Valve, owner of the popular Steam gaming platform, has announced that it has managed to get a better frame rate for Left 4 Dead 2 game with OpenGL on Linux compared to what was done with DirectX on Windows.
3D graphics mostly used in games uses two API – the first is OpenGL, an industry standard open source framework and second is DirectX, largely dominated one in the industry thanks to Microsoft for making it front seat and center with Windows and the Xbox.
The company took a system with an Intel Core i7 3930k processor, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 graphics card and 32 GB of memory and squeezed 270.6 FPS (Frames Per Second) from the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 64-bit. In the variant of Ubuntu, the FPS rate was much higher at 315 FPS, which translates into 15 percent less time lost when rendering the frames.
“That the Linux version runs faster than the Windows version (270.6) seems a little counter-intuitive,” writes the Valve Linux team, “given the greater amount of time we have spent on the Windows version. However, it does speak to the underlying efficiency of the kernel and OpenGL.”
Valve is also working with graphics manufacturers to further improve the gaming drivers performance. NVIDIA, AMD and Intel are working with Valve to deliver optimal performance. It seems that the game producer is looking seriously at the open source operating system as an alternative.
“We’ve been working with NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel to improve graphic driver performance on Linux. They have all been great to work with and have been very committed to having engineers on-site working with our engineers, carefully analyzing the data we see.”
At the time, the company was already using Linux by supporting Linux-based servers for Source-based games and also by maintaining several internal servers (running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu server) for various projects.
But how was this possible? Initially, when the team made its first Linux Valve ported on GNU/Linux, the game obtained a score of only 6 FPS. Subsequently, the developers have tweaked the game engine to work more efficiently with the Linux kernel and the OpenGL and thanks to collaboration with the three main manufacturers of graphics cards (Intel, AMD and NVIDIA) the game developers were significantly improved graphics drivers until you get a framerate of this magnitude.
The results are bad for Microsoft as far as Windows revenue is concerned. DirectX is shipped with Windows and the Redmond company uses it heavily on Xbox console, which offers the OEMs the best chance of selling hardware.
Linux as a gaming platform
These are certainly very positive news for the entire world of Penguin. On the one hand, it has been stated that Valve is getting great results from porting its titles on GNU/Linux platform, and on the other hand, all three major manufacturers of graphics chips are working hard to improve their drivers for the Linux. It will fill the gap that has stuck for years for the main development of videogame titles Linux systems.
But is Linux a better gaming platform than Windows? Quite possibly, but it all depends on how other game developers are adapting to the native run in Linux environment. It is also relatively possible that when Steam on Ubuntu becomes a success, then other game developers might also be interested in Linux.
Valve founder Gabe Newell has said the company is like to get all the 2500 games available through Stream running on Linux.
It should however be added that Valve has a particular interest in presenting Linux as superior to Windows in the game. The founder Gabe Newell has previously criticized Microsoft’s increasing control over the ecosystem, which is mainly about Steam competitor in Windows Store.