Linux

I Learned A Lot About Borderlands 2 This Evening

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Tonight I sat down and played a long overdue session of Borderlands 2. I wanted to do a recording as I do with a lot of things that I play, and as per tradition the encoder in OBS was overloaded, even on settings I usually use. Out of curiosity I decided to use the same settings under the Linux version, and while I’m happy to say that it worked perfectly out of the box with only a slightly lower framerate, the client itself seems to have become a time capsule of sorts of early adventures in Linux porting. I copied my Windows save over to the Linux side and found that my shield and certain weapons were missing, items that happened to be in the Commander Lilith DLC which they never ported outside of Windows (along with some other DLC packs).

Our content is in another castle

I did some further investigation and found that Aspyr is working on an update for the Linux and Mac clients, but until then if I want to play the Linux version it has to be with other Linux and Mac users on a much more ancient build of the game. I have to confess; finding that out after getting a successful recording under Linux was kind of a kick in the crotch to me. I have all of this power and capability now, squandered by missing content, alas… At least they’re working on it though, maybe if we’re lucky they’ll update the graphics a bit? (For the record D3D9 = DirectX 9 and OpenGL is OpenGL)

D3D9
OpenGL
D3D9
OpenGL

It isn’t a dealbreaker or anything, but if Valve can get their games running under Linux with little to no visual sacrifice, then Randy Bitchford should be able to part with some of his Bitchford Bucks to pay for a better Linux experience (though I do like the ad free experience in the old version.  :v ). That said, I was reading the Linux requirements and found that AMD and Intel GPU’s aren’t officially supported (Fuck NVidia). I wonder what an NVidia GPU under Linux would look like? Perhaps something for a future project on my gaming laptop.

Meanwhile, back in Windows; I researched that a bit as well and found some interesting tips that seem to get rid of the encoding problem, at least for my setup. Disabling Ambient Occlusion and switching from borderless window to fullscreen seemed to do the trick. I’m not sure why, but switching from borderless to fullscreen increased my framerate (the opposite if what I would expect), and disabling AO made the encoder overload error go away, at least for local recordings. The true test will be recording and livestreaming it at the same time. If I can do that then my soul will be at peace… until NVidia fucks it up again.

If you’re looking to make some tweaks to your install, no matter what OS platform you’re on I highly recommend the PC Gaming Wiki. They’ve helped me fix up a couple of games thanks to their community provided tips and tricks!

Weekend Of Linux Stuffs

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My attempts to try and run this game into the ground have been futile. Other than issues with FOV during cutscenes Devil May Cry 5 continues to run, and at decent framerates despite the eyecandy being cranked to max. My attempts to mod this game on the other hand have proven to be a bit of an issue… I can install and run Vortex, but it only renders as a black window. I can also run Fluffy Manager 5000 but for some reason it doesn’t see the mod folder. Modding will take further science, but aside from that I’m still impressed with how well Devil May Cry 5 performs.

I’m also happy to report that I finally finished the 4th and final part of the Skyrim saga! I’m going to work on the video thumbnails tomorrow, and from there work out release dates, and of course start project prep for the Broforce vids.

I think I have everything pieced together the way I like. I’m running xfce with two tool bars. The one on the bottom is my Linux studio tools. I even installed Photoshop for shits and giggles, and the once in a blue moon chance I decide to use it. It kinda feels mac-ish sitting there on the desktop like that, only cooler looking because I’m outside of their walled garden. 😛

Now… I wonder what would be good for a future Linux livestream. 😛

Add Devil May Cry 5 To The List Of Recommended Playable Linux/Proton Games

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Well… I might not be able to get the first three DMC games to run under Proton, but their latest game DMC5 runs almost perfectly. I’ve only played three levels, but so far it has been just as stable as it is under Windows. The only problem that I’ve found is that it has issues rendering FOV and background/foreground blur during cutscenes.

Graphical glitches aside; DMC5 has been just as impressive performance wise as the RE2 remake. Next time I play I’ll see how it handles recording and mods, though something tells me the latter will be identical in process to Windows.

MangoHUD is Sabrosa

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One of my favorite websites to read is GamingOnLinux, and recently they had an article about MangoHUD. I compiled it to try today, and I have to say it’s pretty nifty.

MangoHUD lets you view your CPU/GPU stats on the fly, and it also reports what API your game is currently using.

This could come in handy for benchmarking purposes. There are more ways to configure it, including an optional GUI you can install separately called goverlay..

I might look into doing some comparison videos on Windows vs Linux performance as I continue to perfect my Linux Gaming studio. Given that I can record Vulkan (under certain conditions) things are looking on the up and up.

Okami Plays Nicely With Proton… Kinda

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When Proton was brand new I remember Okami being among one of the first titles I tried to run, but never to any success. I’m happy to say that has changed, at least with Proton 5.0 hard at work. The only problem I’ve found with it is a random crash that can occur at anytime during any particular cutscene, and given that you have to manually save at certain locations this can be a little annoying if you’ve covered a lot of ground and barely made it to a save point before crashing. Still, it’s much further along than it was when Proton was in its infancy.

Now that I know how well it performs on my desktop I’ll have to install it on the laptop to see how Proton handles the game on an NVidia GPU… because science!

Giving Myself A Heart Attack

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I did a big oops recently. I saved a good chunk of my Windows and Linux data folders, but somehow when I transferred my Home folders over to another drive my Shotcut projects didn’t make it. Fortunately I had an even older backup from when I did a Mint reinstall for the previous build. It’s a bit more raw but I won’t have to do nearly as much work. I still don’t know how I missed those fucking files, maaaan was I livid. I probably would have said fuck it, saved the assets for later and moved onto the next project out of frustration. My previous save is a little more raw compared to what I had back in Mint, but it’s all a matter of just piecing things together and playing with audio levels. At the very least I managed to save all of my assets.

On the plus side I rendered the above video clip (the “cold opening” to one of the Skyrim videos) at 1080p 60fps with Lossless settings using the h.265 codec, and had it complete in about 3:25 minutes; safe to say that  the 3900x is doing a good job.

Serious Sam: The Friendly Encounter

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Hai guys

One of my favorite things to do at the start of Second Encounter (Fusion Beta 2017) is to lure enemies into the lake. They don’t know how to swim, and eventually they’ll explode into blood or pretty flowers and fruit depending on how you have the game set… that’s usually how it goes anyway, with the exception of this fellow.

Dat ass

I tried to entice him to go after me, but all he wanted to do was stand around,. I did manage to knock him into the water thanks to another Gnaar and strategic placement.

Of course, the Gnaar wasn’t the only one being friendly with me. I made my way through the canyon and ran across this guy, standing around not doing his fucking job of trying to kill me!

 

That’s Quite The Operation…

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I decided to test Dark Souls Remastered to see if it would run under Linux and when I went to make a female warrior this was the default result… I’m not sure if I want this to be its own character or not now. I mean she looks horrifying enough to take on any Hollow. I named her “wtf”.

Resident Evil 2 Plays Peachy Under Linux

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I played RE2 a little bit under Linux last night, and surprisingly it runs almost as if it was natively released for the platform. I turned up everything I could, making sure to utilize as much of the GPU as possible, and it didn’t crash once. I always like seeing newer titles with few flaws working under Proton/Linux.

I’ve been experimenting with OBS recordings, as it appears that unlike the Windows version of OBS I’m able to record games that use the Vulkan API. I tested it earlier with DOOM, and while it did record it did also overload the encoder. I didn’t have time to test Resident Evil 2 and other games running through Vulkan, but now that I have a fully loaded OBS to record with under Linux I’ll have to do some more science.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Runs Better Under Linux?

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I stumbled across this in my RSS feed the other day, and as someone who traverses between Windows and Linux frequently I was quite happy to read about this. Apparently if you own an AMD GPU then congratulations, you’ll have better performance under Linux rather than Windows .

The fact there is no native Linux client for RDR2 and there is a considerable amount of performance compared to Windows is both hilarious and impressive at the same time. May we see more results as above.