Valve's optimizations make Linux port of L4D2 outperform Windows version

Jokester said:
I'm a bit wary of this, is the D3D and OpenGL versions of equivalent IQ?
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Well as far as I know OpenGL 4 onwards does everything DirectX 11 does, so there shouldn't be any issues with it having comparable image quality.
I would be tempted to try it, though I don't have linux actually installed on anything atm. (I read they were testing it on ubuntu, which I would probably use though I'd have to swap out Unity desktop for KDE or MATE or something)
 
badcompany said:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/08/valves-optimizations-make-linux-port-of-l4d2-outperform-windows-version/


roll on full linux client hopefully other devs will follow their lead


http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/
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There's going to be a lot of FUD spread around with Valve moving to Linux in the next few months.

Firstly, everyone knows the reason Valve are moving to Linux isn't because Windows 8 is so so so bad, it's because the Windows Store directly competes with Steam, and for most newbie users they will just use that for the same reasons they'll just use Internet Explorer. Valve will (rightly) see this as a huge threat to their business, and will go out on the offensive.

Secondly, why are they only making these improvements now? The Mac clients of all the Source games are OpenGL, and they have about half the frame rate of the same game running on the same Mac on OSX as they do on Windows under Boot Camp.

Thirdly, they're comparing the latest and greatest version of OpenGL to DirectX 9, at framerates which massively exceed what anyone with an LCD screen will ever play at. The main difference in performance here is caused by the overhead of writing a polygon buffer in Direct3D, which has basically been eliminated in DirectX 10 and 11.

Finally, the biggest Linux-friendly game company so far - id tech - have come out this week and told us that Linux still isn't a viable gaming market.
 
Gabe denounces windows 8....gabe then tells the world linux is faster. I see a pattern forming here:o :p

Are they average or maximum framerate figures? seeing as all 3 are over 250fps, I'm fairly confident that they are maximum figures and in that case they are completely flippin' useless when they are all over 100fps. I would like to see average framerates instead. In all seriousness though, I'm not surprised that an optimised engine, with an optimised openGL renderer is faster......or at least has a higher maximum framerate. If these improvements can also be made to the windows version then I don't really see the issue.
 
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Heh, i like this quote in John Carmack's Keynote:

"Its great that people are enthusiastic about Linux as a gaming platform but there are not many people who are interested in paying for a game and that seems to be the reality."
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Basically, there's no point in developing for Linux because the people that use it just download pirated software.
 
TruffleShuffle said:
Basically, there's no point in developing for Linux because the people that use it just download pirated software.
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The mist of mistundertanding.

andrewdodd13 said:
There's going to be a lot of FUD spread around with Valve moving to Linux in the next few months.

Firstly, everyone knows the reason Valve are moving to Linux isn't because Windows 8 is so so so bad, it's because the Windows Store directly competes with Steam, and for most newbie users they will just use that for the same reasons they'll just use Internet Explorer. Valve will (rightly) see this as a huge threat to their business, and will go out on the offensive.

Secondly, why are they only making these improvements now? The Mac clients of all the Source games are OpenGL, and they have about half the frame rate of the same game running on the same Mac on OSX as they do on Windows under Boot Camp.

Thirdly, they're comparing the latest and greatest version of OpenGL to DirectX 9, at framerates which massively exceed what anyone with an LCD screen will ever play at. The main difference in performance here is caused by the overhead of writing a polygon buffer in Direct3D, which has basically been eliminated in DirectX 10 and 11.

Finally, the biggest Linux-friendly game company so far - id tech - have come out this week and told us that Linux still isn't a viable gaming market.
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I agree with you on the business threat thing. However, if you read the comments on the Valve blog post you'll see that it's not quite as simple as that for Mac support due to the feature-freeze for Mac OGL. Also in that blog post is some talk where they say they applied similar optimisations to the Windows version and saw improvements but that the Linux port managed to stay ahead.

james.miller said:
Gabe denounces windows 8....gabe then tells the world linux is faster. I see a pattern forming here:o :p

Are they average or maximum framerate figures? seeing as all 3 are over 250fps, I'm fairly confident that they are maximum figures and in that case they are completely flippin' useless when they are all over 100fps. I would like to see average framerates instead. In all seriousness though, I'm not surprised that an optimised engine, with an optimised openGL renderer is faster......or at least has a higher maximum framerate. If these improvements can also be made to the windows version then I don't really see the issue.
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Your point is fair enough about the FPS numbers and how high they are but the take-home message from this news shouldn't be "Linux is faster than Windows" but "Linux finally able to keep pace with Windows for gaming (in this one particular use-case)". Pretty good news all in all for those that use Linux as a desktop. I personally don't but the main reason for that is because I game as well as work on my desktop PC.

But, yeah, the spin on the article is the attempt to coerce readers into thinking that Linux is faster than Windows so that they'll be more likely to consider it in future. There's some actually useful/non-spin info in there too is all I'm trying to say :)
 
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This should be good, I'm one of those users who only use Windows cos games don't run in Linux. But I seriously doubt Linux will be a major platform, there just isn't enough users of Linux for gaming to take a step up, and a lot of people seem either scared or clueless in using a simple and dumbed down Linux distro like Ubuntu. Most I suspect will stick with Win 7, I personally won't be upgrading to Win 8.

What are the chances of a Steam Console being released that will run on a customised Linux OS? Perhaps this is one of their main motivations to get all titles ported.
 
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FrenchTart said:
I agree with you on the business threat thing. However, if you read the comments on the Valve blog post you'll see that it's not quite as simple as that for Mac support due to the feature-freeze for Mac OGL. Also in that blog post is some talk where they say they applied similar optimisations to the Windows D3D version and saw improvements but that the Linux port managed to stay ahead.
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It was the Windows OpenGL version they improved the performance with, not the Direct3D version.
 
TruffleShuffle said:
Basically, there's no point in developing for Linux because the people that use it just download pirated software.
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This is probably the reason why those on Linux platforms are usually the most generous with the Humble Bundles.

This can only be a good thing for gaming in general and I'm glad to see Valve working on such systems despite me most likely never using them (unless I can get a cool hat for doing so :D)
 
I read this a few days back and thought why?? Why are they pouring money and resource into a godawful 3rd rate fragmented OS. Its a good server OS but absolutely stinks as a desktop and has a niche userbase who are allergic to spending cash.

Guess MS must have REALLY upset them with their new App store to get them sticking a load of cash on a 3 legged horse.
 
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