id Software and Linux

There has been a bit of unrest among Linux gamers about id's commitment to releasing Linux versions of the games we make.

I don't want to be rehashing old subjects, but I'll offer a few thoughts:

Fundamentally nothing has changed with our policy regarding Linux games. Trying to shoehorn the ZeniMax acquisition into this is pointless, as they are true to their word of focusing on the business and letting the studio focus on the games.

Linux players represent about 5% of the QuakeLive population, which is in line with the company's previous releases. Nothing new there, releasing Linux versions has always been a matter of higher code quality, good software architecture, and technical interest for the platform.

We never commit to releasing Linux versions for any of our titles, at least not until we are reasonably sure that we have the resources to put into it. In the past few years I am pretty much the only one who has been involved in our Linux versions, and most of that work was done in my spare time. It worked out because I spent significant time working on each of those projects to get them shipped (Doom3, Quake4, ETQW), and making sure we had working Linux builds was a natural part of that process.

It is unlikely the new Wolfenstein title is going to get a native Linux release. None of it was done in house, and I had no involvement in the project. QuakeLive offers a lot of challenges and eats away everything else right now.

As far as idTech 5 (the Rage engine), it runs on PS3 and Mac already. Setting up idTech 5 to run on those platforms early on in our development cycle was a direct result of carrying Linux/Mac support in idTech 4 beforehand. It is likely i will be involved with idTech 5 in the near future, I'll be damned if we don't find the time to get Linux builds done.

Comments

[Aphax]

That's really great to hear, I was a bit worried after reading that a Linux build might be unlikely, even though I guess I can sort of understand why Linux will never have a high priority. It's nice to have the occasional confirmation that Linux is (or can still be) a valid platform for high-end 3D game engines

[yossarianuk]

[this is good] This is seriously good news. I am a linux only user (no more windows
for me)

[yossarianuk]

This is seriously good news. I am a linux only user (no more windows
for me). I have a nvidia card any every game from id is faster on
native Linux is faster than windows on my hardware - its not just fps
its the responsiveness on linux system  (having just tried the bfs
scheduler that is even better). The responsiveness benefit actually makes me play better !

I think if more people realised that they could get a performance
increase on their machines (at no extra cost) they would try out linux
for gaming.

Carmack mentioned that only nvidia cards will handle this - well then
just make it nvidia only until the other card drivers catch up.

I
am going to purchase ETQW this month - purely because of linux support
, I have previously purchased Quake 4(due to the same reason). If you
do not release  idTech 5 for linux then you are going to lose out on
my(and others) revenue - Although I do like games, being able to play
the latest games is not enough reason to re-enter that hell that is
Windows.

p.s - any nvidia user that feels their card is not
performing at an optimized level  - try adding the  nopat option to the
kernel line in grub

[Gregor A.]

[this is good]
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I will support id with
buying every next id game for Linux...

[TwistedLincoln]

I too pledge my support for any id game with a native Linux client.

[TwistedLincoln]

I'll also add that I'd be willing to pay for a downloadable Linux client in addition to buying a boxed copy of the Windows version, if that's what it takes to keep Linux games being made by id.

[Marius T.]

Excellent news! You just made my day! :)

[-playmaker-]

[esto es genial] What a great news! I'm another Linux-only user who is hoping to get to play some good shooter on a good PC OS. Please keep up your work, it's much appreciated by many people. I will definetely buy the new ID games.

[-playmaker-]

[das ist gut] What a great news! I'm another Linux-only user who is hoping to get to
play some good shooter on a good PC OS. Please keep up your work, it's
much appreciated by many people. I will definetely buy the new ID games.

[Gen2ly]

[this is good] Ah, this is great news.

[SlickMcRunFast]

Thanks for cleaning up the mess that was forming and thanks for your hard work in porting Id games.

[Lem]

[this is good] Fantastic news. As others have mentioned, I too would make a "donation" as appreciation for a Linux client (in addition to purchasing the full retail game). TTimo, if you're doing this stuff in your spare time, you deserve support, and I'm sure your Linux fans can deliver.

[arys]

So basically, you've offered no information whatsoever other than "I'll
be damned if maybe I eventually get the time to possibly port idTech5
to Linux while I'm encumbered with QuakeLive work?" And that's supposed
to convince people of iD's commitment to the platform now that Zenimax
is paying your bills?

I'm guessing you'll be "damned" if you
don't delete this comment before anyone gets a chance to read it too,
god knows Carmack's ego wouldn't allow for a negative comment about iD
even on -your- blog.
At this point I'm as disgusted with iD as I am with Epic and their
non-starter of their promised UT3 Linux port, and I don't think I'd
bother buying Rage even if a native port were released because frankly
it doesn't look that good.

[themacmeister]

[this is good] I am an avid user of the 'old' ID games, up to Q3A. It is fantastic news that you have not turned your back on the platform (especially when it is going so strong).

PS. Have you played World of Goo on Linux?

definitely worth the wait!

[TTimo]

Arys,

Maybe you need to read my post again. id *never* committed to the platform. That hasn't prevented us from releasing Linux builds in the past, and that situation is unchanged.

Our work on Linux is always based on a technological interest for the platform. I can understand your frustration that I'm currently more interested in working on problems related to QuakeLive on my spare time than I am interested in wrestling matches with gcc. Thankfully I am not looking up to you for advice.

And I'd like to thank everyone else for their support.

[LinuxRocks]

[this is good] I, too, will purchase future games that are ported to Linux. My whole family (About 30+ people) are also Linux users here in the USA and they all play games; that means 30+ copies of games that are ported to Linux. At $40 a game, roughly, thats ~$1200 worth of revenue. Not a bad chunk of change ID!!!

[sylv]

Thanks for all you have done for Linux users. Thank to Id I can play my favourite games on my favourite OS. As many people here, I will buy a copy of each Id game ported to Linux, as I did in the past !

[Peds_X-ing]

[das ist gut] Thank you for putting effort into getting Linux builds out! I've been a Linux user for some years now and the id Software games are the best games out there for this platform. I've been playing Quake Live pretty intensively since the Linux client got out and I love it! Good job :) .... keep it up!

[robbert]

[this is good] I really want to see Linux-releases of ids future games, but I want to see retail releases for Linux.

It's nice to be able to play Doom 3 and Quake 4 on Linux. When those games were released, I still used Windows, so I already owned the Windows release of those games when I started to use Linux.

Now I only use Windows and I don't want to buy any more Windows games, because I don't want to support Microsoft and its Windows platform. I really hope you'll contact Linux Game Publishing to publish the Linux-releases of your future games. I want to play your upcoming games, but I don't want to buy games for Windows. I want to support Linux, not Windows. Buying a game for Windows counts as a sale for Windows and I want Linux to have good sales, not Windows. Please contact Linux Game Publishing to release boxed versions of your upcoming games.

[Account Deleted]

It’s really great to pick ideas from.Thanks! a lot!
Chiropractic software

[Diego Viola]

I bought Doom 3 and Quake 4 because there were Linux ports for these games. I will buy all the Id Tech 5 titles (Rage, Doom 4, etc.) if there are Linux ports for those.

[Dave Taylor]

Wow, 5% That's way up from the Doom/Quake days. I'm impressed!

Hang in there, and thanks for carrying the torch!

[Rıfat Emrah ALTUNYA]

It would be wonderful to see same approach for Rage. There is only 7 months for the release and there is still no official announcement for Linux port...

We are still hoping...

[Account Deleted]

I am using Linux from last 2 year. It's having a large security in compare to window-xp, but I face operating problem with Linux sometime. Can there is any tool or s/w comes to resolve these types of problems? Thanks in advance.
http://www.cab-accounts.co.uk

[Mauro Miolo]

Please we want this port.

http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1154632-linux-port/