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Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
501–510 of 694 posts
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#502I was under the impression that most windows games copy and anti cheat protection won't work in Linux. It often has a kernel mode driver to prevent you emulating things, using debuggers etc. What changed? Do game manufacturers make special versions with toned down anti-cheat specifically to run on the steam box/Linux?
Nothing. Majority of those games do not work, but they are small percentage of all games on steam. Most is just small time developers trying to hit some big niche for big money, like Stardew Valley or Terraria or Meat Boy.
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#503Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, I have been having a specific issue with pickpocketing in BG3. On native Windows and native Linux, the client crashes if I pickpocket too quick. One time, on Linux, it even made my whole OS crash (and then some weird error BIOS error). But specifically with Wine on Linux, it does not occur. The only reason I even tried with Wine on Linux is because I wanted to try some mods unavailable otherwise. It does se…
Huh, I was unaware that BG3 had a native Linux release, as it's not listed on the Steam store page. Turns out that they released it only for the Steam Deck. Strange
Yeah there's some weirdness too, it's heavily optimised for the Deck, low rez textures, low shadow quality etc.
So if you force it to run on your Linux desktop you don't get an experience commensurate with your hardware.
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#504Earlier quoted context omitted.
I gave it a try. Got a steam deck, tries steam os on my desktop. I kept running into issues that took me time to solve. I understand that the only reason it took me time to solve these issues is because I'm new to it and that people who have been gaming on Linux for years already know how to solve them all. But what would happen was is I would sit down to play a game spend maybe an hour or two fixing issues and then…
> I would sit down to play a game spend maybe an hour or two fixing issues and then after that I ran out of time to play the game I know you framed this as a negative, but this is something I yearn for; It's the one of the best games, imo. I often wish I ran into more issues, but for the most part, things _just work_^TM.
You clearly don't work in a legacy codebase
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#505I just want to be able to play the latest COD on linux to ditch my windows partition ... but anti-cheat makes it impossible.
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#506As someone without strong feelings on Linux vs Windows (I've used and developed on both about equally): this kind of news, along the way Windows has been changing has me wondering if I should change my primary desktop environment at home to Linux.
In my eyes, Windows used to be the desktop environment that "just works and can run almost everything". Lately it's becoming enshittified, with weird bugs showing up more and more frequently (a memorable one is not being able to launch Notepad from the start menu!!). I think Microsoft is losing its best attributes when it comes to consumer software. Linux may not be perfect but it's looking more and more attractive in comparison, even with its imperfections.
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#507Earlier quoted context omitted.
At the time of DOS, x86 didn't have multiple privileges. The system call instruction was typically INT, the software interrupt instruction. Later on the 386 Intel added virtual 8086 mode which trapped to the kernel privileged instruction exception also for certain instructions that had to be virtualized, among them INT.
Yes, exactly. We used a set of INT instructions in well-known low memory addresses that all jumped to the same place. We had an ASM file that you linked with, that had sixteen different address combinations for each. The common entry point would look back on the stack and calculate from the return address which entry point had been called, and run the appropriate kernel call. We called it the CS:IP hack. In the conte…
Windows 95 used a related hack. Whenever a v8086 program asked to create a call to protected mode code ("please give me a real mode address to call to, in order to start executing the protected mode routine at address 0x123456"), Windows would store the entry point in a table and hand out real mode addresses like FFD0:0, FFCF:10, FFCE:20, FFCD:30, FFCC:40 that all point to the same instruction (because the segment part is shifted left by 4 in real or v8086 modes).
The routine at 0xFFD00 could then enter protected mode and use the code segment to build the index into a table of entry points: FFD0 goes to index 0, FFCF goes to index 1, and so on. But for extra kicks, the address isn't actually pointing to valid code. It points to a random "c" character in the BIOS, which is an ARPL instruction - which in turn is invalid in v8086 mode and therefore invokes the undefined opcode exception handler. The exception handler, which handily enough is already running in protected mode, then takes care of doing the 32-bit call.
Related: https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20041215-00/?p=37...
Also described here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45283085
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#508It can't be neglected that Microsoft is alienating its own power users on such a level that they are now considering switching over and bringing all their know-how with them. Linux gaming is also faster because there's more developers interested in making gaming work outside of the Microsoft dominion.
Man if only they had a leader at Microsoft that was famous for prioritising developers.
They still prioritize developers, look at .NET Core, Typescript, NPM, Github (lol), but the problem is that they're not Windows exclusive enclaves anymore. In fact, I'd bet most people now deploy (and probably develop) .NET Core on non-Windows machines.
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#509Feels like there is some real momentum on linux gaming now. I mostly play older games but I've gotten most of them working acceptably in proton on my old system 76 laptop (oryp5, with a nvidia 2060; ~7 years old). The laptop actually has plenty of power for the games I play, but I underclock to keep the heat/fan speeds down (been doing the same on the win10 install on the same system), still getting acceptable framer…
I think Linux needs a few things before it will be ready for mass consumer adoption.
1. An equivalent of kernel level anti-cheats. Cheating really sucks. It ruins online games. Kernel level anti-cheats aren't perfect, but they're much better than user-space or server-side anti-cheats. Maybe in the future AI solves this, but inherence-based anti-cheats are likely going to be a cat-and-mouse game. Valve have stated they are working on this problem and I think if anyone is going to solve it, it's them.
2. Immutability. Right now distributing games on Linux isn't distributing games "on Linux." It's distributing games to 12 different distros with a hundreds different configurations and a thousand customisations. This is impossible to support. When SteamOS gains traction, developers will be able to target exactly one distro with fixed configurations and limited customisations. Valve will set the standard for other distros.
3. An enforced equivalent of .exe. One of the most wonderful parts of Windows is the near universal acceptance and use of the executable installation method. You just double click the file and install it. Linux is an absolute clusterfuck of installation manuals and scripts and competing app stores with their own repos and permissions and packaging methods. If Valve were to mandate the use of, for example, flatpaks in SteamOS, that will become the universal standard. I think this is one of the most frustrating parts of using Linux for regular people.
4. Better hardware support. My Fanatec peripherals don't work well in Linux. Fanatec doesn't offer drivers and open source options are limited in functionality (and stability). There are many products for which drivers support sucks in Linux. I think AI will solve many of these issues over the next few years. Unless the manufacturer has gone out of their way to encrypt of obfuscate the communication layer with the product, you can basically point Codex at the peripheral and tell it to build an interface driver. Within a few years, I imagine operating systems will have this kind of functionality built in. If the OS encounters a peripheral it doesn't recognise, it will just build its own driver on the fly.
I am more optimistic about all of these than ever before. Linus Torvalds famously said it will take Valve to fix this fragmentation problem for us, and that looks like where we are heading. No doubt there will be Linux fans who lament the loss of diversity and competition, but I think we end up with a true competition to Windows for gaming. That's when I will make the jump.
Re: Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features
#510Nothing like copying someone else’s shit when you want to avoid thinking of new things for an operating system. You could be more like Plan9, Linux. You could actually innovate and create new paradigms that make people look at MacOS and Windows and think that they are no longer in the same league. But you don’t want to do that. You want to play games faster. Fucking children run the world today. There are no adults k…
OS Development has halted in 1970 at this point. I know everybody loves Unix, but it has the same problem as Windows- namely that anything you run under your user context has access to your whole user context. And it will continue to be a scourge until/if we ever figure out how to make capabilities ergonomic. I've been racking my brain for 30 years to try and do it, but they just make certain things very painful.