Valve's L4D2 Is Faster On Linux Than Windows

[PeterKraus]

The class action lawsuits thing is a response to a new law passed in the EU, namely that people should be able to sell used copies of digital goods. This is something Valve hasn't supported up till now and they wanted some protection against being forced into adding such a feature or needing to pull out of the EU entirely.

The thing is, class action lawsuits are mainly a US thing. There are vaguely similar methods in the EU, but they are far from being exactly the same - for instance, if there is a class action lawsuit, you can't sue independently, you have to join the class. That's not the case in EU...

[PsynoKhi0]

Here's a nice read:
http://programmers.stackexchange.com...prefer-windows

Great link, thanks for sharing. That kind of stuff is why I still lurk around the Phoronix forum.

[darkbasic]

Is it faster on the Intel linux driver compared to windows? I don't care for blobs...

[gamerk2]

That's pretty great. I'm assuming it's running the same gfx features as well.

Until we know that for sure, no one can really make a comment on speed differences.

[GreatEmerald]

Yea, I'm somewhat confused here, too. They used an NVIDIA card for benchmarking, yet they collaborated with Intel when fixing performance issues?.. How does that work?

[RealNC]

Yea, I'm somewhat confused here, too. They used an NVIDIA card for benchmarking, yet they collaborated with Intel when fixing performance issues?.. How does that work?

They also worked with NVidia and AMD.

[ownagefool]

Yea, I'm somewhat confused here, too. They used an NVIDIA card for benchmarking, yet they collaborated with Intel when fixing performance issues?.. How does that work?

They specced the computer as stupidly high end, as they obviously wanted to make sure their software was capable of getting the hundreds of FPS they're expecting. They wouldn't want to test with an Intel card, get 70 fps, assume its good, then realise they're actually CPU bottlenecked when both Nvidia and AMD can't get much over that figure either. What they did makes sense imo.

[Hamish Wilson]

With DirectX, everything is in one nice little package provided by Microsoft, but OpenGL only comes with a graphics library, and no input/sound/video libraries, which DirectX provides.

But surely that is comparing Apples and Oranges there isin't it? You can compare Direct3D to OpenGL, but for the rest it is SDL that provides a similar or even arguably better feature set to DirectX (at the very least on Linux but also on other systems as well).

[blacqwolf]

This fps improvement was actually predictable knowing that the linux kernel is much better optimized than windows. Also windows is just shit when it comes to memory management...and since opengl is the only way in linux the drivers are probably better optimized than in windows where direct shit is king.

As a side question. Why are people still programming for directx? It works only on windows. Program for opengl and you make your engine more portable from the start for if (actually when) you'll port it to linux. It's not like directx is so much easier than opengl.... brainwashed devs..

Your post smells with fud.

First, yes, DX is easier. Eaxh individual component is notably easier is some aspect and DX is easier overall due to integrating all components into one.

Second, yes, it was a predictable improvement, but not for those reasons. The real reason is this is a highly skilled team which took the arguably most stable game Valve has and spent a year porting and optimizing it, effectively rewriting a lot of code, while the Windows version relies on ages-old code in a state just "good enough" where Valve doesn't need to optimize it.

I'm as much of a Linux enthusiast as anyone, but no need for fud and lies here.

[boot]

But surely that is comparing Apples and Oranges there isin't it? You can compare Direct3D to OpenGL, but for the rest it is SDL that provides a similar or even arguably better feature set to DirectX (at the very least on Linux but also on other systems as well).

There's a good presentation from Icculus on this subject. You can watch it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3wDnOAjrtk&feature=player_embedded