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This is huge. I was beginning to lose hope we'd ever see a big budget high-profile non-indie get a Linux port ever again.
Edit: Maybe not that huge...
Now that there is a Steam Deck Native build, is Baldur’s Gate 3 supported on Linux?
Larian does not provide support for the Linux platform. The Steam Deck Native build is only supported on Steam Deck.
I would be a little bit surprised if it doesn't also work on Linux desktop. They're probably just saying "don't ask us to fix it if it breaks, we never said it would work"
Still lame
The Steam Deck comes in essentially one hardware configuration with one operating system complying to one set of standards. Linux users have a higher-than-average tendency to do weird, nonstandard shit on their computers and then complain when it breaks something. On Windows, Steam OS, and Mac, if you test it on maybe 5 different configurations, you're done. With Linux, you have to test at least four different distros (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch), two different packaging formats for Steam (Flatpak, native package), and two windowing systems (X.org, Wayland). Plus the proprietary NVIDIA drivers along with open-source drivers. That's already 32 combinations for 2% market share.
Linux has actually hit 5-6% marketshare. Your point is still valid though, but they could always just say "It might work on other Linux builds but we can't support them".
Linux has 2.6% on the Steam Hardware Survey.
~~Nope. If you pick the Linux version on a desktop Linux it doesn't even have a binary, so the game can't launch. On normal Linux you have to pick the Proton version. The Linux binary only downloads on Steam Deck.~~
EDIT: This is no longer true. If you simply disable the compatibility modes, the native steam deck now downloads nicely on Linux, and it runs straight out of the box for me, and with much less stuttering
I think they fixed that, the default on desktop Linux is now the Steam Linux Runtime 3.0 and the native version of the game launches flawlessly for me on Fedora 42.
I don't like that Steam can do this. If I force BG3 to use the Sniper runtime, then it should be the same exact build that gets downloaded to the Steam Deck.
That is to be expected. Which Linux should they support? Steam Deck is ok, it's stable, new and popular. Arch? No way. Ubuntu? Yeah, no. Any other "gaming distro" some dudes built? Who would want to support that?
So what is Linux you want companies to support?
I use Arch btw.
You don't have to support any specific Linux, valve provides all the necessary runtimes
https://gitlab.steamos.cloud/steamrt/steamrt/-/blob/steamrt/scout/README.md
But isn't the steam deck Arch as well? So I wonder if there's still a difference where they support just the deck specific specs...
But if it's a Linux native build, and the deck is arch, it would stand to reason that you could at least get the build on arch. Maybe they're doing a check against the uname or something to verify what you're running.
I know native ports are important to some folks, and I know you're one of them, but would you mind explaining why? Maybe you've done so in the past and I didn't internalize it.
Larian's own reasoning here appears to be squeezing it for more performance, and with Linux users now accounting for 6% of English-language players, I suspect more companies will find this to be worth the effort as that percentage rises and Windows becomes more of a pain in the ass.
EDIT: reworded statistic for accuracy
Proton still perpetuates Microsoft’s monopoly on graphics APIs etc.
I guess, but it also simultaneously ports thousands of games that were never going to get updated with Linux builds even if Linux became 100% of the market tomorrow; several games I have now with native Linux ports are worse than the same game run through Proton. And when run through Proton, it's no longer hitting Microsoft code. Anyway, this outcome in this post is the kind of thing that Valve expected to happen but has happened very little thus far, hopefully a sign of things to come.
Totally. And then DirectX 13 comes out and needs to be reversed and implemented, all the while developers don’t think about Linux.
If MS get cheeky with the MZ/EXE/PE format, we could be several years behind.
I’ve been using Wine for years and I think anyone who has been using it all this time will get what I’m saying.
Just because Proton/Wine has caught up (mostly) doesn’t mean it wasn’t a long and painful journey to get there.
The way I see it, native support means our platform is actually being supported.
Though it seems I may have celebrated too soon here...
Now that there is a Steam Deck Native build, is Baldur’s Gate 3 supported on Linux?
Larian does not provide support for the Linux platform. The Steam Deck Native build is only supported on Steam Deck.
Was already working fine through proton, but this is great to see as well!
Did some testing on this on Linux, Arch + KDE 6 (wayland) + Nvidia GPU. It looks like DLSS works on Nvidia hardware. I didn't do formal benchmarks, but I didnt notice performance improvement. On my laptop it actually used roughly 10% more watts on the GPU while capped at 60fps. I don't think I could tell the difference on a blind test. So I'll use it anyway to do my part for hardware surveys.
Although this was Act 1, perhaps Act 3 will tell a different story.
The Steam Deck also means they can assume AMD hardware, so even if you don't see the benefits, they might be there for someone else.
So I had a weird experience with this. Fedora KDE on my desktop PC and after the update the game ran terribly for me, like even the intro logo animations were chugging Looked at the game files and it had been updated to the Linux version, but I thought the Linux build was just meant for Steam Deck? Changing the compatibility settings to use proton instead fixed it straight away and had the game running fine again
Okay now I'm buying
Ooh, I think it's time for me to finally buy this game, hopefully in a way that signals my support for this action.
It blows my mind that I haven't played BG3, btw. The original saga of 1 + 2 + expansions is S-tier nostalgia deep in my heart right along with the other big PC and console RPGs of the 90s. i've just been in one of those phases of life where I am focused on other things and not playing many games at all unless my family gets me to jump into something light and co-op.
And when I say focused, on a scale from 1 to 10 I'm talking ADHD hyperfocus.
Just to let you know, BG3 plays completely different than the original saga. It sounds obvious as I type this but BG3 really doesn’t compare. The tone and humor just isn’t the same. Really the only thing that connects to it are certain characters and map names. I would honestly just consider BG3 a really good spin-off game rather than considering it a mainline Baldurs Gate game. Hopefully you aren’t too disappointed, it’s still a very good game. I just have a hard time including it in the Baldurs Gate saga.
Wasn't expecting a high profile game to get a native Linux build, especially so much time after release, but I'm glad to see it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stadia_games
Of course, Stadia builds were not released to the public.
It would be awesome if they released it on GOG too
Woul be nice if GoG had a linux client
They promised one years ago, definitely coming soon
I'm confused. It's a Linux native build, but they call it steam deck native. Does this mean it's not optimized for Nvidia since steam deck is AMD hardware? I'm fairly new to Linux, so the wording is throwing me off.
You have to dig a few layers deep, but it appears that they uploaded a Linux build that only downloads for Steam Decks, and they don't seem to fully support non-Steam Deck. I haven't verified a way to get around this, but often, where there's a will, there's a way. You might be able to force the game to download the Linux version from the Compatibility settings in Steam. At least at this point in time, Larian only seems interested in the Linux build for Steam Deck in particular, which I've never seen before.
Oh nice I'll cop it on Steam Deck for the holidays.
Hell yeah... Zero regrets paying full price for this game.
Did they fix the problem where for some reason, on steam deck you can't do local multiplayer? You need to provide a command line argument to turn on local multiplayer and I can't begin to comprehend why they did this.
Because the game barely runs single player on Steam Deck, and they'd rather not handle a bunch of support tickets for people wondering why the game chugs when trying to make a low end system handle a lot more processing load.
Same reason they disabled local multiplayer for the Xbox Series S
This is technically true, but they specifically state that they don't support Linux in their faq.
This is "just" a SteamDeck build.
(I actually tried to run it on debian, but it didn't want to start. That said, I invested 0 time, maybe it was just a minor thing. no idea)