egosoft.com

Linux (Beta) support thread

Please attach savegames for almost any issue, it'll help a lot. In case you can't or don't want to include it in the forum post, my email address is: tim13on ( on ) egosoft.com, of course remove the 13 and ( on ) is @ (hope not too many spam bots figure that out);p

Generic information:

Installation prerequisites:
If you purchased the game through GOG, you must make sure that you have installed the Vulkan runtime on your system. If the runtime is missing, the game won't start. For further details, take a look at this troubleshooting page.

Cloud-sync between Windows and Linux is not supported.
Savegames are by default stored in a hidden folder ".config/EgoSoft/X4/<number>/save/" in your home directory, where <number> is your steam user id, the files are save_001.xml.gz, save_002.xml.gz etc.
Windows savegames should be two-way compatible however you'll need to copy them manually, if there are any issues please report a bug.

System and driver compatibility:
There is and will only be a 64bit version.
Steam is required to run the game.
Currently we only support SteamOS and Ubuntu 18.04.
At the moment only the proprietary driver from nvidia and the open-source mesa/radv amd drivers are supported.

Joystick/Controller setup:
If the game doesn't detect your device, make sure your user account is part of the "input" usergroup. e.g. sudo usermod -a -G input <USERNAME>; then exit and re-login

Controllers:
If you have a relatively common xbox-like controller it should work fine out-of-the-box. Please report a bug if that's not the case.

Joysticks:
First go to Settings, Controls, Load Profile and select "Default - Joystick".
After that you will need to setup button mappings (mainly in Controls, Space), as the default will most likely not fit your joystick.
If the default axis configuration is incorrect you can remap them the same way as buttons.
To invert an axis search for "Invert Axes" in the Controls menu in the "Controller / Joystick" sub-section.

Known issues and missing features:

• Long game launch time (window/screen may be black during this so please give it a few minutes)
• Joystick/controller hot-plug issues
• Graphical glitches on lockboxes and jumpgates on radv

Bugreporting:

Please attach screenshots & savegames for almost any issue, it'll help a lot. In case you can't or don't want to include it in the forum post, my email address is: tim13on ( on ) egosoft.com, of course remove the 13 and ( on ) is @ (hope not too many spam bots figure that out);p

If you notice anything "pink/blue/green" the best thing to do is give us a screenshot & savegame.
If you notice something looking ugly it would help a lot if you can verify it's linux specific first, then give us a screenshot & savegame.

To get a debug game log (in desktop mode) please:

• Completely close steam
• Open a terminal/console
• Type in: steam -console
• Steam should now run and redirect all of its output to that terminal/console window.
• Launch X4 from steam, you should get output from the game to that terminal window.

Build history:
2019-02-26 - Version: 2.0 - 334398 Lin 8

Awaiting patch. Thnx for this.

What distributions will be supported?
Will the minimum system requirements be different?
Will you guys make a post describing your experience with porting the game to Linux? Answering questions like what were the biggest causes of issues (ecosystem fragmentation, video drivers, compatibility issues between libraries or distributions), how much did the use of Vulkan ease this process, what would you change in the development process for version 1.0 to make porting the game to Linux easier. I bet the Linux community would like to know.

Looking forward to this!

Can I play this on wine?

Looking forward to it , continues to wait patiently

Super!! I'm wading for beta!

sintri wrote: ↑

Tue, 26. Feb 19, 02:15

Can I play this on wine?

This will be a native port, no need for Wine.

lazy_banana wrote: ↑

Mon, 25. Feb 19, 22:48

Will you guys make a post describing your experience with porting the game to Linux? Answering questions like what were the biggest causes of issues (ecosystem fragmentation, video drivers, compatibility issues between libraries or distributions), how much did the use of Vulkan ease this process, what would you change in the development process for version 1.0 to make porting the game to Linux easier. I bet the Linux community would like to know.

Actually it was a relatively painless process this time around. We had basically already done what was required to ensure that our general code-base would work for a Linux build several years ago when we were porting XR, and we had already done the work on the Vulkan side itself for XRVR. I'm sure different libraries and distributions will continue to be an issue, as they always are with Linux, but our specialist is very familiar with dealing with such matters.

Eager to try it. Will buy the game as soon as the beta is out.

YYYEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great news! Timon did an awesome work with X:R port so I don't have worries with X4.
You had a bug tracker in use for X:R testing, I assume it is not making a return this time?

segmentationfault wrote: ↑

Tue, 26. Feb 19, 14:44

so I don't have worries with X4.
You had a bug tracker in use for X:R testing, I assume it is not making a return this time?

I have worries;p There's always reasons to worry, and it's not called a "beta" just for coolness factor;)
But hopefully it all goes reasonably well:)

Regarding the bug tracker: "we'll see".

Ahem ... why is the Linux version linked against kerberos and libssh2 libs?

Short answer because of the network code.

timon37 wrote: ↑

Tue, 26. Feb 19, 16:04

Short answer because of the network code.

Kerberos and libssh2 are libs mainly made for remote and auth stuff, working as a wrapper around console mechanisms. I myself wrote a lot of projects using these. They are quite hard to use outside that purpose, lets say for plain data transfer. It's so much easier to spawn secure sockets using open-/libressl and use that for data transfers. And the ssl libs are linked too, so asking why libssh2/kerberos is used gets a bit more urgend. I'm asking because I'm a developer in this field for 20+ years now and damn well aware what can be done using this stuff.

The network features of the game authenticate against your account on this forum. Presumably, these libs are required to do that. Kerberos allows the game to get a ticket and stay logged in, while ssh can do whatever ssl does, considering that it's all self-certified.

Those are possibly not needed, but stuff's normally compiled and linked with minimal changes/configuration. I'll take a look into it, when I get a chance. Similarly our ffmpeg could be slimmed down a lot.

CBJ wrote: ↑

Mon, 25. Feb 19, 18:00

Steam is required to run the game.

Will this be a requirement for the final release? You are selling X4 on GOG (which i prefer as it is DRM free). will a Linux version be available there? Steam is simply not an option for me.

The final Linux version will also be released on GOG, but we will not be making Beta versions available there for Linux.