Something I haven't done in a long while, a rant post. One about my gaming woes of late.

 For the longest time now, I've been a happy user of both Linux and Windows, but some things I have discovered after extended use of Linux make me facepalm really hard and I'm stunned there is no solution for these issues yet.

1. I use RPG Maker, and even RPG Maker MV, the one with native Linux support, it runs like utter dog crap for all the things I want to do.

For one, saving and opening projects is an exercise in pain on Linux because even the Linux version seems to have a terrible time accessing the Sream Workshop for things you downloaded to use. Worse, since all the file folders for Steam are in a semi-hidden folder with a different file structure to the Windows AND the workshop saves all downloaded assets in folders with unhelpful folders named with long strings of numbers, and it's often less torture to just use it on Windows, where Steam is in an easily accessible folder and the workshop folders are slightly less tedious to find manually.

Another thing that drives me to frustration is that unlike the Windows version, I cannot open multiple instances of the RPG Maker program, which is VERY helpful for copying and pasting assets like sample events and scripts between projects. It's a simple feature, but one that saves a ton of time on Windows, and apparently, it's because the Steam version (I have yet to buy the non-Steam version and I'm not blowing money to find out) on Linux has a weird hangup with allowing more than one instance to run at a time, while the Windows version makes it easy to do just that.

If this was fixed, I'd use RPG Maker MV and other Makers (which run decently in Wine but have their own issues, some I even detailed on WineHQ's entry for the program under the name Daniel Cullen (my IRL name), here's a link:

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=30838

2. Linux users like to brag they have open-source alternatives for almost everything you can imagine and usually, they tend to be telling the truth, but there is one thing they do not have it enrages me because I'd move my gaming to Linux full-time if they had it.

MOD MANAGERS

For some reason, no one has EVER made a multi-game supporting or game agnostic mod manager for Linux, and even the popular Windows-based ones like Vortex and MO2 have yet to bother supporting Linux, even though Vortex has a currently open issue on the topic and admitted all they really need to do is support Linux style symlinks.

For the record, I tried running Vortex Mod Manager through Lutris, which allows a very old and partially functional version of Vortex to work, but it's crash-prone, has issues even when it does work, and gets horribly confused when working with games designed for Steam for Linux because it obviously cannot detect the Linux specific folder due to it being a Windows program with no support for Linux save through a buggy compatibility later. Worse, even for games OUTSIDE of Steam, it's still crippled, locks up on occasion, and I've had to reinstall it more than once because something went horribly wrong.

Now, mod managers do exist that are Linux native, but are directly connected to a specific game in nigh all cases, like the one used for Minetest. The day someone makes a multi-game supporting mod manager or support for them to play nice with Linux natively happens, I will be a happy man.

Until then, I will be a rather cranky one.