when they see a significant enough hardware upgrade to warrant a new system. If they don't move to ARM, AMD's Medusa APUs are their next architecture with major upgrades, so I would guess that Valve would order another custom AMD chip but based on Medusa, which won't release until at least 2027. I would guess at least H2 2027 but probably early 2028 for an AMD-based Steam Deck 2.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#104

Post by Perz1val »

bigwheels wrote: post #89

Any leads on when the next generation of Steam Deck will be released? Hoping it could be sometime in 2025, but suspect it will be more like 2026. Over the holidays I was playing GTA: San Andreas on a Nintendo Switch. It's fun but so underpowered for a game released in 2004 (Yes, 21 years ago! Damn..). I'm really craving something more. As a sidenote, it's really cool Valve allows installing SteamOS on any hardware. T…

No earlier than 2027, it's valve you're talking about, they don't need to rush

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#105

Post by alemanek »

EA-3167 wrote: post #25
stetrain wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. I know Apple has little motivation to support such a project but it would be great to see them work with Valve on this. Having the majority of Steam games "just work" on modern Macs, like they do on the Steam Deck, would be fantastic.

I think it's more than "little motivation" if we're being honest. Right now Valve is quietly targeting MS' attempt to create a walled garden for gaming on Windows and (probably) cut them out. Their very clever approach has been a full end-run around the OS by using Proton, which I'm sure genuinely thrilled Apple... as long as Valve is only doing that to MS. Why would Apple ever invite Valve to potentially do the same…

Apples biggest weakness is games. But it has a pretty large install base when compared to Linux (not counting phones or servers here).Seems like a win/win. Apple gets to address their weaknesses and Valve gets a large target market.

I actually see it as the reverse. Valve might be going for the whole pie and want to carve out a niche for their Steam Box. Inviting Apple to the party might detract from that effort. Or at the very least distract from their main focus.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#106

Post by throwaway48476 »

bertili wrote: post #66
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

Would love to see it on MacOS X -- Steam works great on my Mac Mini for the games it supports, would be great to see everything run on it.

Unfortunately, this will not happen. Even if they have it all working: Above all, Apple wants to show that their hardware is awesome, especially because it really is. Running x86 games or compatibility layers even with great emulation will make that $3000 Mac look half decent at best, against a $1500 gaming laptop. Simply not the story Apple want to tell.

If apple wanted to show that they have good hardware they wouldn't gimp the iPad pro with iOS. They really don't care.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#107

Post by drannex »

adverbly wrote: post #98

Everything valve doing for linux is making such a huge impact. The HL3 memes don't even seem fair to use anymore. I don't even want to un-seriously make joke fun of them at this point. They are just genuinely doing so much for the community.

To be fair, without the HL3 memes, would Valve ever become as massive as they are now without them constantly teasing and playing into it?

(answer: probably, but I would like to believe that this is one of the greatest unintended marketing tactics of the 21st century).

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#109

Post by bigyabai »

the__alchemist wrote: post #78
jitl wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This system allows playing unmodified production x86 executables on arm64. It doesn’t have anything to do with the developers.

That's great, but begs the question: why not just compile the games for ARM?

...because there are thousands upon thousands of games that will never be compiled for ARM?

Just look at all the "native macOS" games from the 2010s that are completely unplayable on modern Macs. Then look at all the Windows games from the 1990s that are still playable today. That's why.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#110

Post by 6SixTy »

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

Would love to see it on MacOS X -- Steam works great on my Mac Mini for the games it supports, would be great to see everything run on it.

Main issue is the lack of Vulkan support on macOS. Currently, solutions like MoltenVK have to be developed to add Vulkan support, which isn't as clean as just supporting it.

For some reason the prospect using Wine, Rosetta 2, and DXVK with MoltenVK on top just to run some games doesn't inspire a lot of confidence that this whole thing will be performant and/or stable.

Post reply on HN