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#4576278 - 08/02/21 10:17 AM Simming and linux?  
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 65
devere Offline
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devere  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 65
Ho all,

With the latest announcment of W11 and all that 'trusted' platform nonsense I'm thinking now might be a good time to finally jump to linux. I know with modern games and steam a lot of games will work fine on linux, but what about WoFF?
Could I add it as a steam game and then run it using steam proton?

Also controllers?
Controller wise I have thrustmaster T.16000, a generic racing wheel (which doubles up as a rudder in flight sims) and the standard xbox controller for casual gaming . So will I face any driver issues, or will they simply not be recognized at all?

If any one has some experience of simming on linux I would be interested to hear your impressions.
Cheers!

#4576279 - 08/02/21 10:37 AM Re: Simming and linux? [Re: devere]  
Joined: Jun 2001
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rwatson Offline
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Good question devere I'm also thinking about Linux.Messed with it years ago and would like to know the best one to try for gaming.


Russ
Semper Fi
#4576300 - 08/02/21 02:08 PM Re: Simming and linux? [Re: devere]  
Joined: Apr 2021
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Qqqq Offline
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Short answer : Pretty much yes, but.

Long answer, that's so long I had to break it into sections:

Woff

I've been running WOFF on Ubuntu 18.04 for a few months by now I reckon - maybe 100 hours in - I loosely followed VonS's guide here Installing WOFF UE/PE/BH&H2 on a Mac (WineSkin and BootCamp) , which was written for using Wine on a Mac - though it needed a bit of alteration to get running on Linux - but the "running through Wine" was essentially the same. I'm using Lutris as the "manager" to run it through currently. I also had it mostly running through Playonlinux, though couldn't get the dx9 shaders to work (Though since running it on Lutris, I think I've worked out how I would get it to work on POL if I was to re-try it).

I've not yet tried on Proton/Steam, but in theory it should work - though I'd expect to have to use a few "protontricks" to register a few dlls and things. I'm going to try a Proton install myself in a few weeks. I've got a bit of a busy chunk of work at the moment, but I've got a break coming up mid August, and my intention was to reinstall WOFF on both Lutris, Proton/Steam, anything else that'll do it (they all use the same Wine underneath to make things work) and write up a little how-to.

I currently have it using the slower WineD3D, rather than DXVK (which would convert it to Vulkan, and is what Proton will use by default unless told not to). I think it was having issues somewhere with the conversion of DX7>DX9>do magic things which make it look great and have mouse-look>Vulkan. WineD3D converts this to OpenGL instead - which works fine, but I think I'd get improved framerates with DXVK.

Proton/Steam

Regarding Proton/Steam generally, I'd say right now, basically most games except those with "anticheat" will work - though look at ProtonDB and check your favourites, as the steps required vary from "click and it works" to "follow these fifty steps and it works sometimes". There's sometimes problems with all these extra launchers that things like to bundle with their games now - though the games themselves work fine if you can get past the launcher. Sometimes game updates can change things - for example, since its most recent update, I'm having issues with Red Dead Redemption 2 crashing after a few hours, but otherwise working perfectly. I play a lot of driving sims, (from Dirt Rally to F1 games to Euro Truck) and I've had very few issues in the past - though I am waiting for Forza Horizon 4 to become a bit more compatible before I buy it. In terms of games similar to this, I know Rise of Flight works fine (though as a new player, you have to register on the website instead of in-game), as does the accompanying Pat Wilson's Campaign Generator (though I think that was a bit of a pain to get working together). Of older games, also Red Baron 3D works perfectly too smile

Given the impending Steam Deck, Valve are currently working to try and bring Proton compatibility to 100%, so the knock on effect would be greater compatibility for running Windows games on Linux - that's just a matter of waiting.

Controllers and Peripherals

Controllers is a mixed bag. My Xbox 360 controller, Steam Controller and Logitech G920 Racing Wheel & Pedals all work straight from the box, the drivers are part of the Linux kernel (I use pylinuxwheel for adjusting settings on the wheel) - but I don't have a proper flight stick to test. I know some of them work, and some don't without some setup - for the T16000, there's someone talking about it https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topi...-slider-rudder-pedals-problems-in-linux/

You may find that currently, getting head tracking up and running involves a lot of messing about, but can be done - currently I use the right controller stick on the Xbox controller, or the right mouse-pad-touch-thingy on the Steam controller for my looking around.

Linux Versions

In terms of the different Linux distributions, essentially any of them will work, or can be made to work, so really you don't need to worry about it too much - though you're likely to have a lot more forum support for fairly well known distributions like Ubuntu or Mint, and those based on them. Some people swear by Arch Linux, as in theory you can get the best, cutting edge results - though expect to spend as much time tinkering as playing. Though this is a little of an oversimplification, the difference between distributions is mostly down to what things are pre-installed or already setup, how often certain things are updated, how those updates are presented/packaged, and what the graphical front end looks like. Even so, if I decided I preferred the look of Kubuntu than basic Ubuntu, I can near enough just install the KDE Desktop, and it'll switch over, whilst all my files stay the same and (nearly) all my programs carry on working as they were.

I installed a "HWE Stack" (Hardware Enablement) thing with Ubuntu to give me a newer Kernel (which contains all the drivers etc) in an older, stable OS, and a "PPA" to give me newer NVidia drivers than you'd get by default. For some distributions, it would already be using the newest kernel and drivers, for example. My laptop runs Linux mint, which is 90% the same as Ubuntu, except has a different desktop environment and a few different default settings, which I prefer - it's a lot more like Windows, in terms of the menu in the bottom left etc. Linux mint will also install the Proprietary NVidia drivers by default. On Ubuntu, you have to choose to - but in the end they both do the same thing.

Summary

The safest thing to do is test it on a spare hard drive (or USB stick!). It's free, so costs nothing but time. I dual-booted Windows XP and earlier versions of Ubuntu for years - I could choose which OS I used on startup, still keeping the Windows partition for a few necessary work related things, or particular games - until eventually I didn't really use the Windows partition for anything. About six or seven years ago, I replaced my computer, and didn't bother with the Windows partition.

In general terms, for gaming on Linux, I have more working games than I'll ever have time to play, though there's some I just have to accept don't currently work. If I choose to get a flight stick or other peropheral at some point, I'll have to do some research on compatibility, but I think I'm generally pretty happy with how things are smile

#4576606 - 08/05/21 01:10 PM Re: Simming and linux? [Re: devere]  
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devere Offline
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Posts: 65
Thank you for that in depth explanation. Certainly encouraging. I was thinking of trying ubuntu as apparently that is the linux that steam recommend for maximum compatibilty so I will begin downloading and trying things out.

Cheers

#4576625 - 08/05/21 06:43 PM Re: Simming and linux? [Re: devere]  
Joined: Mar 2011
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VonS Offline
WWI Flight Sims on a Mac
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Q is definitely the go-to specialist here for Linux questions - also recommended is the following thread regarding WOFF-on-Linux:

https://SimHQ.com/forum/ubbthreads....ny-reason-bh-h2-wouldnt-work#Post4566520

In terms of WOFF-friendly Linux distros, most should be fine but, as Q has indicated, Ubuntu is a good mainstream choice, as well as the Ubuntu-based edition of Linux Mint (which comes in different flavors of desktop windows/managers, such as Xfce, Mate, and Cinnamon - choose the Xfce or Mate variants if you want a small memory footprint and speed, although Cinnamon is good for high-end computers). There's also a Debian-based, "rolling" edition of Mint that may be okay - but keep in mind that rolling distros are somewhat more unstable than the regular, phased upgrade variants. Only other distros that I can think of off the top of my head, that might be worth tinkering with for Steam, perhaps also for WOFF, are Debian (Stable) and openSUSE (both of these are old-school distros that go back many years but have pretty-good support).

Here's an interesting bit of info. for those who are curious, taken from the SUSE forums:

"Warning: Steam is a closed source application whose runtime relies on a 2012 Ubuntu release for binary compatibility. This may cause issues with the openSUSE:Tumbleweed rolling release, but the maintainers do their best to keep Steam working well on openSUSE."

(There is a non-rolling edition of SUSE, which may be a better choice - as well, notice the comment regarding Steam and runtimes dating to the 2012 Ubuntu release - which may be info. of help to those who are interested in distro-hopping in their quest to run WOFF and Steam on Linux.)

Couple of links, by the way, for how to install Steam on Debian:

https://www.how2shout.com/linux/how-to-install-steam-on-debian-10-or-11-linux/

https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-steam-with-steam-play-on-debian-10-buster/

Most of my experimentation with the Linux distros mentioned above has been only in VirtualBox - so I recommend, for more specific questions, posting here, and either Q will comment or also others who have Linux running on hardware (instead of in VirtualBox only as in my case).

The install instructions that I have posted here on SimHQ, also on CombatAce, for WOFF-in-Wineskin-and/or-Bootcamp, are specifically for Macs, but as Q has indicated, most of those parts of the install instructions that deal directly with Wineskin itself (which is simply a wrapper, among many, that allows for WINE to be installed) - are similar or identical to what is needed to run WOFF-on-Linux too.

Cheers all and happy WOFFing in generic WINE or third-party WINE wrappers,
Von S smile2

Last edited by VonS; 08/05/21 06:46 PM. Reason: Added extra info.

~ For my various FM/AI/FPS/DM Mods. for First Eagles 2, WoFF, RoF & WoTR, and tips for FlightGear, recommended is to check over my CombatAce profile (https://combatace.com/profile/86760-vons/) and to click on the "About Me" tab while there. ~

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