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Crytek Ports CRYENGINE To Linux Support Ahead of Steam Machines Launch

Posted by Unknown on from the getting-crowded-over-here dept.

probain was the first to submit news that Crytek has officially announced the port of their CRYENGINE game engine to Linux and will be demoing it at the Game Developers Conference next week. Quoting: "During presentations and hands-on demos at Crytek's GDC booth, attendees can see for the first time ever full native Linux support in the new CRYENGINE. The CRYENGINE all-in-one game engine is also updated with the innovative features used to recreate the stunning Roman Empire seen in Ryse – including the brand new Physically Based Shading render pipeline, which uses real-world physics simulation to create amazingly realistic lighting and materials in CRYENGINE games."

31 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Cryopreservation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Could this result in cryopreservation becoming mainstream and generating massively increased lifespans for people who are wealthy enough to afford it? Would you trust a for-profit corporation to not pull the plug on you in 30 or 40 years when the new board of directors takes over?

    1. Re:Cryopreservation? by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Funny

      I genuinely want to know what you think you just read.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    2. Re:Cryopreservation? by Jaysyn · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I just want some of whatever he's smoking.

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
    3. Re:Cryopreservation? by SpankiMonki · · Score: 4, Funny

      Could this result in cryopreservation becoming mainstream and generating massively increased lifespans for people who are wealthy enough to afford it? Would you trust a for-profit corporation to not pull the plug on you in 30 or 40 years when the new board of directors takes over?

      Not to mention that this greedy corporation has an unfair market advantage: they've already developed the necessary defrosting technology to re-animate all those wealthy frozen clients,. The government really should look into the activities of this "Steam" business.

  2. I think it's time we all said... by jamlam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thanks Valve!

    1. Re:I think it's time we all said... by Immerman · · Score: 4, Funny

      So long as the cost is paid by Microsoft in the form of decreased OS market share, I don't see the problem.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  3. Linux sales figures by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There's one issue with Linux game sales that I hope these publishers keep in mind. There are a lot of games that they're porting to Linux, where I already bought a copy of the game for Windows. If there had been a Linux version at the time, I would have bought that instead.

    So I hope they don't get the wrong idea when I don't buy certain games. If in the future I know a game I want will be released on Linux within a reasonable time, I'll hold out.

    1. Re:Linux sales figures by houstonbofh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The thing is that as a Linux sale you have no value. You would by the game without the port, so there is no value in porting the game for you. The people of value are the ones who will not by the game unless it has a Linux version. Hopefully, as Linux gaming becomes more viable, less people will be willing to run Windows just to play games. Publishers need to see a financial hit for not supporting Linux before they will spend serious money to do so.

    2. Re:Linux sales figures by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wouldn't it be nice if you could go and download all the ported games that you originally bought for Windows? It would give them a good indication of which Windows purchasers really wanted to have a Linux version in the first place, but only bought the Windows version because a Linux version didn't exist. It would probably show quite a bit of goodwill towards the customers. New game sales should be this way as well. Purchase 1 version, run it on whichever platform is supported.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    3. Re:Linux sales figures by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

      I can't wait for Ryse's publisher to port it to Linux!

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    4. Re:Linux sales figures by camperdave · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I agree with you, but buy the time you decide to by the ported game, they're already obsolete.

      If you've never played it because it was unavailable on your platform, then it's not obsolete. It's brand new.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    5. Re:Linux sales figures by lordofthechia · · Score: 2

      I think there's more value than an extra sale here.

      Valve is offering game developers a single target in Steam OS.

      Right now a game developer has to contend with: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 32bit or 64 bit, various versions of Direct X (different versions of windows are limited to certain Direct X versions). Bug in the OS causing you grief? Submit a request to Microsoft and hope it gets fixed (hah!) or code around it. Getting customers to upgrade to the latest windows is not always feasible due to the cost.

      SteamOS will offer one version. Which version do you support? The latest one. 64 bit or 32 bit? SteamOS is only 64 bit. Bug in the OS affecting your program? You can look up the code, fix it, and submit the patch to Valve. Did you find a fix or setting that'll improve everyone's Steam OS experience? Submit it!

      --
      Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
    6. Re:Linux sales figures by DrGamez · · Score: 5, Informative

      Currently Valve does this, and there are mechanics from within Steam to facilitate this. Games can have "Steam Play", which means if you can install Steam on that machine - you should (in theory) be able to play the game on that machine.

      Any game you buy that has "Steam Play" enabled lets you download whatever version appropriate for your system. For example, Portal 2 is (or has been) releasing for Linux recently, and if you've bought the Windows version, you do not need to now go and buy the Linux version, you just click to install it while on your Linux box.

      I'm really hoping developers will use this - even for their years-old games, because the point brought up a few replies back by DoofusOfDeath is true. I really hope some of the first newcomers to the Linux marketplace won't be turned off because a port of their 7 year old game didn't sell as well as their Windows counter-part did.

    7. Re:Linux sales figures by grumbel · · Score: 3, Informative

      Wouldn't it be nice if you could go and download all the ported games that you originally bought for Windows?

      With Steam you can do that. If you bought a game there, Steam gives you all the different OS versions there are and all the languages the game was released in. There are other shops (most annoyingly GOG) that won't give you a Linux version, even if it's available, but as long as you bought the game is on Steam or activated it on Steam with a key you'll be fine.

    8. Re:Linux sales figures by tepples · · Score: 2

      Wouldn't it be nice if you could go and download all the ported games that you originally bought for Windows?

      "Buy" a game in Steam for Windows, and your copy of Steam for Linux using the same credentials will get the port once it's published. And vice versa.

    9. Re:Linux sales figures by NickFortune · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think there's more value than an extra sale here.

      Valve is offering game developers a single target in Steam OS.

      Your're not wrong - but I think there's more to it than that, even.

      Valve's concern is Microsoft's app store. They feel that MS are looking to lock down the platform, Apple style, and use the Ap store to charge a surcharge on any software installed, and to control what can and cannot be released. That impacts Valve both as a game developer, and as a distributor via Steam. I seem to recall they went on record to that effect not so long ago.

      So Valve are throwing resources at turning Linux into a viable gaming platform. It's an investment in the future for them. And from the look of it, Crytek have come to more or less the same conclusion.

      That's how I read it, anyway.

      --
      Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!
  4. Is gaming on Linux actually going to take off? by realmolo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It almost seems like it's finally going to happen. Amazing.

    Now we just need to standardize on a desktop environment, and Linux will actually be a nice OS for the masses. /cue the "But choice is good!" crowd. Yeah, choice is good, but fragmentation is FAR worse than having no choices, when it comes to operating systems.

    1. Re:Is gaming on Linux actually going to take off? by NotDrWho · · Score: 2, Funny

      It almost seems like it's finally going to happen

      Not on your distro. Sorry.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    2. Re:Is gaming on Linux actually going to take off? by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 2

      And we don't want it to happen. Fragmentation is not a real problem compared to the advantages of organic growth rates. Choice is a good thing.

    3. Re:Is gaming on Linux actually going to take off? by jedidiah · · Score: 3, Informative

      > Really, all you have to do is kick the X11 and all the craziness from the window managers

      SteamOS is doing nothing of the sort. It's little moe more than a bespoke version of Debian. It is essentially SteamBuntu.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    4. Re:Is gaming on Linux actually going to take off? by petermgreen · · Score: 2

      As I understand it steam mostly ignores the distros package management, there are a handful of libraries expected to be supplied by the OS, some more supplied by the "steam runtime" and for anything else game devs are expected to bring their own.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    5. Re:Is gaming on Linux actually going to take off? by rafjaimes · · Score: 2

      If you were a big fan of GNOME2 why didn't you just go with MATE or Cinnamon?

    6. Re:Is gaming on Linux actually going to take off? by msh104 · · Score: 2

      Which is actually the smart thing to do.

      This will make it significantly easier for steam to support multiple linux versions in the future
      And the (binary) games actually don't break as fast when upgrading your OS.

  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. Re:A 10 year old rendering engine? by Spad · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, this is CRYENGINE not CryEngine.

    It's basically CryEngine 4, but they decided to drop the number and capitalise the lot, apparently because of how big a departure it is from CryEngines 1 through 3.

  7. Only a Matter of Time Now by The+Cat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Linux will be the premier gaming platform on the PC and on its own console, and Valve will be the company that made it happen.

    This will have nothing but positive effects on the quality of games, the tools required to make those games, the educational possibilities for developers through shared source, and there will be spinoff effects for Android and OS X.

    Tremendously exciting time to be a Linux developer. Glad we stuck with it.

    1. Re:Only a Matter of Time Now by xororand · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A stable driver ABI would lead to more proprietary drivers and nobody wants that.
      Proprietary drivers are usually only supported for a few years before the vendor drops them to increase the sales of new hardware.
      In the meantime, almost all libre drivers in Linux enjoy support for decades, on a large number of system architectures.

    2. Re:Only a Matter of Time Now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think you're missing the point *entirely*. If the ABI is stable, it's in fact much harder for vendors to drop a proprietary driver. They just continue working, and therefore the old videocards do.

      OTOH, if Linux introduces a new ABI every 6 months, a vendor can simply support that new ABI for its current products. That keeps the blame for "dropping support" of old hardware fully on the Linux side. The vendor just gets to sell new hardware without recriminations.

  8. Reruns by tepples · · Score: 2
    Swapping "buy" and "by":

    by the time you decide to buy the ported game, they're already obsolete.

    Tell that to Nintendo, whose Virtual Console prints money. And tell that to Turner Classic Movies, TV Land, and Antenna TV, television networks that specialize in reruns.

  9. Re:Hmm by lordofthechia · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Except the Linux community isn't expecting you to support SteamOS alone, they want you to support Linux at large

    As part of the Linux community, I'll have to disagree. This also came up the last time Steam on Linux was discussed . As was concluded there, each distro can implement their own package that installs steam and any missing dependencies necessary to get it to work. Alternatively, the user can devote a small partition to Steam OS and switch out when they're done working for the day and want to game instead. In fact, the user can install SteamOS and separately install the steam client in their main distro and have them both share the same game install folder and only boot into SteamOS when a game isn't working as well as expected in their favored distro.

    That said the developer can just choose to support SteamOS and leave it at that. As a *bonus* the game should work in other Linux distros.

    --
    Georgia Tech, the leader in Chia(tm) technology.
  10. Sort of by KingMotley · · Score: 2

    "Steam Play" doesn't mean that you should in theory be able to play the game on any machine you can install steam on. It means that you get a license to play the game on any OS they have a version for. Many games have a version of windows and mac, which would be available for steam play, even if there isn't a version for linux.

    Also, steam runs on iOS, and can't install any games at all.