Put the wish list for porting projects HERE...

[Svartalf]

OKAY...

While I'm not wholly of the opinion that this is going to accomplish something useful (The big players just don't work the way most of everyone thinks they do...it's more akin to the record business these days- keep that in mind...); taking up suggestions and trying to come up with something that is more working towards changing the rules that're in place now strikes me as a better use of MY time and everyone else's time in the long run. I kind of opened the flood gates when I threw it out for suggestions. So, rather than having some of the good ideas go bye-bye, lost in an essentially unrelated thread, I thought it best to move the discussion (and the requests) over to a new thread with that as it's topic.

Ground Rules:

The title HAS to be a practical one. The rights holder HAS to be reachable in some manner. The rights holder has to be at least NOT openly hostile towards Linux use (That means Dungeon Siege is right out... ;)). AAaaand the rights holder has to have the source code in HAND in it's entirety and be willing to allow a port.

I can help with some projects, but not others. I am NOT going into competition with LGP on publishing or running counter to their porting efforts. I am still under contract for some things and there are business dealings and projects that I kind of need to maintain a good relationship with them for now.

Some suggestions will entail money. Unless someone ponies it up or can manage to pass the hat for it (Unless there's a business involved, though, you're going to find that this will be nigh impossible right at the moment...) there can be no ports of that specific game unless you sell the rights holder on the idea of them doing it themselves.

Don't be too hurt if your suggestion is shot down for any problems with above items.

With that... The floor's open. Falcon 4.0's been suggested and it's being checked into for a serious project however the chips may land in that deal.

[EDIT]

Here's a list of the current prospects and dead ends as of today (05/12/2009) as I've tabulated them up to this point- there may be new ones lurking in the thread and some stragglers in the thread that precipitated this one that I'm in the process of doing the initial checking on.

I'm listing the dead ends first. Keep in mind that these are all in this list for problems with availability of source code or rights access. Some of these were mentioned as dead ends out of the gate by one of the posters in the thread or, under review, were determined by myself to be non-practical requests. If, for some reason, you've got a lead on changing the status on the dead ends, speak up in the thread or PM me (As an example, I offer each and every one of Interplay's back catalog, including things such as Kingpin, Freespace2, etc. as we had someone point us in the direction of Good Old Games, who has current publication rights to Interplay's stuff and have indicated that they're not against the idea, but are understaffed to accomplish the work...)... I'll be putting up more edits to this post as I tabulate all the requests. We've got a nifty list and I need to follow up on some of the realistic ones. Keep the realistic suggestions coming, gang.

Dead Ends:

No One Lives Forever (Lithtech - No Lithtech engine games are practical right at the moment...)
Psychonauts (After finding out what Majesco did to at least one studio, we don't want to deal with them- sorry...)
Wing Commander (EA property...code's likely to not be available at this point with Origin effectively defunct...)
Oblivion (Prime AAA title- not without loads of cash... ;) )
Morrowind (Ditto...)
Portal (Any of the Valve stuff's up in the air- someone may well be doing all of Orange Box and Steam...)
Diablo
Diablo II
StarCraft
StarCraft II
Diablo III (Gimme a break, guys... This isn't a pie in the sky list...)
KotOR
KotOR 2 (Not that anyone would WANT that title... ;) )
Any of the GTA titles.
America's Army (We HAD a version of this guys, but the DoD decided it was not a big enough payoff...)
System Shock (Studio defunct- no clear title to code known, nor do we know if it's available at all...)
System Shock II (Ditto...)
Rise of the Triad (Ryan already beat us to it...go over to icculus.org if you've got the assets. ;) )
Call of Duty 4
Unreal Tournament 3 (Uh, supposedly Epic's still working on this...)
Bussimulator
Syndicate I
Syndicate II
Syndicate Wars
Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth
Any title from the Tom Clancy series
Stargunner
Any of the Lemmings versions
Dragon Age (If there is going to be a version, it'll be up to EA and Bioware...)
STALKER
Masters of Orion 1 or 2
Slamtilt (Actually, ANY of the 21st Century Entertainment titles are this way...)
Interstate 76
SimCity (Already GPLed and out under the name "Metropolis" in all of it's ancient glory...)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (Atari published property- need I say more?)
Jedi Knights II
Jedi Academy
ST:Armada
ST:Elite Force
ST:Elite Force II
Max Payne (Anything, really, from out of Remedy Entertainment because of close ties with Microsoft... :()
Dawn Of War and expansions
Harpoon III (Initial Contacts made, looked promising...then it fizzled for no apparent reasons...)



Maybes:

Soldier of Fortune (Hinges on Raven still having the Loki developed source tree- otherwise it's not worth it.)
Soldier of Fortune II
Gothic 3
IL-2 Sturmovik
Project Offset
Grand Prix Legends
Sam and Max Episodes
Deus EX (Hinges on finding someone with the old Loki codebase that'll be able to grant publication rights)
Deus EX 2
Age of Wonders
FlatOut 2
Battlerealms
Rome: Total War
Tale Worlds (Some DRM concerns there...)
GTR2 (10tacle in recievership- need to find out who is studio, etc...)
Crysis (Initial contact made...we'll see...)
ARMA (Initial contact made...we'll see...)
Falcon 4 (Initial contact made...no word back from them...)
CivIV
(Moved to the "maybe" list because there's no clear title to what we have in hand...checking into it, but
for right now, don't hold your breath...)
Witchaven I
Witchaven II
Powerslave


Being Looked Into:

Freespace 2 (We've got code- need to get rights for assets for commercial release if possible...)
Mechanarium (http://www.machinarium.com/)
Achron (http://www.achrongame.com/)
Project Aftermath (http://www.gamesfaction.com/project-aftermath)
Hinterland (http://www.tiltedmill.com/hinterland/)
The Path (http://tale-of-tales.com/ThePath/index.html)
And Yet It Moves (http://www.andyetitmoves.net)
Drakensang
Civilization IV
HoverRace (Clean up initial port...)
Raptor
Soldat
rFactor
Sins of a Solar Empire
Enemy Engaged: Comanche vs. Hokum (EECH - Source code being looked at...)
Grotesque
Audiosurf
Track Mania
Earth 2150
Aquaria
Escape Velocity Series
Natural Selection 2
Alpha Centauri
CivIII
Kingpin
Redneck Rampage Series
Freespace
Fallout
Fallout 2
Hostile Waters: Anteus Rising



Deals Closed and in Development

Europa Universalis Engine (EU, EU2, etc...)


Projects now shipping

Caster (http://www.casterthegame.com)

[Aradreth]

You might want to mention publishers/developers that are pretty much impossible to work with for whatever reason because most people wont have a clue which develops/publishers are linux friendly/hostile. (aside from the obvious ones like iD, Deck13, Egosoft, et al)

[ivanovic]

No idea if this would be a possible candidate:

Alien vs Predator 2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_versus_Predator_2)

The game does have an (now ancient) OSX port, so the openGL part should be possible and the publisher (at that time) is/was not hostile to non MS operating systems. Sierra Entertainment / Fox Interactive as publisher is basically nonexistant nowaddys, but Vivendi/Activision should have the rights now. No idea how open they are regarding linux...

I really loved the game for it's great atmosphere. One of the by far better singleplayer shooter out there and I would really like to be able to play it natively under Linux. Since from the first game there was an (at least beta) linux port, maybe this could be a possible candidate.

No idea if it does qualify, but it would be really great!

[Svartalf]

You might want to mention publishers/developers that are pretty much impossible to work with for whatever reason because most people wont have a clue which develops/publishers are linux friendly/hostile. (aside from the obvious ones like iD, Deck13, Egosoft, et al)

Not a problem.

Microsoft Games (Okay, okay...it's LAME, but it needed to be said... ;) )

Atari

Blizzard (They've scuffled with us in the past and are a Vivendi/Universal captive studio... )

Vivendi/Universal (Seems that they had a hand in varying nixings of things in the past- may be/may not be...)

As I remember others, I'll pile 'em in that list...

[Svartalf]

No idea if this would be a possible candidate:

Alien vs Predator 2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_versus_Predator_2)

The game does have an (now ancient) OSX port, so the openGL part should be possible and the publisher (at that time) is/was not hostile to non MS operating systems. Sierra Entertainment / Fox Interactive as publisher is basically nonexistant nowaddys, but Vivendi/Activision should have the rights now. No idea how open they are regarding linux...

I really loved the game for it's great atmosphere. One of the by far better singleplayer shooter out there and I would really like to be able to play it natively under Linux. Since from the first game there was an (at least beta) linux port, maybe this could be a possible candidate.

No idea if it does qualify, but it would be really great!

Good starting point.

VU having the rights makes it a bit iffy for a publishing deal.

However, if Rebellion Developments used the same basic engine for 2 that they did with the original, then it may be a simple thing to resurrect the engine source over on icculus.org and bring it back to playability based on availability of the game assets.

This one's worth us digging about a bit in the same vein as ioquake, etc...

[Aradreth]

Psychonauts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychonauts) could be a game worth looking into it was published by Majesco Entertainment (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majesco_Entertainment). It's an adventure/platform game that will make you laugh and well worth the play through (if you like games like Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle etc. you will probably like it). Not sure how open to a port Majesco would be though.

[miles]

Stating from the ones that should be not too hard :

Frontier Elite 2 First Encounters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Encounters) - Dabid Braben has already put the game as a free download, and the game and engine have already been worked on by by other (http://glffe.alioth.net/) parties (http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1350/ffe-hack.html) everywhere (http://www.eliteclub.org.uk/jjffe/about.htm). Publishing a Linux version with updated graphics (any resolution, Open GL 2.0 with anti-aliasing, textures, mip-mapping and shader effects) would not just be worth some good money, it would also attract a hudge user base to Linux gaming. Actually any Elite game with updated graphics would be mythical (http://www.jades.org/ffe.htm) and warrant articles on most (if not all) PC gaming sites and magazine. And it wouldn't even be that difficult - re-use any open source iD Software engine, for example, provided it's recent. Of course, you'll have to provide your own IP (textures, remade videos or animations, new models...), but you'll find many people interested, even for free. And please don't tell me David Braben at Frontier Development (http://www.frontier.co.uk/home/) would be against it. If you could make that with graphics on-par with modern space operas (X3 Reunion?), even better.


A tad harder :

Any of the indie car races games. GTR2 (http://gtr-game.10tacle.com/index.php?id=246&L=1) and others like rFactor (http://www.rfactor.net/). The genre is sorely lacking in Linux, except for Trackmania (www.trackmania.com/) under wine (you could also get Trackmania native in Linux, but that would mean Nation free and only United to pay for the port.


Hard, but who knows :

A Wing Commander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Commander_(franchise)) pack (all episodes, one reworked 3D engine, no need to redo the videos. I'd have put old Star Wars games (X-Wings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_X-Wing_computer_game_series) and such) but you might have far more difficulties with Lucas Arts - except that if you know somebody that knows Georges Lucas or any other nice guy working there, that could suddenly become really easy (they could even get the code back and re-sell revamped versions for any of the online shops for PS3 wii and all)


Even harder, but a hudge potential :

Civilization IV (http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/home.htm). The game is so huge and online, would last hundred of hours and sell like hot cakes in Linux. But it's true there's not much chances for this one.

Sins of a Solar Empire (http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/). You've approached them in the past, but how long ago? Linux has a far better penetration now it's sold by OEM, and after all they're the one that advertise on their site that they're indie developers, only a handful programmers and as many artists. They can't really say that, then claim the huge amount of money you've estimating, or they'd just look like a bunch of hypocrites. And they'd never ask you to put DRM (still can't believe Egosoft asked LGP to put a DRM that wouldn't be removed after one year or so).

Oh, and did I mention Frontier Elite 2 First Encounters?

Out of these games, the first seems downright doable (still can't believe SoaSE isn't possible), and it's also the one that would have the highest impact on the market (not including revamped Wing Commander and Star Wars games since they'd be harder to negotiate and to port). You'll have people installing Linux just to play it. You'll have journalist installing Linux just to review the game. You'll have your grandmom learn Linux just to play the game again (except she's already on Linux :) ).

[niniendowarrior]

Svartalf,

You are so mean to play people's imaginations and work up their hopes.!:D But, who knows what's happening down there. :D

[ivanovic]

Maybe "No One Lives Forever (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_One_Lives_Forever:_The_Operative)" is also worth a try. At least the sourcecode is already shipped on the "Game of the year edition" that is/was sold in Germany. I don't know the license the sources are under, but maybe it would be a good start for a port.

The game was originally published by Fox Interactive and produced by Monolith Productions.


And yes, I would *love* to see Psychonauts ported. This is one of the games that I would be willing to pay 40$ for even now...

EDIT: The sourcecode is even available directly on the official website: http://www.noonelivesforever.com/downloads/

[niniendowarrior]

NOLF is under Vivendi, I reckon... or Sierra.

[ivanovic]

NOLF is under Vivendi, I reckon... or Sierra.

Yes, this makes it difficult. The only question is:

What are you allowed to do with the published sourcecode? Are you allowed to use it to create a port or not (probably the answer is a clear "no, you are not")? It could be worth a try...

[Aradreth]

Yes, this makes it difficult. The only question is:

What are you allowed to do with the published sourcecode? Are you allowed to use it to create a port or not (probably the answer is a clear "no, you are not")? It could be worth a try...
The source code seems to have been pulled of the net as all the links here (http://www.noonelivesforever.com/downloads/) are dead and every other site I've seen when looking has been pointing to one of those links...

[Svartalf]

Yes, this makes it difficult. The only question is:

What are you allowed to do with the published sourcecode? Are you allowed to use it to create a port or not (probably the answer is a clear "no, you are not")? It could be worth a try...

Depends on the nature of the publication. It could be inadvertent or without permission with a person with sour grapes on their mind. In the context of that, you don't have any rights to it whatsoever.

Something put out without an explicit release to the Public Domain or an appropriate derivative works and distribution license is presumed to be an unlicensed copy- and distribution and derivative works are deemed to be an infringement. Something that Verizon and Actiontec found out wasn't such a nifty idea after all.

Keep in mind, even if the game code's legit, the game assets may NOT be- and may require obtaining an apocryphal copy or a rights grant from the publisher to re-publish.

Let's dig into that one further- can someone point me to a copy of the source that got released?

[niniendowarrior]

I'll throw in some titles.

These are published by JoWood Productions (I think):

Arx Fatalis
Rally Trophy
Archangel
AquaNox 2

But I think those are good stuff, or at least, decent. I'm dying for a racer on Linux and I'm completely frustrated by the options right now. To be honest, I'd like Richard Burns Rally, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Edit:
NOLF Source
Here it is Svartalf:
http://files.filefront.com/NOLFSource003exe/;1425157;/fileinfo.html

[Svartalf]

The source code seems to have been pulled of the net as all the links here (http://www.noonelivesforever.com/downloads/) are dead and every other site I've seen when looking has been pointing to one of those links...

I'll go scrounging on Monolith's FTP site as they were hosting it- the official website seems to indicate that the source was a deliberate release under some possibly usable license. I'll do more digging- Monolith DID let a title get published and while the vendor had issues with their port of the Lithtech engine, I don't think that Titan did that poorly with the title.

[niniendowarrior]

I got the source. I'll upload it, just one moment.

EDIT:
This is the same as the one above.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FHHO28TS

I reckon this was the one that was released judging from the NOLF official website.

*May not be the one Svartalf wants as he mentions in the post below.

[Svartalf]

Edit:
NOLF Source
Here it is Svartalf:
http://files.filefront.com/NOLFSource003exe/;1425157;/fileinfo.html

Thanks for the link. Just looked at it- it's insufficient. The code's the "game" but the source tree is "missing" the Lithtech engine pieces in source code form needed to make a Linux game port.

Moreover, Sierra (VU...) owns the rights at this point. Not QUITE sure where this one will lead, however, it seems they didn't mind mods, etc. as the source WAS released for that purpose all the same.

[Aradreth]

I'll go scrounging on Monolith's FTP site as they were hosting it- the official website seems to indicate that the source was a deliberate release under some possibly usable license. I'll do more digging- Monolith DID let a title get published and while the vendor had issues with their port of the Lithtech engine, I don't think that Titan did that poorly with the title.
I think I've found a working server with it here (http://public.www.planetmirror.com/pub/bluesnews/nolf/tools/NOLFSource003.exe). ;)

Edit: in the time it took me to download and extract it niniendowarrior post it. :p

The licence:
IV. END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR ADD-ON COMPONENTS -- NO ONE LIVES FOREVER Source Code v1.003
__________________________________________________ ______________________________________________

THIS END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT (THIS "EULA") IS A LEGAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN YOU (EITHER AN INDIVIDUAL OR A SINGLE ENTITY) AND MONOLITH PRODUCTIONS, INC. ("MONOLITH") FOR NO ONE LIVES FOREVER Source Code v1.003, WHICH INCLUDES COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND ASSOCIATED MATERIALS (THE "SOFTWARE").

YOU MAY ONLY BECOME A PARTY TO THIS AGREEMENT IF YOU ARE A LICENSED USER OF MONOLITH'S The Operative: "No One Lives Forever" PRODUCT.

BY CLICKING ON THE "YES" BUTTON, YOU ARE CONSENTING TO BE BOUND BY AND ARE BECOMING A PARTY TO THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, CLICK THE "NO" BUTTON AND DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE.

1. GRANT OF LICENSE. You may use and publicly display one copy of the Software on one personal computer. A license for the Software may not be shared or used concurrently on different computers.

2. LIMITATIONS. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software. You may not rent or lease the Software. You may make one additional copy of the Software solely for backup or archival purposes. You may not copy any printed materials accompanying the Software.

3. SOFTWARE TRANSFER. You may permanently transfer all of your rights under this EULA, provided (a) you retain no copies, (b) you transfer all of the Software (including all component parts, the media on which the Software was delivered, all printed materials, any upgrades, and this EULA), and (c) the recipient agrees to the terms of this EULA in writing delivered to Monolith. Any transfer must include all prior versions and upgrades of the Software. Otherwise, you have no right to distribute copies of the Software.

4. TERMINATION. Without prejudice to any other rights, Monolith may terminate this EULA if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this EULA. In such event, you must destroy all copies of the Software and all of its component parts.

5. NO SUPPORT. Because Monolith is offering this Software to you free of charge, Monolith will not provide any telephone, online or other support for the use of the Software.

6. NO WARRANTIES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, MONOLITH AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH REGARD TO THE SOFTWARE.

7. NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL MONOLITH OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT, EVEN IF MONOLITH HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW SUCH EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

8. EDITOR, SOURCE CODE AND END-USER VARIATIONS.

(a) The Software may include an "Editor." An "Editor" is a feature which allows you to modify the Software or to construct new variations for use with it. These modifications and variations can be both playable and non-playable. An Editor includes its associated tools and utilities. An Editor is NOT shareware. You may not freely distribute it to any BBS, CD, floppy or any other media. You may not sell it or repackage it for sale.

(b) The Software may include "Source Code." "Source Code" is a feature which allows you to modify the Software or to construct new variations for use with it. These modifications and variations can be both playable and non-playable. Source Code is NOT public domain. You may not freely distribute it to any BBS, CD, floppy or any other media. You may not sell it or repackage it for sale.

(c) Using the Editor and/or Source Code, you may create modifications or enhancements to the Software, including the construction of new levels (collectively referred to as "Variations"), subject to the following restrictions:

i. Your Variations must only work with the full copy of the Software, not independently or with any other software.

ii. Your Variations must not contain modifications to any executable file.

iii. Your Variations must not contain any libelous, defamatory, or other illegal material, material that is scandalous or invades the rights of privacy or publicity of any third party, or contains any trademarks, copyright-protected work, or other recognizable property of third parties.

iv. At least once in every online description and with reasonable duration on the opening screen, your Variations must prominently identify (i) the names and email addresses of its creators, and (ii) the words "This add-on is not made by or supported by Monolith Productions, or any of its affiliates and subsidiaries."

v. Your Variations must be distributed solely for free. Neither you nor any other person or party may sell them to anyone, commercially exploit them in any way, or charge anyone for using them. You may exchange them at no charge among other end-users.

vi. By distributing or permitting the distribution of any of your Variations, you hereby grant back to Monolith Productions an irrevocable royalty-free right to use and distribute them by any means.

vii. The prohibitions and restrictions in this section apply to anyone in possession of the Software or any of your Variations.

9. MISCELLANEOUS. This EULA is governed by the laws of the State of Washington, U.S.A. Each of the parties hereto submits to jurisdiction in the state and federal courts sitting in King County, Washington. Should you have any questions concerning this EULA, or if you desire to contact Monolith for any reason, please write: Monolith Productions, Inc., 10516 NE 37th Circle, Kirkland, WA 98033.

[niniendowarrior]

This is the text blurb from the official website:


NOLF Source Code v1.003 (5.46 MB)

This package contains the source code for NOLF version 1.003. For more information, please check out the readme.txt file that’s included in this archive.

Requirements:
To edit and build the source code, you’ll need Microsoft’s Visual C++ version 6.0 with service pack 3 installed, Microsoft’s DirectX 8 SDK installed, and 400 MB of available disk space. To run your modifications, you’ll need to have NOLF version 1.003 installed.

Installation:
When the file has finished downloading, click on the archive and extract the files to a directory of your choosing. The default path is c:\NOLFSource. Once the extraction is complete, you can open the NOLF Visual C++ workspace by double clicking on the file c:\NOLFSource\NOLF\NOLF.dsw.



I think the Lithtech Engine was quite intentionally left out of the release, judging from the info on the site.

[Malikith]

The only game I would really like to see ported (As in what I like to play right now), is Team Fortress 2.

But for a more legitimate list of candidates, I think these would be decent and might not be too difficult, but some might have some outrageous royalties:

Blizzard:

Diablo II
Starcraft
Warcraft III - I think that one would probably be the easiest of the Blizzard Games

Infinity Ward:

Call of Duty 4 - The game isn't that great in my opinion but it is very very popular. But I can tell you right now, the royalties would be enormous hence it probably shouldn't even be listed.

Valve:

Steam with Team Fortress 2 - Just my personal favorite right now.

If theres more than come to mind I'll list some others, hopefully some better candidates.

[Svartalf]

*May not be the one Svartalf wants as he mentions in the post below.

They're one in the same. It's still worth looking into- but I don't think FOSS is going to happen. Monolith is a Time-Warner captive studio these days, so I don't know how open they're going to be opening Lithtech 2.0/2.1 which would be needed to make a FOSS version- and a license to the engine would need to be obtained for any kind of port, above and beyond getting VU to sign off on the game content and naming.

[niniendowarrior]

I found this piece of news. Not sure if it's anything usable.

http://www.gamershell.com/news_5863.html

[Svartalf]

I found this piece of news. Not sure if it's anything usable.

http://www.gamershell.com/news_5863.html

It.
Is.

:D

No port seems to have been attempted. EECH's a good game for the combat sim crowd. I'm off for the day and may be late getting home from work (Meeting up w/my GF... ;)) so it may be tomorrow before I respond. Good catch, this, I think.

[Chris]

Mentioned in the other thread, but I may as well reiterate it here. I'd love to see TES4: Oblivion ported. I've never heard anything negative about non-MS systems from Bethesda, and I don't see why they wouldn't have the whole source.

Would be nice to see it running natively with OpenGL/OpenAL instead of Direct3D/DirectSound.

[Licaon]

Mentioned in the other thread, but I may as well reiterate it here. I'd love to see TES4: Oblivion ported. I've never heard anything negative about non-MS systems from Bethesda, and I don't see why they wouldn't have the whole source.

Would be nice to see it running natively with OpenGL/OpenAL instead of Direct3D/DirectSound.they don't own the engine, yet the engine has a PS3 port ;) hint OpenGL ;)

I've iterated my list before, hope that Svartalf took notes, should i post them again here? do you make a list? unfortunately Interplay/Troika and others died, so many games won't make it, but i hope you get a "viable" list of games together and keep us informed

[niniendowarrior]

Licaon, shouldn't we not make Svartalf's job a little easier? Why not repost it here? Anyway, who knows? You might update the list here. :)

On my free time, I'll go hunt more source code released games. :D

[Aradreth]

Licaon, shouldn't we not make Svartalf's job a little easier? Why not repost it here? Anyway, who knows? You might update the list here. :)

On my free time, I'll go hunt more source code released games. :D
I found this one (http://www.gamershell.com/news_28937.html) the looked down and saw Mircosoft share source... (if I remember correctly that's the look but don't touch license MS has)

I've iterated my list before, hope that Svartalf took notes, should i post them again here? do you make a list? unfortunately Interplay/Troika and others died, so many games won't make it, but i hope you get a "viable" list of games together and keep us informed
Pretty much the only ones for that list can could be ported are KOTOR1+2, Gothic and morrowind I think as the rest are by developers now dead and BG has a FOSS engine that's close to completion.

[niniendowarrior]

I found this one (http://www.gamershell.com/news_28937.html) the looked down and saw Mircosoft share source... (if I remember correctly that's the look but don't touch license MS has)


Believe me, Svartalf and I exchanged PMs on it for some time now. That's a pass. No way that's going to happen in Linux.

On some other titles, I wish (it's a wish list, right?) Jade Empire and Mass Effect get ported. That's so not going to happen though.

Anyway, be on the look out for released source games.

[Aradreth]

Believe me, Svartalf and I exchanged PMs on it for some time now. That's a pass. No way that's going to happen in Linux.
That is what I had assumed seeing as Microsoft is involved.

[Licaon]

dead ends:
Arcanum
Baldurs' Gate / Baldurs' Gate 2
Cronicles of Riddick
Fallout / Fallout 2
Gothic / Gothic 2 / Gothic 3 (?? JoWood has the rights, PiranaBytes did the coding??? )
Grim Fandango
Planescape Torment
System Shock 2
Temple of Elemental Evil
Thief / Thief 2 / Thief 3
Vampire: Bloodlines

live ends:
Assassins Creed
Bioshock
Cronicles of Riddick
Diablo / Diablo 2
Grand Theft Auto III / Vice City
Half-Life 2
Heroes V
KoTOR / KoTOR 2
Mafia
Mass Effect
Max Payne / Max Payne 2
Mount & Blade
Portal
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind
The Guild 2 / Pirates
The Witcher

[Aradreth]

live ends:
Assassins Creed
Bioshock
Grand Theft Auto III / Vice City
Half-Life 2
Mass Effect
Portal
The Witcher
These should be moved to dead ends really they are either extremely impractical or are managed by a company that does let people port easily... (Atari I'm looking at you)


ninja edit:
On some other titles, I wish (it's a wish list, right?) Jade Empire and Mass Effect get ported. That's so not going to happen though.
A "particle" wish list, so no GTA's and other multi-million dollar games. :p

[niniendowarrior]

I think JoWood had the publishing rights on Gothic 1 for Europe. So, I'm not too hopeful Gothic will ever see a Linux release.

[niniendowarrior]

ninja edit:

A "particle" wish list, so no GTA's and other multi-million dollar games. :p

Well, no sweat! We'll just make our FOSS versions. :D

[Aradreth]

Well, no sweat! We'll just make our FOSS versions. :D
For mindless violence we have better I mean we have Postal!

[niniendowarrior]

On that note, if someone made a GTA Quake 3 mod, that would easily solve our problems with GTA. :D Oh yes, Postal will do too. haha

[Svartalf]

On that note, if someone made a GTA Quake 3 mod, that would easily solve our problems with GTA. :D Oh yes, Postal will do too. haha

Why bother. Vince IS making a version of Postal 3 for us, just like he did for Postal and Postal 2... >:-D

[Svartalf]

Licaon, shouldn't we not make Svartalf's job a little easier? Why not repost it here? Anyway, who knows? You might update the list here. :)


This would be desirable. I've started this little thread with the intent on trying to change the rules a little bit.

You lot don't like DRM. Neither do I.
The big boys want it. You want AAA titles, you'll have to take it.

Or... Change the rules, like it's being done in the music industry.

This thread was started with the intent to get you to see the problems that a port developer faces (in detail...won't do any good if we don't run this as if we're "starting our own porting studio" with the intent on handing anything that's not liberated to be published by LGP or a similar publisher- WITHOUT the DRM if it's possible (It may not...)) as well as to get you all thinking about things differently and maybe help me and yourselves change the name of the game in a manner that doesn't need to bring "War" on them as redeemman put in another thread on the subject of NVidia. Yes, even you, redeemman should be pitching in here.

By gamers FOR gamers.


On my free time, I'll go hunt more source code released games. :D


That, and indie studios. Change the game if you don't like how it's being played. LGP kind of is stuck between a rock and a hard place. So are a lot of other players.

Bitching about the "quality" of the games doesn't help.
Bitching about DRM being there doesn't help.

Changing the rules so neither is a problem anymore is what you need to do.

[Svartalf]

I found this one (http://www.gamershell.com/news_28937.html) the looked down and saw Mircosoft share source... (if I remember correctly that's the look but don't touch license MS has)


Anything MS offers up as "FOSS" isn't and should NOT be considered as anything other than toxic waste unless it's under the GPL, LGPL, MIT/X11, or BSD. Seriously. It's as liable as not to be bait for a trap and a lawsuit. I'm not touching that with a 50' pole- you all shouldn't either. :D


Pretty much the only ones for that list can could be ported are KOTOR1+2, Gothic and morrowind I think as the rest are by developers now dead and BG has a FOSS engine that's close to completion.

KOTOR1 would be nice to play. I wish LucasArts would let Bioware allow the port. Not likely. KOTOR2 is a nasty, confusing half-done game that was rushed out the door because Obsidian was behind schedule and LucasArts shipped the abortion out anyway. Not a reflection on Obsidian, per se, but it's NOT really worth playing as much because the story gets very, very lost and confused about half the way through the game. I know, I was having to chase down bugs in the driver that I was supporting nearly two years ago that KOTOR and KOTOR2 brought to the fore.

Gothic's a nice choice- it's in the look into list. Keep in mind, that's liable to cost us money. ;)

Ditto Morrowind.

[Svartalf]

I think JoWood had the publishing rights on Gothic 1 for Europe. So, I'm not too hopeful Gothic will ever see a Linux release.

Is JoWood Linux hostile?

[niniendowarrior]

Is JoWood Linux hostile?

No. I reckon not. But they have an extremely limited say on Gothic as far as I'm concerned.

[Svartalf]

These should be moved to dead ends really they are either extremely impractical or are managed by a company that does let people port easily... (Atari I'm looking at you)


The Valve ones may be happening anyhow, so they shouldn't be on that list. If it's likely to be happening (even UT3 sort of fits on that list for now...)- it's not a candidate for this discussion.

Older titles that may have source.
Newer titles that are from publishers that're not openly hostile.
New titles under the same criteria as the previous.
New titles from an indie studio that's B, A, or AAA content.

This is what we're trying to line up. If it doesn't meet that criteria, from start to finish, all you're doing is making us ALL miserable... ;)

[niniendowarrior]

Was this ever ported to Linux?

http://www.idevgames.com/press-releases/waterrace-source-code-released-exclusively-to-idevgames

~o~
I know this is Vivendi... but I saw this article.

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200604/N06.0427.1421.39444.htm

Not sure what that's about... and not sure if there's anything about it.

~o~
Found another, but I doubt this includes assets.

http://www.gamershell.com/news_10221.html

[deanjo]

Well maybe since intel is "opensource friendly" someone should approach them about Project Offset.

[Dosfish]

One game that I think would be a winner, it's not completed yet, check it out at http://www.grotesque-game.com/

[Svartalf]

Well maybe since intel is "opensource friendly" someone should approach them about Project Offset.

Heh... That's TWO gems from you. I'd forgotten about them, mainly because they'd dropped partly out of sight and I've been a bit busy.

[Svartalf]

Was this ever ported to Linux?

http://www.idevgames.com/press-releases/waterrace-source-code-released-exclusively-to-idevgames


I'll have to look at the game, but I think this is going to be a usable title to move over to Linux.


I know this is Vivendi... but I saw this article.

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200604/N06.0427.1421.39444.htm

Not sure what that's about... and not sure if there's anything about it.


Game code, no engine- like the NOLF source release. Needs the latest Lithtech engine code to make it do anything useful. In and of itself, not likely, but if we can generate a bit of a stir, perhaps a commercial interest could be allowed, with a bit of cash changing hands, to make the Lithtech engine cleanly cross-platform in exchange for the rights to publish assets.



Found another, but I doubt this includes assets.

http://www.gamershell.com/news_10221.html

I'm not sure how one would combine this with the ioquake3 engine or if Ritual did enhancements or just added the game scripting and assets to the baseline Q3:A engine. I'll check into this. Assets would have to be bought separately by individuals buying the title for Windows (ugh...) or by a commercial entity willing to publish under the royalty deal VU handed them. It's a possible like EECH is. I'll have to refresh my memory as to how good the thing is or if there's enough of a standalone mod like there have been with ioquake engine titles in general to fire up the game.

[niniendowarrior]

I'll have to look at the game, but I think this is going to be a usable title to move over to Linux.

Sounds good.


Game code, no engine- like the NOLF source release. Needs the latest Lithtech engine code to make it do anything useful. In and of itself, not likely, but if we can generate a bit of a stir, perhaps a commercial interest could be allowed, with a bit of cash changing hands, to make the Lithtech engine cleanly cross-platform in exchange for the rights to publish assets.

I wondered how this didn't create a big stir and yeah, that would be a good reason why.


I'm not sure how one would combine this with the ioquake3 engine or if Ritual did enhancements or just added the game scripting and assets to the baseline Q3:A engine. I'll check into this. Assets would have to be bought separately by individuals buying the title for Windows (ugh...) or by a commercial entity willing to publish under the royalty deal VU handed them. It's a possible like EECH is. I'll have to refresh my memory as to how good the thing is or if there's enough of a standalone mod like there have been with ioquake engine titles in general to fire up the game.

That is certainly an interesting thought. I do think that the game developers did modify the Quake 3 code for their own purposes, so perhaps, it's not going to be as direct as using ioquake. However, I think with a significant amount of code rework, I think it might work.

[Aradreth]

The Valve ones may be happening anyhow, so they shouldn't be on that list.
That's why I said they should be under the dead list.


Anyway Audiosurf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiosurf) is an indie title on steam which is probably a very good candidate as the guy behind it has shown a interest up to the point of included fixes so that it works better under wine.

http://www.audio-surf.com/forum/index.php/topic,40.0.html

[Svartalf]

Anyway Audiosurf (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audiosurf) is an indie title on steam which is probably a very good candidate as the guy behind it has shown a interest up to the point of included fixes so that it works better under wine.

Interesting title. Published through Steam. Perhaps we should remember this one and see if Valve does, in fact, get Steam available. If so, the publisher could much more easily be convinced to allow someone to come in and help him make a Linux version of the title and have him publish the same way.

[Svartalf]

One game that I think would be a winner, it's not completed yet, check it out at http://www.grotesque-game.com/

Yeah. I'm thinking someone ought to talk with them. On the list of to-dos for certain.

[Svartalf]

Well, no sweat! We'll just make our FOSS versions. :D

You are joking, I know... While I'd be half-joking when I said that myself, I do hope you realize that Beyond the Red Line, World of Padman, and others show that it CAN be done that way, if needs be. It is just...difficult...to accomplish that level of production values without the skillset in place in the first place, plus dedication to making it happen. Oh, and you need to get paid with the efforts or in other ways so it doesn't matter.

In my case, I've not seen a dime yet from the work I've done for LGP (though that may change with some of the other projects I've got that're not directly related with them that're in progress...)- insufficient sales to cover anything but costs to produce Ballistics from what I understand right at the moment. I get paid royalties for the work done as I'm a consultant under contract- and I do believe that what I just said is what's happening here. You see, while I don't wholly agree with the DRM decision Michael Simms made recently, I can't completely disagree with it either. I can't tell people WHAT to do here.

It's part of why I've had a bit of trouble trying to make the time to finish off the last bit of shader related problems in Bandits and put it through it's last few beta runs to make it go gold.

It's also part of why I've started this thread and started the process of trying to scrape up porting projects separate from LGP without trying to compete with them. More titles means more exposure to the players in the space and the likelihood of me getting in Ryan's or Timothee's position is MUCH better and there might end up being something that makes a little cash for me afterall.

[niniendowarrior]

Yeah. It's certainly a way of doing things. ;) I've wanted to step into the porting circle for some time now, but it's difficult to find a good chunk of time to work on it.

By the way, I thought I'd just toss rFactor into this. I think it's one of the finest racing simulators ever. http://www.rfactor.net/

[Svartalf]

By the way, I thought I'd just toss rFactor into this. I think it's one of the finest racing simulators ever. http://www.rfactor.net/

Interesting product. They're the same basic bunch that produced some of EA's top racing sims... Don't know what their direct relationship is.

[Aradreth]

You are joking, I know... While I'd be half-joking when I said that myself, I do hope you realize that Beyond the Red Line, World of Padman, and others show that it CAN be done that way, if needs be. It is just...difficult...to accomplish that level of production values without the skillset in place in the first place, plus dedication to making it happen.
There are a lot of talented FOSS programmers who happily spend time working on a game just there is a distinct lack of talented modellers and Artists that would have the same dedication which is why FOSS games are often technically good but don't look all that nice.


Yeah. It's certainly a way of doing things. I've wanted to step into the porting circle for some time now, but it's difficult to find a good chunk of time to work on it.

By the way, I thought I'd just toss rFactor into this. I think it's one of the finest racing simulators ever. http://www.rfactor.net/
Looks nice although I'd prefer it if Track Mania got ported. :P

[Svartalf]

That is certainly an interesting thought. I do think that the game developers did modify the Quake 3 code for their own purposes, so perhaps, it's not going to be as direct as using ioquake. However, I think with a significant amount of code rework, I think it might work.

It'll depend on what all they did. Ritual did something semi-custom with SiN from what I understand and they typically started with Q3:A baseline and went from there with other titles. Could be minimally altered, could be radically. I'll just have to see what the code looks like that I just downloaded this morning. :D

[Svartalf]

There are a lot of talented FOSS programmers who happily spend time working on a game just there is a distinct lack of talented modellers and Artists that would have the same dedication which is why FOSS games are often technically good but don't look all that nice.


Heh... It's part of the reason we've not got as good a bargaining chip with the DRM story right at the moment.

If FOSS posed a "credible" threat to their bottom line with DRM being the chip that decided that they made money or not, being that DRM was in they got nothing, then this would be a differing story. It's why I state flatly we've got two fights here and fighting both of them simultaneously or fighting the wrong one first means things go longer or we flat-out lose the whole thing.

Looks nice although I'd prefer it if Track Mania got ported. :P

Heh... Can't see past their initial website page. If Wikipedia's stuff is accurate, I can see why you'd want it- and there'd be no reason to not check into both given a bit of time.

Right now, I'm digging further into the good prospects we've come up with- so there may be delays in things regarding further suggestions. However, do NOT let that statement stop you on making MORE of them.

Serious. I'm a bit more surprised at what's coming of this so far than I'd initially thought would happen as a result.

[niniendowarrior]

Trackmania on Linux would be swell. However, I'd rather have a serious racing sim.

I like Trackmania too, don't get me wrong. I just find the editor to be less powerful than the first ones.

[Svartalf]

Okay...in the other thread, it's been suggested that we look into:

Lemmings
Raptor: Call of the shadows
Stargunner
Syndicate (1,2)
Dark Corners of the Earth
Earth 2150
Redneck Rampage
The Tom Clancy series
Grand Prix Legends

I'm copying over my response to the first three here:


I don't know whether Lemmings is a prospect or not- but there's this interesing DS port of that game that apparently faitfully does all the original levels.

Raptor's a good prospect- I'll be checking into it for my own inscrutable reasons and talking with Mountain King Studios here shortly...

Stargunner's a bit harder prospect. I don't know if anyone at 3D Realms is going to be willing to sign off on that sort of thing- or if they even HAVE the source lying around any more.


Now, with regards to the rest...

Syndicate 1 & 2: Owned by EA. Old. Bullfrog may/may not have source.

Dark Corners of the Earth: More appropriately, "Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth". Whoo... Headfirst imploded in 2006 because of MAKING this title. Ubisoft/Bethesda owns the rights to the PC version. With the bankruptcy, etc., who has a clue who's got clear title to everything- or if there's complete source. Sorry guys, not touching that one with a 50' pole right at the moment.

Earth 2150: Hmm... Topware's the publisher, ZUXXEZ is the studio. Might be something there and might be something with the sequel. I'll have to dig further in a couple of days for more info. For right now, on the list. This one is very likely to be a cash prospect at the least- just so you all know.

Redneck Rampage: Interplay published, Xatrix produced. Not gonna happen because there's no good way unless someone steps up and hands out the engine mods and assets for use. No good way to FIND someone to claim ownership. Sorry. (Really, I am. I liked that stupid game...)

Tom Clancey Series: Heh... You've got to be kidding me. While there IS an LGP relationship with the studio that is making the current PC port of the latest title and there might be a prospect with the publisher of them, Ballistics isn't doing so hot right now for them and I'm still fighting with cleanup efforts on Bandits, both from Grin, that specific studio. I'm not going to say "not going to happen" here- but the odds ARE stacked against us in many ways (See what I meant by buying things if you like 'em instead of copying them or not buying because they're "old" or "too expensive"- you CAN close off doors doing that crap...)- and the rest are out of reach for the large part for us.

Grand Prix Legends: Papyrus Design Group is the studio, Sierra was the publisher. VU holds rights now. Not going to say it's out of the question, but the other sims are much, much more likely because of VU's attitudes of late towards Linux.

[Redeeman]

svartalf, one game i PARTICULARLY would like to see, is a game released for amiga and pc(win95 probably?)

its a pinball game called slamtilt, its the best pinball game _EVER_ made, and i'd certainly pay good money for a port to linux.

[miles]

For right now, on the list.

If you can find the time, could you regroup the games you think are feasible on your first post?

That would give us a better idea (sometime I can't decide if you're saying a port is feasible or downright impossible :)

I'd also like to add that the best prospects would be the ones with planned sequels (like LGP is doing with X2 and X3), because instead of just one game the port would open the door to all the following games.

Also, it would be really nice if we could have other games than FPS/RPG, which there are already a lot ;)

For old games, I think you're in a better position to evaluate the pros of having an easy time porting them, and the cons of having to make money with a not-so-appealing title (unless they can be redone with gorgeous graphics, but I doubt there'll be enough artists interested to help at first).

[niniendowarrior]

As far as I know, anything Interplay is now under Atari/Infogrames, so you guys might as well scratch off any of the Interplay games.

By the way, Trackmania fans... check this out:
http://maniadrive.raydium.org/

[deanjo]

Any news on the Dragon Age front? Do they have a publisher already?

[niniendowarrior]

Ah... Dragon Age. That game in Bioware Limbo. I highly doubt there's been any official developments on that. If you believe Stanley Woo and the gang, a Linux port is always possible depending on the publisher.

And if you take a look at the trend, I don't think that's really going to happen.

EDIT:
Hey Svartalf, why don't you pitch to Michael to publish Dragon Age exclusively? :D

[Vadi]

I support the call for Civ 4.

I really, really want it.

[Kano]

Maybe some cool strip poker games ;)

[Aradreth]

Any news on the Dragon Age front? Do they have a publisher already?
Of course they do BioWare is owned by EA now. Take a guess at who the publisher is going to be.

Maybe some cool strip poker games
It's only fun in real life when playing purely with the opposite sex. Anyway I prefer strip chess. :D

[Svartalf]

Hey Svartalf, why don't you pitch to Michael to publish Dragon Age exclusively? :D

Heh... I don't think that he'd have that kind of money in hand. Publishing AAA titles for general availability for all platforms would set you back easily over a million if you wanted to do it "right".

If I'd won the Lotto or PowerBall lotteries in recent times, I might wave some money under Bioware's nose because I'd at least break even on the deal and get a good game out the door for everyone- but, alas, I don't seem to have won and while I keep buying tickets, they keep reading out the wrong numbers, dagnabit...

[Svartalf]

Of course they do BioWare is owned by EA now. Take a guess at who the publisher is going to be.

Ugh... I'd forgotten that little detail. Given this as being the case, it won't be something that would be undertaken by EA- and they'll want silly amounts to be paid to them to do it.

Let's table that one for now. Even if we DID convince them- they'll want DRM and a bunch of other things out of whomever does it.

[niniendowarrior]

True enough. Yeah, I also forgot about the EA deal.

Well, troops, keep searching. :D

[Svartalf]

It's only fun in real life when playing purely with the opposite sex. Anyway I prefer strip chess. :D

Why bother with any of that when you can get your GF to strip tease? :rolleyes: :D

[deanjo]

Why bother with any of that when you can get your GF to strip tease? :rolleyes: :D


Come on Svartalf, linux user..... girlfriend......that's just crazy talk. The drafts of GPL 4 stipulate that you are not allowed a plastic plant let alone a girlfriend.

[RobbieAB]

Ok, I've read through the thread, and I haven't seen anyone mention any Paradox Interactive games.

They are certainly open to an approach to port their old game engine which drives several of their titles, including the current versions of Hearts of Iron. I suspect they wouldn't demand upfront payment for access to the code, as they made it available under NDA for free to their community.

I don't know how much work would be involved, but more details are available from http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352059

I contacted them about the possibility of Linux porting a while back, and have a copy of the NDA, but never followed up.

[anyone]

Does anybody know whether SEGA is hostile towards linux? Some Total War -title (of course preferably the newest, Medieval 2: Total war) on linux would be brilliant.

Crysis also has it's source code downloadable along with the mod sdk, but the actual engine code isn't there, I think, so it's useless.

[Max Spain]

Crysis = EA again :(

How is THQ as an option (STALKER)? GSC is developing Clear Sky now and this would be an ideal time to start a port.

Call of Duty 4 uses the ID engine for its game, so I would think that porting it would be as straightforward as these things get.

[Aradreth]

Why bother with any of that when you can get your GF to strip tease? :rolleyes: :D
That's what a normal person would do, I'm a linux user and I do things differently! ;D

[Aradreth]

Ok, I've read through the thread, and I haven't seen anyone mention any Paradox Interactive games.

They are certainly open to an approach to port their old game engine which drives several of their titles, including the current versions of Hearts of Iron. I suspect they wouldn't demand upfront payment for access to the code, as they made it available under NDA for free to their community.

I don't know how much work would be involved, but more details are available from http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=352059

I contacted them about the possibility of Linux porting a while back, and have a copy of the NDA, but never followed up.
Oh very nice find there defiantly one to look into.

[RobbieAB]

Oh very nice find there defiantly one to look into.

I love Hearts of Iron II, and my first thought when they proposed the idea in January was "Linux port", especially as the most recent expansion is included in the program. Basically, it looks like they are trying to eke a bit more money out of an old game engine at minimal cost (and risk) to themselves, and off load maintenance for their old titles to their modding community which has been asking for access to the code for a while now so they can fix some of the engine bugs.

[Max Spain]

Now, I would be the first to agree that EA wouldn't be interested in porting Crysis, but apparently Crytek isn't too pleased with the way things went with Crysis and is switching things up for the next chapter, Crysis Warhead.

http://games.tiscali.cz/news/news.asp?id=28147

Maybe someone could convince Crytek that a Linux port would be another change worth making.

[Vadi]

Looks like this is ripe for porting:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=252386

[Svartalf]

Now, I would be the first to agree that EA wouldn't be interested in porting Crysis, but apparently Crytek isn't too pleased with the way things went with Crysis and is switching things up for the next chapter, Crysis Warhead.


Any links indicating some proof of that displeasure?

[Svartalf]

I contacted them about the possibility of Linux porting a while back, and have a copy of the NDA, but never followed up.

I will. The same basic engine for all of them. Intriguing.

[RobbieAB]

I will. The same basic engine for all of them. Intriguing.

Exactly, and coupled with a rights holder who is only looking to squeeze a few more pennies from old code...

That said, I think it is DirectX based, so it may be a massive job.

[Svartalf]

Exactly, and coupled with a rights holder who is only looking to squeeze a few more pennies from old code...


I'm intrigued enough to start the process sometime this weekend- could be a foot in the door for EU3. :D

[quote]
That said, I think it is DirectX based, so it may be a massive job.[/QUOTE〕

Ｉｔ　ｍｉｇｈｔ　ｂｅ，　ｍｉｇｈｔ　ｎｏｔ．　　Ｗｏｎ’ｔ　ｋｎｏｗ　ｕｎｔｉｌ　Ｉ　ｄｉｇ　ｉｎ ｔｏ　ｉｔ－　ｉｔ’ｓ　ｎｏｔ　ｌｉｋｅ　Ｉ’ｍ　ｎｏｔ　ｅｘｐｅｒｉｅｎｃｅｄ　ｉｎ　ｃｌｅａｎｉ ｎｇ　ｕｐ　ＤｉｒｅｃｔＸ　ｃｏｄｅ　ｆｏｒ　Ｌｉｎｕｘ　ｕｓｅ．．．　；）

〔Ｅｄｉｔ：　Ｅｘｃｕｓｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｇｏｏｆｙ　ｆｏｎｔｓ，　ｅｔｃ．．．　　Ｉｔ　ｓｅｅｍｓ　ｍｙ 　ｆａｔ　ｆｉｎｇｅｒｓ　ｏｎ　ｍｙ　ｅｅｅＰＣ　ｓｃｒｅｗｅｄ　ｕｐ　ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ　ａｎｄ　 Ｉ’ｍ　ｊｕｓｔ　ｔｏｏ　ｂｕｓｙ　ｒｉｇｈｔ　ａｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｍｏｍｅｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｓｔｒａｉｇｈｅｎ 　ｉｔ　ｏｕｔ．．．　　＞：－）　〕

[Licaon]

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/faq/

Windows and Mac, you know what this means

guys/gals if you have a battle.net account please start the "Diablo 3 on Linux" thread here: http://www.battle.net/forums/board.aspx?ForumName=d3-general

10q

[rettichschnidi]

Aquaria:

http://www.bit-blot.com/aquaria/

Linuxport seems to be already done, but they don't sell it. Too bad. I tried the demo through wine and I would buy it for sure, IF there is a native Linux version.

[Aradreth]

http://www.blizzard.com/diablo3/faq/

Windows and Mac, you know what this means

guys/gals if you have a battle.net account please start the "Diablo 3 on Linux" thread here: http://www.battle.net/forums/board.aspx?ForumName=d3-general

10q
I was going to say something very similar. :D

[Licaon]

I was going to say something very similar. :Dhttp://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=d3-general&t=299&p=1&#post299

more posts needed, k10xby :D

[Aradreth]

http://www.battle.net/forums/thread.aspx?fn=d3-general&t=299&p=1&#post299

more posts needed, k10xby :D
I'm trying to find my damn D2 cds then I need to remake an account as lord knows I've forgot my old one. :p

[Vadi]

Don't have a CD, can't help. Sorry :(

[Licaon]

i'm copying the files now ...BTW they put up a 1.12a patch last week that removes the CD check...nice

+1 post from me there :D

[Max Spain]

I tried to post using FF3 and Ubuntu, but their forum is the worst pos ever. When I try to post, it gives me in red "Already Posted" but I cannot see my post :confused: Anybody know how to get around this??

NVM, got it working. Turns out that even though I allowed all of the scripts with no script, it still didn't want to work. I just allowed all scripts and it worked.

[Max Spain]

You can also write to Blizzard here (http://us.blizzard.com/support/webform-us.xml) to ask for a Linux version. No CD-key required :)

[Licaon]

You can also write to Blizzard here (http://us.blizzard.com/support/webform-us.xml) to ask for a Linux version. No CD-key required :)

nice find :)
I've used that form i got the standard automated answer so far, it says that I'll get a human answer in about 3 days.

guys/gals use that form, let Blizzard see that a Linux version is requested!!

anyway, we need some help back there, the trolls have landed :(

[xav1r]

This is a great thread! Interesting suggestions. Svartalf, are older games, like from the quake/build era allowed? I love a few of those classic titles. About Redneck Rampage, for example, yea, interplay doesnt own the rights to it, it was bought by Vivendi a few years after Interplay went bankrupt. So it might be a little difficult to get that source code. However, they arent doing anything with redneck rampage, and might be interested in a linux port of that game, since it might make them sales. A similar bunch on games out there, which i like a lot, are of course Witchaven and Witchaven II. Similar because they used the build engine as well. The source code of those games is freely available. Les Bird, one of the programmers that worked on it found the source code of the games and put it up for anyone to use. Theyre at his website www.lesbird.com . Another older game I'd like to see ported is maybe systemshock1. I read somewhere, that the reason why EA doesnt make SS3 is not because they dont see any value on it, but because they dont own the complete rights to the system shock games. Its something like they own system shock 2, but they dont own system shock 1, something like that.

As for newer titles, Sins of a Solar empire would be the most interesting one, since its company, stardock, doesnt treat their customers like thieves with DRM infested games. stalker would be cool too, hmmm, ill try to come up with more a little later. :):)

[Max Spain]

Hehe, you should've seen it last night. Someone with the name "forum_terrorist" was spamming threads titled "KABOOOOOOMMMM" for pages upon pages. They had to shut down the forums. It seems that the D3 forums are spending most of their time down rather than up :D

[xav1r]

Hehehe, really? Damn, that forum_terrorist probably works for EA or for MS game studios. :D:D:D

whats D3? :D

[sundown]

whats D3? :D

Like in Diablo 3 www.diablo3.com

[krzta]

I support the call for Civ 4.

I really, really want it.

Ok, so what was the reason this one is not a chance? Either I missed it or it was not being said.

[Thetargos]

Wow, very interesting thread, indeed. Very much appreciated, Svartalf!

So far the list of games is coming up nice. I have a few favorites myself, but from what I have seen from others, there's plenty on the table to choose from already! Nice!

It would be nice if later on a list of those games that could be actually eligible might be formed so that to know what might be expected. I know the purpose of this effort of yours is to get ideas for games to be ported over, kind of in parallel to your work for LGP (like the old saying goes, the more, the merrier!)

Of those that have not been mentioned yet, I have a few. Sadly the site of these games (both from the same developer/publisher) works only right with the Windows (and Mac?) version of Flash Player... www.sherlockholmes-thegame.com Of the games available, I have already played The Awakened, which I found to be an excellent title, and have recently bought the Arsene Lupin one. The game runs reasonably fine in Wine (http://appdb.winehq.org/appimage.php?iId=16395) (I happen to have posted the screenshot, but since I'm not at my main rig, I can only link to the AppDB one), with shader effects and all, graphics settings toped. As far as I can tell, the games have been developed by Frogwares (www.frogwares.com) studio and are published by french publisher Focus Home Entertainment (www.focus-home.com). Even though I bought the games I own in CD media (localized in Spanish), I also bought them on-line (for the English voice-acting, which is MUCH better). I don't know how receptive these two companies would be for Linux games, but being based both (AFAIK) in Europe, they tend to be a bit more open towards Linux.

I'm a fan of old-school adventure games, and these titles from Frogwares are amazingly well done, though Windows-centric.

Other than these two, I pretty much agree with many of the suggestions already made... I only wish that some companies, like Vivendi-Universal were a bit less against Linux and actually allowed ports for older titles such as Warcraft II & III, Starcraft and Diablo (2) [LOD], but we're talking about Blizzard here, a company which internally uses Linux extensively, and yet doesn't support it, a company who employs as Lead Software Engineer none other than Sam Lantinga, founder and one of the main contributors to SDL, a company that at one point even actually had a working Linux client for one of the most successful games of all times (in every respect), World of Warcraft™, and one which is extensively played on Linux, and yet no support... Blizzard seems to be held hostage.

At any rate, of the other games that might be interesting to port or revamp, some one (sorry for not remembering exactly who) said to use the ioquake3 engine to revamp an older game (I believe it was of the Elite series), and as Aradreth pointed out, the main problem is not about technical skills, but rather artistic skills. Modelers, painters, texture artist, etc, seem to not be all that common in the Linux scene... Plus there seems to be one issue, particularly about the type of models the Quake 3 engine uses (MD3), there is no easy way to export to them in Linux from the main 3D modeling tools available (Blender, Wings3D). Blender used to have an exporter which doesn't seem to work anymore. At any rate that could be solved, but the issue about the lack of artistic talent (or willingness) from Linux game enthusiasts (because there are a bunch of Linux artists out there! Just not necessarily game enthusiasts) is what seems to be lacking. We have the tools, we just don't seem to have enough people with the required skills (time and probably, will) to take these endeavors entirely in the hands of the FOSS community.

At any rate, I do believe that this is an incredible thread and right on spot, as if not directly independently from LGP, this could spark interest on many other games from LGP and other companies, as well as help populate Linux with more games.

[miles]

At any rate, of the other games that might be interesting to port or revamp, some one (sorry for not remembering exactly who) said to use the ioquake3 engine to revamp an older game (I believe it was of the Elite series), and as Aradreth pointed out, the main problem is not about technical skills, but rather artistic skills. Modelers, painters, texture artist, etc, seem to not be all that common in the Linux scene... Plus there seems to be one issue, particularly about the type of models the Quake 3 engine uses (MD3), there is no easy way to export to them in Linux from the main 3D modeling tools available (Blender, Wings3D). Blender used to have an exporter which doesn't seem to work anymore. At any rate that could be solved, but the issue about the lack of artistic talent (or willingness) from Linux game enthusiasts (because there are a bunch of Linux artists out there! Just not necessarily game enthusiasts) is what seems to be lacking. We have the tools, we just don't seem to have enough people with the required skills (time and probably, will) to take these endeavors entirely in the hands of the FOSS community.

What would prevent the use of an open source engine like OGRE, who as an easy model to export to, and who is also still actively developed?

As for the artistic need, Vegastrike (http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/) proves that's it's a long-time prejudice, but wrong nonetheless. Building spaceships models is really easy (nothing compared to building/animating characters), same for buildings models (for the few cities in FFE). You can also reuse the open source ones, but as I say building new models for the few ships in FFE (there's actually not many different ships in this game) isn't any long undertaking. People have been building Elite/FFE detailed models (for CG) for ages, and the hw is such that you could even just reuse them in a real-time 3D engine.