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Ubuntu Open Week - Gaming with Ubuntu (introduction) - BenCrisford - Fri, May 1st, 2009

(03:04:28 PM) Ben-Crisford: ok :)
(03:04:44 PM) Ben-Crisford: Hello everyone
(03:05:24 PM) Ben-Crisford: This session is gonna be all about gaming under ubuntu
(03:05:51 PM) Ben-Crisford: ubuntu wasn't designed for games, and most games werent designed for ubuntu
(03:05:57 PM) Ben-Crisford: so it was always gonna be tricky
(03:06:08 PM) Ben-Crisford: but gaming under ubuntu is very possible
(03:06:18 PM) Ben-Crisford: :)
(03:06:39 PM) Ben-Crisford: as there is alot of different topics to do with gaming with ubuntu, my session will have a number of categories
(03:06:54 PM) Ben-Crisford: there will be a short QA at the end of each one, and a longer QA at the end
(03:07:20 PM) Ben-Crisford: so lets start off by talking about emulation
(03:07:48 PM) Ben-Crisford: emulation, is where ubuntu kind of "pretends" its windows, in order for it to run games or applications
(03:08:09 PM) Ben-Crisford: i am only gonna scrape the surface of emulation as the session after me (i believe) covers it in more detail
(03:08:14 PM) YokoZar: beep beep boop boop: I'll be talking more about Wine in the session after this :)
(03:08:29 PM) Ben-Crisford: :)
(03:08:44 PM) Ben-Crisford: for the purposes of my session today
(03:08:59 PM) Ben-Crisford: we will be talking about playonlinux
(03:09:11 PM) Ben-Crisford: which is based on wine heavily
(03:09:41 PM) Ben-Crisford: before I begin, does anyone have any questions, or requests of topics for me to mention?
(03:09:49 PM) Ben-Crisford: please say them in ubuntu-classroom-chat
(03:10:52 PM) Ben-Crisford: i'm hoping that means i can continue
(03:11:07 PM) Ben-Crisford: :)
(03:11:16 PM) Ben-Crisford: the website for playonlinux is: www.playonlinux.com
(03:11:56 PM) Ben-Crisford: to install playonlinux simply type these following lines into terminal:
(03:12:11 PM) Ben-Crisford: sudo wget http://deb.mulx.net/playonlinux_hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
(03:12:11 PM) Ben-Crisford: playonlinux.list
(03:12:11 PM) Ben-Crisford: wget -q http://deb.mulx.net/pol.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
(03:12:11 PM) Ben-Crisford: sudo apt-get update
(03:12:11 PM) Ben-Crisford: sudo apt-get install playonlinux
(03:12:50 PM) Ben-Crisford: but obviously that depends on your distrorelease
(03:12:52 PM) Ben-Crisford: http://www.playonlinux.com/en/download.html
(03:13:05 PM) Ben-Crisford: click ubuntu to get a list of download methods for each release
(03:13:55 PM) Ben-Crisford: POL (playonlinux) is pretty self-explanatary
(03:14:06 PM) Ben-Crisford: once installed, there will be a shortcut in Accessories> Games
(03:14:18 PM) Ben-Crisford: or you can run by typing 'playonlinux' into terminal
(03:15:08 PM) Ben-Crisford: i imagine alot of you play valve games
(03:15:21 PM) Ben-Crisford: (CSS, half life, day of defeat, left 4 dead)
(03:15:38 PM) Ben-Crisford: i personally only have CSS
(03:15:48 PM) Ben-Crisford: but I can run it with hardly any trouble
(03:15:55 PM) Ben-Crisford: launching through steam
(03:16:01 PM) Ben-Crisford: which i installed through playonlinux
(03:16:36 PM) Ben-Crisford: that is about it for our very-short emulation category
(03:16:44 PM) Ben-Crisford: as i dont want to invade the territory of the next session
(03:16:58 PM) Ben-Crisford: feel free to ask any questions you may have in the next few minutes
(03:17:03 PM) Ben-Crisford: and i will do my best to answer
(03:18:00 PM) Ben-Crisford: some other emulators include...:  CEDEGA, ScummVM, and of course wine which will be covered in the next session :)
(03:18:26 PM) charlie-tca: Do you want me to pass the questions over to here/
(03:18:31 PM) Ben-Crisford: QUESTION: do you have anything coming up for people who don't like FPS games? :P
(03:18:43 PM) Ben-Crisford: charlie-tca: that would be fantastic
(03:18:47 PM) Ben-Crisford: ill just answer this one
(03:18:58 PM) Ben-Crisford: ANSWER: Sorry if I was confusing
(03:19:05 PM) Ben-Crisford: playonlinux is not just for fps :P
(03:19:19 PM) Ben-Crisford: and many racing games/platform games will launch through steam also
(03:19:46 PM) charlie-tca: <chewit> QUESTION: why is using playonlinux any better from just using wine to sort out the configuration of your games
(03:20:41 PM) Ben-Crisford: to be honest, i dont fully understand, as im sure not many do apart from the POL developers
(03:20:43 PM) Ben-Crisford: but
(03:20:47 PM) Ben-Crisford: on there website they say this:
(03:21:03 PM) Ben-Crisford: PlayOnLinux is based on Wine, and so profits from all its possibilities yet it keeps the user away from its complexity while exploiting some of its advanced functions.
(03:21:27 PM) Ben-Crisford: and if you want to debate that comment
(03:21:36 PM) Ben-Crisford: then im not the person, you should contact the POL team
(03:21:50 PM) Ben-Crisford: next?
(03:21:52 PM) charlie-tca: <Sealbhach> How much of a performance loss do you get playing through Steam?
(03:22:09 PM) Ben-Crisford: hmm, its hard to say...
(03:22:30 PM) Ben-Crisford: because you still play through steam on windows, its just that steam is still essentially running the game
(03:22:46 PM) Ben-Crisford: i admit, that my PC gets probably hotter than usual
(03:22:55 PM) Ben-Crisford: but i have suffered a performance loss anyway recently
(03:22:58 PM) Ben-Crisford: which im trying to fix
(03:23:03 PM) Ben-Crisford: so...  i cant really say
(03:23:05 PM) Ben-Crisford: sorry
(03:23:07 PM) Ben-Crisford: next?
(03:23:08 PM) charlie-tca: <slayer666> QUESTION: in most opengl games, theres no mouse cursor. used driver is fglrx. what could be the problem?
(03:24:02 PM) mikechelen: some xwindows thing
(03:24:04 PM) Ben-Crisford: i'm no emulator developer...  i just know the essential idea behind them, maybe save that question for Scott Richie in the net question
(03:24:10 PM) Ben-Crisford: sorry scott if you dont know either
(03:24:18 PM) Ben-Crisford: :S
(03:24:19 PM) Ben-Crisford: next?
(03:24:26 PM) charlie-tca: Maybe that should have a bug report files?
(03:24:40 PM) Ben-Crisford: playonlinux?
(03:24:57 PM) mikechelen: try another driver version maybe? envyng sometimes helps
(03:25:21 PM) Ben-Crisford: im quite anxious to move on if thats ok guys
(03:25:32 PM) Ben-Crisford: after all next session is entirely about emulation
(03:25:34 PM) Ben-Crisford: :)
(03:26:07 PM) Ben-Crisford: to finish off
(03:26:14 PM) Ben-Crisford: ill talk about free and open source games
(03:26:15 PM) Ben-Crisford: but first
(03:26:43 PM) charlie-tca: <SiDi> QUESTION : any news about idTech5 for Linux / Wolfeinstein / Rage / Doom 4 native clients ? :-)
(03:27:26 PM) Ben-Crisford: im sorry -  i dont know :(, i dont follow those projects
(03:27:49 PM) Ben-Crisford: but i think there is an ubuntu gaming team recently formed
(03:27:54 PM) Ben-Crisford: at #ubuntu-gaming
(03:27:55 PM) Ben-Crisford: same server
(03:28:01 PM) Ben-Crisford: they might know more than me =]
(03:28:19 PM) Ben-Crisford: anyway, charlie-tca i think we should move on now
(03:28:23 PM) Ben-Crisford: :)
(03:28:26 PM) charlie-tca: Yes,
(03:28:26 PM) Ben-Crisford: but
(03:28:37 PM) Ben-Crisford: feel free to ask emulation questions in the main QA at the end
(03:29:15 PM) Ben-Crisford: yesterday (so very short notice) i asked michael sierks and chewit to say a few words abot their projects
(03:29:19 PM) Ben-Crisford: they have very kindly agreed
(03:29:49 PM) Ben-Crisford: michael sierks is the founder of spux project, and chewit (i believe is the founder, correct me if im wrong) of gfire
(03:30:04 PM) Ben-Crisford: so
(03:30:20 PM) Ben-Crisford: im going to invite michael sierks to introduce his project briefly
(03:30:37 PM) msierks: All you WOW players may want to pay close attention :)
(03:30:51 PM) msierks: Spux is an open source voip client which implements the Ventrilo 3.0 Protocol
(03:31:19 PM) msierks: Our objective is to bring users a reliable voip client for Linux
(03:31:40 PM) msierks: Wine and Ventrilo do work together some of the time, but it is buggy and is prone to breaking
(03:31:52 PM) msierks: So Spux was born and has been under development for some time in order to meet Linux users needs
(03:32:05 PM) msierks: It is still under heavy development we hope to have something working within a few months
(03:32:14 PM) msierks: Spux needs funding and developers are welcome, If interested visit http://www.spuxproject.net/ or go to #spux
(03:32:37 PM) msierks: that about does it :)
(03:32:48 PM) Ben-Crisford: thank you very much msierks
(03:32:53 PM) Ben-Crisford: especially at such short notice
(03:33:07 PM) Ben-Crisford: perhaps you could answer some questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat now :)
(03:33:17 PM) Ben-Crisford: that would be fantastic thank you
(03:33:44 PM) Ben-Crisford: while the questions go on in chat...  chewit from gfire is going to talk about gfire :)
(03:33:51 PM) chewit: ok, thanks
(03:33:55 PM) chewit: Gfire is a plugin for the Pidgin IM client which allows the user to connect to the Xfire chat network.
(03:34:18 PM) chewit: if your not sure what Xfire is, its a very popular chat network for PC gamers.
(03:34:51 PM) chewit: it allows them to chat with their friends inside games, join friend's games and keep track of their gaming hours
(03:35:04 PM) chewit: basically, xfire is like Xbox Live for PC
(03:35:22 PM) chewit: if you want to see more from Xfire, go to xfire.com
(03:35:38 PM) chewit: the problem with xfire is that it is a windows only client
(03:35:55 PM) chewit: and Gfire is currently the only linux client for xfire
(03:36:45 PM) chewit: We believe it is important that we give support to gamers, who want to move to linux, that they have their Xfire chat still working, to make it easier for them to switch over.
(03:37:10 PM) chewit: So basically, we provide almost all the same features as Xfire in the Pidgin client
(03:37:25 PM) chewit: chat, group chat, clan support, track gaming hours
(03:37:45 PM) chewit: sadly, due to limitations with pidgin, we can not "yet"  allow the user to chat ingame
(03:37:53 PM) chewit: and that is pretty much Gfire
(03:38:01 PM) chewit: go to gfire.sf.net or #gfire for more info
(03:38:28 PM) Ben-Crisford: thank you very much chewit ;)
(03:38:40 PM) Ben-Crisford: i believe there are some questions awaiting you
(03:38:58 PM) Ben-Crisford: good luck, and while they are going on, ill talk about FOSS games :)
(03:39:19 PM) Ben-Crisford: FOSS stands for free and opensource
(03:39:38 PM) Ben-Crisford: ubuntu is a great example of FOSS software
(03:40:04 PM) Ben-Crisford: so what FOSS games are there?
(03:40:12 PM) Ben-Crisford: well, you all have them installed
(03:40:19 PM) Ben-Crisford: if you goto Accessories> Games
(03:40:33 PM) Ben-Crisford: you have chess...  nibbles... they are FOSS games
(03:41:01 PM) Ben-Crisford: Also if you go to Accessories> Add/remove programs and click 'Games'
(03:41:15 PM) Ben-Crisford: they should all be FOSS
(03:42:07 PM) Ben-Crisford: there are games in add/remove programs for everyone :)
(03:42:23 PM) Ben-Crisford: from "Abes amazing adventure" to "Supertux Kart"
(03:42:37 PM) Ben-Crisford: from "Pingus" to "Advanced strategic command"
(03:42:54 PM) Ben-Crisford: but dont make the mistake of thinking these are the only FOSS games for ubuntu you can get
(03:43:27 PM) mikechelen: openarena and warzone 2100 are pretty fun
(03:44:11 PM) Ben-Crisford: you can download many FOSS games online
(03:44:15 PM) Ben-Crisford: today we're gonna talk about cube
(03:44:24 PM) Ben-Crisford: which is one of the most popular
(03:44:31 PM) Ben-Crisford: and certainly my favourite
(03:44:45 PM) Ben-Crisford: when playing cube, you can edit the map at any time (when in single player)
(03:44:50 PM) Ben-Crisford: and create new maps
(03:45:24 PM) Ben-Crisford: if you think the pingus map editor is fun, sauerbraten (cube 2)'s map editor will transfix you
(03:45:43 PM) Ben-Crisford: http://sauerbraten.org/
(03:45:50 PM) Ben-Crisford: you can download cube 2 from there
(03:46:50 PM) Ben-Crisford: as I thought you guys would be interested by the editor
(03:46:56 PM) Ben-Crisford: i made a quick tutorial on using it
(03:46:58 PM) Ben-Crisford: at: http://sauerbraten.org/
(03:47:02 PM) Ben-Crisford: oops :P
(03:47:09 PM) Ben-Crisford: im always CP'in the wrong links
(03:47:19 PM) Ben-Crisford: tutorial at: http://bencrisford.exofire.net/cube-editing.txt
(03:47:32 PM) Ben-Crisford: cube download at: http://sauerbraten.org/
(03:47:51 PM) Ben-Crisford: anyway, we're running out of time, so we'll swiftly move on to the final QA
(03:48:01 PM) Ben-Crisford: ask any questions now, and pray that i can answer
(03:48:04 PM) Ben-Crisford: i certainly am!
(03:48:31 PM) charlie-tca: <YokoZar> QUESTION: any followup to this:
(03:48:43 PM) charlie-tca: <YokoZar> (11:54:20 AM) jcastro: <vensign> QUESTION: What do you think is the importance of FOSS gaming for the adoption of Ubuntu?
(03:48:53 PM) charlie-tca: <YokoZar> (11:54:55 AM) sabdfl: vensign: i don't have any good ideas for how to drive FOSS gaming forward
(03:49:34 PM) Ben-Crisford: well...  FOSS gaming is important, obviously because ubuntu is also FOSS
(03:50:05 PM) Ben-Crisford: FOSS and Ubuntu are like cream and cheesecake
(03:50:12 PM) Ben-Crisford: they are meant to be!
(03:50:27 PM) Ben-Crisford: it is important because...
(03:50:41 PM) Ben-Crisford: many people adopt ubuntu because of the philosophy
(03:50:53 PM) Ben-Crisford: and FOSS games also support that philosophy
(03:51:12 PM) Ben-Crisford: i could talk about this all day :P
(03:51:15 PM) Ben-Crisford: but we better move on
(03:51:17 PM) charlie-tca: <ali1234> QUESTION: sauerbraten editor is an interesting idea... do you think anyone will ever make something other than an FPS (with perhaps a few RPG elements) out of it?
(03:51:17 PM) Ben-Crisford: next?
(03:51:23 PM) Ben-Crisford: erm...
(03:51:35 PM) Ben-Crisford: i think that it would be tricky
(03:51:45 PM) Ben-Crisford: because with an fps game
(03:51:53 PM) Ben-Crisford: you just walk around and shoot essentially
(03:52:01 PM) Ben-Crisford: but with for instance a racing game
(03:52:13 PM) Ben-Crisford: alot of elements have to be there
(03:52:20 PM) Ben-Crisford: and have to be perfect....
(03:52:32 PM) Ben-Crisford: but with many'a platform games they already exist
(03:52:43 PM) Ben-Crisford: for example pingus - in the repos - has a map editor
(03:52:48 PM) Ben-Crisford: next?
(03:52:54 PM) charlie-tca: <artir> QUESTION: Is any initiative planned by canonical regarding creating a standard platform for linux native gaming? (I mean a set of API'S, such as directx, but standarized)
(03:53:12 PM) Ben-Crisford: i am not a canonical employee so i couldnt say
(03:53:18 PM) Ben-Crisford: if anyone knows
(03:53:21 PM) Ben-Crisford: please speak up :)
(03:53:48 PM) charlie-tca: <chewit> QUESTION: can i plug my monthly FCM section, ubuntu games
(03:54:08 PM) mikechelen: Sidi mentioned, SiDi> artir: openGL openAL openCL SDL
(03:54:45 PM) Ben-Crisford: chewit: FCM?  sorry =S
(03:54:55 PM) chewit: Full Circle Magazine
(03:55:07 PM) SiDi: I meant that the APIs for cross-platform gaming were already quite consistent, and that it was more a concern of developer habits than lack of technical possibilities *
(03:55:32 PM) Ben-Crisford: chewit: Oh of course, im sorry what is it you mean by plug?
(03:56:16 PM) chewit: to.... let people know about it, since it relates to Ubuntu Gaming
(03:56:49 PM) Ben-Crisford: let people know about FOSS?
(03:57:14 PM) Ben-Crisford: sorry :P =S
(03:57:24 PM) Ben-Crisford: ill talk to you after maybe?
(03:57:27 PM) Ben-Crisford: as were running out of time
(03:57:28 PM) Ben-Crisford: :)
(03:57:45 PM) Ben-Crisford: next?
(03:57:52 PM) charlie-tca: I am thinking let people know to look for gaming articles in Full Circle Magazine
(03:58:01 PM) charlie-tca: <MBoogsW> QUESTION:  I have put quite a bit of money into a decent gaming machine and it is the only thing keeping me from switching over completely....Based on your experience, How much of a performance degradation have you noticed playing commercial games like source games and WoW?
(03:58:43 PM) Ben-Crisford: Hmm,  well i spend 1000 quid on my laptop wanting it to run games
(03:59:00 PM) Ben-Crisford: i dont play WoW
(03:59:17 PM) Ben-Crisford: but from my experiences playing counter strike, I can barely tell the difference....
(03:59:31 PM) Ben-Crisford: perhaps my computer is a little warmer, but i can hardly notice it if it is
(03:59:49 PM) Ben-Crisford: and once you're full time on ubuntu, the small things like that really dont matter
(03:59:51 PM) Ben-Crisford: next?
(04:00:02 PM) charlie-tca: <Sealbhach> Question: any plans for a punkbuster in say, Urban Terror.?
(04:00:40 PM) SiDi: It is impossible to have Punkbuster via wine/pol, by the way. It has to be a native client. (ETQW has PunkBuster for instance)
(04:00:41 PM) Ben-Crisford: well im a QW developer
(04:00:56 PM) Ben-Crisford: im no*
(04:01:02 PM) Ben-Crisford: lol i really screwed that up
(04:01:07 PM) Ben-Crisford: im no QW developer*
(04:01:44 PM) Ben-Crisford: Sealbhach that would be a question for quakewars forums
(04:01:48 PM) Ben-Crisford: or the QW developers
(04:01:51 PM) Ben-Crisford: next?