Is Wesnoth better on Windows or Linux?

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servant_of_the_light
Posts: 3
Joined: February 12th, 2018, 6:03 pm

Is Wesnoth better on Windows or Linux?

Post by servant_of_the_light »

Hi all,

I have recently set up some gaming boxes that are connected to my TV for big-screen gaming. I have a Windows and Linux box and I think I'm going to put Wesnoth on one of them. However, I haven't played Wesnoth on any platform except Mac for a while and I'm not sure whether Windows or Linux will be a better / easier experience. I know that this is highly subjective and Wesnoth is cross-platform so the differences won't be huge, but I'm interested to know. What are (any) significant differences that affect ease of use and quality of gameplay for Wesnoth on Windows vs Linux?

Thanks.
gnombat
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Joined: June 10th, 2010, 8:49 pm

Re: Is Wesnoth better on Windows or Linux?

Post by gnombat »

I've played on both Windows and Linux - there's not much difference. Occasionally you may run into a bug that affects one or the other platform only. (Probably the most common is in add-ons which work only on Windows and not on Linux, because the add-on uses uppercase and lowercase inconsistently when referencing filenames, and this affects only Linux because it uses a case-sensitive filesystem. But these bugs usually get found and fixed pretty quickly.)

If you like to keep the program always up to date with the latest version (which is generally a good idea), you may find it easier to do so on Windows. There's always an official Windows installer created for every release, whereas on Linux there is no official binary release, so if you want to install a binary version you usually have to use whatever version your Linux distribution provides, which may be out of date. On the other hand, if you're willing to compile it yourself, that's usually fairly easy to do on Linux and you can always have the latest version.

If you want to keep multiple Wesnoth versions installed at once, that's usually easier to do on Windows, although again if you're willing to compile it yourself you can do this on Linux too.
servant_of_the_light
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Joined: February 12th, 2018, 6:03 pm

Re: Is Wesnoth better on Windows or Linux?

Post by servant_of_the_light »

gnombat wrote:I've played on both Windows and Linux - there's not much difference. Occasionally you may run into a bug that affects one or the other platform only. (Probably the most common is in add-ons which work only on Windows and not on Linux, because the add-on uses uppercase and lowercase inconsistently when referencing filenames, and this affects only Linux because it uses a case-sensitive filesystem. But these bugs usually get found and fixed pretty quickly.)

If you like to keep the program always up to date with the latest version (which is generally a good idea), you may find it easier to do so on Windows. There's always an official Windows installer created for every release, whereas on Linux there is no official binary release, so if you want to install a binary version you usually have to use whatever version your Linux distribution provides, which may be out of date. On the other hand, if you're willing to compile it yourself, that's usually fairly easy to do on Linux and you can always have the latest version.

If you want to keep multiple Wesnoth versions installed at once, that's usually easier to do on Windows, although again if you're willing to compile it yourself you can do this on Linux too.
Ok, thank you for the feedback. I'll probably go ahead and put it on Windows then. I definitely would like to have the next release as soon as possible, since I know that the team has been hard at work and that there have been many improvements. I definitely can compile things from source, but I prefer not to when possible. Also, I'd hate to have problems with add-ons like you describe, so Windows sounds like the best choice in my situation.
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octalot
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Re: Is Wesnoth better on Windows or Linux?

Post by octalot »

gnombat wrote:Occasionally you may run into a bug that affects one or the other platform only. (Probably the most common is in add-ons which work only on Windows and not on Linux, because the add-on uses uppercase and lowercase inconsistently when referencing filenames, and this affects only Linux because it uses a case-sensitive filesystem. But these bugs usually get found and fixed pretty quickly.)
As of Wesnoth 1.13.11, Wesnoth is case-sensitive even on Windows, so these bugs should be spotted no matter which platform the add-on's author uses.
Currently updating the SurvivalXtreme Collection, and the SXC Pressure scenario. That's about a mermish necromancer, who's just found out that her Tentacles Of The Deep have been nerfed.
servant_of_the_light
Posts: 3
Joined: February 12th, 2018, 6:03 pm

Re: Is Wesnoth better on Windows or Linux?

Post by servant_of_the_light »

octalot wrote:
gnombat wrote:Occasionally you may run into a bug that affects one or the other platform only. (Probably the most common is in add-ons which work only on Windows and not on Linux, because the add-on uses uppercase and lowercase inconsistently when referencing filenames, and this affects only Linux because it uses a case-sensitive filesystem. But these bugs usually get found and fixed pretty quickly.)
As of Wesnoth 1.13.11, Wesnoth is case-sensitive even on Windows, so these bugs should be spotted no matter which platform the add-on's author uses.
Oh, ok, thanks for the info.
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