Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTI4MzE

by pook1e • 13 years ago

324 156 13 years ago

This is so amazing, but I'm really hoping that they release a way for mod developers to recompile their mods to work... Do they have the multiplayer aspects working?

Obligatory plug for my favourite HL1 mod: http://www.unknownworlds.com/ns/

Edit: Yep, sure enough HL1 shows up in the Steam Linux CDR (http://cdr.xpaw.ru/linux/), and interestingly enough, so does Counter-Strike - albeit with the message "Not Marked for Linux"...

froseph• 13 years ago

Is it Half-Life or Half-Life: Source? I'd assume it's Half-Life: Source since they probably aren't going to port the old engine over.

Breakthrough3• 13 years ago

http://cdr.xpaw.ru/app/70/

Seems to be using the original Goldsource content GCF, so it appears indeed to be Half-Life. Interestingly enough, the OS list shows both Linux and OSX.

drivebyacct27• 13 years ago

It is the original. I was also surprised since they already have Source ported.

I'm very excited for the rest of the Source games showing up, especially with CS:GO.

edit, sv_cheats, noclip, fly, god etc don't seem to work? (edit2: I forgot -console -dev -sv_cheats 1 launcher opts.)

barredo• 13 years ago

You surely meant http://www.dayofdefeat.com/

alexanderh2• 13 years ago

Both of you seem to have misspoke, you meant to say http://www.moddb.com/mods/action-half-life

jsmeaton• 13 years ago

Natural Selection was probably the funnest mod (with CS being my favourite). I've been trying to find reviews on NS2 from those that actually played the original - any chance you've given NS2 a go?

frio• 13 years ago

I've played around in both and enjoy them. Tellingly, I've noticed a lot of the original community (at least, in my area) has come back and is sticking with NS2 strongly; the couple of hardcore-ish NS friends I have really like NS2 too. It's worth the money :).

Breakthrough3• 13 years ago

I have given NS2 a go actually. Last I played NS1 personally was just over a year ago.

Regarding NS2, graphics are sweet, but I do not like the gameplay changes coming from NS1. I literally thought NS1 was perfect, and NS:Source would have sold like hotcakes.

That being said, I did happen to stumble across NS2 Classic (http://ns2cmodpreview.com/), and was very intrigued. Search for "Classic" in the NS2 server browser and just connect to play it. I found one with just 3 people on it, so not much gameplay was to be had.

Long story short, it was everything it was advertised to be - it felt JUST like NS1, with additions where needed. There was even a ported NS1 map we were playing on (I think it was ns_eclipse), although the textures weren't done. It still needs lots of polish to be done, but man, is it promising.

Very promising though if NS2 classic takes off, and I think (hope) it will see more adoption as the NS1 crew starts to move out of HL1... And as more people in NS2 discover the wonders of NS2 Classic.

moultano2• 13 years ago

I made ns_shiva for the original, so that should speak to how much I liked it. :) I am completely in love with the sequel. It is fantastic.

Here are the main differences:

* Commanding is much less stressful. Giving the marines their own resources and the ability to buy their own weapons means you can focus more of your attention on just coordinating attacks and getting upgrades.

* Stalemates are much less common. In NS1 taking down the turret factory would mean that there's an opportunity for everyone to rush it to take the rest of the base, now every room has a power node in a fixed location that powers down all the structures when it is destroyed. This makes it much easier to force a beacon, and to end the game once the marines are down to their last base.

* Each class is much better balanced. Excellent Fades are no longer the sole backbone of a good team. Lerks now are useful at all skill levels. Exosuits are extremely powerful but very vulnerable when alone.

* Gorges are now a nice-to-have when building instead of absolutely necessary. This means they can be on the front-lines more often.

* Graphics (obviously) and very dynamic environments. The infestation spreading is beautiful, and taking the power down makes for some very tense moments.

veeti• 13 years ago

NS2 is a great game but it seems to require a supercomputer to run. My Q6600 and GTX560Ti can run most new games smoothly at decent settings, but not this one. I can barely reach 30 fps at some points.

lifeguard2• 13 years ago

Dust!

BHSPitMonkey• 13 years ago

Apparently, Counter-Strike can be installed by opting into a beta channel for that title:

http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/178aev/valve_pushes_o...

wylie2• 13 years ago

Does this mean anything for Half-Life on a Mac?

zchr• 13 years ago

Looking at the steam registry link[1] posted by Breakthrough, it looks like there is a mention of osx in the app.

[1] http://cdr.xpaw.ru/app/70/

Edit: I opened Steam on my mac, Half-Life is showing up under "Mac games," I'm downloading it now. Great.

venus2• 13 years ago

Finally!! Us Mac users are used to waiting a little longer than PC users to get a compatible version of the game, but 15 years must be some kind of record.

johnchristopher• 13 years ago

Well, this is Valve Time (c) we are dealing with here :)

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time

robin_reala• 13 years ago

It almost made it out way back when, but was cancelled at the last minute. There’s an interview with one of the developers about it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBg6L4H7WdE

wymy• 13 years ago

I just fired up Steam and now I'm downloading HL for Mac.

wylie2• 13 years ago

Thanks for confirming! I'm doing the same.

Stwerp• 13 years ago

Ack! Not available for me yet. Is it all the goldsrc games, or just HL? Ok, really all I want to know: CS 1.6 available?

bitwize2• 13 years ago

That's great but... where were you 15 years ago, Valve? I was trying to keep Windows 98 taped together to run HL...

untog2• 13 years ago

Serious question: was Linux able to play any kind of game in 1998? Linux releases are a little more fluid so there aren't as many big moments, but I'd imagine it was a hell of a lot less capable in '98.

whichdan• 13 years ago

I've had a lot of fun playing Sokoban before.

jsnell• 13 years ago

There was a fair amount of AAA gaming support around that timeframe (say 1996-2000). Almost a golden age. Games based on the Quake engine were the most obvious example. Besides them, Loki ported maybe 20 games over to Linux. The ones I still have CDs around for somewhere are Railroad Tycoon 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and Myth 2.

joeyo• 13 years ago

I am pretty sure that the Quake 3 demo was released for Linux first and my memory is that this was an intentional move by Carmack to promote Linux [1].

1. Wikipedia lists the release dates for the full game, which were in Dec 1999 for both Windows and Linux (windows a few weeks earlier). I don't recall exactly when the demo came out, but I think it was sometime in the winter of 1999.

Argorak• 13 years ago

Around that time, companies were relaxed enough to have employees care for ports if they wanted to. Unreal and Unreal Tournament had great ports that - to my knowledge - were produced in off-hours.

For me, it was a great first trip to Linux-Land - I was in my gaming-and-hacking phase, so I hacked together a Linux that could actually run UT :).

blablabla123• 13 years ago

The Linux installation got easier, but from a Desktop user's point of view features did not change much since '98 as far as I remember. Sure there is now (serious) support for all the new fancy Hardware like Webcam or SMP Processors. (I'm having doubts whether it's correct to say that Audio improved^^) But OpenGL was always there. Actually SDL was very popular during that time (SDL = OpenGL + X ~ Direct X) Interesting, I just read that it was actually Loki who developed it in '99 -- all their games were SDL based.

Otherwise you're right, setting up Linux Gaming computers with working OpenGL Hardware Acceleration was painful, especially for us poor people who could not afford the most expensive OpenGL Hardware. ;) On the other hand I think audio was easier to setup :P

anonymouz• 13 years ago

Nethack!

bitwize2• 13 years ago

In those days, Voodoo cards were all the rage. There was a binary Glide library available for Linux; Mesa could link against it and give you full OpenGL (with some limitations, such as texture size) support. GLQuake and Quake 2 ran; and non-3D games could certainly have been made to run had the developers cared to. (I coaxed StarCraft into running with Wine, but it didn't have IPX support so no LAN play.) About a year later, the Quake 3 demo and eventually Quake 3 itself ran under Linux.

taitems• 13 years ago

So, stating the obvious, this was only done because the Steam Box will run on a Linux variant, right?

drivebyacct27• 13 years ago

1. Why is that obvious?

2. "only?

3. Why do people care? Not necessarily you, but commenters on reddit, The Verge and others are practically angry at Valve supporting Linux.

Camillo4• 13 years ago

I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I get the impression that Linux-on-the-desktop peaked a couple of years ago, Now, with the Unity/Gnome 3/Mint/etc. mess, the momentum Ubuntu had has fragmented into several diverging paths. It seems harder now to recommend one single Linux distribution for the average user than it was two years ago.

On top of that, the PC itself seems to have peaked. It's hard to think that Valve sees this as the right time to pour resources into PC gaming on Linux. It's much more likely to have something to do with the console we know they're working on.

cookiecaper• 13 years ago

Yes, basically.

Camillo4• 13 years ago

Nowadays, you might want to play Black Mesa instead: http://www.blackmesasource.com

It's officially just for Windows, but it runs fine in Wine.

mrposty• 13 years ago

BM:S is very, very nice looking and fun, but it's still not finished yet, anyone looking bear in mind multiplayer and the Xen levels are not implemented yet.

It's passed steam greenlight, so once finished, should be available for a nice one click install. I look forward to this :)

But if you're reading this thread and excited, you'll probably get a kick out of it.

nitrogen3• 13 years ago

All the pre-Xen levels are very well finished. If you just want the single player gameplay up to the point of the Lambda Complex, install Black Mesa now :-).

You can get a preview of the gorgeous Xen graphics in one of the rooms of the Questionable Ethics chapter.

aw3c24• 13 years ago

At least gameplay-wise Black Mesa is very different from Half-Life. To me it is different in a bad, dumb, modern way. Please do not suggest that it is the same or even superior to the original game.

yawgmoth• 13 years ago

I found HL1 to be unplayable but loved Black Mesa. I didn't have any nostalgia factor for HL1 (I was ten and computerless in '98) but had always wanted to enjoy the game. Black Mesa made that mostly possible.

austinshea5• 13 years ago

A ridiculous imposition. To you it is different in a bad, dumb, modern way.

Why can't people express their opinion? Why do you care so much?

rangibaby• 13 years ago

Yes! Counter-Strike next please.

drivebyacct27• 13 years ago

It seems like it may be available: http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/178aev/valve_pushes_o...

barbs2• 13 years ago

I tried this on OS X, but I get stuck running the thing

I get:

Error:dlopen(/Users/barbs/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Counter-Strike/hw.dylib, 2): Library not loaded: release/vgui.dylib Referenced from: /Users/barbs/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Counter-Strike/hw.dylib Reason: image not found Could not load hw.dylib.

shmerl9• 13 years ago

Where can one buy the DRM free version?

nitrogen3• 13 years ago

Though your comment is clearly sarcastic, you might be able to get an old CD copy of HL1 from eBay, which only has CD key protection and works in Wine.

shmerl9• 13 years ago

Why sarcastic, the question is sincere. It's nice to see Valve pushing for more native Linux games, but on the other hand I'm not using Steam because of its DRM. So that's why I asked if it would be possible to buy the Linux version somewhere outside Steam. Buying CDs in the age of digital distribution sounds crude.

drivebyacct27• 13 years ago

What point are you trying to make exactly?

shmerl9• 13 years ago

See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5113557

failrate• 13 years ago

It would tickle me if they released HL3 on Linux first. That might drive quite a bit of Linux adoption.

daenz• 13 years ago

I read this as a hint/signal that Half-Life 3 may be available on Linux as well.

DeepDuh3• 13 years ago

Just imagine the effect an exclusive linux release of HL (ep?) 3 would have. If Valve really wanted to piss on Microsoft's foot, that's what they should do.

alexanderh2• 13 years ago

I dont think there is a chance in hell that it'd be a Linux exclusive but if it's on Linux at launch, that would still be HUGE.

lifeguard2• 13 years ago

Or just a Beta on Linux before other platforms.

vor_3• 13 years ago

Seems like wishful thinking. If there was going to be any snubbing, I would expect it to be an early release for the PS3 or some other platform that would make Valve money. Even during the heyday of Linux ports in the 90s, from Quake 3 to SimCity 3000, Linux on the desktop never took off.

bentcorner2• 13 years ago

I could see a world where they HL3 is exclusive to the Steambox (or whatever it's called) for a period of time. Alternatively, they could offer lower prices (or subscription things) to make obtaining valve games significantly cheaper/easier on their own hardware.

I think they have to move quickly though - the steam-sale model is getting copied by other PC download services and they stand the chance of getting lost in the crowd.

doctoboggan• 13 years ago

I was thinking this also. They should release it on Linux only while also releasing the Steam Box.

B-Con• 13 years ago

> I read this as a hint/signal that Half-Life 3 may be available

I stopped reading here. Lies.

nextparadigms• 13 years ago

Pretty sure Valve will support Half-Life 3 on Linux. Especially since their Steam box will run on Linux.

ekianjo4• 13 years ago

Now I hope they release HL2 and Portal next :)

thefreeman• 13 years ago

Please dota 2 next!

darkstalker• 13 years ago

Dota2 works on wine. All I want is League of Legends for linux.

brokenparser• 13 years ago

But you already have HoN! They really improved it for Linux lately, with HoNTV support and everything!

nib952051• 13 years ago

They made my weekend

ysangkok• 13 years ago

A couple of problems/solutions for problems I encountered using Ubuntu 12.04:

* It will crash right after start using NVIDIA drivers 310.19. Upgrade to the latest, I used 310.32.

* It does not work with plain ALSA, I only get sound after starting PulseAudio.

DiabloD32• 13 years ago

It will, put export SDL_AUDIODRIVER="alsa" in your .bashrc and relogin

moccajoghurt• 13 years ago

If a problem is that easy to solve, I wonder why it doesn't get fixed by the developers. That way thousands of tech impaired users have to google and spend hours to solve this.

jiggy2011• 13 years ago

Shame that HL1 looks like absolute ass @ 16:9

kunai3• 13 years ago

Wow, this is great, especially since I'm a Linux user. Now if only Adobe would port CS6 over to Linux...

michaelbuddy2• 13 years ago

adobe should have rolled their own linux distro ages ago.

kunai3• 13 years ago

Doubtful, because they're a primarily closed-source company.

Anyway, I'm mad at Adobe not because they didn't port CS6 over to Linux, I'm mad because they didn't even TRY to ensure Wine support for it. Tweaking your application to work under Wine is just as good as writing a copy for a different OS from scratch, and that's the least they could have done.

Valve Pushes Out Half-Life For Linux

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