
Great Progress with DX11 Games Support with WINE 2.3 - ekianjo
http://boilingsteam.com/the-wine-revolution-is-on/
======
schwank
Appreciate the link... after many years as a Windows/.Net developer, I made
the jump to Linux full time after the release of Windows 8. I don't game much
anymore but every once in a while I get the itch. I bought Cities:Skylines
through Steam, but I've particularly been missing the racing genre. The
boilingsteam site has some good reviews including the recently released
Dirt:Rally. So glad to see things are progressing on Linux, and hopefully that
continues as SteamOS picks up... steam.

~~~
veli_joza
There are many of us waiting for Valve to deliver on SteamOS promises, but it
doesn't look too good.

SteamOS was a reaction to Windows App Store. If MS wants to take away from
their market share, they would push Linux as preferred platform. I don't
really see this happening, so it remains a pipe dream.

We can at least hope Vulcan adoption will ease the effort of porting AAA
titles to Linux.

~~~
ekianjo
> If MS wants to take away from their market share

MS has actually already started to flag users not to install software from
outside of the Windows store for "security reasons", in the latest Win10
updates. We still don't know how far they want to go with that idea.

~~~
dsp1234
crappy prediction:

Within 3 years, the Windows "Home" and "Cloud"[0] editions will be unable to
install applications that are not from the store. Not even with a registry
hack. Anyone wanting non-store applications will be forced to the "Pro"
edition.

[0] - [https://betanews.com/2017/02/09/windows-10-cloud-hacked-
to-r...](https://betanews.com/2017/02/09/windows-10-cloud-hacked-to-run-
win32-programs/)

------
jadbox
If I could just run Overwatch with little issue on Linux [without a virtual
machine], I'd be a total convert.

~~~
wjoe
It's getting there. I saw a video last week of someone running Overwatch in
wine at about 45 FPS with a patched version of Wine. Not sure how easy it is
to get running or if/when those patches will be merged in, but it's making
good progress.

From what I remember, Overwatch doesn't use much of DX10/11, possibly just a
few minor things, so it's mostly just a case of getting it not to crash when
those features don't exist, and the rest should perform ok.

------
youdontknowtho
That must have taken an amazing amount of effort. Bravo, friends. Bravo.

------
fsiefken
Could running a windows game under Wine and Linux practically get you higher
fps then under Windows alone?

~~~
harrygeez
In some rare cases like L4D IIRC. However it's highly unlikely for the simple
reason that most of Linux GPU drivers are inferior to Window's.

~~~
ekianjo
> L4D IIRC

This was not using WINE.

~~~
boondaburrah
I was playing portal before it was available for linux (it was 2008 and I
don't think there was even a mac client for steam yet). It ran faster on mac
under wine than it did on windows, but I did notice wine was downgrading the
graphics a bit (probably to DX8).

It's possible they were playing L4D under wine before the "native" linux
client was released.

(the native client still uses a DX -> GL translator for shaders IIRC. Valve
open-sourced it.)

~~~
ekianjo
> (the native client still uses a DX -> GL translator for shaders IIRC. Valve
> open-sourced it.)

yes, toGL - but it's not actively developed anymore. It was Richard
Geldreich's project if I recall correctly.

> It's possible they were playing L4D under wine before the "native" linux
> client was released.

I did play it under WINE before the native client was released, but the native
one was faster.

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gigatexal
The Wine camp is doing amazing work here. I wish more companies would release
games native for Linux.

------
throwawaysed
So how long until MS freaks out and starts attacking Linux again? I'm calling
GPU DRM modules existing in the next 2 yrs, commonplace in three. Shaders and
3D API inaccessible without the right keys. Only 2D mode and OpenCL without
the keys, to "protect" game makers from people running their games on
unauthorized platforms. EUFI isn't enough to protect their market share if
gaming is threatened, they will extend the lockdown to GPU's as well... for
"security"

~~~
ekianjo
Linux is still a small share of the Gaming market, I don't think MS feels it
is a threat at this stage. As for GPU DRM, is there any indication that
manufacturers are moving in that direction ?

~~~
erikj
There is this:
[https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Nouveau-...](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Nouveau-
XDC2016-NVIDIA)

~~~
BoorishBears
I knew what this was going to be before I clicked it...

Old NVIDIA cards flashed to show false specs were showing up in the market,
NVIDIA was completely in the right to move towards signed firmware, and while
it had an unfortunate effect on an open source effort, it was what had to be
done at the time to protect consumers.

