Elite:Dangerous for Linux?

Cmdr Eagleboy · Dec 17, 2017

rlsg said:
Yes and no, but moot overall. The point was porting from Mac OS X version is not necessarily as simple as some might like to think it should be.

I think only point we can definitely make is that porting OpenGL renderer and rest of game to Linux from MacOS version is easier than from Windows version for sure.

It might even have negligible impact to cost.

Problem I will guess is FD has no real long term plans with Linux desktop as gaming platform. And lack of talent to do actual porting internally is real blocker there. If FD would hire someone to do that they would have to figure out do they port other games, or do they take Linux seriously.

Also Linux being around 2% official doesn't help.

robbyp · Dec 17, 2017

There is no business case for it. If there was they would address it.

slaapliedje · Dec 18, 2017

All they need to do is ask Ryan Gordon. Not too long ago he asked people to talk to him about porting a game to Linux, I think he even said he would do it for free. Let us get Icculus on board for a port, maybe even do a proper Vulkan renderer, and make it run better everywhere.

(Except Mac, which switched to Metal)

Cmdr Eagleboy · Dec 18, 2017

slaapliedje said:
All they need to do is ask Ryan Gordon. Not too long ago he asked people to talk to him about porting a game to Linux, I think he even said he would do it for free. Let us get Icculus on board for a port, maybe even do a proper Vulkan renderer, and make it run better everywhere.

(Except Mac, which switched to Metal)

I already informed FD about him. In fact, considering versaility and portability of COBRA engine I am ready to bet it wouldn't be that hard.

However long term Linux support is good question if it makes sense for FD to support. I personally think so considering amount of Linux players into sims and space games, but that's just me.

WR3ND · Dec 18, 2017

Cmdr Eagleboy said:
I already informed FD about him. In fact, considering versaility and portability of COBRA engine I am ready to bet it wouldn't be that hard.

However long term Linux support is good question if it makes sense for FD to support. I personally think so considering amount of Linux players into sims and space games, but that's just me.

I seem to recall some Linux related publication having a picture on the cover that happened to show Elite: Dangerous running on a computer in the background. I don't recall the specifics offhand though, so if someone else does, feel free to chime in.

Anyway, I think you're right. I think this game naturally appeals to many of us which happen to be a bit more computer savvy and independent. I'm sure some of that has to do with Frontier and David Braben as well, though not so much for me specifically, as I never played, nor was I particularly aware of the earlier games before getting Elite: Dangerous. I had of course heard of the Raspberry Pi, being someone who has been interested in Arduino, but hadn't heard of David Braben's involvement in that.

Newt Loranas · Dec 23, 2017

The SOLE reason I am using Windows 10 at the moment is to play Elite Dangerous. The fall win 10 "creators" update has just killed my son's machine and causing all sorts of issues, I don't dare let mine reboot and unlike 7 I can't turn automatic updates off. ALL my other games are installed in Linux and currently neglected because I hate having to constantly reboot and suffer the endless MS updates . Please Please FDev, Give us a linux client

If more games developers produced linux clients that "2%" would steadily rise, probably not quickly at first but slowly and surely.

Newt Loranas · Dec 27, 2017

Looky what I found:

https://davidyat.es/2016/09/08/gpu-passthrough/#part-1-setting-up-passthrough

Passthrough VM ware gaming on Linux

Comandante · Dec 27, 2017

Newt Loranas said:
Looky what I found:

https://davidyat.es/2016/09/08/gpu-passthrough/#part-1-setting-up-passthrough

Passthrough VM ware gaming on Linux

Nice find. Repped.

lenna · Dec 28, 2017

Newt Loranas said:
Looky what I found:

https://davidyat.es/2016/09/08/gpu-passthrough/#part-1-setting-up-passthrough

Passthrough VM ware gaming on Linux

My Internet Security complained about that link so...

Are just a few examples of GPU Pass-through using VM/Ware.

However, I believe Xen can do the same job: https://wiki.xenproject.org/wiki/Xen_VGA_Passthrough.

Noobilite · Jan 1, 2018

Would a low graphics mode that is literally the old 8 bit help get universal unofficial support?

[video=youtube;8IYQvxtOlcE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IYQvxtOlcE[/video]
[video=youtube;iKUaxSBe6oc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKUaxSBe6oc[/video]

It would be cool to have a retro graphics mode in general. You could play it like it was an older version in it's native or native like graphics. It could also act as a compatibility mode/troubleshooting mode for technical issue. They could do the original graphics or a graphics mode for each version of the game to show off the progression of the title. This is assuming it can be done easy and cheap at first.

I keep hearing the issue with wine is shaders. So what if you remove the shaders. Plus if there is a neutral enough mode it could unofficially be usable on more than just linux and mac. It could hypothetically be made so it works on everything in retro mode. 8)

BTW, I tried to make a post on this in a seperate thread and it said it needs moderators approval... Is that a glitch or my lack of posts or something or a forum specific thing. I've been playing Stare Trek Online where the forums have glitches in them and they always give that message when something is messed up and does not actually mean moderation needed. Not sure if this is the same forum type.

Noobilite · Jan 1, 2018

I keep trying to post this but saying it needs moderator approval. I think it might be the same problem as Star trek onlines forums where it doesn't deal with certain normal conditionals correctly and give the moderation message.

But, what about a low graphics mode with old 8 bit graphics to remove problems with compatibility for other systems. I keep hearing shaders are the problem. So what about a graphics mode with no shaders like the original graphics. It would also double down as a nice looking retro mode for players who like it and possibly for troubleshooting etc. If possible make it so it will work on lot of systems natively or via wine just because of the older simpler graphics/code if possible.

Post edit:[video=youtube;iKUaxSBe6oc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKUaxSBe6oc[/video]

BTW, this forum is not posting video links correctly. It's getting an error every time you try to post with one in it.

Noobilite · Jan 1, 2018

I keep trying to post this but saying it needs moderator approval. I think it might be the same problem as Star trek onlines forums where it doesn't deal with certain normal conditionals correctly and give the moderation message.

But, what about a low graphics mode with old 8 bit graphics to remove problems with compatibility for other systems. I keep hearing shaders are the problem. So what about a graphics mode with no shaders like the original graphics. It would also double down as a nice looking retro mode for players who like it and possibly for troubleshooting etc. If possible make it so it will work on lot of systems natively or via wine just because of the older simpler graphics/code if possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKUaxSBe6oc

BTW, this forum is not posting video links correctly. It's getting an error every time you try to post with one in it.

Morbad · Jan 1, 2018

Plenty of ways to virtualize Windows and pass through hardware from within Linux, or with a bare metal hypervisor, so you can run whatever OS you want and only use Windows for games, without ever having to reboot the hardware.

Still, running Windows simultaneously with Linux is still a far cry from native Linux support.

robbyp said:
There is no business case for it. If there was they would address it.

This is ultimately what it comes down to I think.

Newt Loranas said:
The SOLE reason I am using Windows 10 at the moment is to play Elite Dangerous. The fall win 10 "creators" update has just killed my son's machine and causing all sorts of issues, I don't dare let mine reboot and unlike 7 I can't turn automatic updates off.

Unless the platform doesn't have proper Windows 7 support, you should probably go back to that.

I can't think think of any pressing need for Windows 10 unless DX12 is an absolute must and Elite: Dangerous certainly doesn't apply.

Windows 10's telemetry and update policies annoy me so much that I've got Server 2016 (stripped down to the point that the only way to update them is manually via the command line) on two of my DX12 systems rather than Windows 10.

crushdepth · Jan 1, 2018

I heard the Mac version only has one ship (Imperial clipper, because why would you fly anything else).

In the Linux version you have to install the modules of your sidewinder yourself. But there is a handy one-paragraph instruction manual and 5% of the ships systems are randomly broken at any point in time.

Noobilite · Jan 1, 2018

FYI, Fedora 25 with a 1060 3gb vid card. Just got into the single player combat thing with 2.21 staging on playonlinux and the colors are funny but I can see everything. working on seeing if it works without crashing. But I got into it.(I was actually in the cockpit. 8D) Edit: It requires dotnet4.0 and possibly xinput and as stated windows xp mode in wine. also it may help to click options in the launcher and deselect all checked options. I also did not test the launcher dl ability and got it from steam in pol for windows download.

It may have crashed, but working on it to see if there is a way to play. Not that I'm good at that.

When you are at the launcher should it only have combat training available at first. Do you have to complete that to get into the greater game?

Note: It pops up the launcher if you use xp mode... But it's buggy. I can get into setting and install without any other things applied. It also starts up the single player mode but is prone to freezing up. And apparently it only is letting me select, "Play Demo.." I have bought the game and have it registered and everything.. It should let me try to enter the game. Is it because it is only working in xp mode and won't let me try to enter?

Full screen may be a bad idea. If it doesn't work you have to find the file to manually set it from true to false. /home/*****/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Elite_Dangerous/drive_c/users/*****/Local Settings/Application Data/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous/Options/Graphics/DisplaySettings.xml

It also takes a while for the actual screen to pop up(it will be black for a while. I sometimes close it forcefully and restart if it doesn't seem reponsive). I have to let it sit for a bit but I can then play with settings or try to get into the game before it crashes. Trying to find working settings.

fixme:d3d11:d3d11_immediate_context_Flush iface 0x1c2c74 stub!
fixme:mshtml:nsHttpChannelInternal_SetResponseTimeoutEnabled (0xe9f2020)->(0)
fixme:mshtml:nsHttpChannelInternal_SetBlockAuthPrompt (0xe9f2020)->(0)
fixme:mshtml:nsChannel_AsyncOpen2 (0xe9f2020)->(0x184c25d0)
fixme:mshtml:get_listener_container unimplemented event L"unload"
fixme:urlmon:InternetBindInfo_GetBindString not supported string type 20

fixme:d3d11:d3d11_immediate_context_Flush iface 0x1c2c04 stub!
fixme:thread:NtQueryInformationThread ThreadIsIoPending info class not supported yet
fixme:thread:NtQueryInformationThread ThreadIsIoPending info class not supported yet
fixme:thread:NtQueryInformationThread ThreadIsIoPending info class not supported yet
fixme:wtsapi:WTSQuerySessionInformationW Stub (nil) 0xffffffff 4 0x86e628 0x86e618
fixme:mshtml:nsHttpChannelInternal_SetResponseTimeoutEnabled (0xeb1e038)->(0)
fixme:mshtml:nsHttpChannelInternal_SetBlockAuthPrompt (0xeb1e038)->(0)
fixme:mshtml:nsChannel_AsyncOpen2 (0xeb1e038)->(0x1888b630)
fixme:urlmon:InternetBindInfo_GetBindString not supported string type 20
fixme:wtsapi:WTSQuerySessionInformationW Stub (nil) 0xffffffff 4 0x86e628 0x86e618
fixme:mshtml:nsHttpChannelInternal_SetResponseTimeoutEnabled (0xeb331f0)->(0)
fixme:mshtml:nsHttpChannelInternal_SetBlockAuthPrompt (0xeb331f0)->(0)
fixme:mshtml:nsChannel_AsyncOpen2 (0xeb331f0)->(0x57cc2e60)
fixme:urlmon:InternetBindInfo_GetBindString not supported string type 20

Anyone else getting this. 8) This game almost seems like it's playable.

I got all the settings down to lowest in windowed mode and it seems to have stopped crashing but it's all red and grey/black and I can't figure out the controls to do anything. So, I've got into the demo but I"m in the cockpit and trying to figure out how to fly.. So, the game is partially working in linux!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Root>
<TextureQuality>0</TextureQuality>
<LODDistanceScale>0.550000</LODDistanceScale>
<AAMode>0</AAMode>
<ShadowQuality>0</ShadowQuality>
<AOQuality>0</AOQuality>
<BlurEnabled>false</BlurEnabled>
<BloomQuality>0</BloomQuality>
<EnvmapQuality>0</EnvmapQuality>
<MaterialQuality>0</MaterialQuality>
<EnvironmentQuality>0</EnvironmentQuality>
<FXQuality>0</FXQuality>
<OculusPixelsPerDisplayPixel>1.000000</OculusPixelsPerDisplayPixel>
<GalaxyMapQuality>0</GalaxyMapQuality>
</Root>

And I now got it to fullscreen after lowering the setting but still haven't figured out the controls. It might be a problem with the mouse interfacing or the keybindings... not sure yet.

Jaiotu · Jan 1, 2018

crushdepth said:
I heard the Mac version only has one ship (Imperial clipper, because why would you fly anything else).

In the Linux version you have to install the modules of your sidewinder yourself. But there is a handy one-paragraph instruction manual and 5% of the ships systems are randomly broken at any point in time.

In the Mac version you fly your ship with a click wheel. On Linux you fly by typing commands directly into the console ... but you can totally fly via a shell script that will automate everything via cron.

Noobilite · Jan 2, 2018

This stuff is infuriating. People sit and complain all day long but then say they switched over to windows to play something. If they would grow a pair of balls and stop doing it things might actually change. And because you decided playing the gme is more important than something you say you don't agree with everyone else has to suffer because one more windows machine has ticked up on their radar as playing the game. You not only increase the windows users but decrease the linux users statistically... Everyone who does this is their own problem. And sadly everyone elses. People need to develop some backbone and character and actually act on their conviction and stop being hypocrites. If you don't follow through nothing changes.

On another note, have the makers of this game indicated they would allow a port to be paid for or has anyone asked if there is anything that can be done cheap and easy for unofficial support to get it working in wine? We have this massive thread and like most massive threads not a lot of specifics. Has anyone actually asked... There is always this massive air of mystery about everything. Has anyone just flat out asked if they could get it to work unofficially in a way that doesn't affect anything? I can't even tell in 99% of linux threads. what are the actual reasons for a lack of linux support of functionality? Does anyone actually know? I'v e heard shaders and that is about it. Is there a way to run without the shaders if you really want to? Anything to just play the game? Even if it's not to the full visual experience or similar to windows.

CMDR Sheehy · Jan 2, 2018

crushdepth said:
I heard the Mac version only has one ship (Imperial clipper, because why would you fly anything else).

In the Linux version you have to install the modules of your sidewinder yourself. But there is a handy one-paragraph instruction manual and 5% of the ships systems are randomly broken at any point in time.

Hahaha.

If we were to take the analogy further, on the Windows version you would get regular updates that break things... hey... wait a minute!!!

Noobilite · Jan 2, 2018

I am flying around in the demo as we speak!

Playonlinux: wine: 2.21Staging; dotnet4.0; xinput?; windows xp mode in wine. Edit: needs a 32bit bottle. After launcher opens check options at top and deselect all checked options(this may not be needed). Login and select demo. wait for it to load. if it doesn't, close and reopen. Change normal settings to low if needed for potential stability. Go to option and set keybinds. These will be empty. Start tutorial and fly around.

It may crash while doing these things. Once in a tutorial it seems not to crash as easily.

Don't do fullscreen unless testing. You may have to manually set it back in the files: /home/*****/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Elite_Dangerous/drive_c/users/*****/Local Settings/Application Data/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous/Options/Graphics/DisplaySettings.xml

Anyone know how to get this working in windows 7/10 modes. It may open up the ability to join the actual server. From the hardware report it shows that it shows me in windows xp proffesional and dx9.0. So it may not allow me to join the normal game... Not sure if this is really the reason, but this is my hunch.

Did everyone get this far before. I'm not sure if this is old news or not.

Edit: I'm currently attempting to ram an asteroid, but am failing miserably. Edit: I manage to ram the asteroid, broke the glass, and got a cabin pressure alert. And then shields online..I'm waiting to die. I have possibly successfully killed myself in elite on linux.. 8)

8:41 until death. Enjoy. we can play the demo now! Edit: I can hear myself suffocating. This is great if you are into this sort of things! >< Edit: And sploded!

My corpse now floats silently for eternity in the empty voids of demo space! Am I the first frozen penguin in Elite or have others come before me?!

Tuzmaal · Jan 2, 2018

Noobilite said:
I am flying around in the demo as we speak!

Playonlinux: wine: 2.21Staging; dotnet4.0; xinput?; windows xp mode in wine. After launcher opens check options at top and deselect all checked options. Login and select demo. wait for it to load. if it doesn't, close and reopen. Change normal settings to low if needed for potential stability. Go to option and set keybinds. These will be empty. Start tutorial and fly around.

It may crash while doing these things. Once in a tutorial it seems not to crash as easily.

Don't do fullscreen unless testing. You may have to manually set it back in the files: /home/*****/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/Elite_Dangerous/drive_c/users/*****/Local Settings/Application Data/Frontier Developments/Elite Dangerous/Options/Graphics/DisplaySettings.xml

Anyone know how to get this working in windows 7/10 modes. It may open up the ability to join the actual server. From the hardware report it shows that it shows me in windows xp proffesional and dx9.0. So it may not allow me to join the normal game... Not sure if this is really the reason, but this is my hunch.

Did everyone get this far before. I'm not sure if this is old news or not.

Edit: I'm currently attempting to ram an asteroid, but am failing miserably. Edit: I manage to ram the asteroid, broke the glass and got a cabin pressure alert. And then shields online..I'm waiting to die. I have possibly successfully killed myself in elite on linux.. 8)

8:41 until death. Enjoy. we can play the demo now!

Am I the first frozen penguin in Elite or have others come before me?!

This is a forum... no one can hear you shout fyi