Hi there!

Anybody can tell if there'll be a Linux version of the Bard's Tale Digital Remastered Trilogy?

According to InXile's twitter, this might be a thing in the future, but no plans currently or any work done on it. A bit disappointing, but hey. Worse: I can't get the Windows version to run on my Linux machine so far.

What's your problem?
For me, despite trying hard, I can't get the graphics to load right, just black screens. Tried d3dx11 via winetricks, emulated desktop, nothing (wie 3.13 staging)

Run the IIgs version under mmame/mess. It's better by a lot.

Thanks. At least for me, that's not really a solution. I have played all three games back in their days, ran BT1 through emulation various times. I'm interested in this very version, nothing else :)

Well I hope you get your wish or find a way to run it.

It's built in Unity so it shouldn't be hard to port, but based on commentary from inxile, I don't think it's going to happen.
You know "Maybe that's something we could look at doing in the future."

Same here. Bought it fullprice without taking a look, since Linux compatibility shouldn’t be an issue anymore nowadays. I really think about my first gog refund since I don‘t have much hope after reading your posts.
What about this emulation thing? Is it legal for download somewhere? Where do I get Apple II Rom legally?

Apple IIgs, specifically. It's a floppy image, but you also need a system rom.

None of this is "legal" by which I mean that acquiring it directly on a download site (unauthorized duplication) is a copyright infringement which is a civil (not criminal) matter, which means you can be sued. I think Electronics Arts has the rights so they'd have to care.

If that doesn't feel right to you, then don't do it. I don't think it would be reasonable of me to start making links on a gog forum though, which could drag them into it.

----------

Oh i forgot. The 2004 Bard's Tale comes with the old versions emulated, which includes the IIgs system rom and the 2gs floppy images. I'm pretty sure this is a completely legal way to acquire the emulated games (no copyright infringement). I'm also pretty sure no one negotiated rights with Apple for the IIgs system rom though, so there's that. But hey, you could easily say "Look i purchased this product. No one told me the parts weren't reasonably sourced."

Yeah, thank you. I knew that and actually found the disc images in one directory, though I didn‘t find the ROM. I just would‘ve found it so much more elegant not to have moe than one GB installed to play Games which come in a few MB including the whole system ROM.
Sorry for wasting your time. The internet depends on people like you, who care about giving good informatin to others.
I just hope inxile fixes the issues, because I found the original very hard to play without automap and it‘s strange perspective, you know, you seem to stand two steps away from a door and next step you stand in the house... I‘d love to make up with the game with updated interface and graphics.

PS: I either don't understand why a game like BTR needs to be compiled in 64bit and with DirectX 11. Microsoft seems to design those things to generate compatibility issues and force people into their new products, since it takes time to figure out, which obstacles need to be worked around. A game like BTR doesn't need any of the overblowen features, which Microsoft claims to be inevitable for a modern game. So, to make it short, why step into the trap?

I think I found the rom by running md5sum on the files to locate it. I thought I wrote this information in this discussion thread https://www.gog.com/forum/the_bards_tale_series/bt1_classic_keeps_freezing but it looks like I didn't. I probably put it on the internet somewhere. Sorry. I think the info I'm offering here is half-assed, but I'm glad you appreciate. Yeah, the way the town is rendered in the Amiga/IIgs graphics is somewhat weird, the way you describe it. The in-dungeon view is somewhat more 'natural'. The inconsistency between these two has its own problems. I guess my view on 64bit is that PCs have been 64bit since around 2004. It's only that Microsoft was so slow to adopt the technology that it's not everywhere now. I don't know if this codebase needs it, but maybe it made some things easier to get done? You certainly *could* build this game to work in 2GB of ram so it doesn't seem reqruied.

DirectX 11 I'm assuming was easier to get working with Unity.
Does this cause problems with earlier video hardware? The performance is less with earlier hardware but this game doesn't really need performance.

To maybe stir this away from potential copyright infringements and back to BT-R:
I am now running this on Linux, using wine 3.13 staging, nvidia 396.51 and dxvk installed through winetricks (see: here

It runs perfectly smooth, no complaints. At least have a look at it, decide if you like it.

Okay, how do I install dxvk in wine? I can't find it in winetricks. Does it either work probably with 390.77 NVIDIA Driver?

Found good walkthrough:

https://linuxconfig.org/improve-your-wine-gaming-on-linux-with-dxvk

See also this thread.