What are my options for steam on freebsd?

rewtkid

rewtkid

Is it even worth it yet? What games can I play? I was going to try https://github.com/SteamOnFreeBSD/SteamOnFreeBSD but to be honest I looked at the code and im not running those scripts on my system again. It tries to pull in stuff from outdated mirrors and several linux distributions that not only the packages are out of date, but the mirrors are no longer working so it bombs out, I tried it on a previous install, I even found the latest versions of the packages manually and edited the script and it still kept bombing out in other places so I gave up. It also wants to install to the system in a mostly irreversible/inconvenient way which I dont like. I dont install anything without using packages or ports if I can help it, thats how your system gets nonsense scattered all over the place.
I am on 12-CURRENT with linux support if that matters. I have been out of the freebsd game a while now, quite a few years actually and wine was very unstable and buggy when my old ass tried to use it. Is it better now? Thanks.
 
I'm pretty new to FreeBSD myself, but if FreeBSD's wine works the same as on Linux, then it has gotten a lot better at playing games from Steam. That would probably work for you.

Regarding installing "native" Linux Steam on FreeBSD, my guess is you're going to have to do something like what those scripts are doing to get it running.
 
FreeBSD is great but I guess it still has a long way to go when it comes to gaming, that's ok because that's not what it's really made for anyway. I will just use it as a workstation. I was just wondering if there have been any severe changes in gaming capabilities since i used it in the early 2000 2001 era. Apparently not. I am a pretty hardcore gamer. I like city building games like cities skylines and many many other games too many to list. I just wish BSD would work a little harder to make it possible. I would shitcan windows in a second without looking back. Me and probably most if not all of you as well I am sure of it! Thanks for the answers anyways.
 
I think I misunderstood you or you misunderstood me. I don't have a problem. I was just trying to understand what you meant by this steam-runtime you speak of. What good is it if you can't even log into it. As far as my freebsd gaming comment goes I stand by it, it certainly doesn't look like a lot has changed for FreeBSD where that is concerned. I can play almost all of my games now on linux however. I would just like the same for BSD one day. I guess that day isn't today. Than again, I just had to spend four days getting basic sound to work. So I won't expect serious gaming any time soon.
 
rewtkid said:
I was going to try https://github.com/SteamOnFreeBSD/SteamOnFreeBSD but to be honest I looked at the code and im not running those scripts on my system.
Click to expand...

Why don't you want to run them? I've looked at them before and they don't seem terrible. There's a lot of downloading, moving, and patching going on, which might be annoying to reverse, but I doesn't look malicious or anything. I've been curious to give it a try myself. I might give it a shot on another machine once I modify some of the scripts, since they're downloading from RU servers and settings RU language, at some point.
 
alexseitsinger said:
Why don't you want to run them? I've looked at them before and they don't seem terrible. There's a lot of downloading, moving, and patching going on, which might be annoying to reverse, but I doesn't look malicious or anything. I've been curious to give it a try myself. I might give it a shot on another machine once I modify some of the scripts, since they're downloading from RU servers and settings RU language, at some point.
Click to expand...

It tries to pull in stuff from outdated mirrors and several linux distributions that not only the packages are out of date, but the mirrors are no longer working so it bombs out, I tried it on a previous install, i didnt mention that, I will edit my original comment. I even found the latest versions of the packages manually and edited the script and it still kept bombing out in other places so I gave up. It also wants to install to the system in a mostly irreversible/inconvenient way which I dont like. I dont install anything without using packages or ports if I can help it, thats how your system gets nonsense scattered all over the place. The quality of the code could be fine for all I know, that part of it wasnt what I meant. You should make a fork of it and fix it when/if you find the time. perhaps you are better then me and will have better luck. I know a lot of people would be grateful myself included.
 
Well, the native FreeBSD Steam client doesn't exist. If Valve invents some kind of vm and container format for games (think WebAssembly) then it might make some sense.
 
FreeBSD is not a market/has no visible market share where it counts and that's why gaming companies show zero interest in porting their games/gaming frameworks to FreeBSD.
 
I've had varying success with Steam on FreeBSD. Some Linux games work with Steam on the Linux emulation, most don't. Some Windows games work with Steam on Wine, but again, most don't. So it's a hit or miss, with the majority being misses.
 
I like playing games and Steam is my primary platform. I tried gaming on various Linux flavours, macOS and FreeBSD - ended up with Windows. In general nothing beats Windows in terms of gaming experience :) Just build a dedicated machine for gaming and don't forget to add a good VR Headset. ;)
 
Both second computer and a video game console involve some compromises (either cost, consumed living space, game availability or controls) and, more important, are sufficiently obvious that OP is likely already considered them. You don't need to bring that in every thread.

As for Wine, I believe my success rate is somewhere close to 3/4 titles after consulting appdb.winehq.org. Occasional tinkering is required.
 
Quite simple answer. If you want to play games on open-source system, choose debian (steam is based on it). If you need FreeBSD, think of dual boot. If you have recent machine, think of virtualization of one of them, depending of what you need more: FBSD desktop/server, or OSS gaming solution?My favourite games run well on wine, but yes, they're quite outdated... :-D
 
There is absolutely no reason in installing Linux just for games. You might as well dual boot into Windows at this point. And no, "Linux has AAA games 'cause Steam" is a very annoying meme, nothing more.
 
Yep, for games, just think of your Windows gaming box as a slightly overengineered graphics card.
Rather than just upload the shader programs, you upload the entire games. XD
 
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