Xoreos Game Engine Does Its First Release

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Xoreos Game Engine Does Its First Release

The Xoreos project did their first release of this open-source game engine seeking to re-implement BioWare's Aurora Engine...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Xoreos-Game-Engine-BioWare

[schmidtbag]

Not that there's anything wrong with this, but why are they doing it? Neverwinter Nights is already available for linux (albeit, finding the binaries was a challenge).

[damvcoool]

I don't think it was just for NWN, i think this was more or less for the other games that also based on the same technology. hopefully they can go far enough to be able to play Witcher 1 natively on Linux (Could Project Red Help them?)

[DrMcCoy]

Not that there's anything wrong with this, but why are they doing it

Because we can. Because it's fun and interesting.

Neverwinter Nights is already available for linux

While I personally have no problems setting up NWN for GNU/Linux, it is quite fiddly. Especially if you use the original CDs, and have to manually apply the patches and all that jazz. But even the patched Diamond Edition GOG sells is not distributed for Linux.

You still have mess with it:
- run the installer in wine or manually extract the installer files
- get the binaries
- move things around
- Replace the old SDL library with your distribution's
- set up nwmovies, if you want Bink movies ingame
- make sure the texturepacks/ have the correct capitalization (e.g. "Textures_Tpa.erf"), otherwise the original binary will only load the low-res fallback textures
- ...

I.e. basically do what this Arch PKGBUILD does: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/nw/nwn-gog/PKGBUILD

Granted, xoreos doesn't really solve all of that yet. :P

Being the first in the line, and the game I personally know most about, NWN is also a stepping stone for the other games. As suprising as the new KotOR2 port was, I'm not sure the other games (apart from KotOR) still missing a Linux port are that likely to appear any day soon. But even if, that doesn't change anything about xoreos' mission.

And, of course, for me, part of this all thing is also a general software freedom ideology: I don't only want those games working on GNU/Linux, but I want the code to be FLOSS. I'd be even happier about the game data being more permissive licensed, but there's nothing at all I can do about that.

Another thing: portability. While NWN does still work on GNU/Linux, it doesn't for, say, Mac OS X. Not since 10.7 removed Rosetta, and with it the possibility of running PowerPC binaries. There never was an Intel Mac binary of Neverwinter Nights (I *think* there might have been for the dmserver only, but certainly not for the client). And potentially other platforms: mobile devices is something vaguely on the "very nice to have" list (but maybe difficult, because of OpenGL ES). As would be xoreos running on the BSDs.

So yeah, there's a host of reasons for doing this.

[DrMcCoy]

Could Project Red Help them?

Since they licensed Aurora from BioWare, they're probably under NDA and can't help, even if they wanted to. This being a FLOSS project, for them to step up an officially help might be difficult, legally. And things being done underhandedly...I personally am not too comfortable with that, honestly. In either case, I'm relatively sure they're vaguely aware of xoreos. And so far they haven't contacted either the xoreos mailing list, nor me personally. I'm not sure actively pursuing them is that fruitful.

[stiiixy]

Not that there's anything wrong with this, but why are they doing it? Neverwinter Nights is already available for linux (albeit, finding the binaries was a challenge).

If you have to ask, you're doing it all wrong!

These people learn first-hand experience in a wide array of application development. Coding in various area's is obviously is one aspect, but managing people is even more difficult. Machines have an input-output event-driven methodology. Humans can be cunts.

Try manage that!

The OSS movement, much like the real world, is full of everything from happy-helper's to selfish sociopaths. These guys are trying to rebuild something they very likely actually enjoyed in their younger days, and want to share that experience with others AND learn something in the process. OSS-Gods know I do that all the time (not everything has a price; some things just have to be shared)

[schmidtbag]

The OSS movement, much like the real world, is full of everything from happy-helper's to selfish sociopaths. These guys are trying to rebuild something they very likely actually enjoyed in their younger days, and want to share that experience with others AND learn something in the process. OSS-Gods know I do that all the time (not everything has a price; some things just have to be shared)

I understand that. I don't disagree. I welcome any open source project that hasn't been done before. I'm not upset or complaining that an open source version of this engine is being made. I just think that, since there's already linux compatibility (for NWN), I would much rather see the talent go toward another game engine that hasn't been ported and never will be. DrMcCoy raises some interesting points and I'm not going to discourage him from continuing his work.