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This is huge. I was beginning to lose hope we'd ever see a big budget high-profile non-indie get a Linux port ever again.
Edit: Maybe not that huge...
Now that there is a Steam Deck Native build, is Baldur’s Gate 3 supported on Linux?
Larian does not provide support for the Linux platform. The Steam Deck Native build is only supported on Steam Deck.
I would be a little bit surprised if it doesn't also work on Linux desktop. They're probably just saying "don't ask us to fix it if it breaks, we never said it would work"
Still lame
The Steam Deck comes in essentially one hardware configuration with one operating system complying to one set of standards. Linux users have a higher-than-average tendency to do weird, nonstandard shit on their computers and then complain when it breaks something. On Windows, Steam OS, and Mac, if you test it on maybe 5 different configurations, you're done. With Linux, you have to test at least four different distros (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch), two different packaging formats for Steam (Flatpak, native package), and two windowing systems (X.org, Wayland). Plus the proprietary NVIDIA drivers along with open-source drivers. That's already 32 combinations for 2% market share.
You can always pick one distro and architecture. "Supported on Debian 13 standard install on amd_64". Debian being very stable (non changing) is actually a prime target for this.
Linux has actually hit 5-6% marketshare. Your point is still valid though, but they could always just say "It might work on other Linux builds but we can't support them".
Why are distros and packaging formats relevant? I don't contest that they are, but isn't that what the steam runtime is supposed to standardize? I'm honestly baffled by the number of native steam builds that are broken in some way on my machine despite using their preferred steam runtime.
I can't explain the exact reasons why, but let me provide some examples.
In Cities: Skylines (which is natively supported on Linux), I had two mods installed that had different behaviour depending on whether Steam was installed through a Flatpak or whether it was installed as a native package. One of them needed to access a system installation of Mono and call it (which sounds like virus behaviour, I know), and this functionality would be blocked by Flatpak's containerisation. The second mod was a map-drawing mod which would create maps of the in-game city and put them in a specified folder in your home directory. On the native package Steam, it would put the files in the default folder, but crashes if you tried to change the directory. Otherwise, it worked as expected. On the Flatpak Steam, it would allow you to select the directory, but no files would actually be written there. It's easy to just blame bad code written by amateur developers, but clearly it's a case of the same code resulting in different behaviour depending on variables like Steam's installation method.
Also, the Sims 4, which is not native and runs through Proton, worked pretty reliably on X11 but occasionally crashes mid-game using Wayland. It was not perfectly stable in either case, but it crashed far less frequently on X11 compared to Wayland.
This is not a game, but Firefox supports touchpad gestures on my laptop on Wayland, but not on X11.
~~Nope. If you pick the Linux version on a desktop Linux it doesn't even have a binary, so the game can't launch. On normal Linux you have to pick the Proton version. The Linux binary only downloads on Steam Deck.~~
EDIT: This is no longer true. If you simply disable the compatibility modes, the native steam deck now downloads nicely on Linux, and it runs straight out of the box for me, and with much less stuttering
I don't like that Steam can do this. If I force BG3 to use the Sniper runtime, then it should be the same exact build that gets downloaded to the Steam Deck.
I think they fixed that, the default on desktop Linux is now the Steam Linux Runtime 3.0 and the native version of the game launches flawlessly for me on Fedora 42.
They're probably just saying "don't ask us
And people will ask, and will leave negative reviews when the game doesn't work on their heavily customised setup. They are probably already writing negative reviews, just look at the comments under the OP.
That is to be expected. Which Linux should they support? Steam Deck is ok, it's stable, new and popular. Arch? No way. Ubuntu? Yeah, no. Any other "gaming distro" some dudes built? Who would want to support that?
So what is Linux you want companies to support?
I use Arch btw.
Support doesn't have to be based on a specific distro. It isn't for any of the other ports that support us.
When you promise support, you have to take responsibility when it doesn't work.
I know native ports are important to some folks, and I know you're one of them, but would you mind explaining why? Maybe you've done so in the past and I didn't internalize it.
Larian's own reasoning here appears to be squeezing it for more performance, and with Linux users now accounting for 6% of English-language players, I suspect more companies will find this to be worth the effort as that percentage rises and Windows becomes more of a pain in the ass.
EDIT: reworded statistic for accuracy
Proton still perpetuates Microsoft’s monopoly on graphics APIs etc.
I guess, but it also simultaneously ports thousands of games that were never going to get updated with Linux builds even if Linux became 100% of the market tomorrow; several games I have now with native Linux ports are worse than the same game run through Proton. And when run through Proton, it's no longer hitting Microsoft code. Anyway, this outcome in this post is the kind of thing that Valve expected to happen but has happened very little thus far, hopefully a sign of things to come.
Totally. And then DirectX 13 comes out and needs to be reversed and implemented, all the while developers don’t think about Linux.
If MS get cheeky with the MZ/EXE/PE format, we could be several years behind.
I’ve been using Wine for years and I think anyone who has been using it all this time will get what I’m saying.
Just because Proton/Wine has caught up (mostly) doesn’t mean it wasn’t a long and painful journey to get there.
There was a very clear dividing line between Wine before Proton and Wine after Proton. Maybe Indiana Jones and the Great Circle doesn't work great on Proton on day 1, but it catches up so much more quickly than it used to, because there's an incentive to. Anyway, I don't mean to try to change your mind, and at least I get the perspective.
Again, I think you’re coming at this from enjoying Proton today but say DX13 comes out tomorrow, it could be years before Proton is compatible.
It took about 6 years for Proton to be somewhat capable at supporting DX3D 12 after 12 launched in 2014. Arguably it was closer to 7 or 8 years (that’s how long Proton took to get to the state it’s in today).
This is what I’m talking about. If MS purposefully make it difficult to reverse and reimplement (which they have an incentive to do), and game developers continue to focus and target MS platforms, we could be waiting half a decade to play those games on Linux.
I suppose I hardly noticed how long it took for DX12 to work because games had DX11 modes basically the entire time that Proton struggled with it. So again, not trying to sway you on anything, but optimistically, there's going to be little to no games pushing any kind of envelope when a new technology like that comes along. It's already prohibitively expensive for games to do so today, such that there are very few good games in a given year that make use of the latest tech.
The way I see it, native support means our platform is actually being supported.
Though it seems I may have celebrated too soon here...
Now that there is a Steam Deck Native build, is Baldur’s Gate 3 supported on Linux?
Larian does not provide support for the Linux platform. The Steam Deck Native build is only supported on Steam Deck.
Hell yeah... Zero regrets paying full price for this game.
Ooh, I think it's time for me to finally buy this game, hopefully in a way that signals my support for this action.
It blows my mind that I haven't played BG3, btw. The original saga of 1 + 2 + expansions is S-tier nostalgia deep in my heart right along with the other big PC and console RPGs of the 90s. i've just been in one of those phases of life where I am focused on other things and not playing many games at all unless my family gets me to jump into something light and co-op.
And when I say focused, on a scale from 1 to 10 I'm talking ADHD hyperfocus.
Just to let you know, BG3 plays completely different than the original saga. It sounds obvious as I type this but BG3 really doesn’t compare. The tone and humor just isn’t the same. Really the only thing that connects to it are certain characters and map names. I would honestly just consider BG3 a really good spin-off game rather than considering it a mainline Baldurs Gate game. Hopefully you aren’t too disappointed, it’s still a very good game. I just have a hard time including it in the Baldurs Gate saga.
Wasn't expecting a high profile game to get a native Linux build, especially so much time after release, but I'm glad to see it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stadia_games
Of course, Stadia builds were not released to the public.
Was already working fine through proton, but this is great to see as well!
Not yet in GOG, though.
This is technically true, but they specifically state that they don't support Linux in their faq.
This is "just" a SteamDeck build.
(I actually tried to run it on debian, but it didn't want to start. That said, I invested 0 time, maybe it was just a minor thing. no idea)
Did some testing on this on Linux, Arch + KDE 6 (wayland) + Nvidia GPU. It looks like DLSS works on Nvidia hardware. I didn't do formal benchmarks, but I didnt notice performance improvement. On my laptop it actually used roughly 10% more watts on the GPU while capped at 60fps. I don't think I could tell the difference on a blind test. So I'll use it anyway to do my part for hardware surveys.
Although this was Act 1, perhaps Act 3 will tell a different story.
The Steam Deck also means they can assume AMD hardware, so even if you don't see the benefits, they might be there for someone else.
Okay now I'm buying
I'm confused. It's a Linux native build, but they call it steam deck native. Does this mean it's not optimized for Nvidia since steam deck is AMD hardware? I'm fairly new to Linux, so the wording is throwing me off.
You have to dig a few layers deep, but it appears that they uploaded a Linux build that only downloads for Steam Decks, and they don't seem to fully support non-Steam Deck. I haven't verified a way to get around this, but often, where there's a will, there's a way. You might be able to force the game to download the Linux version from the Compatibility settings in Steam. At least at this point in time, Larian only seems interested in the Linux build for Steam Deck in particular, which I've never seen before.
Oh nice I'll cop it on Steam Deck for the holidays.
Don't remember if it was the same on Windows (before I permanently switched) but hopefully this will keep my GPU from running full throttle from the second I click the launcher until it's closed.
Yeah. I've got MangoHud throttling it down to 36 fps for that reason - if it tries to run 4K @ 144 fps then my graphics card sounds like a Spitfire getting ready for launch. It's not a game that needs twitch response for any reason, so it's not harmed by that.
It's an amazing game but the graphics are a small part of that, which makes the fact it runs inexplicably badly a bit of a mystery. Complicated lighting and long view distances in the underdark? No probs. Just a row of houses in act 3? Enjoy your stutters and framerate dips.
Hells yeah!