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About 2-3% of desktop systems on the internet are Linux. Couple this with the percentage of that user base who will WANT to play Starcraft (lets be generous and say 30%) thats still only about 1% of Linux systems that would want to run Starcraft.
Desktop Linux for commercial games developers is like a small moving target which is far away. You might nail it this year, but next year you might have to rip out whole swathes of code to do the same thing when the desktop environment gets altered to support new features. This doesnt happen so much in the server world on Linux, or it happens much more gradually - yet take a look at Ubuntu or Fedora from two years ago and you can realize how many things get changed and potentially how many things that might affect.
Oh and lets not forget the sound system for Linux, its a complete mess. Deprecated sound systems needing a compatibility layer in a sound server and the sound server needing a compatibility layer with a sound library, all because there has been so many different sound systems, servers and library implementations for them in the last 15 years.
I think ultimately the main problem here is developers are generally happy implementing "Good Enough" solutions and I doubt Blizzard are any exception. Seeing as Wine ends up being "Good Enough" that is probably going to be the reason theres no active porting of the game going to happen.
On the lighter side of things code migration of an opengl game is far easier than a Direct X game so the costs to do it would be less - albeit the return of investment being so long after a port to linux for blizzard probably doesn't make this a very profitable decision for them.
I've been exclusively running Linux for 10 years and consider myself well versed - I think Starcraft is a great game but I wouldn't recommend Blizzard port to game to Linux as frankly the niche is too small and the base operating system so diverse between different systems that building and distributing a working Starcraft 2 package for Linux would be an administrative nightmare. I'd prefer them to focus their efforts and investments in other things that makes the game great to play and great to watch.
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I run Linux on my server and I don't care. Linux is not an alternative to Windows, no matter how crappy Windows is.
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On January 08 2010 06:06 TheYango wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2010 06:01 Aim Here wrote:
TheYango,
Starcraft used to be slow under a default wine install for a long while, though it was fixable with a tweak to an obscure wine registry entry ( 'RenderTargetLockMode = readtex' ). Now, with newer dev versions of wine (note that a lot of distros will default install 1.0.1, a very old version), the registry entry is set correctly by default, so the performance is much improved. I'm aware of this. I've tried the registry fix, along with a truckload of other fixes in old WINE versions, and I've tried the newer versions of WINE. The problems are generally reduced, but on a fair number of setups, the problems don't actually go away entirely. Again, it's acceptable for a casual game, but if you plan on iCCup-ing to a serious extent, the issues compound themselves enough to be a relevant hindrance to your play. Bear in mind that I'm not talking about a slowdown to the GAME, but a mouse-lag issue--when you're making quick selections (particularly noticeable with drag-selections), the mouse response in Linux is slightly slower than in Windows, which means that if you're playing a fast-paced game, your selections might be slightly off, or miss several units.
I had the same problem, then i stole cedega off torrent and never looked back at the mouse slowdown issue.
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would be sweet if starcraft 2 could run on ubuntu
i voted yes if your wondering 
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linux is retarded when it comes to gaming. let it for programming, network management and.. no idea what else.
imo, if it is possible, there should be a distro that aims gaming.
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On January 08 2010 05:48 Catch]22 wrote:Show nested quote +On January 08 2010 05:41 BishopONe wrote:It's painfully obvious that ppl don't even seem to realize why games aren't made for linux The game will have openGL support as it will run in MAC, therefore it could run in linux if the released an installer with the linux binaries. I would agree with you if the game only had DirectX support. nVidia and ATI release their drivers for linux machines aswell so the job is easier than you think. Thanks for proving my point.
Your point was that that Blizzard won't release the binaries?
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As much as I would love to use linux for starcraft, I kind of admit it is rather futile. The graphics driver support just isn't there for a state of the art game. I've relegated myself to having a separate gaming rig that I never use for anything productive.
Considering they are doing a mac version, the port wouldn't be too bad, but more than likely they would cut out certain features and it would delay release. It would be like eve where the linux port was bad enough that people just ran the windows version in Wine. Eventually starcraft 2 will work in wine too, and that's how I'll be playing it.
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Those of you complaining about mouse delay with SC on Linux - just looking around on the wine applications database, there appears to be an issue caused by some old X Windows config option called 'Emulate3Buttons', which really ought to be off by default, because nobody uses two-button mice anymore.
Anyways, the issue was addressed in these very forums in 2007 ( http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=61452 and search for 'Emulate3Buttons' ) but newer versions of Ubuntu (8.10 and up, and presumably other distros), require a fix in the hal configuration
( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6103132#post6103132 )
Hope this helps.
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All of the major operating systems have advantages, disadvantages and a general purpose or use. You don't choose to use a Linux machine with the intention of gaming. I think this would be a very poor investement on Blizzards behalf (even if it would make it easier on me than dual booting).
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On January 08 2010 07:50 fabiano wrote:
imo, if it is possible, there should be a distro that aims gaming.
Then it should be able to run many many games. That means running games for windows without emulation.
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Sweden33723 Posts
I seem to recall a Blizzard rep stating that they actually used Linux on several of their office computers - I can't remember if he said they played SC2 on it or if he just meant they use it.
I think this was said in the same breath as saying SC2 wouldn't have official Linux support - though my brain might just be confusing Blizzard with some other company I guess.
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Agreed that Blizzard would be losing a lot of money doing this.
But I'll say that if companies started to produce games for Linux I would never use Windows.
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Starcraft 2 is a DirectX game, Microsoft's DX is a very strong very useful very easily arguably much more useful then OpenGL system for games. The Mac version for SC2 will likly run in DX9 which is on Mac OSX, but as there will be DX10 or even 11 features in SC2 those will not be available to the mac version. Linux has no DirectX it's why there are things like whine and crap, Blizzard has no reason to support the game over linux it's a very small portion of computers and even smaller of those who actually use it to play games though things like wine and those other directx trick implimetations for linux.
Basically becuase for them to assure that it can run on any linux they would have to remake the game for openGL, else they would have to cut a deal to run it with full compatibly with one of those programs like wine and for the people who think opengl it's free why doesn't everyone use it for development, well i believe the wii does and i know the ps3 does, take games on the ps3 guess how they are made usually... for the xbox 360 a directx machine then ported to the ps3 the ps3 games usually suffer from quality including screen tearing. DirectX is a much better system for devs to work with all opengl offers is better legacy hardware support.
It's a mess and a stupid idea to try to force their hand to do it.
from someone who doesn't talk like he's insane
The same people thinking OpenGL is going to become a standard think there's gonna be a year of the Linux desktop, sorry guys. You won't be seeing any changes at all if not only for the corporate environment of gaming these days -- it's a mutli-billion dollar industry.
Microsoft is not gonna let DirectX be anything but the standard, and to be honest it's completely reasonable. DirectX provides a solid, powerful featureset. OpenGL does not provide any more but larger support for legacy hardware, and like was said, gamers are the ones that tend to upgrade their hardware frequently. Is it unfair you have to upgrade to Windows Vista or Windows 7 to get DirectX 10? The answer is: No. Look at consoles, you can't upgrade those at all, you just have to go out and buy a completely new one -- give me a break; it's the best gaming situation available given you make the intial investment on good hardware.
Those still arguing the advantages of Windows XP are either (a) in a corporate environment, (b) are running old hardware, (c) run Linux in a dual boot with Windows XP, and/or (d) overly skeptical of Windows Vista and Windows 7 and don't realize Windows XP was made by the same company 10 years ago. I don't assume the people that are grouped in option d are old enough to remember the change from 2000/ME to XP.
Realistically this is just dumb for this argument to continue now that we've gotten over all the non-issues involved with Vista. I can't wait for these people to fade off the face of technology with their Pentium 4s complaining about how everything is too slow or the other people that don't want to upgrade in fear they may lose that one or two FPS they have to have for their gameplay to be perfect. It's just slothful. There's valid reasons why one would still need to use XP in very specific situations or situations where it is clearly not worth the effort to upgrade (corporate situations in which they're just using it for a cash register front-end and upgrading provides no extra functionality nor does it need the security), for example, but for every day use there's no logical reason to talk down on Windows Vista or Windows 7 generally.
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On January 08 2010 09:18 FrozenArbiter wrote:
I seem to recall a Blizzard rep stating that they actually used Linux on several of their office computers - I can't remember if he said they played SC2 on it or if he just meant they use it.
I think this was said in the same breath as saying SC2 wouldn't have official Linux support - though my brain might just be confusing Blizzard with some other company I guess.
probably for dev?
I'd LOVE to be able to run SC2 on linux
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WoW already has OpenGL support, so that's not really an issue for them. However, you'll end up with a large portion of Linux users who wouldn't be able to play it due to shitty mouse drivers, shitty graphics drivers, distro quirks, performance issues, sound issues, etc..
It's a lot of wasted development time. Any smart linux user has an XP/7 partition specifically for games, and there are no problems.
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United States47024 Posts
On January 08 2010 07:57 Aim Here wrote:Those of you complaining about mouse delay with SC on Linux - just looking around on the wine applications database, there appears to be an issue caused by some old X Windows config option called 'Emulate3Buttons', which really ought to be off by default, because nobody uses two-button mice anymore. Anyways, the issue was addressed in these very forums in 2007 ( http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=61452 and search for 'Emulate3Buttons' ) but newer versions of Ubuntu (8.10 and up, and presumably other distros), require a fix in the hal configuration ( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=6103132#post6103132 ) Hope this helps.
Yup, that was another fix I tried. Worked on one machine, didn't on another.
Just give it up. That's the nature of hardware-dependent fixes in Linux. Its the way the Linux jungle works. Support is unofficial, fixes are inconsistent, and a lot of things are just a crapshoot. Linux isn't a one-size-fits-all operating system, and there's no need for it to be.
On January 08 2010 08:15 Glaucus wrote:
Then it should be able to run many many games. That means running games for windows without emulation.
Exactly.
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Warcraft 3 and WoW both worked almost flawlessly in wine from the get-go. I would be surprised if Starcraft 2 didn't work with a minimal amount of effort.
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id like to get SC2 on windows first
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On January 08 2010 09:22 Virtue wrote:
The Mac version for SC2 will likly run in DX9 which is on Mac OSX
big LOL. There is no DirectX on OSX.
Maybe you're getting confused by DirectX9 capable graphics cards being used in Macs? Newsflash, they have DirectX10 capable cards in newer Macs That doesn't mean they run DirectX (except in Boot Camp, or with Crossover or something, same as Linux).
Starcraft 2 for OSX will use OpenGL. OpenGL, which is also on Linux. The sound situation is a mess, but gamemakers can mostly bypass it by using SDL and ignoring the various sound servers. PulseAudio needs to die anyway.
As has been mentioned already, there are other, far more compelling reasons for no Linux version. Like no one using it. This is the reason; no need to resort to some dumb crap like "DirectX runs on OSX but not Linux" D:
On January 08 2010 08:15 Glaucus wrote:
Then it should be able to run many many games. That means running games for windows without emulation.
On January 08 2010 10:07 TheYango wrote:
Exactly.
Luckily WINE Is Not an Emulator. It's far from perfect though D: If you meant "emulation" to mean compatibility layer like WINE, well I'm not sure how a Linux distro would be supposed to run games for Windows without one.
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hum i look like an ass but i thought mac gained directx 9 as dx10 was released or something like that some sort of compatibility crap...i remember vaguely some reference to it somewhere.
Not that it hurts my pride very much i've always been more of a hardware and related mods kind of guy, there is nothing like liquid nitrogen and dry ice in the morning.
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EPT
