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Xeno + Steam + Linux ?


Kreny

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Hey,

will Xenonauts support Linux on Steam? Game is available in my library but when I try to install it, it's "installed" instantly and then do not works which is a symptom of "Windows-only game incorrectly marked as supporting Linux by it's developers"

I know Xeno works under wine but it's a pitty when there is native Steam client for Linux and Xenonauts do not work there...

Or I am missing something and it works for others? :)

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The Mac and Linux versions are being worked on by separate teams (though I'm not sure if they're simply community members or actual staffers, though I assume the latter). As such they're a little bit behind the Windows version and I'm not exactly sure how the code is getting rolled out. Rest assured, though, that I'm 98% certain that somebody is actively doing his or her best to port the game to Linux for all we computer-savvy types out there.

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Since the Linux version works through wine but does not bundle its own wine executable, I would guess it'd be a minor mess to have it install under Steam for Linux and rely on the user installing wine while using it on the starter script. Your best bet (and cleanest way to play Xenonauts on Linux, in my opinion) would be having a dedicated wineprefix to install Steam for Windows and Xenonauts. It's a wine environment either way, so it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Unfortunately I don't think Xenonauts will ever be made available natively for Linux.

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Desura has Linux version as well so I guess it would not be a problem to bundle wine with it also on Steam.

No matter what Xenonauts appears under Linux Steam library so they should work or do not appear there at all.

Chris, could You please say something official here? ;)

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We're planning to have both Mac / Linux available on Steam on final release. However, as the Linux port is not native and uses a WINE wrapper it's a bit of a nightmare to set up to work with Steam. It actually may not be possible, but more likely it will just require a lot of work and liaising with Steam's tech guys.

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I've used the "stock" Wine for running the windows-only experimental builds; it runs like a champ, no modifications needed.

Granted, this is on OS X, so maybe it'd be a tad different on Linux.

It works flawlessly on Linux as well, I think the issue here was that Steam shows Xenonauts as Linux-compatible, but on download it won't work. This is also true of the stand-alone version, it doesn't have wine bundled so the user has to install it himself and the Xenonauts starter script won't use a dedicated wineprefix (as far as I remember), so it's just easier to use the Windows version.

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It works flawlessly on Linux as well, I think the issue here was that Steam shows Xenonauts as Linux-compatible, but on download it won't work. This is also true of the stand-alone version, it doesn't have wine bundled so the user has to install it himself and the Xenonauts starter script won't use a dedicated wineprefix (as far as I remember), so it's just easier to use the Windows version.

yep and this is what I would like to clear out - if it should not work on Linux than ok, it's pitty but do not make it appear in Linux Steam library. Otherwise make it running :)

But Chris said it's their goal... unfortunatly on final release so we have still plenty of time left.

It is not about no possibility to play Xenonauts on Linux... its about using Steam benefits (one "game repository", automated updates, cloud for saves etc.)

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  • 9 months later...

So Xenonauts are on the Steam as final release, congrats! But how it looks with Steam Linux version? :)

There is still just Windows client, seems.

For those who do not understand why I want Steam version: in a World where mankind invented repositories (and that is really cool, Windows users) I would like to use them as much as possible. And Steam is some kind of " game repository"...

So Chris, make it running pleeeeeeeeeeeeease

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Mhm. I got the GOG version (and I know this unsupported - but given that you run it through wine anyway folks might have an idea). The game starts fine, but - after clicking away the first initial tool tip (with the geoscape map visible in the background) - I just get a uniformly blue area where the geoscape should be displayed. I checked the assets folder and all the different 'building block' .pngs of the geoscape map should be fine and readable.

It only affects the geoscape. I can build a base (click blindly - the pop up that asks for confirmation comes up fine), and can access all the other screens via the menu just fine.

Any tips what might cause this? Anything that wine might need / require to run the game?

xeno1.jpg

xeno2.jpg

Thank you!

xeno1.jpg

xeno2.jpg

xeno1.jpg.98a56684d09a298c7a5fb536177da2

xeno2.jpg.c78d30622c029a0b9bbb00879a16b1

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I've been running the "normal" (i.e. Windows) version of the game using Wine for quite some time, and it's been mostly fine, I'm not aware of any specific Linux requirements for the game. Not much I could tell you - try if getting a newer Wine version helps (I'm on 1.7.19). Also, the game occassionally seems to have problems loading large asserts from slow disks (even on Windows), so try running the game from a terminal and check for any openGL errors (but if they're there, I still don't know how to actually help you).

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Yup, we're still working on trying to get it set up. However the GOG QA process has thrown up some problems with our existing ports so I'm going to try and fix them up first. Either way, we're actively working on the fixes and hopefully it'll all be working soon.

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Thank you, both. Updated Wine (was on the 1.6 branch, still) but no luck.

The 'slow harddrive' aspect is probable. This is a somewhat oldish laptop with a replacement no-brand hard drive of mysterious features (it was cheap, which was important at the time when the original one died!). Terminal spits out number of error messages throughout.

err:d3d:context_create Failed to set pixel format 36 on device context 0x1005a.err:d3d:context_create Failed to set pixel format 44 on device context 0x1005c.err:d3d:context_choose_pixel_format Can't find a suitable iPixelFormat[i]And so on.[/i]

There's a new computer coming in, on the near horizon, that should definitely be fast and responsive enough. I am not the impatient type, so it's not much of a problem if that's what it is :). (I bought this, and a few other games, irrespective of GOG's official Linux support being announced to happen at an unspecified time in the future. I can wait.)

Edited by Mnemon
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I get about 50 lines of such messages, it doesn't seem to really matter.

One more thing you could try: I assume you run a "big" desktop like KDE, GNOME, Ubuntu's Unity or something similar. Try instead running the game from something "minimal" like IceWM.

And, if you could at least temporarily have a larger amount of RAM in your computer (e.g. borrow memory from a friend), you could try running the game from a ramdisk and seeing if it makes a difference (current distros usually have /dev/shm, 6G RAM should be enough for /dev/shm having enough space for the 2,5G of the game data).

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I am on Mate (Mint edition) so yeah, not the most lightweight one. Not going to switch that out at this point in time though. Am aiming to go with Manjaro and openbox or xcfe eventually; but that has to wait until new PC arrives.

The laptop I currently use is already maxed out on RAM; Bios only allows 4GB. Thanks for all the suggestions, though :).

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I am on Mate (Mint edition) so yeah, not the most lightweight one. Not going to switch that out at this point in time though. Am aiming to go with Manjaro and openbox or xcfe eventually; but that has to wait until new PC arrives.

The laptop I currently use is already maxed out on RAM; Bios only allows 4GB. Thanks for all the suggestions, though :).

Is the Xenonauts version available on GOG the latest? I am using Wine too, and in order to be sure to get the latest version of the game I installed Windows Steam in Wine and I downloaded Xenonauts from there.

BTW the game runs fine on Wine 1.7.18, except for some ugly slowdowns I have reported on another thread.

You might want to check which version of the driver your video card is using and which OpenGL version they support.

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