submitted by /u/michaellarabel
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submitted by /u/fsher
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Tags: Feral Interactive, Review, Action, Adventure

Feral Interactive have teamed up with Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix once again to bring a top title to Linux, this time we have Rise of the Tomb Raider.

Disclosure: My key was provided by Feral Interactive ahead of release.

It’s no secret that the Linux port of the previous Tomb Raider had some performance problems, some of which were improved with a patch after release. I’m pleased to say that with Rise of the Tomb Raider, Feral Interactive have done an incredible job overall.

Even though the Linux release is coming in a good while after the Windows release, we do get the 20 Year Celebration edition which includes all the DLC. So we have the complete edition right away along with all the polish that was put into it since release.

Benchmarks

First up, let's see how well it runs with the settings on the absolute maximum, with the different AA options that are possible. Do note, that the game itself warns you that SSAA is very heavy and will reduce performance a lot. Also, Pure Hair is turned on by default for all options above the Low preset. The different presets, even the highest preset actually leaves a few options lower than the maximum, so I manually put them up for these tests. Another note about this: the Very High textures option in use for these first tests, does require a GPU on Linux to have 6GB VRAM (I've seen it practically hit the limit):

As you can see, FXAA and SMAA actually give quite reasonable performance, especially considering all other settings are cranked up to their absolute highest. Even SSAA x2 didn't do too badly with it hitting just over 60FPS average overall. To be clear though, the above results and settings are something very few people will be able to use.

Here's some additional benchmarks for settings people are actually likely to use, from the Very High preset to the Lowest, all with FXAA turned on apart from Lowest which I manually turned off (trying to simulate what people might do):

Note: In the Linux version, the Very High preset leaves textures on High, whereas on Windows it sets it to Very High.

As a bonus, here's a comparison with Windows 10. Do note, that the Windows version has two additional modes of Ambient Occlusion not included in the Linux build, so these tests are simply done with it set to "On" in both versions to compare properly. Also, to keep it to the point we're only using the "Overall Score" given here:

As expected, there's a performance gap, although it's actually less than I expected. Given that these are some insanely high settings with everything manually put up higher than the presets go, the Linux version holds up reasonably well overall. Especially considering the high VRAM use in the Linux version with my 6GB 980ti at it's limits.

Here's how the Linux version holds up on more reasonable graphical settings:

Not bad, not bad at all.

Thoughts

We could run benchmarks until we're red in the face, however, what the benchmarks actually show is quite limited of course and is nothing in comparison to a first-hand playthrough. I started off playing it on the "High" preset, but honestly, I set it to "Very High" quite quickly since it was so damn smooth and it remained smooth even then. I did keep textures down to the default of High, due to the VRAM use. I have to say, I'm personally extremely happy about how smoothly Rise of the Tomb Raider has been running on Linux.

If you thought the first Tomb Raider was action-packed, you’re in for a whole new world of crazy here. Rise of the Tomb Raider certainly isn’t gentle with thrusting you into daunting situations right off the bat. It's also quite the emotional roller-coaster of a game, one that at times blurs the lines between game and movie in the way it's presented.

Not only are you thrown in at the deep end with Rise, you’re also shown how incredibly good-looking this game is right away. Seriously, it's easily one of the best looking games available on Linux right now, some truly gorgeous scenes can be found throughout the game. I've found myself often just stopping to have a look around.

Those pictures are on the standard “High” preset with no other adjustments, yet it looks absolutely gorgeous. It's not just the graphical fidelity, but the actual style to the game is fantastic too, all the little details have made me really appreciate it.

In the first game, Lara was forced into survival against her will. Things are a bit different this time around, as Lara has gained confidence and a sense of self and is literally seeking out the danger of her own free will. You’re on the hunt for some sort of artifact to grant eternal life, Lara is sure it exists and decides to follow her father’s path. Not the most original of story basics, but it’s exciting to actually play through given what Crystal Dynamics have done with it.

The voice actor for Lara, Camilla Luddington, reprises her role for Rise of the Tomb Raider and does just as incredible a job as before. She's really believable, you really feel the intensity of everything thanks to her excellent work here.

While Rise has ample amounts of serious action, requiring some fine aim and reflexes, there's also a healthy dose of puzzles and challenges to overcome as well. As you progress, you will find certain relics that requires Lara to have a certain level of understanding in specific languages.

This makes the exploration side of it a little more fun and varied too and at times, this will give you a reason to fast-travel back to another area, once you learn enough to translate something previously left behind. This brings me to another point, there's so many camps spread across the quite large map, that actually switching between locations is incredibly easy.

Great, but what about actual Tombs to raid? Well there's optional tombs in there too, like the first one you find which is essentially a huge wooden ship buried in the ice:

While they're optional, they're certainly worth doing for the extras that they give you.

To me, it feels like they took all the good bits from the first game and expanded upon them giving you more options everywhere. There's more skills to learn for example, with the previous game having around 24 split across three classes, with Rise given you a whopping 50 skills! It's not just that there's more of them, they're much more interesting to actually unlock too. Some quite menacing in fact, like the ability to put a trap on an enemy corpse.

In addition to all the exploration, the scavenging, translating, region challenges and tomb raiding there's also completely optional missions you can do. Given out by various people you can find spread throughout the game. It's quite a nice way to take a break from the main story, while still giving you some extras to help you along your way, it makes the game a lot more varied that's for sure.

I think one of the great things about Rise of the Tomb Raider, is that it gives that open-world feeling with you being able to travel between areas and do things you miss, while not being overwhelming. It's a good mix of styles bundled together, to allow you to really push through when you want to, and take a break doing some of the smaller (but still fun) aspects of the game whenever you want.

There's a lot I haven't touched on here, partly because I don't want to spoil literally everything and also because it's such a big and varied game, if you spend a little time with it and don't rush through. Sometimes it's the little things, like talking to a character and a rabbit suddenly hops into view, looks right at the screen and then hops away…

As a reminder, to get the most performance out of the Linux version, you will likely want your CPU in Performance mode. You can do this using Feral's GameMode tool, by using this GNOME Shell extension or by doing it manually in terminal:

echo performance | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

Replace "performance" with whatever mode you wish to revert it back

The Final Verdict

I haven’t been this engrossed in a game since—well—ever? I’m not being hyperbolic here either, it has such a fantastic mix of gameplay elements all wrapped up in lush detailed graphics. From the moment I first loaded it I just couldn’t put it down. Feral did a really sweet job on the port as well.

I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but given what a great job they did, this gives me high hopes for Shadow of the Tomb Raider (the next title) to be on Linux and run well.

You can find Rise of the Tomb Raider on Humble Store, Feral Store and Steam. Fantastic to have another AAA title on Linux.

We will have a livestream of it tonight and tomorrow with Sin taking the helm, keep an eye on our Twitch channel!

Hello.

I have a feature on my sound card called "Dolby Headphone" - it could take any 2 channel sound output and virtually simulate it passing through a room, so it feels like the sound is coming from speakers in front of you, instead of the traditional headphone feel where the sound is coming from the sides. Unfortunately, the Linux driver doesn't support that.

I'm very used to that feature. I find it difficult to listen to headphones without the 3D sound feeling it tends to create. Is there a way to recreate it under Linux ? I'm even willing to buy additional sound equipment, like a receiver, if it could do that.

The traditional Linux philosophy is "if it doesn't exist, I'll do it myself", so I had some success by passing the entire system sound output to some ladspa filters (reverb + bass boost) , but it's not working that well since I'm not entirely sure which filters to use and with which settings, and it's very easy to mess up the sound.

Could you help me with that ?

submitted by /u/maxiox
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Harness Lara’s growing talents in a dramatic action-adventure ranging from Syria’s sun-baked ruins to Siberia’s frozen mountains. Play as the young archaeologist as she conquers tombs, outpaces rivals, and establishes her legend.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration bundles the base game with all DLC ever released for the game.

To set out on a new adventure, view system requirements and buy from the Feral Store now.

submitted by /u/fsher
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Tags: Action, FPS, Steam, Coming Soon

Croteam is finally starting to give out some basic details on their next game, now called Serious Sam 4: Planet Badass.

Details are obviously light, but we finally have the official name along with this teaser:

When I said basic details, I really did mean it. This is literally all they've shown.

Given their history with Linux support, I've no doubt it will be on Linux and it will likely be using their newer Fusion engine with Vulkan support. It does list "SteamOS + Linux" in the system requirements section, but it's obviously not filled out yet. Checking SteamDB quickly, it does show that Linux is in the "oslist" which was added recently—a reasonably good sign.

There's also now a Steam page ready for it.

submitted by /u/pipiwin
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submitted by /u/Swiftpaw22
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Tadaa, here is my uinput driver for the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller. Go to this repository and follow the instructions listed there: https://github.com/FrotBot/SwitchProConLinuxUSB The controller is USB only and can support only one controller at the moment. Feel free to give me the heat about bad coding, how it's not a kernel driver and everything else in the comment section! :-) When runnning, the ProCon will be interpreted as a native XBox360 controller, which is what most games seem to like these days.

submitted by /u/Frotron
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submitted by /u/Swiftpaw22
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Run this command on terminal

xrandr --output <device> --set "scaling mode" Full

you can get your device by executing xrandr. In my case was "LVDS-1

or run directly

xrandr --output $(xrandr | grep "connected primary" | cut -d' ' -f1) --set "scaling mode" Full

Welcome :)

submitted by /u/idontakeacid
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I am new to open source development but have been a long time GNU/Linux lover. So when I heard my teacher was making a open source game engine I volunteered to help make it cross platform. Right now it is working on the big three platforms but I need to add installation documentation. We would love it if some people would test it out and tell me what you think.

https://youtu.be/ZYxqNcTzE9c

submitted by /u/yourgeekeric
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https://www.audiokinetic.com/products/wwise/ i noticed a big difference in sound deepness between wwise-powered games (example: codemasters titles, mekazoo) and titles like deus ex:mankind divided and tomb raider, and i can't figure why. wwise games seems to be too flat, positional audio is weak and environmental occlusion is just a bit even when you can maximize this setting. on contrast, titles like deus ex:md and tomb raider have stunning audio with the same hardware, so the problem are neither my headphones nor the audio chip. is there any kind of setting i can manipulate to achieve a better audio performance?

submitted by /u/dragonfly-lover
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Tags: Strategy, Simulation, DLC, Coming Soon, Steam

Cities: Skylines is about to get even better, with the announcement of the Cities: Skylines - Parklife expansion. Naturally, as expected from titles that Paradox are publishing, it will also come with a big free patch for everyone.

The free patch will include a new tourism panel, trees that reduce noise pollution, a camera mode upgrade, new tourist models. It also comes with some new modding features, including "submeshmodding" and an improved camera system so users can control the camera with scripts.

As for the expansion, feast your peepers on this:

Here's a basic rundown of what it will give you:

• Parks and Recreation: Use the new park area tool to create park districts wherever there is empty land, and new city services like Park Maintenance, which boosts happiness and effectiveness and helps level up parks. 
• Brick by Brick: Customize your city with new buildings and assets, including a new sightseeing bus line, new service buildings, new unique buildings like amusement parks, nature reserves, city parks and zoos, and a regal new monument, the Castle of Lord Chirpwick. 
• Freeway Free for All: For the first time in Cities: Skylines, you can place buildings next to paths in the park districts (not just next to roads). Props can be placed anywhere inside park areas.
• Recesses Between Buildings: Transform those empty spaces between your buildings into vibrant parks and gardens.
• It’s a Walk in the Park: Customize routes and set ticket prices for new walking and sightseeing tours, among other tourism enhancements. 
• Policies, Please: Take on three new city policies and eight new park policies to deal with recreational hazards like Animal Ethics and Fireworks.

It will come in two versions, one with all the building content and a "Plus" version that comes with a new Country Road Radio station.

It's not releasing until May 24th, but if you wish you can pre-order on Steam or from Paradox directly. By pre-ordering, they're going to give you 10% off the price. As always, we don't recommend pre-ordering often, but the choice is yours.

I'm still learning Linux, but sometime it's tough. I heard about MESA a lot, I read that it was some kind of API like Vulkan and DX. But also learned that it wasn't OpenGL. What was wrong about OpenGL (or Vulkan now) that pushed someone to create MESA and people to root for it ? It is just the fact that its alternative (OpenGL, Vulkan) are not open-source ?

It's really confusing to learn about API for a linux newbie like me, but I'm trying hard.

submitted by /u/Demise000
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submitted by /u/KayKay91
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Hey guys, really novice at gaming on linux here. So I've recently transitioned to Linux, tho I still keep dualboot for some games.
My intention is to just use Windows for some apps I really need and for some demanding games, so I would like to be able to play not so demanding games through wine.
So I''ve tried to install League of legends through some ways.
First I tried Playonlinux, installed it without tweaking any settings and it would crash before the launcher even appeared, so after some googling I installed it using wine staging 2.21, and it would work but the screen wouldn't go fullscreen, it would act as a normal window, not a game one (I tried some solutions result of my googling but neither of them would work), and also sound wouldn't work.
So after that I tried Lutris, and it worked waaaay better, it would work perfectly, audio, fullscreen... you name it, but it would crash if I try to minimize the game, and the resolution is a bit screwed :/.
My other try, Hearthstone, I just tried it in Lutris, installed all the dependencies and followed the official guide in Lutris Hearthstone page to install it, but when I launch it, the battle.net login screen will appear, but where the login button should be displayed, just appears a loading animation that never ends, so I'm unable to log in.

EDIT: Do you guys also know if there's a way to play my unsupported Steam games through wine?
EDIT2: About LoL, I can change resolution now, but it won't show 16:9 resolutions like my 1920x1080 native resolution. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I have 2 monitors? Also when I turn fullscreen the game will show in the incorrect one, which has a resolution of 1366x768.

Thank you for any help and forgive my awful English ^

submitted by /u/nerc0ck
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Tags: Initial Thoughts, Steam, Indie Game, Point & Click, Adventure

Mixing elements from point and click adventures and visual novels, this sci-fi story involves time travel to the near future. I had the opportunity to play a few of the chapters and have some initial thoughts on the game.

Note: Key provided by developer

Supposedly Wonderful Future [Official Site] features a young software developer who is one day approached by a mysterious woman with an offer: she will take him to the future in exchange for his help with solving certain problems for the company she works at. Though in the future humanity has made incredible breakthroughs in technology and longevity, the same old problems about the human condition still apply. As you might imagine from the title of the game, each of the chapters you play through feature problems that exist despite the material advances of humankind. It’s up to the player to try to understand what are basically moral dilemmas and come to conclusions in the scenarios as best as they can.

The gameplay is reminiscent of point and click games, with environments often having several objects and people you can interact with. The writing is solid enough with clever little references here and there that tends towards being a little over-indulgent at some points but I found that mostly endearing instead of annoying. Most of those bits tend to be optional and come from interacting with extra background objects. More importantly, the characters are interesting  and I think that the game does a good job of presenting the central issues in each case. There’s certainly futuristic twists to these stories but they’re essentially about human nature and feel contemporary enough.

Although I wasn’t able to dedicate enough time to this one for a proper review, I think that there’s certainly more to the game than first meets the eye. The chapters almost feel standalone but there are common threads that tie them together.

You can find out for yourself as Supposedly Wonderful Future is now on Steam.