Linux Support

I'm interested in this as well. I'm installing Linux on my home pc tonight but I'm doing a dull boot install because some of my fav games don't work so well with Linux (or so I've heard).

~SDC~

I remember reading Brads posts on the Usenet a few ywaRS back that kinda indicated that he was extremely anti-Linux and Open Source in general. I dont think we should expect it. However there instruction on how to make it run in WineX

Whats wrong with Open Source

~SDC~

i wonder if running winex in mac osx will make galciv run better than with vpc

Slashclone, I'm afraid your way off. This issue has been addressed here before, and Brad made it clear that he has no problem with Linux.

If you think for a second about Stardock's history, that they started out as an OS/2 ISV struggling to survive against OS/2's decline, you'll understand why they're hesitant to sink money into a (great) platform that has no guarantees of returning their investment.

It would seem that if it's not working well with WineX, that's WineX's problem.

jason

~SDC~

I am afraid you are wrong just do a search on google for sratdock and open source. For example you may find this "Stardock's open source views gets trashed at GeekNews"

Im not saying release a native version just maybe make it so its easier to run through wine.

Sidd, now why exactly should a _Windows_ software developer spend time and money to work on letting people run it under _Linux_? The others were right: this is a problem for the writers of WineX to solve if they're so inclined, not Stardock's problem at all.

To be fair several windows game compnaies release Linux versions of their recent games. Privately owned ID software is an obvious exmaple, NeverWinter Nights is also availible for linux.

"To be fair several windows game compnaies release Linux versions of their recent games. Privately owned ID software is an obvious exmaple, NeverWinter Nights is also availible for linux".

Yes, and? The basic question should be: WHY did you install Linux? As a hobby? Fine, but don't demand devs to publish the game in your "Hobby" environment. Linux is an alternative for windows, basically because windows was estimated rather unstable, to make it more like Apple's operating system, to avoid Microsoft's monopoly position. Linux tries to emulate windows, since there is soo much software written for it. And because most people don't want to buy for instance Windows Word ANd then Linux Word. Windows XP is extremely stable, most PC's are sold with an installed windows version, so Linux is more like a "hobby" second operating system, it seems.

I'm not the the person who started this treah but since you asked anything I do on my home PC is a hobby, and Linux seems to work for everything I do namely web surfing, chatting, web programming in perl php and java just fine. Its sure would be nice not to have to reboot to play a game.

I use Linux on my main machines (for normal work like browsing, office work, music listening, movie watching and some gaming) and only have Windows dual booting with Linux on one machine. Just for apps that re not available for Linux and apps and games that don't work in Linux. For all other jobs I use Linux and would also like to see a GalCiv binary for Linux. It would be one more reason not to use Windows anymore.

See the Winex/Linux thread for a howto on getting GC running with Wine.

"Any chance of linux support. Or at least a look at why its not working well with WineX?"

Because the transgaming folk are money-grubbing sleazebags?

As wudang said, check the linux/winex thread (wherever it may be) for some tips... But some basic starting points would be to make sure you have the latest packages of everything necessary. Try the latest released binary type version of WineX, if you're a subscriber. If that doesn't work, try the CVS version and keep updating the CVS until GalCiv starts working? :notsure:

~SDC~

"Windows XP is extremely stable, most PC's are sold with an installed windows version, so Linux is more like a "hobby" second operating system, it seems."

That has to be one of the most ignorant statement I've heard from any Linux basher yet. Windows XP stable??? That's a laugh, not only does it crash and get corrupted rather frequently, but it uses a ton of resources and is slow as sh*t running up hill in a snowstorm. Linux is far from a hobby OS then you might like to pretend to yourself, Linux is for the serious individual who wants to do serious development or web hosting (among many other tasks that windows fails miserably at) That being said, Linux is also NOT a gaming platform and the issues involved with supporting linux are so daunting its no wonder that game companies don't want to especially since the number of linux gamers is far lower then windows gamers so the return on the investment is hard to find.

for smaller companies like stardock it makes sense to support dual platforms. I'm a fan of Uplink, a game by startup Introversion Software, and from several comments I saw in their forums it seems that Linux accounted for 25% of their patch downloads (meaning it should have about 25% of the user base). This figure is NOT negligible. The reason for this is that Linux word-of-mouth grows extremely fast, because the companies supporting us are so few. So, if you sell a small number of games in windows, suddenly the 3 or 4 thousand linux copies you might sell start being significant.

As for Freya's comment. Dude, I've seen you on the forums, and you seem like a nice guy. So please bear in mind that your statement to us Linux users sounded more or less like this:

" Galciv is just a poor excuse for a MOO3 clone. It's just for people who dislike the thinking man's game that is MOO, it's just a shallow distraction. Cute graphics though."

There, liked that statement? Thought not. So please ask info from whoever knows the subject instead of forming opinions out of the Rectal Orifice.

Thanks

Astro

Linux is not a hobbist OS there are many apps that you can only use a UNIX derivative to run. Anyway Galciv is not very graphics intensive so I wonder why its so hard to port. Considering even unreal 2003 runs on linux. Oh well.

It may not be that hard to port but it will still take developer effort. I've seen how tiny differences can make porting from one unix to another a pain in the rear even porting between supposedly POSIX compliant systems. Yeah, Linux is great and at home I have Linux running DB2, Websphere, and so on (thanks to IBMs developerworks website and its free cds!) and it would please me beyond measure to dump XP, which I actually find pretty stable but still motivates me to find some of the developers and smite them with a bit of clue by 4 ('Say plug and play again! I dare you! Ok, now who wrote the home network wizard?') . But it's a very much smaller pie to try to get a slice of. The PC gaming market is overwhelmingly Wintel.

I'm a unix admin by trade. I've earned my bread and butter wid it. It provides me with many resources and happiness. Unfortunatly Linux -IS- still just a hobby OS. Sure it's growing strong.. But it's a far cry from being remotly mainstream. I've snuck it on several dozen machines at the office and when management wants to know how it is that my budget is so well maintained I'll show them.. The day I hear the guys at Jiffy Lube debating the best Linux-flav is the day it's no longer a hobby.

But that's just me. Call me crazy. Call me a pervert. I like bubblegum in my mouth and butter in my, ugh, well you know.. That's what I like..

~SDC~

The dream of Gal Civ is to create a space empire 4x game with the best AI out there. To that end, StarDock created the ingenious MetaVerse so that players can submit their games for analysis in order to make the AI even better. AI is very, very hard to program and even more so when you try to code an AI that doesn't cheat. Given a choice between StarDock porting the game to Linux or continuing to pursue the awesome dream of evolving the AI, I choose the AI.

"The day I hear the guys at Jiffy Lube debating the best Linux-flav is the day it's no longer a hobby."

I don't hear them debating Windows XP over 2k either hehe.