Aces II on linux

[cos^]

Heh I'd like to see those benchmarks and who made them. 

Well, here are some. Google finds more:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=860&num=1

http://linuxreviews.org/games/2004-10-07_doom3_Benchmarks/

http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/07/sl-speed-showdo.html

http://www.michaellarabel.com/index.php?k=blog&i=164

It's clear that in most cases Windows performance is better, but the difference is not huge. In AH2 case, it's negligible.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Well, here are some. Google finds more:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=860&num=1

http://linuxreviews.org/games/2004-10-07_doom3_Benchmarks/

http://www.secondlifeherald.com/slh/2007/07/sl-speed-showdo.html

http://www.michaellarabel.com/index.php?k=blog&i=164

It's clear that in most cases Windows performance is better, but the difference is not huge. In AH2 case, it's negligible.

From the first site of your links:



shows Windows single card outperforms SLI in linux. That's not negligible IMO.

Of course AH2 is a bit special case since it's CPU not GPU bound.

[cos^]

Looks like SLI was broken on Linux when the test was made, September 26, 2007. I don't know about current situation.

Anyway this discussion is off-topic. Performance won't be an issue for AH2 and i'm still waiting for confirmation about the Cedega status.

[cos^]

Update: I borrowed friend's cedega account, and looks like AH2 works perfectly in offline mode. You'll just need to use cedega engine version 6.0.

This doesn't mean it works online (there may be some failing cheat detection code or stuff like that) but looks like i'll have to subscribe to find out.

[Irwink!]

It works online, at least it did a year or so ago running PCLinux and the Cedega 6.0 engine. And for me at least there was a noticeable performance hit as compared to the performance in Windows using the same box. That particular box employed an E6700 proc, single 7900GS vid card, 2G ram. I also had problems with recognition of preferred usb joysticks and headset/mics. While I might have been able over time to solve the latter problems, the performance hit was great enough for me to not spend any more time with it.

The only other Windows game I tried using Cedega was Far Cry. The performance degradation was similar, perhaps even greater than that with AHII.     

[Vulgar]

1azbaer you can use qjoypad with linux to map keystrokes to the buttons or hat on a joystick. There are a few others out there, but I have found qjoypad to work the best. I had the same problem with getting the hat to work with the TargetWare linux release.

http://qjoypad.sourceforge.net/

Really is a shame that AH does not provide a mac, linux, windblows release like TargetWare. Unfortunatly development at targetware is nearly non-existant, yet still has potential if the lead programer would get back to work.

You may want to check out Gentoo. A very configurable flavor of linux. I get more performance with Gentoo due to the nearly unlimited methods of configurability specificaly for your hardware. Not to mention only installing what you want, rather than the package deal of the Ubuntu's. The Ubuntu's are more for the average user that does not have the need or know how to actualy use all the tuning features available with linux.

Gentoo also has one of if not the best forums for linux tuning and a good wiki. In fact they have a wiki on qjoypad.

http://www.gentoo-wiki.info/Joystick/Joystick_as_Mouse

http://www.gentoo.org/

Vulgar

[cos^]

I got both Cedega and AH2 accounts. Online works also flawlessly.  See you in the skies!

[RTHolmes]

If linux would get a working games support MS would be pwned in an instant.

it has done for ages, as long as the game is written in OpenGL rather than DX. (eg. Americas Army, although they no longer do a Linux port ) you can appreciate why MS wont ever port DX to Linux...

[MrRiplEy[H]]

it has done for ages, as long as the game is written in OpenGL rather than DX. (eg. Americas Army, although they no longer do a Linux port ) you can appreciate why MS wont ever port DX to Linux...

Let me rephrase that: windows game support - as long as linux users are so rare nobody's going to waste time porting for it.

[RTHolmes]

You would think so, but...

AA is a good example. When they released Windows and Linux versions, the development team was about 30 strong. One guy alone ported the AA client to Linux over numerous releases. So ~1/30 of the dev budget (~3.5%) spent on the Linux client means if Linux users are 3.5% of the userbase, the Linux port costs no more than the Windows version to release.

In fact its better than that, Icculus (the Linux dev) ported the Linux client part-time, because he was also on the Linux Server team (the AA server runs on Linux). Figure his time spent equally between Server and Client versions and you only need ~1.8% of the userbase running Linux to make the port cost effective. Of course development costs are only a part of the costbase for a game (add Marketing etc.) so the real % of Linux users required is far lower.

The argument for a MacOS X version is even more compelling because the market share is higher, releasing all 3 ports offers the best bang for dev buck

[gpwurzel]

I have to admit, if AH came with a linux version, I'd be on it super rapido style (even if I had to pay more per month)


Wurzel

[Vulgar]

The Linux user base would increase if Linux releases were actually available. Simply put, people are sick and tired of M$ OS's and would, and should be able to use an alternative OS. This forced monopoly by M$ and developers needs to end.

I am sick and tired of being forced to use an OS that is pure crap, and expensive. Right now I only have windblows on one machine for aces high. Sucks that I have to spend money and deal with all the work and frustration with dealing with vista just to play one game.

So when people say that AH is only $15 a month. This is not true. I must pay for Vista then I have to upgrade to the fastest machine to run Vista just to play AH.  So this year alone it has cost me nearly a $1,000 just to play AH. So it is really costing me in excess of $140 a month just to play AH. Remember we need a fast internet connection also.

This exorbitant  and forced cost to play AH should really be taken into account by the powers to be at AH. Please give us a break on the cost to play and provide a Linux release.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Ah runs fine on $500 computer and Vista so this is not really true you could have sufficed with half the cost.

It's when you want other games that the real expense comes to play.

[cos^]

Update: i've been playing AH2 online now for few days in Linux. FPS is good (about 60 with default settings), but audio quality is not as good as it should be. Especially voice radio is sometimes impossible to understand. Do other Linux users have the same issue or is it just my setup?

About the Linux development issue: Linux and Mac are almost the same from developers perspective. If you have a Mac version, a Linux version is trivial to make and vice versa.

For example WW2OL developers have ported their Mac version to run on Linux 'just for fun'. Unfortunately they never released it. For AH2 largest problem for Mac/Linux port is the decision to use DirectX instead of OpenGL for graphics. This is a good example of "vendor lock-in" - they'll need to rewrite the whole graphics engine to get the game ported to other platforms.

[RTHolmes]

true, my back-of-envelope calculations for porting costs above depend on 3 things - highly portable code base (ie OpenGL), lead developer who is comfortable working on multiple OSs, and a large enough dev team to absorb the porting devs. AH doesnt have 1 or 3, not sure about 2, so its not really an option for HTC