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PC Games (Games) Entertainment Games

Neverwinter Nights for Linux 325

Posted by michael from the better-late-than-neverwinter dept.
Marshall writes "Today I received an email from Tux Games that I never thought I'd get: confirmation that they were shipping me Neverwinter Nights complete with Linux installer! I didn't believe my eyes, so I checked out bioware's web page, and it was confirmed, the linux client is complete. Also check tuxgames.com which states that they are completing the installer and plan to ship games on Monday, 23 June."
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Neverwinter Nights for Linux More

Neverwinter Nights for Linux

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  • Linux AND an OS X demo! (Score:3, Informative)

    by TexTex ( 323298 ) * on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:02AM (#6253218)
    Wow...a demo of NW for the OS X folks and a shipping version for the Linux team.

    Not a bad week in gaming for those who have strayed away from the flock.

  • In other news (Score:3, Funny)

    by echorun ( 629954 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:03AM (#6253222) Homepage
    Hell freezes over

  • Misleading Title (Score:5, Funny)

    by KoopaTroopa ( 549540 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:06AM (#6253257) Homepage
    This news forces me to reconsider how appropriate I believe the title Neverwinter Nights is.

    Perhaps Eventuallywinter Nights, Finallywinter Nights, or Tookadamnlongtimewinter Nights.

  • Complete? Hardly. (Score:5, Informative)

    by eviltypeguy ( 521224 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:06AM (#6253258)
    I wouldn't call a client that unlike the Windows version lacks both movie playback and a toolset "complete".

    ppffttt

    Certainly not what we were led to belive we were getting when Bioware first announced a client.

    Both the Mac and Windows versions get movie playback, what do we get? Nada.

    Not only that the jackballs at Infogrames/Atari jacked up the the Linux installer included on the Shadows of Undrentide expansion disc by saving all the shell scripts using DOS line endings.
    • There is a Linux installer on the expansion? No need to wait for Liarware to make a separate 1.13 GB linux download?

    • Re:Complete? Hardly. (Score:3, Informative)

      by LordYUK ( 552359 )
      Not that I disagree completely, but have you WATCHED the "movies"?

      My old SNES (NES even!) had cutscenes better than that... I'd say that BioWare went cheap, but the fact of the matter is, you CAN replicate them (instructions at nwn.bioware.com) for homemade modules, so I guess its just "showcasing" the feature...
      • It's not the quality of the movies - it's the fact that for the main storyline to make sense, you need at least the narrative that is given during the movies. The impression I get from the folks in the nwn.bioware.com forums is that quite a few people would be happy if they just gave static image with a sound-only voiceover, or even just displayed the text of the storyline to be read at the appropriate time.
      • Yes, I have watched the movies, and the movies in the expansion pack are far better than the original ones, but without the movies in the original one you'll miss part of the story (well, ok you can read it in your journal but you'll miss all of the nice artwork and a better idea of what the world of NeverWinter looks like).

        I must admit the game is still enjoyable despite these shortcomings, but they could have made several decision different. If they were really planning to make a cross-platform game they

    • Re:Complete? Hardly. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Schnapple ( 262314 ) <tomkiddNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:27AM (#6253481) Homepage
      Right, so instead of delaying the entire game for a year so they could deliver it to the other 10% of the gaming public they did that horrible thing people do and release it to the other 90% of the gaming public.

      And what do they get in return? Well if this thread is to be believed, nothing but gripes and complaints. No wonder they don't want to break their nuts getting a Linux port out the door - they'll get headaches either way.

      And the toolset hasn't been ported to Linux, mostly because Borland supposedly didn't come through with a compiler. And the Linux Client doesn't have movies becaue Bink's a little licensing bitch. And there's not an installer since they signed a bad contract with InstallSheild, who doesn't have a Linux version. Get over it. As Linux users you guys are supposed to be the "rebels" of the computer world - don't rebel and whine at the same time.

      FYI, hit up the Bioware forums, there's a linky in there to get the toolset running in Linux using a hacked WINE. It's got some glitches but they're minor from what I've been told.

      Also, get it right - Bioware didn't ship this game a year ago, Atari (then Infogrames) did. They had just spent a good load of cash getting Bioware away from Interplay and Bioware was in no position to tell them to sit on it a year.

      • Constructive Criticism (Score:5, Insightful)

        by _Sprocket_ ( 42527 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @11:13AM (#6254034)


        Right, so instead of delaying the entire game for a year so they could deliver it to the other 10% of the gaming public they did that horrible thing people do and release it to the other 90% of the gaming public.

        And what do they get in return? Well if this thread is to be believed, nothing but gripes and complaints. No wonder they don't want to break their nuts getting a Linux port out the door - they'll get headaches either way.

        Bioware got a lot of press around these parts for their promise of concurrent Linux and MacOS releases. They screwed up. Badly. Not only did they miss a concurrent release... but they've missed it by over a year (considering the MacOS isn't 1.0 yet and the caveats with the Linux version).

        It is also a valid point that they got further delayed by technology they didn't own. Borland, Bink, and InstallSheild didn't help. But then, Bioware is supposed to be a professional outfit. Where was the process that ensured the technology being used would be cross platform?

        Bioware's savings grace is that they've slogged through the experience and are finally delivering... more or less. It seems they are trying to make good, despite obvious inexperience in doing this kind of thing. Maybe they've learned enough to make the next time (and I hope there is a next time) go smoother. After all, other game houses have managed to pull this off.

        The Bioware guys seem to be honest enough to admit to their mistakes and take the criticism. And they deserve that criticism. Keep in mind that they are selling commercial software. If their Windows release had the same issues as the Linux version, they'd get the same criticism and more. You wouldn't have people saying "we should all buy this despite how rough it is... after all, they could have just made a version for the PS2 and ignored Windows."

        Having said all that - there is that saving's grace. Its a good game. They're trying. And they're doing a decent enough job at delivering. I'll be buying my copy today after work. I'll even buy the expansion set if its available.

        But I'll still point out when and where they screwed up. As well as where they succeeded.

        Nobody is above contructive criticism.
        • One thing abotu the expansion:

          The installer got broken by the publisher, got converted into DOS short names so it doesn't work unfortunately.

          Here is a workaround that you'll need after installing the main game:

          http://nwn.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?top ic =224864&forum=72

          Do install the expansion before using even the original campaign as it adds a lot to the original (spells, feats etc).

          StarTux

        • Where was the process that ensured the technology being used would be cross platform?

          I'm not a developer or a publisher, but it seems to me that, except for products for consoles, cross-platform isn't that important to the people in the industry (bold for emphasis, not shouting). Neverwinter Nights took a long time to complete - it was even announced for BeOS, an OS long dead by the ship date. Along the way tons of decisions had to be made, and I'm sure Bink or InstallSheild didn't make any efforts to poi

      • For those of us who play NWN on a practical daily basis and have enjoyed a ton of custom modules, we say a BIG THANKS...

        I am exceptionally happy with the way the Linux client has evolved. Anybody bitching is either a Troll or clueless.

        Signed: One happy Bioware customer and Linux user who is looking forward to getting his hands on Shadows of Undrentide.

      • And the toolset hasn't been ported to Linux, mostly because Borland supposedly didn't come through with a compiler. And the Linux Client doesn't have movies becaue Bink's a little licensing bitch. And there's not an installer since they signed a bad contract with InstallSheild, who doesn't have a Linux version.

        I'm missing the part where poor planning on bioware's part is supposed to be an excuse for them not delivering what they promised. Bink has shitty licensing? Don't use Bink. They could have reen

      • And there's not an installer since they signed a bad contract with InstallSheild, who doesn't have a Linux version.

        Incorrect, InstallShield has InstallShield Multiplatform [installshield.com] which handles "[...] Mac OS X, OS/400, Windows, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, and all other OS platforms you target." It creates a Java Swing GUI (commandline available by using the -console switch) which I'm using at work to create installers for our apps. Our target archs are AIX, Solaris and Linux, you layout your app, then it create
      • And the toolset hasn't been ported to Linux, mostly because Borland supposedly didn't come through with a compiler. And the Linux Client doesn't have movies becaue Bink's a little licensing bitch. And there's not an installer since they signed a bad contract with InstallSheild, who doesn't have a Linux version.

        Let that be a lesson to other developers thinking of using products from these companies.

        BUT, Bioware made promises it wasn't able to fulfill. It's perfectly valid for us to complain about that. Ju
    • NOt only that, but you still cannot serve/host scenarios for NeverWinter Nights on a Linux box, nor create adventures on one. YOu still need Windows for that, though someone has claimed to get the scenario editor thingie to work with winex.

  • Finally... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Paleomacus ( 666999 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:07AM (#6253263)
    ...and to think I almost went in to work today.

    This made my year. How sad is that?

    • Re:Finally... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Oliver Wendell Jones ( 158103 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:52AM (#6253763)
      This made my year. How sad is that?

      On the sadness scale of 1 to 10 where:

      1 = A Rainy Day, and

      10 = Your independently wealthy, nymphomaniac, computer literate, console game playing girlfriend who looks like a genetic combination of Pamela Anderson, Natalie Portman and Lara Croft (only with bigger boobs) crashes your new Porsche into a school bus full of nuns and orphans on their way back from rescuing puppies and kittens from the animal shelter, resulting in a huge explosion with no survivors, two days before your wedding after which you would have been a rich man and sole remaining heir to the (insert company of your choice) corporate empire.

      I'd say you're about a 12, maybe 12.5.
  • What are the hardware system requirements? I can not seem to find them.

    • Re:System Requirements??? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anime_Fan ( 636798 ) <slashdot@sjoelu[ ]net ['nd.' in gap]> on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:34AM (#6253552) Homepage
      The Win32 version has requirements:
      450 MHz CPU
      128 MB RAM (win2k/XP), 96MB (Win9x)
      1.2 GB HDD (Minimum Install + OS etc.)
      16 MB OpenGL 1.2 GFX ...

      Note that NWN has had problems w/ ATI cards all from the start. I'd suggest using a GeForce 2 MX card and a 1 GHz CPU for fair performance.
      • There was a hack to get ATI cards working early on (which worked great) and subsequent betas fixed the issues with ATI cards.

        I've run it on RH 8 and 9 with a Radeon 7500 and had no issues whatsoever with the ATI card.

        You might want to turn off DRI in the X config, it makes things run better.

  • Let's hope they plan on releasing the installer (Score:3, Insightful)

    by crivens ( 112213 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:12AM (#6253303)
    Let's hope they plan on releasing the installer separately so I don't have to buy another copy of the game.

  • Linux NWN client out for months .... (Score:5, Informative)

    by dougnaka ( 631080 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:12AM (#6253310) Homepage Journal
    I've been playing it with no problems. I think the likely cause of the excessively long delay to release is due to some good QA people at Bioware.
    So far everything in the game has worked flawlessly. With this and ut2003 native linux clients, Tux finally can be a gamer.
    I recommend downloading Gentoo's [gentoo.org] Unreal Tournament bootable CD if you want to demo native Linux gaming for some non-believers... Sorry, can't find a direct link... It's in their livecd folder...
    Also I recommend transgaming [transgaming.com] for Windows games on Linux. Warcraft 3, Ghost Recon, Max Payne to name a few games that run under Winex3...
    I hope more game development companies want my money, cuz from now on the only way their getting it is if the game has a native Linux client... Unless it's a ps2 game of course..
    • I was playing NWN on Linux for months before that, originally with WineX, in fact. :)

      However, I like the Linux client quite a bit; I'm only using beta 4, and even that is much better than the Windows client, IMO.

    • Re:Linux NWN client out for months .... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Moraelin ( 679338 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:59AM (#6253847) Journal
      With this and ut2003 native linux clients, Tux finally can be a gamer.

      Sadly, no. It will take a lot more than two games to get this gamer anywhere near taking Linux seriously as a gaming platform. I go through more than two games in a week.

      It's a shame, really. I know that technically Linux has all it takes, but until game companies start taking it anywhere _near_ seriously, well, it doesn't start to count as a gaming platform.

      I recommend downloading Gentoo's Unreal Tournament bootable CD if you want to demo native Linux gaming for some non-believers

      And "demo it to non-believers" is one thing I wouldn't do, either. Sorry, it's not there yet. In fact, if anyone really is a gamer, my honest advice would be not to even think about Linux to that end. Use it for your firewall, use it for editing docs in StarOffice, heck, maybe even for browsing the web. But for gaming it's _not_ the OS I'd recommend to anyone.

      Also I recommend transgaming for Windows games on Linux. Warcraft 3, Ghost Recon, Max Payne to name a few games that run under Winex3

      ... if you don't have anything better to do than spend a week configuring the damn thing to even run at all. And going through the usual Linux routine of "the app wants version 42.5.1 of some library, but everything else on the system was compiled with the incompatible 43.18.9 version, while the video card drivers can't possibly be installed without the 41.2.6 version, and is incompatible with the beta AGP drivers. And oh, each of them wants a completely different and incompatible version of 42 other libraries." So you spend a month just tracking the dependencies and downloading and compiling everything, just to play a game. No, thanks.

      You see, gaming is about, you know, _games_. Strange concept, I know.

      It's _not_ about feeling macho that you could recompile X and the kernel to run some 2 year old 2D game. _That_ is not something that your average gamer thinks of as fun.

      Your average gamer wants ideally something like the Playstation 2 that you mention: where you can just pop in a CD, and it just works.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm aware than the Winex does the best it can, and is remarkable from a technical point of view. But even with that, I still wouldn't recommend Linux as a gaming platform to anyone who isn't already a total nerd. (In which case they'll have so much fun recompiling the kernel, that they don't need more than a game per year anyway.)

      • I use Linux 100% of the time and I will concede you have a point. You're a little off base on the WineX piece taking "a week" to configure, WineX mainly works as advertised. Also, there are several excellent native games that weren't mentioned such as RTCW-ET and America's Army but, overall, Linux is not a "gamer's platform" as of yet. If you primarily use your PC for gaming, stay with Win98. The problem is that a lot of the current games use DirectX and, although some of these games do run decently under W

  • Sweet! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Shazow ( 263582 ) <{andrey.petrov} {at} {shazow.net}> on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:13AM (#6253328) Homepage

    2. CD-Key: You will have to purchase a copy of the game to get a valid Neverwinter Nights CD-Key. Of course, with this purchase you also get a lovely Neverwinter Nights mapkin, a spiral-bound game manual, and three plastic-coated aluminum-reinforced W1nd0z3 brand coasters.
    Sweet! I'm getting it!!

    - shazow
    • Of course, with this purchase you also get a lovely Neverwinter Nights mapkin

      Personally, I thought it was a neverwinter nights jiz rag, for use during periods when you do a lot of loading games. Aribeth, here I come!

  • I'm going to try this out when I get home. But the most recent beta still had the "sticky mouse" problem that effectively rendered the game unplayable. There were indications that this would not be fixed for GA. If so, then I just wasted my money.

    Anyone happen to know if this problem is fixed?

  • did they fix the video problems? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:23AM (#6253444)
    just last week i downloaded beta 6 and the gameplay was SLOW(read unplayable -- though it works find under Windows). I've got a Radeon 7500, which I'm guessing is a pretty damn common video card. So, question is, did they fix the client or is it still an nvidia-only club?

  • Linux Installer on SoU - but beware! (Score:5, Informative)

    by DG ( 989 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:23AM (#6253446) Homepage Journal

    The expansion pack Shadows of Urdentide [bioware.com] even ships with a Linux installer on the CD

    Almost...

    It seems that the CD mastering tool BioWare/Atari used converted all the text files - that includes shell scripts, mind - to Windows-style text, and when you try to run the installer /bin/sh chokes on all the ^M characters.

    Happily, there is a workaround. See HERE [bioware.com]

    Note to all single-player-campaign people - pick up the SoU expansion pack and install it concurrently with NWN. The expansion pack adds many more spells, classes, feats etc and they work with the original game, plus some minor bugs are fixed in the process (the SoU expansion patches the original game content too)

    Huh, I submitted this as a story this AM, and it was rejected in favour of this. Go figure.

    DG

    • Should Mention This Too (Score:5, Interesting)

      by DG ( 989 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:35AM (#6253564) Homepage Journal
      Damn, forgot this in the parent post. SlashDot needs an "edit" feature...

      The Linux game client binary on the SoU expansion CD is V1.30, where the game client on their website is V1.29. So the SoU version is NEWER than this one.

      I can confirm that the "sticky mouse" problem that showed up on some resolutions is fixed with V1.30. I actually finished the game at 800X600 with 1.29B5. I tried running at 1024X768 with B5, and got the "sticky mouse". Tried it again with 1.30 after I installed SoU, and it worked - although I seem to have hit the bandwidth limits of a PCI-based GeForce MX400, 'cause it was a little slow.

      At 800X600, Athlon 2100+, RH8, latest NVidia drivers, 32Mb textures, game was nice and snappy.

      I expect that with a more modern, AGP-based card, the game would scale better to the higher resolutions.

      I didn't get very deep into the SoU single-player campaign last night, but the little bit I did shows that it is MUCH improved from the original. The BioWare module people are getting very good. Lots of nice little touches. This is a game worth picking up.

      DG

      • One problem you should be aware of: there is no final 1.30 patch (as of last night). The servers are only at 1.29, unless you are running the beta version. So, if anyone's in an online campaign (I know I am), don't install SoU yet - you won't be able to play on most servers. You could grab the beta server and run that, but then everyone else would have to grab the 1.30 beta patch, which could be a pain.

        Fortunately my copy comes in today (fsck Gamestop, by the way - they have a warehouse 30 miles from he
  • ...for the release of the Shadows of Unrentide expansion... Rejoice, dammit!

  • Does this include the toolset too? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by BiteMeFanboy ( 680905 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:28AM (#6253485)
    Or just the client. I'd be happy with either, but I'd obviously prefer the toolset as well. This may revitalize my gaming, since it's a pain to switch from Linux to Windows just to play a game (yeah I'm lazy). Of course I could buy a new machine...

    • No (Score:4, Informative)

      by Synn ( 6288 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @11:24AM (#6254164)
      No native toolset and the game client won't play the movies from the official campaign and first expansion because they're in .bik format.

      The toolset works fine under wine though.

  • Bittorrent (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kyoko21 ( 198413 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:31AM (#6253527)
    Off topic, but it would be nice if someone that has the completed client resource files create a bittorrent link and allow for quicker distribution than to wait in line in fileshack. Just a thought...

  • Installer.. heh (Score:3, Informative)

    by xNullx ( 635439 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:32AM (#6253542)
    The poster seems to have left out the fact that the Linux installer in the expansion is full of ^M characters and dies on syntax errors (Refer to the nwn linux forum). Oh well, you can easily install the expansion by just unzipping 4 zips into your NWN root directory. Still funny that they never tested the installer before shipping it though.
  • Now, if Adobe could just employ the same common sense as Bioware and start porting their line of applications to Linux it would send the Linux Desktop soaring!

    What the hell are you waiting for?

  • Wow, what a day ! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Katchina'404 ( 85738 )
    Bunch of new toys/fun stuff, just in time for the summer vacations... Harry Potter, end of the US LZW pattent, new PowerMacs and now a NWN Linux client.

  • Joy! (Score:5, Funny)

    by kajoob ( 62237 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:43AM (#6253661)
    Both linux gamers will enjoy this tremendously! ;-)

  • humm (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    any chance they finish their BeOS port?
  • I already have the game, but need a CD key to play online (been waiting for a new video card to turn up, so haven't bothered buying a copy yet - just nabbed a windows installation off a friend for when I was ready).

    You can be sure that I will pay for the Linux version to show up on the stats that way rather than the Windows version. Much appreciated.
  • "2. CD-Key: You will have to purchase a copy of the game to get a valid Neverwinter Nights CD-Key. Of course, with this purchase you also get a lovely Neverwinter Nights mapkin, a spiral-bound game manual, and three plastic-coated aluminum-reinforced W1nd0z3 brand coasters."

    Kazaa NWN keygen (he he he he.....)

    • Re:I want my coasters (Score:2, Insightful)

      by qirien ( 140383 )
      Yeah, keygen programs work fine for playing it single-player, but not for doing anything that has to contact their server (downloads from their website, multiplayer, etc).

      I know because my husband and I wanted to play together, but there's no way we're buying two copies of a game for one household. But, fortunately, we're playing on a LAN, so we just decided that NWN didn't need to have any external internet contact while we're playing to check on CD keys and send who-knows-what other information.

      But at
    • People like you are why we have to deal with Sen. Hatch and the RIAA assholes.

      Thanks a lot.

  • It's a start, I suppose (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jd ( 1658 ) <imipak@ y a hoo.com> on Friday June 20, 2003 @10:58AM (#6253819) Homepage Journal
    Every games company that releases a title for Linux is increasing the awareness of Linux among the student & teen populations. Those're the ones not set in their ways, are certainly OK with paying less, and (more importantly) comprise the next generation of workforce.

    Sure, this version lacks some features, which is grotty. Sure, it's horribly late, which will massively reduce interest in it. Sure, it's very unlikely you'll see this version hitting the stores (which is where you need the Linux versions!) but it's better than nothing. Just.

    Am I over-dramatizing all this? Can games really make that big of a difference? Well, yes, they can. To use a term I detest, but it's all-too-accurate, it's all about mindshare. Every time someone sees a Linux title on the shelf, every time someone sees Linux placed alongside the mainstream choices, Linux gains mindshare. People consider it as a real option. Something they can actually use.

    At the moment, it's generally seen as a "fairy-tale" OS - something that sounds all magical and unreal. That's because it gets mentioned a little but sightings are still rare. It becomes the computer version of Bigfoot.

    Now, you start seeing stores stocking Linux software - not just the distributions, but actual applications, games, utilities, etc - then you will see a gradual dawning on people that Linux actually does exist, and actually does something.

    The games market is key, though. Companies are loath to change what they use, but students are less likely to care, so long as it's cheap, simple, and covers the same titles as Windows. Younger kids certainly won't care, so long as they can make things go splat.

    To get to these people, you need to get titles in the stores. Current titles. Hot-selling titles. Stuff that people will gravitate towards, not just glance at. The Linux port of NWN is not that, by a long way, and I doubt I'll see it stocked on the shelves anywhere soon.

    But, it is a step in the right direction. It has got the company aware of what it takes to write Linux code, and it now has their graphics engine ported. Both of those are essential ingredients in the brew that'll get the company releasing titles for both Linux and Windows at the same time. However, they are just two ingredients. It's got to be clear to these people how to write Linux code well, how to make money from it, and how to promote it.

    We're not seeing any of those, here. We've not really seen any of them from any other porting effort. Without those, companies won't bother.

    Here's the kicker, though. Once teens & students switch to Linux in a serious way, the more visible Linux will become to everyone. The more visible Linux is, the more mindshare it'll grab. The more mindshare, the more it'll be used.

    Nobody wants a system they can't use, but equally nobody wants to be seen as an ignorant has-been. There is a "critical mass" of people which, if you can reach it, the popularity will massively explode. Below that point, usage will stabilize and eventually fizzle out. The reason people use Microsoft has nothing to do with quality, it's because: (a) they know others use it, (b) they know about it, (c) it's easy to get and (d) it does what they (think) they want.

    You need titles on shelves. Preferably games titles, as those sell more than office suites and other "big" applications. You only need one word processor, but most games-players have more than one game.

    NWN, Quake, et al, are all great in that people are learning what it takes to get these games onto Linux. The skills are valuable. But that's not enough. The day Linux titles are stocked by corner stores, video stores (they rent computer games), Wal-Mart and all the other major outlets, then Linux will become a mainstream OS and (in turn) more profitable for companies to write for.

    As of right now, Linux looks destined to dominate t

  • NEW expansion of NWN...3 years ?? I am glad to see some games make their way onto Linux but geeze, I played the game thru 3 or 4 times and then uninstalled it. I just recently dug it out, for the expansion pack that is out now....
    • Err...you mean Shadows of Undrentide? It shipped with linux binaries for the player and DM clients (sadly, no toolset). Small issue being that the install script got pooched during the CD mastering process, so it's in DOS format rather than UNIX format - but there are workarounds.

      Check out http://nwn.bioware.com [bioware.com] - all the info is there, or in the forums.
  • I have an unopened copy of Neverwinter Nights sitting on my desk at home since Christmas. I am so certain that I am going to love it, that installing it will only lead to the opening of a black hole that will suck me in, making hours/days pass by in a blink.

    The only thing that has saved me is keeping my PC's dual boot defaulted into going into Linux.

    Now a Linux version - this might be the the final straw. I wish I didn't love games so much - especially the D&D kind. I know my wife and kids feel

  • I suspect the reason why Linux gaming hasn't taken off is because alot of "users" have Linux installed on a pos [urbandictionary.com] secondary computer stashed somewhere in the corner of the laundry room and not on their main system where the serious hardware is.

    Neverwinter Nights (as sweet a game as it looks) will need some serious power to run it, and a significant number of units sold for it to be worthwhile.

    • The things is that Win2K and its derivatives need fairly serious hardware just to breath. If you add office on there you need a 1GHz system with 256MB before you start wanting to play games.

      Linux runs on almost anything. However, I agree that if anyone wanted to use it for serious gaming, then that 64MB 120 MHz P2 isn't enough. However, miltiboots work fine and there is nothing really stopping people from running Win and Linux on their fats computer. The trouble is that Linux non-game performance on such

      • "The things is that Win2K and its derivatives need fairly serious hardware just to breath. If you add office on there you need a 1GHz system with 256MB before you start wanting to play games."

        Oh please. You're either a zealous Linux fanboy or getting all your information about Windows from Slashdot or both. Win2K and XP ran very nicely on my old PIII-550 with 256MB RAM and the system was always nice and responsive, even when playing GAMES. And Linux GUI performance has never blown me away, in fact Windo

    • Re:Linux needs to be primary os for users (Score:4, Insightful)

      by rifter ( 147452 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @12:31PM (#6254850) Homepage

      I have to agree this is a problem in the Linux community, but it is a chicken-egg problem. People keep Windows on their main hardware when they think they can only do their usual work on Windows. That is why when I decided to take the plunge several years back and use only Linux I made sure to install it on my main machine. Linux on decent hardware is a far better experience than Linux on a POS, though it is still fun to see what you can accomplish on a properly configured/tweaked 486 running Linux.

      The problem is, people won't do this unless they can do on Linux what they normally do on Windows, and most people aren't adventurous enough to force themselves to figure out the 5000 things they need to to do this. Just judging by /., there are at least a few who were ready to take the plunge because they can play this game on Linux now. That is good.

      More focus needs to go into this IMHO. It is not just about making Linux useful to Joe Sixpack, which many Linux developers do not care about. It is about making LInux more useful so people are empowered by their computer (instead of being controlled by it like Microsoft wants you to be).

  • PIss Poor Single Player (Score:2, Informative)

    by Cenuij ( 526885 )

    After reading all your responses I hope that the anticipation of this release will not be dampened by the frankly poor single player game.

    Limited plot, gameplay and modules. Not to mention the sheer annoyance of having to deal with a sidekick that has a mind of it's own.

    BUt I know you lot :) It's the multiplayer your after isnt it? Well in this respect the game is considerable stronger with module building tools and what not.

    Don't say you werent warned about the single player...

  • Petition for Linux port of Half Life 2 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by trtmrt ( 638828 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @11:57AM (#6254506)
    There is a petition to port Half Life 2 to Linux on
    riblet [plus.com] that would be given to Valve. They have about 3000 confirmed entries by now. This is a good way to show how much interest there is to port games to Linux.

  • This really is news (Score:5, Funny)

    by KalvinB ( 205500 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @12:20PM (#6254732) Homepage
    An installer for a Linux product!

    Ben
  • Does this work "out of the box" with any of the released major distributions (not beta or rc)?

    My experience with linux games has been that they work with the released version EXCEPT something. i.e. EXCEPT you need to compile your own version of XFree86 from CVS to get some patch or another.

    Maybe that's why Gentoo users always respond with "what's the problem?". ;-)
  • Too bad I'll be on vacation when it arrives.. Argh... I only had my order in since March 2001! I suppose I can wait till I get back.. (and no, I have not played it even, not even windows..)

    --John

  • What's so special about this game that it warrants the occasional /. update story? I don't play games much, but my kids do. Is this something that they would like if they enjoyed Heavy Gear & Tribes2?

    • Re:what's the big deal? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by DeathPenguin ( 449875 ) * on Friday June 20, 2003 @03:37PM (#6256857)
      It's one of the only times a company has made an in-house port of the game. Not just another 3D Tetris or something, but a real gamer's game.

      Tribes and Heavy Gear certainly were great thanks to the efforts of Loki, don't get me wrong. And we have SDL, Loki_update, and some other great tools thanks to Loki.

      However, when Loki went out of business, support for most of their games got dropped as well. You could not call up a company like Sierra and ask for Tribes 2 support for Linux. Patches were also discontinued. In the case of Tribes 2, it was just luck that Sam Lantinga was working for Sierra (Blizzard, to be more specific) and was allowed to patch the Linux version as well.

      Bioware has made a commitment. They will always support Linux. They will, not a third party who may go out of business at some point while the game is still being developed. In-house porting is what makes the Linux port of NWN so signifficant.

  • Or you could have just downloaded it months ago... (Score:4, Informative)

    by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Friday June 20, 2003 @12:50PM (#6255047) Homepage Journal
    The linux client has been on their page for months now, at least I've been playing it for months on my linux box. So it's not like the game is "just out" on linux. (ps. is uses SDL and OpenGL if you're wondering).

    The thing this article talks about is that NWN has an actual installation program, so you don't have to install it under Windows then copy it to your Linux box.

    It's big news to people who don't have some Windows machine they can borrow. Most of us have a neighbor or girlfriend with one, so it's not a terrible thing.

    Besides, PLEASE, how hard can it be to write an INSTALL program?

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