Since the rise of the Valve SteamDeck, Linux has exploded in popularity with enthusiasts in the PC gaming community. Many new games, by default, are enabling support of GNU/Linux and Wine/Proton in their games and anticheat services. Nexon has been no different. To date, Vincdictus Defying Fate and The First Descendant are both fully playable under Wine/Proton on the GNU/Linux OS platform, but many older Nexon games remain locked out, but still all use the same anticheat software.
Nexon Game Security is used by both MapleStory and Defying Fate. There is zero reasoning why the allow execution setting in Nexon Game Security for Wine/Proton is still disabled on MapleStory, but enabled in Defying Fate.
This, enabled, would open MapleStory up finally to a swarm of players waiting on the Linux platform to have access to one of the longest standing MMORPGs still around to date.
I know there are arguments that Linux would invite hackers, but this is a red herring and false flag. Windows for years has been plagued by hackers and they show no signs of stopping any time soon. Plus, Wine and Proton are just compatibility layers for software, and they work well. Vindictus Defying Fate ran extremely well in my own testing of the game, and First Descendant still performs very well and has since Day 1 when it was released a year ago.
All we in the GNU/Linux community ask is the ability to play again since we had to leave Windows, either because Windows 11 was too bug ridden to use properly, or we have hardware that still will support MapleStory as a game, but Windows 10 is being shoved to end of service and life by Microsoft. All we are asking is for one small, insignificant change to the game. One simple execution state flag to be enabled for Wine allowance. Nothing more.
With the success of First Descendant it would be easy for MapleStory to adapt itself to run on Proton and Linux.
From what I've been able to determine, the easiest solution would be to migrate from Nexon Guard Anticheat to the same Easy Anticheat implementation used by First Descendant.
Proton generally includes all xinput, directx, xaudio, etc
libraries and other files necessary for gaming purposes.
I know that there is a conscious effort to expand MapleStory to Mac OS, but including Linux could be done with ease.
By version 250 this needs to be officially addressed, and shouldn't be ignored by the GMS localization team, the KMS developers, and the Nexon Corp leadership.
Will the kernelspace anticheat system that Nexon uses be patched to support the win32api layer that is Valve's Proton? We know already MapleStory can install under Wine or Proton using Steam client but the anticheat refuses to let the game operate. While anyone can make the excuse "but cheaters..." or "nobody plays games on Linux..." these are completely moot points with no basis in reality. Cheaters still cheat, and hackers still hack. Switching the anticheat from kernelspace to userspace isn't going to do anything significant other than add a platform for gameplay only. This has been proven with other games enabling support for Proton/Wine. SteamDeck is becoming a viable gaming alternative platform to many people and supporting a growing platform helps everyone.
Supporting Linux and Proton also invites the aspect of more players, and more players purchasing Nx, and more Nx being spent giving Nexon a new income source, small as it may be at first, but a small source that can grow.
This needs to be addressed by the Nexon Corp leadership, developers, and everyone else who has some type of say in the direction of KMS and GMS since they're pretty much in lockstep.
It would be helpful if the DirectX specification used by MapleStory was updated to at least DirectX 11.
Not only would MapleStory be able to natively support higher resolution rendering, but it would also gain functions introduced in DX11 such as Borderless Full Screen Windowed Mode, and the ability to draw natively at 1080p or higher resolutions like 1440p(2k) and 2160p(4k) even if the 1080p resolution was simply scaled to fit, or gained native GPU rescaling via Nvidia DLSS and AMD Radeon Super Resolution.
This change would benefit various people such as users of Intel graphics since Intel will be dropping native acceleration of DX9 in their upcoming ARC GPUs in favor of D3D9OnDX12, as well as livestreaming which has issues with D3D9's Fullscreen resolution system which causes extended monitors to incorrectly be scaled and resized limiting functionality of streaming software, and also because most GPUs currently in circulation, even according to Steam's GPU survey system, support at minimum DirectX 11.
One editable compromise would be to remove the DirectX 9 Fullscreen Locking system that auto-rescales multi-monitor displays incorrectly along with the main gameplay screen.
