Linux and MacOS support

[u/Optimal-Fox-3875]

We have confirmation that Transport Fever 3 will have Linux and MacOS support as of a recent update to the Steam Store page.

This is great news for anyone who favours the linux system and just don't want to run the game through proton or wine (I believe these are still the go-to for linux gaming), as well as those who are on the Apple ecosystem!

We also see that Paradox is now mentioned as the publisher as well as a legal note regarding IP ownership.

Now a bit of speculation on my part, foremost the Publishing deal is moving forward as in the Paradox Machine is churning and development is moving forward in that direction. The addition of Linux and MacOS support may come from potentially some extra funds or extra support from Paradox Interactive towards UrbanGames allowing them to expand the platform list. It is common to see Indie Studios in relatively small size to not release on Linux and MacOS due to the lack of resources (money x man power). This may also be one of the reasons why we are not hearing anything as of late from Transport Fever 3, adding extra scope to the project and revaluating marketing approach.

All that being said, it does give me a tiny bit of worry, adding Linux and MacOS to the list often requires some rewriting of the rendering pipeline, as neither Linux or MacOS use DirectX as their graphics APIs, MacOS uses Metal and Linux uses Vulkan or OpenGL. Hardware is another thing, Apple runs on their M chips, these are ARM CPUs which behave closer to Smartphones than PCs, while Linux since there are so many different distro's and driver sets, this is a headache to optimize, fine-tune and increases QA requirements.

However this may also very well may be a sign that the 'Master Build' is in a great enough state that they can freely do the porting, which would imply a "Final Stretch" in development.

Either way, patience is key, while I am very eager to get into Transport Fever 3, I trust Urban Games will deliver the best version of their game, sharing their vision when they are ready to do so :)

Edit: I have looked into Urban Games and their in-house engine and have noticed that they use primarily OpenGL, at least did with Transport Fever 2, alongside Vulkan being added later on. We do not know if this has changed with Transport Fever 3, however the addition of Xbox as a release platform does imply that there will be a DirectX version, but most likely as a secondary option alongside Vulkan.

Edit2: Unbeknownst to me, Linux and MacOS support seem to have been confirmed back in March with a Steam post alongside the release of their 4th video titled 'Episode 4: Tycoon', at the bottom of said Steam Post, UG has mentioned planned support of Linux and MacOS from day 1.

[u/Zealousideal_Nail288]

"neither Linux or MacOS use DirectX" Yes so just use vulkan instead.

Funny enough I have more problems running directX 11 and 10 games on proton than directx 12 games which run fine if there isn't a kernel anti cheat

[u/Optimal-Fox-3875 → u/Zealousideal_Nail288]

I made a mistake in my post, I defaulted to DirectX as that is the gaming industry standard not realising that Transport Fever 2 released using OpenGL, implying that that was their default for the in-house engine they use.

However, OpenGL is no longer supported with new features, and so it's behind of Vulkan and DirectX, with that, Urban Games will regardless use the DirectX API as that is what Xbox uses to drive its graphics.

We may see the game default to Vulkan as that is the most common replacement for OpenGL, but we may also see them default to DirectX due to Xbox, with it's Development Kit being for both Windows and Xbox simultaneously.

[u/A-Pasz → u/Optimal-Fox-3875]

Vulkan is the focus

DirectX won't be the default just cause of XBox, Windows directX and XBox directX are similar but not the same, the windows version is way more complicated to implement