Natural Selection 2

What works

Game version 252. Game is technically playable, but is plagued by several serious issues including random crashes on startup/connect. It's possible to launch the game, setup graphic options & key bindings and join in game servers. Steam In-game Overlay works during the game. However, you can't play tutorial (uses local server which does not work) or watch tutorial videos (crashes).

• Installing the game (installed by Steam after downloading)
• Launching the game (does not always work, might crash during startup)
• Joining in the game server (might crash while loading)
• Most of main menu options including changing video settings and scrolling news feed
• DX9 renderer, all detail options seem to work and will affect main menu scene
• Installing a modification from Steam Workshop
• Receiving player voice chat (transmitting not tested as Steam does not detect microphone)
• Steam In-game Overlay (text chat, screenshots etc.)
• Browsing loading screen gameplay tips
• Opening and using in-game developer console
  

What does not

• Game is stuck while trying to connect to local server (used by tutorial and optimize).
• Game crashes randomly on startup or when joining on server
• Tutorial videos will crash the game
• DX11 renderer
  

Workarounds

What was not tested

• Tutorial
• Using microphone to communicate with players (Steam does not detect microphone)

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

Wine was compiled using 32-bit libs. Rating this as Bronze as there are several serious issues which will affect to normal application use. Common problems * When starting the game Steam runs DirectX install every time. * When starting the game it might crash with: err:seh:raise_exception Unhandled exception code c0000005 Crashing seems to be random and not related what settings are selected in the game. * Selecting hints & tips video will crash the game. * Connecting to local server (tutorial and optimize uses this) does not work as game is stuck at connect phase. It's possible to use developer console to quit the game as there is no way to stop the connect attempt from game interface. Also it's possible to skip optimizing as it is automatically done during next server connect. * DX11 renderer does not work because of unimplemented function d3d11.dll.D3D11CreateDeviceAndSwapChain. When trying to launch the game using DX11, bug report dialog will pop up. Changing back to DX9 is possible by editing game config file. DX9 Renderer performance on main menu scene (AMD Phenom II x4 B55, NVidia 275GTX): * 33-35 frames per second (based on settings menu FPS counter) All graphics detail options off except medium textures, 1920x1080, PhysX off, v-sync off * 17-18 frames per second (based on settings menu FPS counter) All graphics detail options on/at high setting, medium textures, 1920x1080, PhysX off, v-sync off * In-game frame rates on low settings are about 20-25 on complex rooms, 30+ on corridors/small rooms.