Valve open-sources its DirectX to OpenGL translation software: Here come the SteamOS and Linux games

[Boomstick777]

Valve has made Dota 2‘s Direct3D to OpenGL translation layer open source. This is the piece of code that allows Valve to take a standard DirectX Windows game that uses the Source engine (Dota 2, Team Fortress, Portal), and easily bring it over to Mac OS X or Linux/SteamOS. The code, with some tweaks, could also be made to work with other DirectX-based game engines as well. By open-sourcing this code, Valve is clearly encouraging developers to release OS X — and more importantly, SteamOS — ports of their Windows games.

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...oftware-here-come-the-steamos-and-linux-games

More @ Anand - http://www.anandtech.com/show/7856/valve-releases-togl-direct3d-to-opengl-shim

(Incidentally, a fun fact: Titanfall, which is released today, uses the Source engine — and it’s the first game to use the Xbox One version of the Source engine.)

 

[Boomstick777]

Moving Your Games to OpenGL

 

[Boomstick777]

Another step away from MS, which is nothing but positive as it drives competition.

OGL/SteamOS/Mantle have made MS take notice, if it makes Dx12 soo much better than any thing they can deliver, us gamers will be the true winners.

Agreed, all the competition forces MS to take action to keep Windows as the best / most relevant platform for gaming. They need people to have an incentive to move up to the latest Windows, hopefully Windows 9 and Direct X12 will be made all the better for it.

 

[Boomstick777]

SteamOS is currently the only competing operating system to Windows being aimed at gamers so not sure where all these magical ones you're inventing are coming from.

If you're not keen on the idea you don't have to use it

Exactly +1

SteamOS is free as well so really is a good thing. Valve want to push for OpenGL across the board. If that happened developers would only have to code for that API and could be used on multiple systems. Valve are trying to push for an open unified platform. It's Microsoft, AMD and Nvidia that prefer to close down things in favor of proprietary content.

So indeed go Valve !!

 

[Boomstick777]

Has anyone actually tried SteamOS for consistent gaming? It's currently a no go (Unless you only play Indie games )

There's also no native Linux Origin client (So there goes a bunch of heavy hitting PC titles)

Mantle COULD be ported to Linux, meaning you can natively play any Mantle titles, that'd be a big plus 1 to SteamOS (Assuming Mantle gets sustained support, which so far, we've only had one game)

It's going to take a lot of sustained work from Valve and developers to get future titles with native Linux/SteamOS playability in a sustained environment, but it's very likely that using SteamOS means you lose the vast majority of your gaming library as you see it now.

No way, I wouldn't mind dual booting it soon but as you say very little content at the moment. Very much in it's infancy

I think Valve are playing the long game with SteamOS. Over the next few years we will see it evolve. If more developers utilize OpenGL and decide to bring older games to SteamOS as well, along with community support. In the next 3-5 years we could see a platform that is worth making the jump from Windows to.

Valve know what there doing, as they have proven with Steam and the initial negative reactions that received, to Steam then becoming the number game delivery service on PC. SteamOS isn't ready for prime time yet but I certainly wouldn't count it out.

 

[Boomstick777]

Steam- constant downtime/slow/errors.

Hmm that's not really true is it? I can't remember any period of 'downtime' with Steam since I have been using a PC..

 

[Boomstick777]

Playing in the evening me and the people i play with often lose connection to steam and i know its not just us as other people get it too, for example you are playing dota 2 match, your game crashes for reason X, steam loses connection, no one pauses the game and you cant reconnect because of some steam auth ticket, automatic 5 game low priority que which takes like 20 minutes to find a game.

also occasionally you outright cant log in.

Never had a problem logging in, like not ever since Steam started.

I'm not a Dota2 player so can't comment on that. I do know that game has a ridiculous amount of users (500,000+) so you would expect some queuing etc to get into game.

I get problems logging into COD: Ghosts on my PS4 and that has around 50,000 users

 

[Boomstick777]

It's down right now, and over the last 2 months has been down a lot.

Working fine here..

Crap internet?