FFXIV:ARR to come to Steambox/SteamOS/Linux?

Hey all,

Has anyone heard anything about Square bringing FFXIV to SteamOS/Linux? I would prefer that over Windows and Playstation as a platform. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Also, I would love to get the producer's thoughts on this. Is there a form I can use to submit this question to him for the next live letter?

Not enough people on these OS. It's even not on Mac so...

can SteamOS be dual-booted with Windows yet?

that is what I am waiting for in order to try it. last I had heard, the only way to install it was to let it wipe your hard drive first.

if done right, and with developer support, SteamOS could change PC gaming in a major way.

Yeah, you can dual boot. I'm sure there a quite a few guides out there. But easiest is probably to install debian on another partition and then install SteamOS via the PPAs.

In regards to porting to other OSes with smaller market share. I think Square should release a MacOS client. I think that SteamOS will end up having greater reach, however, as OEMs begin to sell SteamOS "consoles". I think Square would be well served to port early and be one of the first AAA MMO titles on SteamOS.

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Originally Posted by ryanleesipes

Yeah, you can dual boot. I'm sure there a quite a few guides out there. But easiest is probably to install debian on another partition and then install SteamOS via the PPAs.

In regards to porting to other OSes with smaller market share. I think Square should release a MacOS client. I think that SteamOS will end up having greater reach, however, as OEMs begin to sell SteamOS "consoles". I think Square would be well served to port early and be one of the first AAA MMO titles on SteamOS.

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I'm researching it. but everything I've read so far says that they haven't enabled Dual-Boot yet in the Beta.

I'm itching to put SteamOS on a partition of my HD. I'm not willing to overwrite my Windows though for it.

You don't know what needs to be done to make ARR a "SteamOS" game. That much I know, since you even didn't use the search function in the forums.

ARR on PC is a DirectX9 game. It would need a port to OpenGL. That's no small feat, since there are implied plans of an upgrade to DX11 in the future, which furthers distance the game from a chance of being ported to OpenGL. There are also other issues, like input, sound, etc., but the usual champion of screwing ports of games is the graphical part. You see, ARR is so tied to Windows features that the launcher itself is a lousy Internet Explorer box for the login.

The chances are zero as of now. Unless they have planned this from months ago in development, there's no way ARR will present itself either on the initial line-up or in the first year of SteamOS.

SE will probably have looked at this but it all comes down to how many people use the platforms, and right now there isn't enough scope to port the to Linux/steamOS/Steambox if the potential userbases increase enough I imagine they will look into it. Right now it's not profitable enough.

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Originally Posted by cotti

ARR on PC is a DirectX9 game. It would need a port to OpenGL. That's no small feat, since there are implied plans of an upgrade to DX11 in the future, which furthers distance the game from a chance of being ported to OpenGL. There are also other issues, like input, sound, etc., but the usual champion of screwing ports of games is the graphical part. You see, ARR is so tied to Windows features that the launcher itself is a lousy Internet Explorer box for the login.

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You forget the PS3 version HAS to use OpenGL as the PS3 doesn't support Dx, now I'm no programmer but it should be able to be ported from the PS3 version (I am aware there will be issues due to the cell CPU in the PS3) or at least do it the same way as the PS3 version. The fact is we have an OpenGL client already so it can be done.

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Originally Posted by Delsus

You forget the PS3 version HAS to use OpenGL as the PS3 doesn't support Dx, now I'm no programmer but it should be able to be ported from the PS3 version (I am aware there will be issues due to the cell CPU in the PS3) or at least do it the same way as the PS3 version. The fact is we have an OpenGL client already so it can be done.

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And you forget that the CELL processor is not x86, and that the game is micro-optimized as hell to make it run. And that the PS3 uses PSGL, which may be based on OpenGL ES 1.0, but features MANY personalized instructions. It's just not the same thing.

At least read something reliable before stating facts, gosh, that hurts.

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Originally Posted by cotti

You don't know what needs to be done to make ARR a "SteamOS" game. That much I know, since you even didn't use the search function in the forums.

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Harsh much? I realize that ARR on the PC is a DirectX9 game. I didn't ask if it would be easy to port, I simply asked if anyone had heard any rumors and what the proper channel was to ask SE via the community. However, I do agree with you cotti, that it is unlikely to be in the initial line-up or even in the first year of SteamOS unless they were already eyeing the platform.

to be honest if it went to steamOS and lunix i would love to see a mac port as well :D would be fun to see this game get so meny users from the mac user base and the lunix user base as well as the millions on steam :D

OGL and DirectX (Direct3D) are just hardware wrapper libraries. OGL also has extensions that can access the same stuff DX11 does. Code wise they look similar with some minor differences (column vs row matrices, different function names, and I think their shaders are done differently... I have only coded OpenGL).

Most engines are built so the low level stuff (setting up the shaders and sending the verts to the GPU side) is decoupled from the general high level stuff (the game code), so that porting between platforms is easier.

The best we can hope for is for them to make it more WINE friendly. Some major progress has been made since I last tried in WINE, like the fact that you can actually patch, but there's still some glitches.

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Originally Posted by Shakarlyn

The best we can hope for is for them to make it more WINE friendly. Some major progress has been made since I last tried in WINE, like the fact that you can actually patch, but there's still some glitches.

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The IE wrapper Squeeny made as launcher is absolutely evil. For now, the way to solve those issues is mostly with development of WINE itself, so we must keep our fingers crossed and/or contribute with code or detailed bug reports.

i would love see it on the steamos im big linux man my self