The Mind Of OverlordTomala
Gaming / Technology

Happy 6th Anniversary to Steam On Linux

It was six years ago today that Steam announced that they were working on a beta client for Linux. The beta was limited to only a little over 60,000, though later on in the month they would invite another 5,000, and I was among one of those that was honored to receive an invitation. I installed Ubuntu as that was the recommended Linux distro at the time, and began using Linux as a desktop alternative to Windows on the side much as I do now but with Mint instead, as well as Fedora and CentOS over the years.

I remember my library only having a couple of GoldSrc titles in it, but eventually that would expand and improve. Looking at back when I started, and then looking at my library today things have changed dramatically. I have more options for gaming under Linux thanks to certain developers keeping Linux in mind, the introduction to Vulkan (formerly AMD’s Mantle graphics api)and Proton as an added compatibility option to play Windows games under Linux. I can now look at my library and have access to a good chunk of it despite platforms, and depending on an older game it can sometimes run better under Proton instead.

This has also lead to other programs being developed under Linux, such as OBS Studio for making it easier for gamers to record their gameplay. There are also now more video editors for Linux (the video I released yesterday was entirely edited on the Linux version of Shotcut, as well as some others I have planned ahead).

These changes and improvements over the years may not have come at a fast pace, Windows may still hold the crown for PC Gaming, but people need to remember that Windows wasn’t always considered a gaming platform either. There were people like me back in the day having to exit Windows to use DOS which still had a larger game library at the time.

For some people who only play certain games, and having those games available on Linux could be a game changer for them. Me? As I’ve said many times before I still have certain things holding me back from switching completely… But I am using it now more than ever. If something becomes available under Linux, and it runs just as well if not better, that’s one less reason for me to use Windows.

Gaming

Fallout 4 Photo Bomb

Today I let myself get lost in the Wastelands of Fallout 4. This seems to be one of those games that I don’t get around to often, but when I do that one day just gets consumed by all of the quests and adventure. It really is similar to Skyrim, only with guns and a more gloomy atmosphere. Where Skyrim is role playing based around magic spells, dragons and swords, Fallout 4 is about venturing a post nuke world. Both games are very similar, yet give me different emotions when I play. Both are equally fun though in their own ways, no denying that at all.

Dude had a rough night…

I covered a lot of ground today, found a vault and even completed some quests, side quests and helped some random settlers. I didn’t just wander the wasteland like a buffoon as I normally do. 😛

A Cyborg and Robot Sisterhood

During my journey I met up with a robot named Ada. Her and I beat up some ghouls before I decided to call it quits.

I have come to the conclusion that Ghouls and Draugr are both relatives in between these universes. Both are enemies that are destined to fall at my blade. I will say that I really needed to play this, I’ve played too much of the newer Tomb Raider games recently, and I kept trying to use the controls from those games in this one as well as a couple of other ones I’ve revisited recently (TF2 the other night was awkward).

A ritual Beavis would surely approve of

I think the most rewarding part of the game though was encountering my first radscorpion, and introducing it to my friendly neighborhood rocket launcher. The monster was no more… unless you count me in the fiery distance. 😛

I’m thinking tomorrow I’ll go back to Quantum Break for a bit instead; been meaning to advance on that one for awhile but haven’t had a chance.

All in an Overlord's day / Gaming

Sunday Evening Open Thread

On October 26th a mod that I wrote about “Half Life: Year Of The Dragon” was released, and I only remembered that today. I downloaded the game and was bummed to see that it was Windows only. For the hell of it I tried launching it as I already have Wine installed, and aside from there being no in game audio and there being some missing pieces on the HUD it was near flawless. I’ll be sure to play it under Windows at a later date for the full experience. :v:

I also fiddled with epsxe under Linux, as well as another emulator… and I’m kinda bummed by the lack of controller plugins to get my Steam Controller working with it. Granted I have a Dualshock 3 that I could setup but I like the additional buttons I get with the Steam Controller. I haven’t tried it yet, but I heard that there is a PS2 emulator that lets you use both PS1 and PS2 roms, so perhaps some of my old discs and ROMS can be put to the test. I’ll save that for another time… I can only nerd so much in one day.

 

Animation

More content in the pipeline

Surprisingly we had another nice sunny day today, though still a bit balmy… I finished video project #3, animation and everything. I can’t wait to release this one, probably one of my favorites so far due to some particular scenes.

I experimented with Source Filmmaker under Linux via Proton, and I’m both amazed and disappointed. For the most part it works! But you can only export in AVI and much like under Windows it’s just as broken and requires Quicktime (or Quicktime Alternative) in order for it to export as an mp4. I couldn’t seem to figure out how to get around it, or even any information on the subject, which is a shame because as far as running the application things went smoothly.

I guess that means I’m caught up on editing video footage for now… I’ll probably record more tomorrow. 😛

 

All in an Overlord's day / Gaming / Hobbies

Productive day is productive

Got quite a bit accomplished today. Birthday packages have been mailed, my share of the rent has been paid, and I even managed to progress in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider AND get some animating done in SFM. I don’t want to go into details on what it was but I was laughing my ass off at the animation… I don’t know if its because of how stupid it looks, but I like it enough that I’ll be keeping the style in the final product. If I start up again tomorrow I should have all the animation portions sorted tomorrow.

All in an Overlord's day / Gaming / Hobbies1

My week of me time begins

I’m officially on vacation now. The weather was nice, and for my first day of vacation I decided to clean the bedding and take it easy. I even played a bit on the couch today, and even got back to my old roots in TF2. I even got enough junk to craft this butt pirate hat!

I have to say that TF2 has aged considerably well over the years. Hard to believe that it’s over a decade old, though the deliberately cartoony graphics make it timeless.

I also had a nice quiet Halloween. People at work liked my costume, quite a few were baffled by it at the same time. What baffled me though were people telling me my costume was “cute”. I fail to see what is cute about me wearing a metal jaw with a sombrero and poncho. :rick:

As for the rest of the week I haven’t really planned anything special. I just wanted to get away into my own world for awhile. Probably tackle some errands tomorrow, then do something evil. :zorak:

All in an Overlord's day

There isn’t enough time in a day

I had plans to head to the post office today, but the weather had other plans. I only had time to take a stroll down to the bank to make deposits, I’ll probably try tomorrow… and if I don’t get them mailed out then I’ll definitely do it during vacation when I have a large amount of time. :happy:

I did spend some time in SFM this evening, readying myself for some additional animated segments for another upcoming video, I have a lot of ideas for how I want to go about it… but I think this particular project will involve at least talking it over with another person…

I know I’ve said quite a bit that I’m working on videos and haven’t really published anything yet, but that’ll change next week for sure. I already have a video set aside to release on Sunday or Monday, and some others to follow… hopefully. :trollface:

All in an Overlord's day

Amazing what a little sleep will do

I rested so well that I ended up popping out of bed, finally finishing up packages that I need to mail of the birthday variety, did some tidying, took a shower, had a nice brunch, worked on a video and rewarded myself with some more Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. I haven’t had a chance to really play much apart from lunch breaks lately, can’t be all work and no play… It would make me duller than I already am, and we don’t need that. :morty:

All in an Overlord's day

I’ve been busy

The last few days have been particularly soul draining. Work has been wearing me out more mentally than physically lately, and I had to finish up after getting confirmation to pick up an SSD to replace a damaged 5400RPM drive. I have a feeling they’ll be really happy with it,

I had quite a bit that I had planned to do today, but do you ever decide to take a nap to prepare for it, only to find you pretty much into the early evening? Yeah, that happened… and on accident. I came home, made up my bed, had breakfast then went from watching a youtube video to waking up in a cocoon of covers. Of course it did rain today, and something about that particular form of weather places me at a sense of calm.

Of course, now it’s the weekend. Next week I only work two days, then I’ll have vacation to look forward to. I’m not really planning to go anywhere, just need to detox a bit from work is all. Will probably marathon blog all of the stupid shit I plan to do. :rick: