The Dink Network

Ranger Lord's Linux Adventures

July 8th, 02:41 PM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all. 
Welcome.

So, I decided that I don't want to derail a different topic any further, and figured to start a new one.

This is the topic where I chronicle my experiences, questions and problems that I encountered while trying to use a Linux distribution as my daily driver. In case anyone wants to know, right now I'm using the latest version of Linux Mint.
July 8th, 03:03 PM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all. 
So, first question: I tried using Proton on Steam. Can someone tell me how to avoid compiling shaders every time I try to launch a Windows-only game?

Also, how can I avoid Wine switching my resolution and desktop scaling settings if I run a game at a different resolution then my normal one?

I've just started playing around the appimage format trying to use YeOldeDink. The format is interesting - in terms of limitations and my lack of experience. I had to check that ypu apperently specifically allow it's execution via a checkbox in the settings. Might be more secure, but annoying.

Is there a way to change the files inside the appimage? I want to use the original MIDI tracks snd sound effects from the original Dink version (yes, I did that even when I used the Windows version of YeOldDink. And yes, I'm aware MIDI will not sound the same as Windows). My other problem is language selection. I want to use English text. It's cool that translations exist, but I'm just used to playing Dink in English, and D-Mods are (with very few exceptions) only in English. Mixed language texts bother me. I typically bypassed this before by deleting localization files, but I hope there's a better way for this.
July 9th, 01:01 AM
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yeoldetoast
Peasant They/Them Australia
Oh, NOW YOU'VE DONE IT! 
I recommend following Drone's guide in the Martridge pinned thread on how to extract base data from the 1.08 download and then passing it with the refdir parameter at launch. Also, MIDI should sound the exact same as on Windows as I tend to enforce audio library consistency across platforms when making releases.

Translations are typically set via some environment variables that you can see by running "env" from the command line. These are typically called LANG or LC_something and can be overridden either by setting them to something else with "export" or by prepending them to something when running.
July 9th, 06:52 AM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all. 
Well, now I have the issue of having zero idea how to install Martridge on Linux Mint. Seems the more things I try to do, the more I have to learn stuff. Guess expectations and reality are never the same, eh? And I named the challenge appropriately, it is indeed a challenge.

Edit: Nevermind, I had to give Martridge permission to be executed. Seems I have to do this with every Linux app downloaded from a browser.
July 9th, 07:29 AM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all. 
I can now say that I managed to get refdir to work. Took a while to figure stuff out. Also, it seems beause I'm using the original Dink data, the language problem is no longer an issue. I imagine someone who wants to play Dink translated and with original sounds might need to add the localization files to the refdir folder. But that's not going to be my problem.

Regarding Linux stuff, I just realized every application that doesn't run at native resolution resizes the desktop. Annoying. Or is this specific to Windows games running through a compatibility layer? Dink certainly didn't do this.
July 12th, 12:48 PM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all. 
These are the times I wish I was drinking. I got the new PSU, but it was definitely not made for my PC case. This sideways connectors thing is alien to me. Thanks to my PC case, I couldn't connect the CPU power connector. That means the PC won't work. So I have two options: get a new PC case hoping it'll work, or place back the shitty PSU so that I can use my PC again. I'm very pissed off about this.

I have no idea what to do.

EDIT: Great. It seems the sideway connectors are not a new standard. This is apperently a "feature" exclusive to this line of Corsair PSUs. Of course, there was no indication about this anywhere before I purchased it.

EDIT2: Now that I'm calmer and and got suggestions, I guess the best thing is to return the PSU and get a refund. As this situation highlights, I completely lack common practicality. Guess that's where others come on to help. Makes me glad I have a family.
July 13th, 11:29 AM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all. 
Managed to use a different PSU. No change, still overheats - maybe a bit slower though. But I now realize what caused the overheating - Proton. Maybe I should've used a more stable version of it, but it matters no longer. I plan to use Windows alongside Linux Mint. I don't think I'm quite ready to exclusively game on Linux.
July 14th, 08:32 AM
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There is a known issue with Proton where you can get CPU and (especially) GPU overheating if you don't add a command line like this one to the Steam game launch options (and/or manually adjust your CPU settings in the CPU's case) :

DXVK_CONFIG="dxvk.maxFrameRate = 60; dxgi.maxFrameRate = 60; d3d9.maxFrameRate = 60" %command%

(The same is true for Wine/Lutris/Bottles, although in these cases you would set the variable in a different way)

This will limit the frame rate to 60 FPS, should fix the overheating issue in most cases, and will spare you some nasty electricity bills.
July 14th, 10:44 AM
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RangerLord
Peasant He/Him Hungary bloop
The nation above all. 
You know, I wish I managed to isolate the issue sooner, because this whole power supply mess would not have happened.

Well, I guess I could play some games with 60 fps, but for others I prefer a higher framerate.

This whole Proton issue makes me certain that I won't be using Linux as a replacement for Windows gaming. Wine seemed to be less affected by this issue. Native Linux games had no such issue.

At the end of the day, I definitely see why so many people abandoned their early tries with Linux. There are so many challenges, and what worked well on Windows might not work on Linux.

In case you want to know, my verdict is that Linux is not ready to be a replacement for Windows for my purposes. That said, I will not abandon Linux. Using it is a good learning experience, and there are aspects that I feel are good enough that I'm actually going to use Linux for instead of Windows. Like web browsing. Or native games. So dual booting it is.

And of course, there's still plenty for me to learn. It is a big challenge, but it might just make me grow.
July 14th, 11:17 AM
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Well, I guess I could play some games with 60 fps, but for others I prefer a higher framerate.

You could try replacing 60 with a higher number in that case, and see whether the overheating issue persists. It just might not, as long as you limit the frame rate to a reasonable amount rather than use the default unlimited setting.

what worked well on Windows might not work on Linux.

True (the reverse is also true, mind you). As I like to say, Linux sometimes makes things needlessly complicated when it should be easy... And oddly enough, on Linux, sometimes things that should be very difficult turn out to be relatively simple instead. That's how I feel about it, anyway.

As for me, I've pretty much abandoned Windows for nearly everything except for Windows apps that just won't run properly on Linux despite my best efforts.

but it might just make me grow.

If you choose to persevere, I can guarantee it will.

EDIT : I modified the config line in my previous post a bit after looking at the documentation.