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UT 2003 Client For Linux?
Thomas A. Anderson writes "Although not officially supported, there is a very interesting post here from Mark Rein (VP of Marketing for Epic Games) that says UT 2003 client *already* runs on linux, and that it *might* be released close after the windows client. Let's all support Epic on this...
Background: Back in April, on an IRC chat, Mark Rein stated that a linux server will happen, but the chance of linux and mac clients were a qualified "likely". He stated something similar in a chat in August. All the chat logs are interesting reads..."
Funny how linux on the desktop was supposed to be a dead horse? Way to go Epic, put me down for a copy of UT2003! Check's on the way.
Digit
"Well hello there Charlie Brown, you blockhead." -- Lucy Van Pelt
if the Linux client is already working why should the users have to wait for it to be released? Don't they understand that is just an unnecessary hassle for Linux users who want to play their game?
Release the Windows client on CD, make the Linux client available on the www/FTP, and be done w/it. Most people are going to buy the CD for Windows anyway, the Linux people are quite familiar w/downloading their own clients from the web.
Just do it.
Because now players won't use the lame excuse when they're losing the deathmatch:
"Sorry my game froze, I had to reboot"
Great, now I have crank on linux and windows. Home life is now gone, along with all work productivity.
Neck_of_the_Woods
#/usr/local/surf/glassy/overhead
Is to make sure we have driver support for our ATI 9700's so that we can actually play it.
Well Mac OS X is a version of BSD so I would assume that all thier work to get it to run on a mac will make it a lot easier to port to BSD than from starting from scratch so lets hope so. Now that Mac is BSD based I would think this would lend itself to more titles that get ported over to the mac to be ported to other *nix types, not guaranteed but I hope more likely. I was actually in Fry's this weekend and blown away by how many Mac OS X games there are out there, the problem for the first gen ones were they were mostly carbon ports but as more are more Cocoa ports I think we will see more *nix commercial games, or this could all be wishful thinking.
Well, I am definitely looking forward to getting my hands on UT 2k3, if only to see how far I can mod it.... However, I fear that it will be completely overshadowed by Battlefield 1942 sales (which will go hand in hand with sales for new video cards to handle the hardware T&L requirements). Not that it's a bad thing, because Battlefield may wind up being a far superior game in most aspects.
This news about the Linux client, however, is really surprising. Lately, I've heard much more about centering development around DirectX in order to save on a humongous chunck of development time for the X-Box on the Unreal Engine as a whole. Something along the lines of "Why bother with OpenGL, when DirectX does everything we need and more" seems very familiar to me....
Will the Linux version cost less because they're not offering tech support with it. or will it just be community-support-based, like every other product? And, if it is going to be community based, are they going to "provide the space"?
I can understand why no tech support - every user has 1239880198231 different configurations. But it seems that if they're not going to be providing a valuable source of information (just because you're a geek doesn't mean you've never called tech support, everyone has), they ought to do two things: A) Establish a community space for the Linux Gamers on their site to allow questions that pertain to the Linux Version(s) to be answered and/or B) provide source for some pieces of the program.
Since most people use these types of games to play online anyway, if they have a secure system for validating keys (see battle.net), they shouldn't have to worry about open-sourcing parts of (or the entire) client.
And please, don't bother replying with, "And it'll also come out when I root your boxen."
:)
EPIC is going to release a Linux client for the next version of Unreal Tournament, why should we care? It's pointless to get overjoyed by this semi announcement. I mean it's not officially supported. It only works with NVidia cards and it won't show other companies that people want Linux games.
Linux needs applications that can be purchased directly as Linux apps.
In order for Linux to goto the next level we need UT2003 to be supported and sold in a Linux version. Just being able to download the Linux binaries will not bring Linux to the next level. Software companies don't care how many times epic had the Linux binaries downloaded they care how many copies Linux UT2003 sold in the market And yes I do understand that when Quake3Arena had a Linux version it wasn't all that successful but that had to do with a couple of reasons. Unless companies see that Linux apps and Linux games sell Linux will just be a webserver or hacker toy.
I love using Linux, BSD and the like but just being able to download the binaries gets us no where. id has been releasing the quake binaries for a while as was the first version of UT able to be played on Linux. Being happy that a company is releasing semi working Linux binaries for download it nothing to cheer about, you should be pissed that epic doesn't trust the game enough to release it to Linux.
Don't waste your money unnecessarily; I plan on sticking with the demo unless I find a really good reason to buy it.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
...doesn't mean it's ready for release. It means that they have a source tree that compiles and largely executes under multiple platforms.
There's quirks, etc. from the Windows side that invariably slip into the mix that render code written to be cross-platform unstable. Those bits of code have to be found out (unless you're coding 100% for all the target platforms...) and fixed before release or you have something buggy as hell out there.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I play UT every single day and have the windows version because i wanted it pronto, not a couple of months after it was released. I wont be buying the windows version this time cause i havent a single windows disc or installation (except a couple of beer coasters, pretty stained they are).
If there are a linux client avaliable what keeps them from releasing it. A popular game like UT should give a pretty good picture of how much interest there is in linux and gaming if they realese them at the same time.
If they realese windows version first many ppl will buy the windows version just so they can play the darn game. Thus linux user copies showing up as windows copies.
HTTP/1.1 400
Hey, screw you pal. I never for once said I wanted it for free so fuck off. I'm fully willing to pay for games... Unless you didn't read the whole post, you would have noticed that I said I would _BUY_ GameCube games. That takes money... I'm not the only person out there that is willing to shell out the bucks for a Linux version of a game. Get your shit straight or don't bother saying anything.
And we read Slashdot. :P
You're busted warezmonkey!
There goes all hope of saying that converting to Linux will help productivity.
----------
I am an expert in electricity. My father held the chair of applied electricity at the state prision.
...and there's a reason that iD isn't releasing a *nix version of Doom 3: the market just isn't there. It's nice to cater to a niche audience, but these are big companies with a lot of outlay to recoup and they're not losing anything but not releasing a *nux version of their games as everyone dual-boots.
The game's pretty and it runs almost as fast as Unreal Tournament while being noticably prettier (at least the alpha leak does on my computer or so I might say if I had gotten a copy of it). I can't wait to get my hands on a real copy of it.
Easy does it!
This comment has been submitted already, 276865 hours , 59 minutes ago. No need to try again.
Not to be an ass, but I would like to know why people choose to run Linux when there are more apps and better driver support under Windows? Yes, I know that you can run some Windows apps flawlessly under emulation, but can you cite one good reason why you run Linux on your DESKTOP computer when Windows is available? Linux makes an excellent server OS, but the only reason I can see to run Linux on my desktop workstation is simply for additional elitism. It doesn't do anything that Windows doesn't already do.
Please know that I am not bashing Linux. I think its a great OS. I simply want to know why people run it as opposed to Windows on their desktop PC when Windows has far greater support for new apps and hardware.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
I'd like a CD with both clients and a registration card asking me which one is my primary gaming platform.
Hear, hear.
This would guarantee that all versions were widely stocked, at no extra charge to the gaming stores, and the registration card (or an "OS ID" string transmitted by the binary) would tell the company how popular each OS choice was with their gamers.
The only problem being that, as per a previous post, the OpenGL (read: non-Windows) versions are still buggy. Oh well.
LOL RTFA AFAIK UT2k3 == Unreal Tournament 2003 ..... Oh wait, you didn't want abrv. guess u'll have to look someplace other than /. for that, :(
[to moderators, the above was a joke, no persons or things were intened to be offended]
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Most of my mac games that have PC counterparts are better than the PC versions of games. Lots of bugs in the sound a graphics are often fixed. The features that get added after the windows version is shipped that windows users have to download ususaly come on the disk. I haven't toyed arround with Linux ports, but I would immagine it should be the same. It only makes sense
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
It's *NIX not Lin *
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
A few of us play Unreal Tournament after work sometimes, and even on our old machines (P3 450, TNT2Ultra, 376meg of RAM) it ran fine. Now that we have P4 1.9GHz machines with GeForce 2s and 3/4gig of RAM, it absolutely flies.
Perhaps a tad more realistically, I've run both UT and Q3 on my home machine, which at that time was a P3 700 with 96meg of RAM and the previously-mentioned TNT2Ultra (my card, once I bought a GeForce 3 for home I put the TNT2 in my work machine). Qualatively, performance of both games was identical under both Linux and Windows 98. That's using the NVidia drivers, of course; I'm not sure how good the XFree ones are, as I stopped using them after NVidia started releasing theirs.
Cheers,
Tim
It's official. Most of you are morons.
/The only problem with porting is Direct3D->OpenGL/
I'd imagine that, like the original, there'll be an OpenGL option as well as a Direct3D one (iirc, the original shipped with software, Glide, OGL and D3D support, and an early update added HotMetal support (or whatever the S3 one was called...)).
I thought that the Linux client was the latest version - I'm running 4.36 under Linux, isn't that the latest? Anyway, I agree with you - performance, at least with an NVidia card, is comparable with that under Windows.
I too will buy UT2003, probably shortly after it's released, whether there's a Linux version or not. I'd love for there to be one, and I'd love to be able to go into a retailer and buy the Linux version specifically, but failing that, I'll be happy to play it under Windows.
Cheers,
Tim
It's official. Most of you are morons.
I agree... And even then, it is still rediculous that they can't package the game with a fully-functional install script. It takes 15 minutes to write one. It is crazy to require an installation of WINE (or better yet, Windows) to install a game. Scratch that- It is downright idiotic.
They think that they are doing us some favor by releasing this game. I know that someone is going to say "Well, they don't owe you Linux users anything!"... Maybe so... But the least that these guys could do is not mislead people into buying their stuff. I might sound angry about this whole thing. I am angry, because I am sick of excuses.
So, Epic. I appreciate the fact that you are claiming that you will release these binaries. Maybe all of those posts on happypenguin about disgruntled gamers claiming that they wouldn't run your servers if you didn't release a client program made some sense. But don't try to get us to buy the game and then turn around and release it 6 months later (Ahem... BioWare, no excuses can make your customers any happier about it).
Perhaps if developers would start *designing multiplatform games from the ground up* then they could increase profits and help make alternative OS's (e.g. non-Windows) viable platforms for gaming.
"It's really easy to support all 3 OSes if you start from the beginning with that in mind." -Raybondo of Guild Software.
Check out screenshot of their *multi-platform* demo for a space MMORPG called "Vendetta" at Guild Software's Vendetta Page.
Another great game that is available on all three platforms is Space Tripper. Developers; Take a note from this 2 man development team on how to make *excellent* multi-platform OpenGL games. I played the demo, and within 10 minutes I was ordering the full version from them.
Hopefully Epic spent some of the effort in getting it running on Linux to get it working under Mac OS X. That would be far more appealing than kicking the PC code to Westlake Interactive and letting Mark / Glenda Adams (he / she, think Dan Bunten revisited) work a semifunctional port.
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
With enough memory (I'm running 512MB), you can even run the games on a separate X11 session so you can flip back to your 'desktop' x session to check up with IRC, Gaim, etc.
1. Stability.
I've had Win2K freeze up on me a couple of time -- taking down the entire system. Vanilla Win2K installs, too. Nothing by Windows and Office 2K.
I've only had Linux take down a system once, and that was due to faulty hardware (fan on CPU died).
I *HAVE* had KDE and Gnome hang, but I can always SSH in an kill the task.
2. Cost
Win2K or WinXP costs quite a bit of $$. So do many of the apps. Granted, I *DO* use OpenOffice on both Windows and Linux most other OpenSource apps require Cygwin or some other destabilizing hack to work on Windows.
For example, PostgreSQL is free and combined with the small fee to The Kompany for Rekall, it can save a company THOUSANDS over MS Access, or even MS SQL Server.
Kivio is another example. It is a wonderful tool for diagramming. Priced Visio lately? Ouch! All Kivio needs is Visio import/export and I'll be happy. However, since Visio isn't as pervasive as Word/Excel/Powerpoint, most diagrams I get are PDFs anyway so import/export is a minor issue.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Why play any new game that comes out? NWN? Just go play a tabletop campaign. Any FPS? It's basically rehashed Quake. RTS? They're all Command and Conquer clones, anyway.
The point is that there are changes in the genres as they mature. Yeah, UT2003 will basically be pretty Quake, but it's the gameplay experience that will really drive it. From what I've seen, it's gonna blow everything else away, from both a a gameplay and a graphic standpoint. UT2003 is gonna be much more expandable and replayable than Quake ever was. Heck, its predecessor, UT, is still one of the most widely played games out there today. Reason? It's a better game than Quake, period. Quake may have revolutionized the genre, but UT took an already good idea and made it better. UT2003 is gonna do the same.
Why buy new computer when you get probably get someone's Commodore 64 for free?
UT 2003 will have better graphics, sound, and gameplay features than Quake I. Quake I was a great game, but gamers are always looking for the latest and greatest. And I'm sure most gamers are well aware of Quake I, and don't need to be reminded of its existance.
Next time try actually describing what on earth you're talking about in the summary when posting an article. "UT" is not descriptive enough to figure out you meant "unreal tournament". I shouldn't have to read the article to figure out whether or not I want to read the article.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Sweet. UT was always the gameplay king over Q3 - a wider variety of weapons (and weapon secrets, with various right/left combos) excellent level design (remember that monastery on top of an insanely steep mountain, or the assault level on the train?), good taunting `die, bitch' and lots of bonus goodies (Epic released 4 major bonus packs for Unreal Tournamenent). I'll definitely play UT 2003 because all my useful applications are in Linux and frankly I can't be bothered running 2 OSs and rebooting to play the Windows version.
If you're into UT, and you purchased the original Linux UT, then you should definitely check out Return to Na Pali, a single player sequel to the original Unreal that plays using the UT Engine. There's also a patch to allow you to play the original Unreal under UT too. Google is your friend.
This is where I'm glad the company I buy my video hardware from actually pays people to develop drivers for their current hardware that give the same or better performance than Win32 - sorry, as a technical person, performance and OS support matters more to me than a sense of ethics I don't share.
Yes, I'm talking about NVIDIA.
Tux Games is now listing the game here. We will, as always, report the sales of any game from our store as a Linux sale, to try and encourage further porting of Linux products.
Tux Games. Your complete source for native Linux games.