315 fps on Linux port of Left4Dead2

[ThunderRd]

Valve’s optimizations make Linux port of L4D2 outperform Windows version | Ars Technica

[chrisbard]

In other news mario 3d linux ver. beat wind version with 568 fps vs 451 fps. Lol
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[Aedan]

Let's see - The game was originally released at the end of 2009, which means it would have been optimised for DirectX 10.1. The Linux port, freshly optimised, is then compared with a version from 2009?

It'll be interesting to see what happens when they follow through on this sentence from their blog post:

Now that we know the hardware is capable of more performance, we will go back and figure out how to mitigate this effect under Direct3D.

[Aedan]

Incidental, stuff like "We're re-written our memory allocated" makes me nervous from a security perspective - too often memory allocator wrappers cause issues, rather than solve them.

On the other hand, DirectX is slower under Vista and Windows 7 because the OS prevents the graphics driver from running in ring 0to ensure the graphics card isn't being used to break the security of the system - one of the effects of this is that the system can recover from a graphics driver crash. As far as I know, Linux doesn't have anything similar yet - graphics driver crash = dead system. It really should have something, as unfettered graphics card access can be used to root a box.

It's a hot topic on mobile device, as WebGL exposes OpenGL to web pages. We've already seen proof of concept apps that use WebGL to gain stuff like screenshots from your desktop.

Lastly, given the negative press coming out of Valve towards Windows, I suspect this is another part of it.

[ThunderRd]

Originally Posted by Aedan

Let's see - The game was originally released at the end of 2009, which means it would have been optimised for DirectX 10.1. The Linux port, freshly optimised, is then compared with a version from 2009?

It'll be interesting to see what happens when they follow through on this sentence from their blog post:

Meh. Yeah, I thought about that as well. I posted this mainly because I have never seen Linux do more than 300 fps on ANYTHING.

So for me, it was impressive, if only on that meager level If nothing else, it shows that there is increasing interest in getting stuff to work AT ALL on Linux, which is encouraging.

But the bottom line [probably] is, Steam is pissed at Windows 8 for that app store thing. Do you think it will be a profitable venture on Linux?

[Aedan]

I don't know is the short answer to that one. How do you deal with DRM on Linux, given that the platform is generally pretty antiDRM? Steam provides DRM services...

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by Aedan

Let's see - The game was originally released at the end of 2009, which means it would have been optimised for DirectX 10.1. The Linux port, freshly optimised, is then compared with a version from 2009?

It'll be interesting to see what happens when they follow through on this sentence from their blog post:

I'm usually a "the glass is half full, but it's only water!" Kinda guy.":O}

But I'll take that!! I'd be delirious to have a game capability that's only three years behind MS...and what an achievement that would be!

Who else thinks MS is going to pack it in as far as selling OS goes?

I mean here we are talking about games. Why? I think it's because it's the last thing MS can do that Linux really doesn't have an answer for...as yet.

What will the OS world look like when that changes? What will MS be selling as a desktop that isn't available for free?

I'm just gloating...I mean asking...? ":O}

I mean...I just want a better world and MS is never going to give me that...at any price...

But I do enjoy reading the infuriating opinions of others on this topic! LOL

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

I mean here we are talking about games. Why? I think it's because it's the last thing MS can do that Linux really doesn't have an answer for...as yet.

What proportion of gaming is really done on the desktop vs mobile vs console these days?

[Gizmo]

It really depends on who you talk to and what stats you use as to what the market looks like. I think it's safe to say, though, that nVidia and AMD wouldn't be pouring R&D money in to building mondo graphics cards if there wasn't a market for them.

[booman]

May not be profitable at first, but a few years down the road with all of my Source games running in linux would be a future for PC gamers. I don't even care if Valve were to release its own distro (for as much as OSX) to completely support steam games... I would buy it instead of windows.
There is demand because games are still in development for PC's even if they are browser based... they are still there. The only reason I still run Windows is because of my Games.
I have always said "if another operating system runs my games and is cheaper than Windows, I'll go with it"

Look at the Playstation 3, running on Linux and made just for games! Huge success! I know Valve could do it to and make it run on PC's, Tablets and phones.

Keep pushing Valve

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by Aedan

What proportion of gaming is really done on the desktop vs mobile vs console these days?

I really don't know, for me games have always been PC or PS3.

Will MS 8 facilitate games on those devices? Will people pay, if they can get just "Almost as good" for free? Probably, they pay for the MS desktop, but then they pretty much had to for the last two decades.... What dreams may come...?

[booman]

I vote for a Valve distro just like Sony created their own for PS3.
They might as well create a console too before they all die in 10 years.

[Gizmo]

Yellow Dog Linux wasn't developed by Sony; it was developed for the Power architecture LONG before the PS3 was even a prototype, and PORTED to the PS3; it's initial versions had NO cell support, and I'm not sure the cell engine support is all that great even today. Further, the PS3 does NOT RUN linux as it's core OS; in fact, to the best of my knowledge, the PS3 HAS no core OS in the way we normally think of such things.

[booman]

really, very interesting news... so Sony used Yellow Dog Linux and ported it to PS3?
Do you think a company would be able to do something similar with Linux and develop more games for PC just like the PS3?

I don't have a PS3, but if there is no core OS, does it just boot to an interface that launches the game? Is there somewhere I could read a bit more about it?

A programmer friend of mine told me PS3 was running Linux and I was immediately EXCITED! Because that tells me someone could develop games for Linux specifically. I know Sony has their specific chips in the PS3 that helps them to develop games and PCs have a very large amount of hardware scenarios, but if someone like Valve took the time... maybe, just maybe it could happen

[Daniel ~]

Thinking about Booman's idea...

One could conceive of games coming with their own version of Linux that they boot up to when they want to play...

Each destro shaped to fit the games need or just modified off a gaming Linux destro...

Has Linux ever tried to produce a destro specifically for gaming?

[booman]

I havn't heard of one yet because all distros seem to play games in the same respect after you update the video drivers. The difference seems to be the type of hardware and the method of installing drivers/games.

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by booman

really, very interesting news... so Sony used Yellow Dog Linux and ported it to PS3?
Do you think a company would be able to do something similar with Linux and develop more games for PC just like the PS3?

I don't have a PS3, but if there is no core OS, does it just boot to an interface that launches the game? Is there somewhere I could read a bit more about it?

Don't jump up and down too much on this one. The PS3 has both a hypervisor and an OS. The hypervisor is always running, regardless of what OS is running. It prevents direct access to some of the hardware, so under Linux you don't have access to the GPU. However, the current OS doesn't give you the option of running Linux any longer, so it's rather hard to do much.

PS3 Development Wiki

[Daniel ~]

Yeah, I remember the fits people though, I was just getting ready to learn to install Linux to my PS3 when Sony decided I could no longer enjoy my hardware in that way.

They couldn't ask us?