Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-02-07 Thread caleb

Good advice and thanks for the engine recommendations! :)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-02-07 Thread infinityfallen
I'll do be my best to help, although others will probably give far better and  
more accurate advice.


(I) Personally, I would recommend Python due to its clean syntax, high-level  
nature and wide support. Javascript is also pretty good on these fronts  
(though its syntax is a little too brace-heavy, I personally think). However,  
OnPon4's advice to use game engine (libre of course!) is far better than  
choice of language, as it hides much of the dirty work from you.


(II) I'm no expert, but a few posts regarding the issue appear to suggest it  
may be to do with the monitor (sources attached at end of section). Try  
running "xrandr" (no quotes) at the command line and see if throws up some  
sort of message like "xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output  
default". If that's the case, you may need to set your monitor resolution  
manually, which I believe is detailed in the first source below. Hopefully  
someone else can be a little more helpful than I am in regards to this.

Source 1
Source 2

(III) I'm unable to assist here, except to point out that you probably meant  
"capture" and not "caption". Sorry!


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-02-07 Thread onpon4

> what programming language(s) would you recommend?

Whichever one is appropriate for the engine you're using. :) The engine  
matters much more than the language. But personally, my favorite language is  
Python (which is why the SGE Game Engine uses Python).


> With my old GeForce 9800 GTX+ I enjoyed a lovely 1600x1200 resolution, now  
however that is no longer an option since it gives me only three options  
being 1280x1024 (5:4), 1024x768 (4:3) and 800x600 (4:3), none of which being  
a satisfying one for my 22-inch display.


That tends to happen with new GPUs. You'll need to update the kernel and may  
need to update to a newer version of X as well. You can get the latest  
version of Linux-libre here:


https://jxself.org/linux-libre/

> the game that I would like to create is intended to look a bit like a  
cross-over of the Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed and Skyrim franchises.


I suggest you start with something smaller. I developed around 10 games  
before I started on Hexoshi, and the first 5 or so were such utter crap that  
I wouldn't want to display them on my home page even if they weren't  
dependent on proprietary software.


For example, you could think of an aspect of these games that you like that  
you can make a simple mini-game based on, and make that mini-game.


If you're not interested in small games, another way you can get experience  
is to contribute to or just mess around with the source code of an existing  
project, like 0 A.D. or Naev.


The important thing is that you're working on achievable projects that will  
result in something you enjoy playing in no more than a couple of months.  
Once you've gained some experience, you will be more able to lead the  
development of a complex 3-D game like the one you want to make, and you will  
be able to do it both better and faster.


> is that possible (most of the libre games I have come accross so far didn't  
strike me as very sophisticated graphicswise) and is it an option to use  
motion-caption techniques for cutscenes and to apply/show a martial arts  
style both similar to the one in the following video (Splinter Cell Blacklist  
- The Man Behind The Combat --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egC-BeT6Dtk)  
considering having a successful patreon project or another similar one?


Anything is possible, but do note that the kind of graphical detail you see  
in proprietary games is very expensive; think tens or even hundreds of  
millions of dollars. Realistically, you will have to settle for much less,  
because raking in that kind of money requires mainstream appeal, which you're  
just not going to get without a well-established publisher (and the  
well-established publishers aren't going to publish a libre game for you).


One thing that can be done to work around this is to make a style out of your  
limited budget. A good example is Xonotic, which has been given a sort of  
cartoonish graphical style that doesn't need a whole lot of detail to look  
great, and as a result it's in my opinion one of the best-looking libre games  
out there. Hexoshi is another example: one of the reasons I chose to make it  
in a SNES-like style is simply because it's much cheaper than  
higher-resolution graphics would be, but can still look great.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-02-07 Thread ryanpcmcquen
Good article, the user must always be weary. Battle for Wesnoth was on that  
Slant list, which is a rather excellent and established Libre game.


I do however disagree with your assessment of JavaScript games. As someone  
who spends all their free time writing Libre JavaScript, I have found that  
most JavaScript games are completely Libre. In fact not all minified  
JavaScript is obfuscated either, that seems to be a rather common  
misconception, most times you can drop that code into something like:  
http://jsbeautifier.org and the code will be perfectly readable.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-02-07 Thread onpon4

> I have found that most JavaScript games are completely Libre.

Of course there exist libre JavaScript games. You seem to have missed the  
point of the entry: JavaScript is software, so you have to check each one on  
a case-by-case basis. The trap is in not knowing that JavaScript code is  
software and therefore assuming that any JavaScript game is fine regardless  
of the license.


> In fact, not all minified JavaScript is obfuscated either, that seems to be  
a rather common misconception, most times you can drop that code into  
something like: http://jsbeautifier.org and the code will be perfectly  
readable.


You can potentially decode what any compiled binary does by using e.g. a  
disassembler. You don't get any comments or variable names, but you can do  
it. That doesn't excuse lack of source code. All it means is that it's  
potentially possible for someone to fix the problem by deriving the binary  
into usable source code, assuming the binary is under a license which allows  
this (which typically isn't the case).


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-09 Thread onpon4
It lists multiple games that are proprietary, so don't depend on it.  
Explanations for why some of the games listed there are no good can be found  
here:


https://onpon4.github.io/other/gaming-trap/


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-09 Thread ryanpcmcquen

Saw this today:

https://www.slant.co/topics/1933/~open-source-games

;^)


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-09 Thread onpon4
> can you give me some advice as to what one should consider before creating  
a libre game and what common noob mistakes are in your experience?


The most common mistake is planning too much, or putting too much emphasis on  
things like the story or the ideas you have. It wastes time that could be  
spent on development, and you probably won't have an end result exactly like  
you first imagine it anyway (either because something that's just not worth  
it or because it turns out that there's something better you can do, or  
both). Focus on what you have so far, not what you might have years down the  
line, or you'll be perpetually stuck in development hell.


The second most common mistake is focusing too much on minor details. Focus  
on getting the game working first, then extend it. Don't go spending hours on  
e.g. a lighting engine that you're not going to use yet; not only could this  
be a complete waste of time, even if it isn't, there's no guarantee that you  
will get it exactly how you need it the first time.


The third most common mistake is to make a really big game your first game.  
Start small; contribute to existing games, make some simpler arcade-style  
games, etc. Otherwise you will be overwhelmed with the complexity of what  
you're trying to do, and it will be that much harder because you have no  
experience.


One game that is a perfect demonstration of all three of these mistakes is  
called "Platform Masters". I don't think it will ever be released, but even  
if it does get released, I'm just about certain that it won't be any good.


Another tip: use a libre game engine rather than doing everything in C from  
scratch. Here are a few good ones:


* Godot Engine: https://godotengine.org/
* GDevelop: http://compilgames.net/
* SGE Game Engine: http://stellarengine.nongnu.org
* LÖVE: https://love2d.org/

Disclaimer: I am the author of the SGE Game Engine. That's what Hexoshi uses.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-09 Thread ryanpcmcquen
I will just point to this Stallman article about a compromise for using  
Facebook: https://stallman.org/facebook-presence.html


I agree the OP should distance himself from anything Windows-related, if that  
is impossible though (let's hope it is not), there is a middle ground between  
running a full install of Windows, and using a binary compatibility layer for  
Windows.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-09 Thread onpon4
> I heard that Steam provides games for GNU/Linux, too, being proprietary  
software (as I suppose it is), would make that unfree though, right?


Steam is proprietary and almost all of the games on it are proprietary. Those  
that aren't can be obtained through other means.


> Are there any games like the ones I mentioned above as of yet for Trisquel?

That's why I asked. :) No libre game lives up to the standards of modern  
proprietary games, but those that exist can be improved. I think you should  
take a look at 0 A.D. in particular:


https://play0ad.com/

The rest of the games you mentioned are unlike any libre games that are  
currently available (in particular, I'm not aware of any libre stealth  
games), so those would have to be started from scratch. But here are some  
other kinds of adventure games and RPGs to try:


* Naev: http://naev.org
* Nox Imperii: http://noximperii.com/
* Beneath a Steel Sky (package "beneath-a-steel-sky")
* Freedroid RPG: http://www.freedroid.org/
* Hexoshi: https://hexoshi.gitlab.io

Of course, you can also look at the Libre Game Wiki for other games:

https://libregamewiki.org/Main_Page

Where there isn't a libre game project that's like what you're looking for,  
someone is going to need to start it from scratch. The most active thing you  
could do to that end is organize a team, put together a techdemo, and run a  
crowdfunding campaign similar to the one I ran for Hexoshi.[1] Being able to  
contribute something significant (e.g. graphics) would be very helpful if you  
want to take this route.


[1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/onpon4/hexoshi


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-09 Thread Adonay Felipe Nogueira
There's no middle ground between free/libre software and
non-(free/libre) software. Although there are limits as to what even the
most purist free/libre software activist can achieve (see note), this
limitation doesn't mean that we free/libre software activists should
make the general public compromise in any middle-term within.

As an important observation, whether to use non-(free/libre) software for
personal activities is up to the user to decide, but we, free/libre
software activists should influence this decision only against the
compromise, not towards.

Note: Before bringing the "is your computer 'free/libre hardware'?"
argument please be aware that there's no computer with 100% free/libre
hardware design that is proven to be also certified with Respects Your Freedom.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-08 Thread ryanpcmcquen
I completely agree, but if using Crossover keeps the OP from having a Windows  
partition, that is far more ethical and better for Free Software.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-08 Thread mappack

That doesn't make their proprietary version of wine ethical.


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-08 Thread ryanpcmcquen
You do know that Crossover is the number one contributor to Wine development,  
right?


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-08 Thread onpon4
As for gaming, I would like to suggest you help fund or contribute to libre  
game development. What kinds of games do you like?


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-08 Thread onpon4
Recent GPUs don't work with libre kernels because they require proprietary  
firmware blobs. Also, hardware that doesn't require proprietary software to  
work typically requires a kernel update to work fully, so in general getting  
a more recent kernel from jxself's Linux-libre repository is what you should  
do if hardware doesn't work:


https://jxself.org/linux-libre/


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-08 Thread Adonay Felipe Nogueira
Sorry, but I think it's better to look into Wine only.

I tried looking for Crossover both in the Free Software Directory,
Trisquel's repository, Parabola's repository, Guix's repository, and
gNewSense's repository, and couldn't find it. So I guess one can
consider it non-free software.
-- 
* pt-BR: Brasileiro | en: Brazilian
* pt-BR: Ativista do software livre | en: Free/libre software activist
* https://libreplanet.org/wiki/User:Adfeno
* pt-BR: Palestrante, consultor e avaliador | en: Speaker, consultant and 
evaluator


Re: [Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-08 Thread ryanpcmcquen

I would look into Wine or Crossover.


[Trisquel-users] Graphics Card and Windows gaming on Trisquel

2017-01-08 Thread cyberwolf

Hello Trisquel-World :)

I have just bought a new graphics card and put it into my computer, there  
seems to be a driver missing, though. I've been looking through the forum a  
bit but couldn't find a solution that fits my problem, so maybe someone could  
help me or point me to the post that already asks the very same question.


I bought the new graphics card to install and play some computer games I have  
at home; since I suppose that neither U-play nor Steam are FOSS I tend to use  
Windows, too, on my computer. Having read a bit around it seems to me that  
using a virtual box (is that the right name?) might be a better option than  
partitioning the hard drive and using GNU/Linux and Windows simultaneously.  
Does anybody have any experience with Windows gaming on Trisquel? I'd  
appreciate any advice a lot :)


That was it so far, thanks in advance for any help on the issue and I hope to  
be able to help other Trisquel noobs in the not too distant future, too :)


best regards,
Clemens