For the gamers out there

[remoulder]

The folks at http://www.supergamer.org have created a bootable, dual-layer DVD full of native-running Linux games.
Check out the impressive list of preinstalled games you'll get when you download the ISO:

* Quake Wars - * True Combat - * Doom 3 - * America's Army - * Prey - * Nexus
* Unreal Tournament - * OpenArena - * Quake 4 - * PlaneShift - * Savage 2
* Drop Team - * Postal 2 - * Frets On Fire - * Enemy Territory - * Chromium B.S.U.
* Penumbra Black Plague - * Mad Bomber - * Sauerbraten - * X-Moto - * Urban Terror
* BZ Flag - * Soldier of Fortune - * Mega Mario - * Torcs - * Glaxium - * Tremulous
* GL-117 - * AlienArena - * NeverBall - * PPRacer - * NeverPutt - * Super Tux

Desktop screenshot:

10579superf1.jpg

[Aevum]

That's so great!! I used to love America's Army Thanks for the info mate!

[myspacecommassergio]

hehehe sweet

[myspacecommassergio]

now that we're on the topic of games i do have a good ?

how do I know the specs for each game? For example I have a 128MB (shared)video card but in the packadge manager or Mint Manager I don't see any game note what the specs are. How can I tell if my Laptop computer will run any of these?

[Aevum]

Perhaps you can find those information on the net, or you can try a 3D game or a game with a certain graphic and if it works, similar game may as well, if it doesn't... well.

[rich_roast]

how do I know the specs for each game? For example I have a 128MB (shared)video card but in the packadge manager or Mint Manager I don't see any game note what the specs are. How can I tell if my Laptop computer will run any of these?

The truth of the matter is that most Linux native games that require 3d acceleration will not require much more than 128MB of memory, and there's obviously no need to worry about DX versions; rather OGL extension support is important but then most graphics cards, AFAIK, support OGL "out of the box" with the appropriate driver.

For example, I think Alien Arena's website says that their game will run on just about any 3d accelerated card, including old GeForce 2s. But, as you might expect, YMMV and you may need to reduce or fiddle with display settings to improve framerate, for example I disable a number of shaders in all of the fps games that I play on an old ATi 9600 (radeon driver) to get them to run well.

[myspacecommassergio]

cool so my cards good to go. Now all I need to do when I hook up to a fast internet connection is download some games. Yeah your right@ pixel shaders Left 4 Dead won't run well in windows unless i disable all the cool effects and leave it on lowest settings but its playable in windows. I already have the Video Driver installed for Nvida. I can't wait to mess with some of the linux GAMES in the near future. =]

[rich_roast]

It's heart warming to see someone else who's serious about gaming on Linux. There's been a growing movement of indie game developers for Linux, such that most tastes are catered for, but the gaming gods know that they need all the support they can get. I'm getting into my thirties now and seem to be losing all my time to work, but time was I was quite into the scene; I loved the penumbra games (survival horror), eschalon and roguelikes for rpg, the various and numerous fps's, rts with warzone 2100 and globulation, TORCS for racing, just about anything by introversion (Uplink [aka hacker:elite], Defcon, Darwinia) and while I never was much of a puzzler type I'm very tempted by World of Goo. There's Planeshift for MMORPG but I found it too much of a grind - there're others though, I think Vendetta is growing more popular every day. One area that's slightly lacking is sports sims outside of racing cars, I think, although Bygfoot is a decent soccer management game.

This is turning into a big embarrassing list of how I've wasted the first third (half?!) of my life, suffice it to say that The Linux Game Tome (tending towards free OSS games) and Linux Games are fantastic resources for finding what you want.

There are literally hundreds of games for Linux, and it breaks my heart when people say that Linux is not for gaming or that you'll have to run games made for Windows using Wine or a VM. Don't get me wrong, sure, I've gone down the Wine route to get SimCity 4 and Mount & Blade working and that's a Good Thing, but fact is that native Linux games are very much alive and kicking, and are often provided for free. Ports of Windows games are made by LGP, although they struggle to get decent new titles.

On that note, though, you might want to check out Aquaria while it's still in open beta. The game play didn't attract me too much but it is gorgeous and while it's still in testing you can get your hands on it for free-as-in-beer (until end of this month - hurry!).

Bottom line is that I wonder how many people turn their backs on Linux because of the myth that one cannot game / do this / that / the other on it; I hope not too many, but I know I converted at least one individual a long time ago when I advised them that yes, you can use Skype on Linux. Caveat - you won't be able to play the latest game with the souped-up graphics that require DX 11. But from what I hear on Zero Punctuation these games aren't exactly fun, anyway, and require the latest and greatest and most expensive and closed hardware to run (at least, with pixel shaders turned on ).

FWIW, I've always been happy with gaming on Linux (and I think the above suggests that I've been known to pick up a controller), as well as everything else - sometimes it's been a bit involved figuring out how to do something specific (CMYK colours? Sure thing, but you'll neeta look), such that this has turned into a completely unwarranted rant against the can't-do sayers out there, which involuntarily hijacked your thread.

Sorry.

[Stealing_Lillies]

If you have windows you can test your machine with this web site.
http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/srtest/

But, your pretty much going to have trouble running any of those games regardless the OS myspacecom. As far as any graphically intensive game on linux even high end machines struggle due to lack of drivers. "not linux fault" Hopefully with the work and pressure these guys are pushing - one day Linux distros will be able to game as well as window or mac.

Rich, I do believe a large number of people turn away from linux because of not being able to game. I myself keep windows 7 on a few of my computers (gamer computers) just for gaming.

[rich_roast]

That's a pretty big statement without knowing which card we're talking about, but I'll admit that if it's an Intel 965 or such (which I suspect it might be) then, yes, driver support is atm a bit sketchy; that said I'd not discourage the OP from pursuing games native on Linux, up to and including every title I mentioned. My card, an ATi radeon with half the memory he mentioned, runs all of those fine, and (after a cursory look at the original list) most of the OP's suggestions.

[Stealing_Lillies]

That's a pretty big statement without knowing which card we're talking about, but I'll admit that if it's an Intel 965 or such (which I suspect it might be) then, yes, driver support is atm a bit sketchy; that said I'd not discourage the OP from pursuing games native on Linux, up to and including every title I mentioned. My card, an ATi radeon with half the memory he mentioned, runs all of those fine, and (after a cursory look at the original list) most of the OP's suggestions.

So your saying you can play say: (this is imo a border line low to very quality settings for gameing) Doom 3 on medium settings at 1024x768 2xAA 2xAF on lets say a CRT 17" monitor at 30fps or higher non-stop - with only an occasional hiccup - with a 64 meg (whatever generation) ATI vid card?

[rich_roast]

Whilst I can't speak for Doom 3 on my present hardware, I do know that four years ago I had it running swimmingly, everything on high, on a Fedora 8 box with a Pentium 4 clocked at 3GHz, 1 Gig of RAM and an nVidia GeForce 4 with 128Meg onboard on a 17" CRT monitor at 1024x768. That was about four years ago.

I no longer have that machine or Doom 3, but I do have Blood Frontier running smoothly at 30+fps, albeit with shaders turned down (still have water effects, though), at a res of 1024 x 768. It's hardly ideal - I know the card is capable of more of this - but it's not bad for the open source radeon drivers and I'm happy enough with it.

I think the point is to not distract people from trying to get games to run. I know, for example, that running Mount & Blade on Wine on my laptop is out, presumably because the radeon drivers aren't picked up by Wine, but at least I tried. And if it's the case that games which should otherwise work with the graphics hardware don't, then while that might not be the kernel devs' fault, it is the community's. It has to be someone's fault and it's unsurprising that manufacturers (nVidia appear to be the exception) don't fully support the platform if they don't see any demand; and if the apathetic attitude of give-it-up-on-Linux-and-dual-boot approach encouraged by naysaying the possibility of 3D gaming on Linux continues then this is a situation that will never change, which would be a sad thing.

So try it, and work a bit at it too if it doesn't work first time. If it works, say thanks and let the manufacturers know how pleased you are, if not, say how much you think it'd be in the manufacturers' interests to better support their hardware on Linux. I've had private exchanges with various developers and have found them to be surprisingly receptive to well formed communication. No, companies won't change their policies overnight, and no it won't get you up and running straightaway, but as long as people are giving up on the possibility, silently and without having tried, the admittedly poor current situation of certain graphics drivers underperforming will continue indefinitely. That's what irks me about the forget-it-use-Windows approach. I have no issue at all with booting into Windows if there's really no choice if you want to play such-and-such new release, mind, what I do have an issue with is the attitude that Linux != capable of gaming.

FWIW, I play games, every so often, on this laptop and I have a great time. I miss Mount & Blade and SimCity 4, but I'm confident that the radeon drivers will continue to improve - they have done in the past, and now that they're open source and we've had time to get over the horrific way in which ATi just dropped support, things might just get better and better for those in my camp. I hope that everyone gets to play the games they want to on Linux someday, but I also know that that day's hardly around the corner. With that in mind, abandoning ship isn't going to get anyone there, ever, and, worse, it stagnates growth and acceptance of Linux more generally if potential users never pick up Linux at all because of this one particular issue; not everyone, including myself, would be prepared to dual-boot if it were not for the availability of games on Linux. I'd just use OSS apps on Windows instead.

Happily, that's never been an issue for me.

[Stealing_Lillies]

I think the point is to not distract people from trying to get games to run.

I agree with this 100% but telling a guy that is running a laptop with onboard video and dial up that he can run a game like doom 3 in windows - let alone any linux distro well - is just silly. I do not see it benefiting him to say such things. I can only see that as a way to push him away from linux all together. imo

[rich_roast]

like doom 3 in windows

What is the obsession with doom 3? The OP and myself have mentioned a plethora of games far more likely to work (and be fun) than that game.

[Stealing_Lillies]

Americas Army?

[Stealing_Lillies]

If you have windows you can test your machine with this web site.
http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/srtest/

But, your pretty much going to have trouble running any of those games regardless the OS myspacecom. As far as any graphically intensive game on linux even high end machines struggle due to lack of drivers. "not linux fault" Hopefully with the work and pressure these guys are pushing - one day Linux distros will be able to game as well as window or mac.

Rich, I do believe a large number of people turn away from linux because of not being able to game. I myself keep windows 7 on a few of my computers (gamer computers) just for gaming.

I really don't see what's wrong with my original post or why you keep attacking it. But whatever floats your boat.

[rich_roast]

I would happily test AA if I had it on disc; it would take me four hours on my wireless connection to grab it and I'm not up for that, sorry.

I have tested...

Alien Arena (needs some manual config, works surprisingly well thereafter, looks very nice with lighting)
Lots of Sauerbraten variants (tend to work fine out of the box, turn shaders down a touch for better performance)
TORCs (jusssssttt about, not fiddled with the config yet but definitely needs work)
Introversions games (fine)
Freedroid RPG (fine)
Vega Strike (fine)
Warzone 2100 (fine)
Yo Frankie (but not really at a playable framerate)
Frets on Fire (fine)
Aquaria (fine)
Supertux (fine)

Thing is, I'm on a horrible wireless connection here so fps and mmorpg don't really attract me right now, anyway.

Not all good games require a lot of sophisticated 3d graphics/sfx to be fun. Viz., Dwarf Fortress. Actually, viz. any roguelike. Viz platformers. None of Introversions' games ever required much in the way of 3D capability and they're among the most memorable I ever played. If anything, I would like to see more design effort in this direction and less concentration on 3d environment for multiplayer slaughters, although I think I understand why that state of affairs produces itself.

Oh, on a side note Blender runs surprisingly well for me. I'm even thinking of a short animation project.

I think that's all the evidence I can input here, but it's beside the point anyway. What works for me won't work for someone else, and vice versa. Where you seem to see irresponsibility in encouraging a person to try to get games to work on their box, reasoning that they are likely to turn away from Linux as a consequence should they not, I prefer to give benefit of the doubt and assume that if the user doesn't succeed, they will take positive action, take pleasure in those games they can get working and work towards getting the rest up to speed, however little their contribution it will nevertheless still count. I reason that if a user is turned off by Linux for this reason alone then I am quite happy to see that user leave the community, since they weren't contributing anyway. I was also under the impression that the OP was interested in games for games' sake and not in the most hardware demanding and proprietary titles, perhaps I am wrong in that. In any event, I stand by my assertion that is better to try to hack a solution than turn away from a problem.

[Stealing_Lillies]

Sell the tell of hack all you want. When it comes right down to it - Mr. myspace does not have the hardware to support demanding games. I ask that you read my original post for once before you reply to this.

[rich_roast]

Sell the tell of hack all you want. When it comes right down to it - Mr. myspace does not have the hardware to support demanding games. I ask that you read my original post for once before you reply to this.

Thank you for your permission.

I did and I have.

I don't know where you're getting your information from regarding the OP's hardware, I've made no such assumption other than the availability of 128 Meg shared RAM, although if it's an Intel onboard then there may well be significant issues getting OGL to work, which will break a number of the titles he mentions, yes.

If the assumption that they are expecting Linux to run games any better than Windows, then it is true that that would be misguided. I never read that assumption into their post.

I'm not sure it's fair to refer to the OP as Mr. myspace or to make assumptions about their hardware.

I think it is also unfair to assume that they are exclusively interested in demanding titles. The following in the original list aren't so bad:

• Frets On Fire
• Chromium B.S.U.
• Sauerbraten
• X-Moto
• BZ Flag
• Soldier of Fortune (depending heavily on OGL)
• NeverBall/NeverPutt
• PPRacer
• Super Tux

I have also mentioned several other interesting titles which I know from experience from an older underpowered laptop will not overly tax even an onboard GPU. This is in the spirit of trying to get the OP, who has expressed a desire to play games on Linux (and, if your assumptions are correct, would without doubt keep Windows for their other games anyway, possibly on a more powered box), playing games on Linux. The two resources I linked to are excellent for finding games to suit ones tastes and capabilities.

I am also unsure of how advised it is to suggest a webapp that tests Windows machines for Windows games when the OP has explicitly mentioned a Linux distro running native Linux games. The Linux games that were mentioned are not available on the site's drop down box.

I can see and totally appreciate your scepticism, and indeed thank you for tempering what must have seemed a wildly optimistic post on my part, but I don't think I've said any untruths here. What I do take issue with is the negative approach to getting things working that scepticism engenders and also the blinkered attitude that a game must require powerful 3d hardware to be an entertaining experience. That's all. No doubt the OP will have trouble getting gpu-demanding games to work on a 128Meg shared memory card, no surprises there; but some of the games on the original list and those I've mentioned will run quite nicely, and there are dozens if not hundreds of others out there for them to choose from. That's all.

[Stealing_Lillies]

That list of yours keeps getting smaller and smaller by each post. lol

How this became about you is behond me. lol

So now that you are so stuck on yourself, I'll leave you with this. You can go on misleading people about gaming all you want with your dial-up, p4's, and hack attacks. But, just in case you didn't know - this is 2010 and frets on fire is hardly a demanding game - yet I must say: I do find it hard to believe you are running fof more than 30fps at all times smoothly with a greater res than 640. lol

Whatever, have fun with that - i'm done. Good luck myspace guy. I hope mr. optimistic here can steer you into a wonderful gaming experience with his hack p4 dial-up ideas with fof and freeroid.

Did I mention that this is 2010?

Once again, I see nothing wrong with my original post and your attacking it is simply ignorant.