Linux Support (Beta)

[shmerl]

Loading Vulkan layers bug is fixed in the latest GOG release.

[shmerl]

There is a new bug though (version 3.20).

Every time I minimize the game, restoring it causes graphics corruption and I have to kill the process to exit it.

KDE Plasma 5.17.5.
RX 5700 XT, radv (Mesa master, happens both with llvm 11 and with aco).

Is there any workaround and is it a known issue?

Another strange thing I noticed, the game loads both Vulkan and OpenGL shared libraries. Why is that happening if it's only using Vulkan?

[daifuco]

Hi, maybe the question is out of the scope of this thread, but... has anyone managed to run the game with Freesync? I guess the option is Adaptive sync but it appears grayed out in my settings.

[Hoborific]

Still experiencing the issue where if I tab in and out the game takes up to a minute loading what I presume is the vulkan renderer, I have tried on both KDE Plasma and Gnome (latest for both from repo), 3.20 steam

[steve_v]

Anyone else having mouse cursor problems recently?

I'm seeing my OS cursor sporadically in game, appearing only when I move the mouse, guessing where it is still allows me to click elements. Can't seem to get any mouse-control in-flight. X4 custom cursor nowhere to be found.
Not sure when this first appeared, but everything was working properly just after 3.10 release. First run with 3.20, 3.10 installer gone from GOG so can't test. No system changes bar regular gentoo updates.

Gentoo amd64.
Plasma 5.18.5
Nvidia 450.57 (same result with "stable" 440.100)

[sineastris]

Linux Optimisations

I'm seriously impressed with X4 on linux, it's been running flawlessly on my debian testing and ubuntu 20.04 installations via steam.

Bravo to the developers, for the outstanding game, and for supporting the growing amount of linux gamers out there.

I wanted to share a couple of tips that have improved the experience even further for me, and will apply to any linux distribution.

The first is gamemode from Feral Interactive, to quote the readme from the linked github page:

GameMode is a daemon/lib combo for Linux that allows games to request a set of optimisations be temporarily applied to the host OS and/or a game process.

Packages are provided for many distributions, and some distributions are already packaging it themselves. It's already part of the default installation on ubuntu 20.04, and is ready to use OOTB.

The second is the SDL hint SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS, I use this to seamlessly switch between the borderless fullscreen game window and other workspaces when using a tiling WM such as i3wm. This eliminates the several seconds waiting for the X4 splash screen when I switch back to the workspace running the game.

In my configuration, I apply both of these things to the game launch command in steam:

Code: Select all

SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS=0 gamemoderun %command%

I hope this helps anyone that's been having issues with CPU powersave or ondemand governors, or is frustrated with a workspace switching delay!

[Panos]

Linux Optimisations

I'm seriously impressed with X4 on linux, it's been running flawlessly on my debian testing and ubuntu 20.04 installations via steam.

Bravo to the developers, for the outstanding game, and for supporting the growing amount of linux gamers out there.

I wanted to share a couple of tips that have improved the experience even further for me, and will apply to any linux distribution.

The first is gamemode from Feral Interactive, to quote the readme from the linked github page:

GameMode is a daemon/lib combo for Linux that allows games to request a set of optimisations be temporarily applied to the host OS and/or a game process.

Packages are provided for many distributions, and some distributions are already packaging it themselves. It's already part of the default installation on ubuntu 20.04, and is ready to use OOTB.

The second is the SDL hint SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS, I use this to seamlessly switch between the borderless fullscreen game window and other workspaces when using a tiling WM such as i3wm. This eliminates the several seconds waiting for the X4 splash screen when I switch back to the workspace running the game.

In my configuration, I apply both of these things to the game launch command in steam:

Code: Select all

SDL_VIDEO_MINIMIZE_ON_FOCUS_LOSS=0 gamemoderun %command%

I hope this helps anyone that's been having issues with CPU powersave or ondemand governors, or is frustrated with a workspace switching delay!

Thank you for your guide
Had some issues last night trying to make the game run. Followed your guide in addiction using the latest PPA MESA activating ACO and the game run way faster on the Ubuntu 20.04 than the Windows 10 on same settings and system

(3900X, 5700XT AE, 2560x1440, SSAA 2x and ultra settings)

[Panos]

I am baffled. Same settings between W10 and Linux. However on Linux the game isn't only faster but also looks better.
SSAA 2x works properly on Linux while on windows can still see the jagged lines. I do use latest drivers on W10 (v 2004) yet over the course of the last 18 months playing the game it didn't look that good.

[Rastuasi]

I am baffled.

Welcome to the Linux club, nothing to be baffled by. When you get rid of the malwareOS that takes 70% of your computer resources, you'll find a lot runs much better.

[ezra-r]

So Linux version working now better? I remember it would get degradated performance quickly before 3.20 after a while playing.

@sineastris thanks for sharing your linux optimizations tips, will sure to try them out when I get the chance to play x4! Someone stick those somewhere please!

[Rastuasi]

So Linux version working now better? I remember it would get degradated performance quickly before 3.20 after a while playing.

This has never been an issue with me, guessing it is your setup and not the game's code that's causing this.

[KayEss]

Hi, maybe the question is out of the scope of this thread, but... has anyone managed to run the game with Freesync? I guess the option is Adaptive sync but it appears grayed out in my settings.

Adaptive sync worked fine for me (NVIDIA) with the 440 drivers, but with the 450.57 drivers it doesn't seem to be working any more. Unless your monitor isn't certified you have to turn it on in the nvidia-settings, but there is an overlay option to tell you if it's on or not when things are running.

[laymans]

Hey all,

I just came back to the forum after being gone for a few years. I saw the first page of this thread and read that in 2019 Egosoft was going to release a native Linux version of X? I have not read through all 31 pages of replies but can someone save me some time and tell me which versions of X do have a Linux native edition? Is it X4 only or will past versions be retrofitted?

Thanks, Egosoft for going this direction! I'm so excited!

[CBJ]

Many of our games are available for Linux - X3: Reunion, X3: Terran Conflict, X3: Albion Prelude, X Rebirth and X4: Foundations.

[Rastuasi]

Lol yeah this thread has just been for X4 as it usually takes about a year to get the version made. X4 I believe was the fastest Linux release ever, mostly due to converting to Vulkan. I've played all versions of X on Linux. The only issue you may have are some mods that are designed to work in windows only thanks to how the modders did things. Thankfully though, all the good mods are fully compatible and those devs do help with any necessary debugging.

[AndyCampbell]

Hi Guys, I just want to add to the previous comments - I am super happy with X4 running on Linux!

I am running on Fedora + Steam + Nvidia proprietary drivers and everything works out of the box. Performance is good and the graphics look great. The only issue I have had was with logging into my egosoft account from inside the game to enable Ventures. The solution with the ssl certificate path in an earlier post on this thread (thanks andrewpc) fixed that for me.

Thanks Panos for the optimisation tips!

Thanks Egosoft for supporting the Linux platform!

[sgtnasty]

Well, it works on my main PC using Arch and KDE, but my ThinkPad laptop (also Arch KDE) it does not launch.

EDIT: Correction

X4 now works on both my PC and my ThinkPad X1 extreme (both running Arch and KDE).

Thanks for working hard on this. I am now able to play while on all my devices.

[wasted90]

Hello, after a longer break (some months) i wanted to start playing again, but i have the issue that i can't log into my egosoft account in game. I remember it worked fine before.

i get following errors in the games logfile:

Code: Select all

Logfile started, time Thu Sep 10 01:21:12 2020
[General] 0.00 'GeForce GTX 1050 Ti' NVIDIA-driver v450.66.0 (Vulkan 1.2.133) check=1
[General] 0.00 Starting new game using gamestart 'startmenu' in 3.30
[General] 232.94 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 232.94 curl_easy_perform() failed: Couldn't resolve host name
[General] 232.94 ======================================
[General] 232.94 ======================================
[=ERROR=] 232.94 VentureTracker::OnError(): function 'login' returned 'ERR_CONNECT_FAILED'
[General] 232.94 ======================================

i've read the post from andrewpc about the issue he had and that the problem was the new path from the certificates on opensuse.
i'm on arch and my certs are still in /etc/ssl/certs/ so i assume that this is not the same issue, or am i confusing something?
thanks

================
SOLUTION UPDATE:
i had forced the use of the 'steam linux runtime' (mostly to avoid compatibility issues), but the sandboxing/chroot or whatever that comes with it messed up curl and lead to my issue.
disabling steam 'linux runtime' will fix it. (right-click x4 in steam library -> properties -> disable 'force the use of a specific steam play compatibilty tool')

[dtpsprt]

I just reinstalled a partition of Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, GTX 1660Ti, NVIDIA 440 proprietary driver) and, of course installed X4. In Win10 I had a lot of customized logos in my logos folder. When I transferred them in Linux only the logos with an extension .gz were viewable, while all the others (mostly .tga) did not appear.

Anybody else encountered such a problem?

[Panos]

I just reinstalled a partition of Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, GTX 1660Ti, NVIDIA 440 proprietary driver) and, of course installed X4. In Win10 I had a lot of customized logos in my logos folder. When I transferred them in Linux only the logos with an extension .gz were viewable, while all the others (mostly .tga) did not appear.

Anybody else encountered such a problem?

Did you copied them over from the windows folders also?