Steam Linux Usage Saw A Notable Decline For June 2017

[mulenmar]

Well, MAYBE if Valve put in an option for the Linux client to download the Windows-only games, we wouldn't've be logging into and using the Windows version to buy/install the Steam Sale games. >_>

[carewolf]

Then why do all my desktop icons get messed up when I switch to another resolution in the game? If it was exclusive fullscreen, the desktop would not be affected.

Because the textures are dropped by graphics driver. NVidia I presume?

[puleglot]

I'm surprised that the majority of phoronix readers can't properly setup Steam on linux. xD

[scorp]

I laughed hard when I read that wine users are "traitors". You guys still think you're participate in an epic OS war between good and evil? Of course Linux is the "good" OS, it uses much less resources thus general faster, no viruses, no bloatware, open source etc.
And now the reality: input lag, stuttering, graphical corruption, no OC tools, at the very most cases no performance advantage , no support for future technologies or at least very slow adaption, bugs staying open for months or years and even when they get fixed, it takes again months till a fix makes it into a stable version, even when the game is ported it misses features and so on, and so on...
Or in short: There is currently no reason to recommend any gamer to switch to linux.
Now people still want to play and are using wine but those Linux users are "bad" because they get counted as "windows" users. Now they should get their selfs in a state of austerity. Stop playing you favorite game, wait till Linux gains 50% market share and the company behind your favorite game has a reason to port.
Really?
Linux will gain market share if the gamer has a better experience and thus a reason to switch. Im honestly wondering why Valve dont fix mesa so that its possible to finally play their games without hassle. But they invest in VR in Linux, a niche in niche market. The basic stuff like Counter Strike needs to run perfectly. I guess an e-sports tournament running open source Linux clients would be an impressive step. And not just because its cool but because its better.
This is really a lengthy thread, if I could make a recommendation:
Stop wasting time discussing about those statistics, the Linux market share is small -whether we see absolute or percental numbers.
Report bugs, do regression tests, fix the drivers if you're skilled, thats the only thing which really helps.

I think, you got it wrong. I am mostly with you, "traitors" is kind of overreacted However, I really think, that open source software is superior to closed source. In times of NSA, FSB, BND etc, it is more important then ever. Also as a software developer since 25 years I prefer linux to windows today, because windows is a joke if you ever seriously developed software on linux. There are also quite a lot another benefits, but as I told, in the end everybody should decide on his own. Regarding missing features and all the problems you are talking about, there are definitely many as in any other software, but what makes the difference is the interest of the industry. If a game (or any other software) comes for windows companies are investing a lot of money to fix or workaround the issues, but for linux it happens very seldom, because companies have a feeling, that there is no user (economical) potential for that. We have a classical chicken/egg problem, to get the situation improved linux must get rid of various problems, but companies are not interested to invest anything because linux has problems. So someone has to start going towards the solution, that's why I wrote, that people should try to show companies, that there is a lot of interest and so economical benefit for companies to invest into gaming on linux. If this means for me to ignore some games, well I'm ok with that, hopefully if I do it now, I'll have a lot more fun later.

Anyway, meanwhile it really doesn't look bad, I have huge pile of games here, thanks to AMD and the amazing community, all running flawlessly on my machine. If someone is not happy with the speed of incoming fixes and driver updates, I really suggest to try some rolling release distribution and can't confirm the so often told instability. I'm happy user of such since 2007, especially in the last two years, where mesa and AMD are pushing the limits. Hope to see it improving at same speed.

[blackiwid]

People assume that the market share of linux is the primary cause why companies support or not support linux.

Thats probably not the case, you forget the other side the costs:

- 5 years ago no major engine had build in linux support, now all that are worth mentioning have
- distribution, before steam was in linux there was no sane way to distribute games to linux.
- new apis, companies have to revamp their production line of the mass produced 99% identical games and some will consider vulcan
- Microsoft starts moving into the direction that they control the software shop, having the default shop is a big problem in itself, like we saw with IE, but its even worse, they tested with Windows 10 S to enprison the user as far that they cant install even steam.

Soon Microsoft will do the same for the normal windows version, and valve knows that, even if its not 100% shure Valve can't risk it cause if Linux takes not off till then, they go (after some years till all moved to windows 11) be bankrupt.

So we dont have to fear that valve sticks to linux or be thankful or anything, THEIR SURVIVAL depends on linux as gaming plattform to become a success. And its not only Steam, Today gaming companies can choose freely between 3 or more choices how to sell their games:

1. steam
2. microsoft shop
3. a own software-shop

when they all are forced to use microsofts shop, their is no competition, with a monopol prices go up. So they can say we take 50% of the income or 80% if linux is no real alterantive then, they have to do it cause they have no other choice. I guess sending physical usb-sticks or something like that, if its then even possible to install games over that.

So to sum it up:
1. linux sells go maybe not up, but the costs to support linux did go drasticly down
2. steam and most sane gaming companies need linux more than we linux users need them.

[RealNC]

Because the textures are dropped by graphics driver. NVidia I presume?

What do textures have to do with the positions of my icons on the desktop? It's the layout that gets messed up, and I have to rearrange all my icons after switching resolution.

That's just one thing. Another thing is that when running a fullscreen game, the compositor is still active. You have to manually disable it every time. As if that wasn't enough, you have to disable triple buffer in the xorg driver, restart X, then start the game.

Yeah, most people aren't aware of any of this stuff. Ignorance is bliss, because it gives you the illusion that it's fine, even though it's broken as shit.

[Strunkenbold]

I think, you got it wrong. I am mostly with you, "traitors" is kind of overreacted However, I really think, that open source software is superior to closed source. In times of NSA, FSB, BND etc, it is more important then ever. Also as a software developer since 25 years I prefer linux to windows today, because windows is a joke if you ever seriously developed software on linux. There are also quite a lot another benefits, but as I told, in the end everybody should decide on his own. Regarding missing features and all the problems you are talking about, there are definitely many as in any other software, but what makes the difference is the interest of the industry. If a game (or any other software) comes for windows companies are investing a lot of money to fix or workaround the issues, but for linux it happens very seldom, because companies have a feeling, that there is no user (economical) potential for that. We have a classical chicken/egg problem, to get the situation improved linux must get rid of various problems, but companies are not interested to invest anything because linux has problems. So someone has to start going towards the solution, that's why I wrote, that people should try to show companies, that there is a lot of interest and so economical benefit for companies to invest into gaming on linux. If this means for me to ignore some games, well I'm ok with that, hopefully if I do it now, I'll have a lot more fun later.

Anyway, meanwhile it really doesn't look bad, I have huge pile of games here, thanks to AMD and the amazing community, all running flawlessly on my machine. If someone is not happy with the speed of incoming fixes and driver updates, I really suggest to try some rolling release distribution and can't confirm the so often told instability. I'm happy user of such since 2007, especially in the last two years, where mesa and AMD are pushing the limits. Hope to see it improving at same speed.

Linux main advantage is open source and that people believe they are secure and safe from any intelligence agencies.
The chicken and egg problem exists, thats true. No Tux no Bucks is a valid strategy. But its theoretically. There are some hundred people in the world that may follow this strictly. The rest will continue play. This doesnt mean that you got no point. But it just dont work. For this you need to influence the average Joe. And the average Joe will only switch if you have something better to offer. Im not really convinced, that "showing interest" will help much.
Anyway its questionable if its even economical and ecological reasonable to do all this porting work. After all we see now that a port is difficult and its result is often disappointing. Maybe its time for Linux to break out of the loop. An alternative strategy is wine with gallium nine and would be a possible gallium eleven.
Or the work needed for doing ports will be greatly reduced. Thats probably something were vulkan could help us out. But that mean working drivers. Unfortunately I still see a lot of bugs. And things dont get better when we say "no software is perfect" and "Ive got no problems with ATI graphics stack since 1998". The situation improved dramatically lately, no doubt. But difference between just working and working like it should do is currently still to high. So thats why I think waiting till company xyz appears and fixes all problems wont work, yet due the massive amount of bugs out there would be much more bug reporters needed, I just dont see them.

Im on a rolling release and using mesa / llvm git btw. But that cant be the solution for everyone. Lately a bug was fixed in Witcher 2 and Rocket League but it wasnt included in the stable release. The fix for a bug which exists for over one year still wont appear for the users. Those have to wait till mid August for mesa 17.2 release. And even than, most distro's wont migrate to 17.2 too early. So people are waiting and waiting...
I mean the work done by some individuals is impressive and Linux got very far but there is really a lot work left and like I already said it doesnt take us further when we permanently say how great everything is, while in reality it is not.

[Mavman]

That was never the point, not ever. The point always was that in fact there are millions of linux users. And they want to play games, It really is that simple.

-

Not having to install a different os for gaming?

Ok... i'm not a gamer since the good old ZX Speccy (Yep, ZX Spectrum still rules my land!!!), and i do understand their might be millions of Linux Users, but at the end of the day, either we like it or not, it will all come down to: "does it worth the spend?"

big companies, Valve included, will always take into account if the work/code they have to do to make their software/game work on linux gives them a return money that pays the bill. no matter how many we are, if they don't see the money in it, they wont get on board.

And lets be honest: Valve made a BIG BET, betting on Linux. All the games we have are surely being pushed thru the big companies by Valve. I would have not made this bet!

Unless hardware companies start selling computers with linux BIG SCALE, Linux will never have a chance on the desktop. While people still have to install it manually, it won't go far...

but hey, this is my POV!!! I might be wrong - Actually, i HOPE i am!!!

[grok]

(...)
Linux still needs to get the basics right. It fails even at "computer game tech 101", the basic stuff. Microsoft on the other hand is adding new game-focused functions all the time, like full-screen optimizations and input lag reduction.

Unfortunately, many Linux developers (be it X.Org, KWin, etc.) do not actually understand much of this, and why it's wanted. They want every application to conform to their idea of "desktop", including games, even though games are a very special case of application that needs very special treatment and support that is not applicable to other kinds of applications. This attitude is visible in other areas too. KWin and xfwm4, for example, still run at 60FPS even if you use a high-refresh monitor. The human eye can't see more than 24FPS, right? Meanwhile on Windows, got a 144Hz monitor? Amazingly smooth desktop, super snappy and responsive, fluid, a joy to use. Night and day difference.

That's so true.
Some bugs, I experienced on Windows in the late 90s or very early 00s : alt tab to an overbright desktop, crash (or quit) to an overbright desktop, alt-tab to a 320x200 or 640x480 desktop. And most of that stuff got fixed by Windows XP, or even fixed on Windows 98SE thanks to updates to 3dfx or nvidia drivers etc. or games all behaving correctly after doing silly things in the DirectX 3 / DirectX 5 / early OpenGL 1.x days.

But in late 2010s, this goes on. Gaming attempts are very likely to end prematurely, crashing to a 800x600 overbright desktop.
Most/many games are hell to play on non-QWERTY keyboards too. Tedious setting of input keys in the game fixes it, but it's tedious and doesn't actually work all the time. (the "number row" is the worst, there are keyboard were pressing those keys without shift gives accented and punctuation characters. Games' input setting screen show garbage characters when you try to map these)
So : according to developers everyone has 1920x1080 60Hz, everyone has QWERTY, everyone has recent piece of hardware X or Z.
Also, on Windows you get driver upgrades, (in the older days you got DirectX upgrades (DX7, DX8, DX9..)) and if your hardware or driver or OS are old you still get a backlog of games from the 90s and 00s that work. Here on linux the solutions to games not working is buy a quad core CPU, buy a GCN 1.2 or Polaris GPU (and thus buy a motherboard and expensive RAM as well) so that you can run newer games that maybe work properly.

Did I mention US dollar and RAM are expensive currently? . Hard drives are decent, but need to add one of these to the shopping list. I'd also like 16GB RAM because browsers eat several gigs and unless I can somehow configure my OS or kernel better, running out of ram+swap ends in disaster (using a huge swap file or partition like 8G or more would help I think, tho quitting a browser with gigs in swap is hilariously slow)

[dungeon]

Then why do all my desktop icons get messed up when I switch to another resolution in the game?

That is file manager job or whatever desktop icon app... that file manager or whatever need to be more smart with in your case i guess custom placement... yeah, actually it don't need to be smart there but stupid (or smart enough to *do nothing* actually) as custom icon placement shouldn't try at all to be smart on resolution changes - that is what you want i guess custom icons placement to be only and really exclusively where you set (even when that means it would be broken on changed res initially!) regardless of resolution changes ? Exclusivelly locked icons positions when in custom mode?

Custom shouldn't ever trying to be smartass by default whatever user decided to do there even when that means broken, i agree custom should always be non-automatic