
Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux - pook1e
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI4MzE
======
Breakthrough
This is so amazing, but I'm _really_ hoping that they release a way for mod
developers to recompile their mods to work... Do they have the multiplayer
aspects working?

Obligatory plug for my favourite HL1 mod: <http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/>

Edit: Yep, sure enough HL1 shows up in the Steam Linux CDR
(<http://cdr.xpaw.ru/linux/>), and interestingly enough, so does Counter-
Strike - albeit with the message "Not Marked for Linux"...

~~~
jsmeaton
Natural Selection was probably the funnest mod (with CS being my favourite).
I've been trying to find reviews on NS2 from those that actually played the
original - any chance you've given NS2 a go?

~~~
moultano
I made ns_shiva for the original, so that should speak to how much I liked it.
:) I am completely in love with the sequel. It is fantastic.

Here are the main differences:

* Commanding is much less stressful. Giving the marines their own resources and the ability to buy their own weapons means you can focus more of your attention on just coordinating attacks and getting upgrades.

* Stalemates are much less common. In NS1 taking down the turret factory would mean that there's an opportunity for everyone to rush it to take the rest of the base, now every room has a power node in a fixed location that powers down all the structures when it is destroyed. This makes it much easier to force a beacon, and to end the game once the marines are down to their last base.

* Each class is much better balanced. Excellent Fades are no longer the sole backbone of a good team. Lerks now are useful at all skill levels. Exosuits are extremely powerful but very vulnerable when alone.

* Gorges are now a nice-to-have when building instead of absolutely necessary. This means they can be on the front-lines more often.

* Graphics (obviously) and very dynamic environments. The infestation spreading is beautiful, and taking the power down makes for some very tense moments.

~~~
jholman
Because you can only build comm chairs at tech points, you can't have insane
creativity in relocations. I hate this SO MUCH. God, it was so awesome when
you'd find some new insane place to tuck a commchair.

Letting marines spend their own resources dilutes the game. Weaksauce.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I find the maps incomprehensible. This last is the
real reason I'm not logging any time on NS2.

~~~
moultano
>Because you can only build comm chairs at tech points, you can't have insane
creativity in relocations.

True, but this also means that the maps are possible to balance. You don't
have to worry about things like red room or cold turn that break otherwise
promising maps.

>Letting marines spend their own resources dilutes the game.

Way too many pub games of ns1 ended early because no one wanted to take on the
stress of being commander. I've never seen that happen in ns2.

>Maybe I'm getting old, but I find the maps incomprehensible. This last is the
real reason I'm not logging any time on NS2.

I think you are getting old. :) No seriously, I think it's just a busier art
style that comes with more polygons and higher res textures. I had the same
initial reaction being so used to older games with simpler graphics, but once
you are accustomed to it most of the maps end up being pretty easy to learn.
Tram and mineshaft are particularly hard, but veil is ported perfectly from
the original, and summit and docking are both pretty straightforward.

~~~
jholman
> You don't have to worry about things like red room or cold turn

Right, but also don't get comm chairs and spawns balanced up on the manifolds
(above the reach of onosen) in Processing, outside DCD, on ns_hera.

> I think it's just a busier art style that comes with more polygons and
> higher res textures

I agree. And it's too much for me. I've been thinking someone should make a
mod that's just racing from techpoint to techpoint, with no one shooting at
anyone, and with highscores for best times, to help learn maps.

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failrate
It would tickle me if they released HL3 on Linux first. That might drive quite
a bit of Linux adoption.

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Camillo
Nowadays, you might want to play Black Mesa instead:
<http://www.blackmesasource.com>

It's officially just for Windows, but it runs fine in Wine.

~~~
aw3c2
At least gameplay-wise Black Mesa is very different from Half-Life. To me it
is different in a bad, dumb, modern way. Please do not suggest that it is the
same or even superior to the original game.

~~~
yawgmoth
I found HL1 to be unplayable but loved Black Mesa. I didn't have any nostalgia
factor for HL1 (I was ten and computerless in '98) but had always wanted to
enjoy the game. Black Mesa made that mostly possible.

~~~
aw3c2
You enjoyed Black Mesa then, not Half-Life! Sorry for being so nit-picky, but
I find the distinction important. You would not tell some Star Trek Deep Space
Nine nerd that watching Star Trek Voyager is the same. The biggest similarity
between BW and HL is the general story/setting and general level layout.

~~~
austinshea
You are not being nit-picky; you are being ridiculous.

You are replying to a comment which clearly states "I loved Black Mesa," and
then go on to suggest that he enjoyed Black Mesa.

The general story, setting, and level layout are a tremendous amount of what
would be considered a single-player, narrative-driven, FPS experience.

All that's left is the level of difficulty, and the feel of the code, as seen
inside a particular engine. It's fine that you feel these are important
aspects of Half-Life, but, when people wax nostalgic about this game, those
who loved it remember their reactions to the setting they were in, the
feelings they had inside the narrative, and the difficulties they had with
particular aspects of the level design.

These are the things that were translated well, in your depiction. I haven't
played it, but I suppose we can take your word for it: the team that made
Black Mesa did a good job of replicating the Half-Life experience.

~~~
vor_
> You are replying to a comment which clearly states "I loved Black Mesa," and
> then go on to suggest that he enjoyed Black Mesa.

He was replying to a comment that stated that they didn't enjoy Half-Life but
wished they had, and that Black Mesa let them do that. The reply is correct;
Black Mesa and Half-Life are different games.

Half-Life is a good game, but it's also overrated because it was so novel for
being narrative-driven at the time. It's still a Quake-like arcade shooter at
its core, which is great but not new anymore, so people going back and playing
the original expecting to be surprised may be disappointed.

~~~
austinshea
Yeah, and the commenter makes this distinction himself. I find it a strange,
and aggressive, to make this point to someone who feels the same way.

People may be disappointed, people may feel like the commenters in this thread
do, and people may appreciate both.

This is why it's ridiculous to ask someone else not to express their opinion
on which is better.

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daenz
I read this as a hint/signal that Half-Life 3 may be available on Linux as
well.

~~~
DeepDuh
Just imagine the effect an exclusive linux release of HL (ep?) 3 would have.
If Valve really wanted to piss on Microsoft's foot, that's what they should
do.

~~~
lifeguard
Or just a Beta on Linux before other platforms.

~~~
jfoster
Id software did that with Quake 3.

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bitwize
That's great but... where were you 15 years ago, Valve? I was trying to keep
Windows 98 taped together to run HL...

~~~
untog
Serious question: was Linux able to play any kind of game in 1998? Linux
releases are a little more fluid so there aren't as many big moments, but I'd
imagine it was a hell of a lot less capable in '98.

~~~
jsnell
There was a fair amount of AAA gaming support around that timeframe (say
1996-2000). Almost a golden age. Games based on the Quake engine were the most
obvious example. Besides them, Loki ported maybe 20 games over to Linux. The
ones I still have CDs around for somewhere are Railroad Tycoon 2, Heroes of
Might and Magic 3 and Myth 2.

~~~
jcastro
I would rebuy these games again if they came to Steam, I have the original id
special Edition Quake3 metal box but I lost the CDs long ago. :-/

~~~
cyxxon
They are on Steam...
[http://store.steampowered.com/search/?snr=1_4_4__12&term...](http://store.steampowered.com/search/?snr=1_4_4__12&term=quake)

~~~
makomk
Currently, only the Windows version is on Steam.

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shmerl
Where can one buy the DRM free version?

~~~
nitrogen
Though your comment is clearly sarcastic, you might be able to get an old CD
copy of HL1 from eBay, which only has CD key protection and works in Wine.

~~~
shmerl
Why sarcastic, the question is sincere. It's nice to see Valve pushing for
more native Linux games, but on the other hand I'm not using Steam because of
its DRM. So that's why I asked if it would be possible to buy the Linux
version somewhere outside Steam. Buying CDs in the age of digital distribution
sounds crude.

~~~
jeffool
I think people (myself included) took your initial inquiry as sarcastic
because you didn't so much as ask if it were possible as ask where it could be
done. The wording kinda to presume one COULD purchase the game without DRM.
And if you know Valve (and you may not, that's fair), then you should know DRM
is their bread and butter. They're more synonymous with their DRM
scheme/store/toolset Steam than they are with games.

To use a more readily recognizable name... It would be like seeing a post
about a new version of Windows releasing, and someone saying "Great! Where can
I get the source so I can roll my own?" Maybe that person wouldn't know... But
the assumption is going to be they're making a comment rather than asking a
genuine question.

~~~
shmerl
Well, I never used Steam preferring DRM free distributors like GOG, so I can't
say much about Valve in this regard except that I know that Steam uses it :)
It's unfortunate that they are too engrossed in DRM as much as preventing
their games form being distributed by DRM free channels.

~~~
wtallis
Valve is _not_ "engrossed in DRM". They have the most lenient DRM that still
qualifies as DRM, and the only objectionable aspect of it is the theoretical
inability to install a game without access to the Steam servers. Valve's "DRM"
scheme has imposes fewer restrictions on the user than most EULAs, and pretty
much never gets in the way of legitimate usage. The fact that they don't want
to sell their games without Steam is a business decision that is quite
unrelated to the DRM question, and more related to their profit motive and the
other services Steam provides that vendors like GoG don't.

~~~
shmerl
I know that it's not as draconian as others, but I don't like it nevertheless
and prefer to support distributors with clear DRM free stance.

~~~
wtallis
What don't you like about Steam's DRM system? Does it in any way inconvenience
you or restrict you from doing something reasonable with your purchases? Or
are you against it for the mere reason that it's been called DRM? Based on
your comments, it sounds like you might be trying to make a principled stand
without being fully informed, or else there's some nuance to your principles
that isn't yet clear to me.

~~~
Spidler
What I (not previous poster) am mostly against when it comes to Steam and it's
DRM is that in any kind of conflict with Valve, they will ban access to your
_complete_ steam library.

This means, if you ever have a PayPal-froze-my-account issue, you are guilty
of Fraud, and thus they take back all your bought (Erm, rented?) games.

This is something I do not like and that always gnaws at me about the
platform. Especially combined with their very poor customer support. (
Approaching Google-level of user hostility )

------
rangibaby
Yes! Counter-Strike next please.

~~~
drivebyacct2
It seems like it may be available:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/178aev/valve_pushes_o...](http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/178aev/valve_pushes_out_halflife_for_linux/c8368c9)

~~~
barbs
I tried this on OS X, but I get stuck running the thing

I get:

 _Error:dlopen(/Users/barbs/Library/Application
Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Counter-Strike/hw.dylib, 2): Library not
loaded: release/vgui.dylib Referenced from: /Users/barbs/Library/Application
Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Counter-Strike/hw.dylib Reason: image not found
Could not load hw.dylib._

:(

~~~
drivebyacct2
In linux, vgui.so and vgui2.so are in the directory above. Try adding them to
the LD_LIBRARY_PATH env var or whatever the OS X equivalent should be. (that
maybe why it didn't work in the first place, I don't know).

I guess it may be a whole different story on Mac. I haven't heard of anyone
getting the native OS X Half Life running through Steam, though someone on
reddit said they had it downloading...

~~~
lloeki
That's DYLD_, and vanilla HL runs OOTB on OSX here.

------
wylie
Does this mean anything for Half-Life on a Mac?

~~~
wymy
I just fired up Steam and now I'm downloading HL for Mac.

~~~
wylie
Thanks for confirming! I'm doing the same.

~~~
venus
Not in Australia yet, sadly :(

edit: I spoke too soon. You just have to own the Windows version, and the mac
version will appear. Downloading!

------
ysangkok
A couple of problems/solutions for problems I encountered using Ubuntu 12.04:

* It will crash right after start using NVIDIA drivers 310.19. Upgrade to the latest, I used 310.32.

* It does not work with plain ALSA, I only get sound after starting PulseAudio.

~~~
DiabloD3
It will, put export SDL_AUDIODRIVER="alsa" in your .bashrc and relogin

~~~
moccajoghurt
If a problem is that easy to solve, I wonder why it doesn't get fixed by the
developers. That way thousands of tech impaired users have to google and spend
hours to solve this.

~~~
DiabloD3
Because they built their copy of SDL wrong, plus they're building it instead
of using the distro provided one.

------
ekianjo
Now I hope they release HL2 and Portal next :)

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kunai
Wow, this is great, especially since I'm a Linux user. Now if only Adobe would
port CS6 over to Linux...

~~~
michaelbuddy
adobe should have rolled their own linux distro ages ago.

~~~
kunai
Doubtful, because they're a primarily closed-source company.

Anyway, I'm mad at Adobe not because they didn't port CS6 over to Linux, I'm
mad because they didn't even TRY to ensure Wine support for it. Tweaking your
application to work under Wine is just as good as writing a copy for a
different OS from scratch, and that's the least they could have done.

------
taitems
So, stating the obvious, this was only done because the Steam Box will run on
a Linux variant, right?

~~~
drivebyacct2
1\. Why is that obvious?

2\. "only?

3\. Why do people care? Not necessarily you, but commenters on reddit, The
Verge and others are practically _angry_ at Valve supporting Linux.

~~~
Camillo
I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I get the impression that Linux-on-the-
desktop peaked a couple of years ago, Now, with the Unity/Gnome 3/Mint/etc.
mess, the momentum Ubuntu had has fragmented into several diverging paths. It
seems harder now to recommend one single Linux distribution for the average
user than it was two years ago.

On top of that, the PC itself seems to have peaked. It's hard to think that
Valve sees _this_ as the right time to pour resources into _PC_ gaming on
_Linux_. It's much more likely to have something to do with the console we
know they're working on.

~~~
drivebyacct2
>the Unity/Gnome 3/Mint/etc mess

What mess? Unity is getting to be quite tolerable. Gnome is forging ahead with
their vision and Mint provides a nice alternative to Ubuntu with several
different UIs. I don't understand the argument that this is "bad". People have
been saying that since the dawn of Linux and it's boring and an non-point.

If you accept that "PC" has peaked, Valve/Steam is screwed anyway. If
consumers keep flocking to iOS/Windows8, let alone to Android... then Steam
will die a painful death and modern computing will be reduced to mindless one-
at-a-time "apps".

Ironically, the "mess" of Linux desktop is the only platform that isn't going
for a signed, verified, OEM only software model eroding consumers' rights and
freedoms along the way.

~~~
Camillo
> Unity is getting to be quite tolerable.

Never have I heard such glowing praise.

~~~
drivebyacct2
Fine, I'll admit it -- I used Unity again last week and I liked it. And if
compiz weren't so buggy, it's a really good environment all around and I'd
probably have stuck with it. HUD is absolutely brilliant. I literally can't
say enough good things about how much I used it in that week. It makes
development so much faster, especially if you're using an IDE.

Unity allows me to utilize more screenspace, very effectively. The latest
version is pleasant to look at. I'm still not a huge fan of the default lens,
but that will get better with time or as someone creates a replacement for the
default lens.

Beside, that's a pretty pithy lame reply to your original remarks.
Disappointing.

Elementary is great, although currently only working well with 12.04. Cinnamon
is great, my mother figured it out intuitively immediately based on Windows XP
(much faster than with Windows 8 or OS X). Gnome-Shell is "OK", I find it's a
taste thing and most people what more out of it.

------
jiggy2011
Shame that HL1 looks like absolute ass @ 16:9

------
nib952051
They made my weekend

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thefreeman
Please dota 2 next!

~~~
darkstalker
Dota2 works on wine. All I want is League of Legends for linux.

~~~
brokenparser
But you already have HoN! They really improved it for Linux lately, with HoNTV
support and everything!

