Portal 2 is now available as beta on Linux, just noticed it on Steam today! I set it to download right now and will test it the moment it is finished.
Awesome! Please keep up informed on your findings. Ironically I havn't played it yet. Its on my list of Games-to-play. Now that its Linux compatible, I'll be trying it on Linux first. I do have an interesting question: I normally backup my Steam games by copying the game files from steamapps\common in Windows. Now can I restore the Portal2 (Windows) games to the same steamapps\common folder in Linux? Will the Steam just update the missing Linux executables or re-download the entire game?
I am unsure if I'll be able to test it today, having the first online class meeting today in 15 minutes. I doubt you could simply copy over the windows folder as I expect there are several components that must be compiled specifically for Linux. However, there is no harm in trying as Steam will first verify already existing files and then download any missing. It might be interesting to see how much you would have to download. As for the game itself, I've played through it several times and I absolutely love it. The coop multiplayer is also exceptional.
Then I will be the first to try it! Have fun in class! I plan to do the cooperative campaign myself as well. I loved the first Portal.
After downloading it in Steam, you have to right click on the game and enter properties. Then to to the Beta tab for the game and select to partake in the beta (no code needed). If you don't do this, the game will not launch. As for the game itself, it seems to run great so far. Graphics are great and the game runs smoothly. I will definitely play through this again now, the single player is exceptionally entertaining with wonderful puzzles and humor. Now I'll just have to find someone for the coop mode too sometime as well, because the coop campaign is also great and it is quite some time since I've played it.
Let me try my idea of using the windows files to restore the game, if it works, then I'll play co-op with you some time Not sure about the time zones.
That would be cool. During weekends it should not be much of a problem as I am generally not busy and tend to stay up pretty late.
Didn't work. LinSteam basically stripped everything that isn't native to Linux. So now I'm downloading the whole game. About 3 hours
Wait a second... correction... It didn't take 3 hours, took about 15 minutes. I'm going to launch Portal 2 now and see if it runs
Runs perfectly! Awesome! I need to post this somewhere. You can save a lot of downloading time if you already have Steam games installed in Windows. Pretty dang cool. Glad I finally tried this. Of course it probably differs game-to-game
That sounds pretty great. I suppose that in general all the game content does not need much changing, it's probably just the parts that interact directly with the system it runs on.
Exactly, I have a feeling most of the game content, graphics, textures, models, etc do not need converting, probably most executables and programming code.
I got a problem with the game (quite often in my case) when I hit the start button, Portal 2 is syncing, starting and immediatly closing (in about 1 or 2 seconds). No error, no struggeling, just as I had never started it. Then I tried start options: -novid -autoconfig -condebug No change and I could not find the debug logfile which should have been created
Cronyk, I don't remember your system specs. Can you put them in your signature so next time you post it will already be there?
Ok, good... There is a chance this is a driver issue. since you have a Radeon HD 4870 I'm not familiar with AMD drivers, but have you tried open-source drivers or AMD's?
You probably have more experience with AMD drivers than I do. Have you tried using open-source drivers? I've heard they are just as good or even better than AMD's drivers With Nvidia I have all the performance I need using my GeForce 550 Ti and my GeForce GTX 950
