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Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

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Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#251

Post by pjmlp »

gpderetta wrote: post #202
pjmlp wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That only works if studios ever bother to write native Linux games, otherwise is like being happy MAME supports Linux.

Proton is a platform. If Valve gets gaming studios to target proton and guarantee compatibility, is a win. If that's equivalent to gaming studios explicitly targeting MAME and QAing it, I'll take it.

They already target Proton by writing Windows games, no need to bother with Steam.

Anyway it hardly matches Switch sales, for which studios do actually bother to actively support.

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#252

Post by noisem4ker »

rowanG077 wrote: post #216
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and then they realized that even that wasn't good enough because Linux Desktop ABIs are a shitshow, so they refocused on providing Windows ABIs instead to great success.

huh? When I run a Linux native game via steam it uses Windows dependencies? What is this dark magic.

I think they meant Valve switched their focus to emulating Windows through WINE, practically adopting Windows' APIs, instead of solving Linux' dependency problems and pushing developers to compile for Linux natively (something they've always been reluctant to do).

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#253

Post by sph »

emersion wrote: post #187
jeppester wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask how it's decided what you are working on? Given the variety of the projects you've mentioned it could seem that you have some degree of freedom, but I might be mistaken.

Yeah, there is a lot of freedom, it's pretty similar to how an open-source project works. Pierre-Loup indicates what features would be nice to have (in gamescope or other projects), I can pick from that list. Or I can pick my own ideas and work on these. Or I can discuss with the other contractors, come up with an idea and coordinate our work. Sometimes I work on short-term bugfixes, sometimes I work on long-term plu…

I assume they're referring to Pierre-Loup Griffais, a Valve engineer dedicated to the Steam Deck and Proton.

https://twitter.com/Plagman2

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#254

Post by sph »

brundolf wrote: post #193
prettyStandard wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I played all of cyberpunk shortly after release on a 3950x and 3060ti on Steam+Proton+Ubuntu with very little problems. It did get very laggy in busy areas on occasion, but that was the exception not the rule. Obviously newer hardware helped, but it seemed Valve hurt the gaming experience less than CD Project Red did! Not really a gamer. Cyberpunk is probably my high water mark at 90 hours. It's so nice to not to hav…

That's really impressive, considering Cyberpunk had so many issues even on officially-supported platforms

For a while Elden Ring ran better on Linux, due to game-specific patches on DXVK that fixed the stuttering seen on Windows.

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#255

Post by sph »

martin82 wrote: post #236
freedomben wrote: post #100

If anyone from Valve is reading this, I'm not a gamer at all, but I bought a (fully loaded) SteamDeck largely to support your efforts, and secondly to have a cool portable computer. It is (in about a week) going to become a game console hooked up to my TV. I could have got an xbox for much less the price, but the openness, power, and linuxyness of the steamdeck was too attractive to pass up :-D Please keep it up! you…

I hope your kids are not expecting high end gaming experiences and are happy with simple indie games (which usually are the better games anyways), because the SteamDeck cannot and never will replace something like an XBox.

This is one of those statements that are going to sound hilariously wrong in a few years, when third-party OEM will be able to put SteamOS on their custom hardware. The hard part was making Linux run games, and Valve has done it.

Xbox, PS and Nintendo won't die, but there will be a fourth player, and if anyone has to die first, it'll be Xbox, due to shrinking mind share and lack of third party titles.

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#256

Post by sph »

Spivak wrote: post #9

Proton is way better than it has any right to be and single handedly made Linux a viable gaming platform. The odds of any particular game working on Linux is higher than Mac now.

There is no competition. Linux now runs 95% of games, macOS probably not even half that.

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#257

Post by omnimus »

danielheath wrote: post #222
gps0 wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some DEs / window managers you think are quite simple and let you focus?

I’m using classic i3, with a nearly stock config. I have a key binding to start a launcher (in lieu of a start button). I3bar to indicate which workspaces have new chat messages etc. Default black background, all non-critical notifications disabled; I get distracted easily, so I craft an environment that avoids distractions.

simple window manager - how can you say i3?! most people wouldnt know how to do anything in there

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#258

Post by omnimus »

npteljes wrote: post #203
ROTMetro wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, the users of Steam and what they post on their public pages, is selection bias when judging the usefulness of communicating with... the users of Steam?

Yes, selection bias. Loud people are easy to spot. Lurkers are hard to spot. A loud minority, therefore, can create the illusion of a larger mass of similar folk. Take, for example, the gamergate situation. There was just SO much toxic communication, it was a complete shitstorm, where many were attacked online in a horrible manner. So, gamers sure are a toxic bunch, right? Well, turns out, there are 1.5 billion gamer…

Also dont forget its not best idea to be publically against russia when you are living in it.

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#259

Post by ykonstant »

haunter wrote: post #10

Linus at DebConf 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=310&v=Pzl1B7nB9Kc&feature=yo... >I’m on a record saying, that maybe Valve will actually save the Linux desktop. And it’s actually not because I think games are important! I don't care, I don't play games. I think some people do, so games maybe important. But the really important issue is I guarantee you Valve will not make 15 different binaries. And I also guarant…

A tiny bit off topic, but for the record: video games are, for me, extremely important. They are my favorite art form and an oasis in a daily nightmare; if I were unable to play my favorite games, the system I am running would be completely useless. Fortunately, the kind of games I like run mostly fine on Linux.

Re: Valve is paying open-source developers to work on Proton, Mesa, and more

#260

Post by menaerus »

moloch-hai wrote: post #180
stusmall wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been a (very) long time since I worked in Android OS land but at the time I could see effects of them actively moving projects from GCC to Clang. I always picked up the outsider impression that it was their preferred C++ toolchain. First I've heard of them abandoning it

There is a big push for their proprietary language "Carbon". Clang is way behind on implementing most C++20 features.

> Clang is way behind on implementing most C++20 features.

https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/compiler_support#cpp20 begs to differ. The heck, even C++23 core language support is almost fully done.

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