Unigine OilRush Pre-Order For Linux Now Open

[Tuxee]

Just downloaded (800+KiB per second) and installed it. System Maverick 64Bit, NVidia 9600GT with 260.x drivers. Played both tutorial missions in both windowed (1280 x 1024, 40+ fps) and full-screen mode (1920 x 1080, 25-30fps) (default gfx settings, Compiz on). No crashes so far, sound seems ok. Really not bad for such an early release. Good work.

[AnonymousCoward]

please make it that i when i buy Linux version i can download windows version too. for example Steam is same. you bought L4D on Win and you can play on Mac too.

[mirv]

Direct wire transfer - awesome. Pre-ordered. Now we'll just see how well I can get it to run on a radeon3650....I really do need a new card.

[curaga]

Same dilemma as Chewi earlier. It won't run on my system (open drivers), so any support would be a donation really. And my donation fund for H1 2011 has already gone to wikileaks...

[rogerdv]

I cant buy the game, but I wish you the best. I expect to have more titles like this in the future.
An interesting detail I see here is that the average Linux gamer seems to be much more technically advanced that even the hardcore Windows gamer. Lot of people here tracking the source of the problems and posting useful information.

[Paulie889]

Tricky. It's not likely to run on the open ATI drivers for the foreseeable future but I'm certainly not switching back to Catalyst and I'm not really in a position to run Windows outside a VM either. Do I buy it anyway to show support? Hmm.

Actually, it runs with r300g (5FPS average, Radeon mobility X1600, lowest settings) and the present misrenderings are trivial. Don't know if anyone tried with r600g, but I think "won't run for the foreseeable future" is quite pessimistic. Performance with open source drivers is of course another issue.
But to be hones I have a machine with NVIDIA too so I also haven't buy it just to try opensource drivers ;-)

[Chewi]

Actually, it runs with r300g (5FPS average, Radeon mobility X1600, lowest settings) and the present misrenderings are trivial. Don't know if anyone tried with r600g, but I think "won't run for the foreseeable future" is quite pessimistic. Performance with open source drivers is of course another issue.
But to be hones I have a machine with NVIDIA too so I also haven't buy it just to try opensource drivers ;-)

Well that's very encouraging, I was under the impression it wasn't even close to running. Thinking about it a bit more now.

[allquixotic]

If you don't know how to control the game, of course it would be boring for you since you don't understand what's going on and how to play.

Actually, I think I figured everything out in terms of enumerating the game mechanics. Did I miss some hidden inner complexities in my description of the game mechanics? I think I covered it all, but I could be wrong.

My first game wasn't fun because I didn't understand how it worked. Then I played the tutorials, learned a bit, and played another game. By that point I think I'd pretty much explored the potential of the game. What am I missing? Hero units? Floating, evolving, living cities? An unlockable tech tree with hundreds of possible research options? Visual style that markedly changes units' appearance, weapon fire, etc. when upgraded? The ability to increase the unit caps beyond "paltry" to "uncountable" or even, dare I say, "epic" levels? Massive capital ships and aircraft carriers with location-based hardpoints, activated abilities and their own level-up veterancy system?

Yeah, I think I'm missing all of that. Not because I overlooked it, but because it's not there!

And if you think that list is too tall an order to ask for, just take a quick look at my favorite strategy games of all time, Sins of a Solar Empire and Supreme Commander. I dunno about SupCom, but Sins was made on a pretty meagre budget; IronClad and Stardock are small fish like you. But the game has an amazing strategic depth that keeps me coming back. Note that, in this case, I'm using the word "strategic" to differentiate from "tactical". Tactical is stuff like giving individual units their orders to attack an enemy. Strategic is stuff like researching technology, working out the logistics to build up your economy, and building your base. I want more strategy elements in OilRush, without reducing the amount of tactical skill required.

Take SupCom for example. Imagine if the game's depth ended at Tech Level 1, and there were no Tech Level 2, 3, or experimental units. Wouldn't that be lame? The whole game, then, would involve building these weeny little bots and ordinary-looking tanks and aircraft, and sending them at the enemy in massive waves, until you overcome the enemy's comparably weeny-looking defense towers. And I don't think it would have received critical acclaim if that's how it was.

What we have in Oil Rush is basically just that. It feels like we only have Tech Level 1. Where are the units that have actual weight? Physical weight, sure, but I mean more like strategic weight. As in, you have to explicitly invest a significant amount of time and resources into constructing them. As in, building them is a liability that you have to willingly undertake, because spending resources on that unit means you can't spend those resources on filling out your peon ranks to keep the enemy at bay. And if you can bring the platforms themselves to life, with upgrades and reasons for me to care if they get captured, that's a bonus.

I don't particularly want a plain vanilla SupCom clone, but borrowing elements from games that receive critical acclaim for their strategic depth is certainly not a bad idea. The alternative is a game that, while it may appeal to casual gamers who haven't experienced anything like it before, seasoned gamers will have seen these mechanics in about 20 other games prior; yawn; and move on.

[crazycheese]

Same dilemma as Chewi earlier. It won't run on my system (open drivers), so any support would be a donation really. And my donation fund for H1 2011 has already gone to wikileaks...

Actually, it runs with r300g (5FPS average, Radeon mobility X1600, lowest settings) and the present misrenderings are trivial. Don't know if anyone tried with r600g, but I think "won't run for the foreseeable future" is quite pessimistic. Performance with open source drivers is of course another issue.
But to be hones I have a machine with NVIDIA too so I also haven't buy it just to try opensource drivers ;-)

Awesome drivers are awesome. Awesomeness of driver reflects awesomeness of company policy behind them. It makes you really think they do not care if everyone buy nvidia(note there is not even slightest sign of "open" in this sentence).

[Apteryx]

Bought my copy! Nice to see a Linux game with that much bling
It runs very well on my Q6700 + 8800GTS system.

I'm wondering, where are the options saved? I need to tell the game to use anti-aliasing 8x each time. Is there an option I can change in the .cfg file? It might be related to these messages:
Xml::load(): can't open "profiles/_default/_default.cfg" file
Xml::load(): can't open "profiles/_default/_default.prof" file

I agree the UI is not very intuitive, but I'll give it more play before having a definitive opinion of it.

Thanks.