Linux?

[bazik_ 0]

Just one question about OFP2:

Will there be a native Linux Version of the Game or is a port planned?

[_sonic 0]

This is one thing that I think would be really excellent.

I can name so many OFP players that are die-hard fans and WILL be getting the second game and only keep a windows partition just for it. Off the top of my head I could name more than a few. I'm one of them ;)

Recently more and more games have been ported to linux - UT2003, Quake, WolfET... etc

Companies like transgamers and wine are always looking for more games in linux, and they have a lot of experience with porting.

I would be happy to pay a lot of money for OFP2 on Linux - about $20 more than a windows version. The way I see it - $60 to get rid of my windows partition for good and i get OFP2 in the process. That's a good deal

Also, I think that once games are ported to linux, all of a sudden they tend to get a lot of third party tools and expansions added to them. As we all know, this is one of the things that kept OFP1 alive for so long, so seeing something similar, but larger, happen with OFP2 is a great thing.

By porting OFP2 to linux you would make A LOT OF friends in the linux community. ATM there are no real games that come close to OFP on linux, it's all FPS shoot 'em up style stuff. It would really mean a lot to me, and many many others.

Thanks

[bazik_ 0]

Sonic,

I fully agree with your posting.

Its the same for me... I just keep a Windows partition for playing Flashpoint and I'd also pay a higher price for a Linux version.

[der bastler 0]

I asked that question, too.

http://www.flashpoint1985.com/cgi-bin....t=29706

All we can do is to hope...

[_sonic 0]

Well, BIS have answered neither thread so i guess we can only speculate... but i think that means they're geniunely undecided so far.

Releasing source code as mentioned in the other thread by der bastler could cause a lot of problems... even if it results in a third party port to Linux.

Most OFP Linux users would pay about $60-75 i think. It takes someone who has the OS to know how much we want this

Hmmm... economics.. .very roughly.

lets say 10,000 copies of OFP2 Linux are sold for $60. That's $600,000, take away tax + expenses.

Valuable and loyal community, that would easily surpass original OFP's, would attract many more players from both OSes and make OFP2 all the more popular. Benefits could be huge.

Just look at games that port to linux.... they get a huge, skilled, and very loyal fanbase. That has to be good

If OFP2 is going to depend on directx, then yes, it would be a lot of work, but if not, I don't think it would be too much trouble for BIS.. and worth it.

[dusand 0]

I use Linux just for a short time but it would be really good if I could play OFP2 in this system. When I write some news to the site and I have to start OFP and take some screenshots, I have to restart and go to the windows. Linux version would be appreciated. But I think it has not very good chance.

[benu 1]

_sonic: what has WINE got to do with porting ofp2 to linux? Transgamers/wine do NOT port and have not ported anything. Wine is a compatibility layer for running windows programs with linux and just the reason against porting anything... all the games you mentioned are NATIVE linux ports which run WITHOUT wine, as ports should do in the first place, and were ported by the developing themselves afaik (or lokigames). You need wine only for WINDOWS programs.

I really like linux and ofp is one of the reasons i keep windows around on my box. But i don't think there will be a linux version of ofp2 for two reasons:

1) linux versions of games are prestige objects only, i don't think you get much money from that market share [1]. This is not so important if the cost of porting is not too high [2], but (this is second point):

2) you can't really port directx/direct3d to linux well, as you can opengl (which is available for linux too, and for other unix, apple, etc). And as ofp2 is supposed to have an extension of the original engine i don't think this will be coded for gl instead of d3d. But i could be wrong in this point ;)

[1] Remember Lokigames? If you don't: that was a company that ported win games to linux and died. The problems are these: if you port existing games the linux port will be old news when it is finished porting, but still cost as much as the new win version did month ago. And most GAMERS have a dualboot anyway and already have the win version anyway. And if you only use linux and are only an occasional gamer chances are high that games won't work on your box anyway because of lacking 3d support or something (ok, this point has gotten better in the last 2 years).

[2] If you have enough coders that are familiar with linux and the project is created from the beginning with portability in mind, i.e. does NOT use directx.

Having said that, i would be happy to be proven wrong by BIS. They did the linux server and there might be a chance for a linux client for ofp2

[kegetys 2]

2) you can't really port directx/direct3d to linux well, as you can opengl.

Porting the existing glide code to opengl should be very simple, and, as OFP already has support for multiple renderers (you can select D3D or Glide from the preferences) it should not be that hard to add support for one more external rendered. It also seems that all the renderer code is outside the main executable (in dll files) so that should make it even easier to port. Sound code is a bit different though...

[_sonic 0]

_sonic: what has WINE got to do with porting ofp2 to linux? Transgamers/wine do NOT port and have not ported anything. Wine is a compatibility layer for running windows programs with linux and just the reason against porting anything... all the games you mentioned are NATIVE linux ports which run WITHOUT wine, as ports should do in the first place, and were ported by the developing themselves afaik (or lokigames). You need wine only for WINDOWS programs.

What i meant by that was they have alot of experience creating directx layers in linux, which could be relevant to OFP2 .... just kind of came out wrong

I use wine for lots of things benu, no need to tell me Trillian, MS Office etc.

The thing with lokigames is that their ports didn't come out near or at the same time as the main windows game, which caused a lot of people to turn it down in favour of a windows version, as you said. If a Linux OFP2 client came out at the same time as the windows client, and was publicised enough to stop Linux users from buying the windows version, the story would be different. That's not to say it wouldn't have to be BIS doing the port.. could be some clever people out of BIS with some experience in these things.

[bazik_ 0]

BIStudios could work together with Transgaming to make OFP1/2 run perfectly via WineX.

Or they could work together with icculus.org as those guys are specialists when it comes to game porting. They ported over DukeNukem3D in 5 days IIRC and also made a port of Americas Army. Not to mention the Hexen and Wolfenstein ports they made

You see, there is a way to make OFP2 running on Linux, just only if BIStudios are gonna put some work into it... but if they do, they will be honored for it for sure by the community!

[vektorboson 8]

2) you can't really port directx/direct3d to linux well, as you can opengl.

Porting the existing glide code to opengl should be very simple, and, as OFP already has support for multiple renderers (you can select D3D or Glide from the preferences) it should not be that hard to add support for one more external rendered. It also seems that all the renderer code is outside the main executable (in dll files) so that should make it even easier to port. Sound code is a bit different though...

I think that sound shouldn't be really a problem since there is OpenAL; they could also use FMOD or some other library. As far as I see, all they need is Pitching, Doppler-effect and 3D-sound. OpenAL can handle this...

[baff 0]

linus server software will GREATLY reduce the cost of hiring a beastial clan server

[joltan 0]

linus server software will GREATLY reduce the cost of hiring a beastial clan server

Not really: if you want a great machine with enough bandwidth to support a full server round the clock then the difference between a Linux or Win32 machine is marginal if not non-existant. The bandwidth being the main cost factor there, especially if you want good pings (i.e. direct connection to the backbone).

[Hellek 0]

I think a linux server is a must. The game itself ported to linux would be nice and cool but is not as important as a linux server.

PS: If there will be a Linux Server for OFP2, it would be nice if you could compile it for Alpha CPUs. I know that it won't be worth the effort if I am the only one who needs this so please anybody who is planning to run a dedicated server on an Alpha post that here.

[HellToupee 0]

i reckon they should add open gl support to ofp2, i hate direct X it jus dosnt work as great as my open gl games. If it supports open gl then they can let a group like iccus port it for them, they dont charge you, it probly wont bring huge profits but chances are all games using linux will get it, and any window ofp fans might make the switch to get the performance increase, this sorta thing makes linux users love u can support u, if linux is to continue to gain market share cant be a bad move.

Need sum open gl support.

[_sonic 0]

Icculus could do probably make a port without too much trouble. I guess it's them that we should be putting pressure on - and i suppose a bit of a nudge from BIS would convince them ;)

It would probably happen that you buy the windows CD, download the files from icculus needed for the port, and RTFM to the word

A native version would be nicer of course...

[benu 1]

A native version would be nicer of course...

?!?

A port IS a native version. Or did you mean that it would be nicer if BIS made it themselves?

[_sonic 0]

BIS made it themselves. Even if icculus did the work at least there would be the chance of a nice installer on the CD for noobs (such as myself). I suppose i meant official port/native version whatever.

[Ranger Giando 0]

I just WANT OFP for linux, even for multiplayer only (I would still play sp missions by starting a local dedicated server )

The road to porting is not long or difficult, it just needs good planning. If you think at the fact that:

1) Glide and then OpenGL is supported in OFP1.

2) The core of the game engine, plus AI, plus netcode have to be implemented under Linux anyways, since netgaming market NEEDS a rock-solid, efficient & net-centric OS to put dedicated servers on it.

3) Linux's recent clustering technologies could in the future simplify most of the boring parts of a gaming provider's job while enforcing reliability ... and maybe they could give OFP2 the computing power it deserves

4) A Unix port, using SDL for graphics and standard library functions (trying to avoid glibc issues!), would make the game & dedicated server on many unix-like OSes, including Mac OS X, that has it's own share in gaming industry.

5) Many of OFP2 direct concurrents (will) have a UNIX/Linux port, Americas Army just to say one. So releasing OFP2 for Linux and/or Mac has to be seen more from a strategic point of view than a convenience one.

The cons of a Linux port are:

1) In military personell speech "off the shelf" means "Micro$oft", expecially in US/NATO countries, but I hope OFP2 will be bought by other ppl also.

2) In order to port their code to other OSes, BIS needs to use other developing environments than the graphical ones (I assume) they use now. I see graphical IDEs as the PLAGUE of platform independent progamming, since most of them limit you to little choice of compilers and libraries.

3) Last but not least: Support & mantainance. Yeah I admit that this is the hard part of a multi-platform applications, different bugs from different ports all to be corrected consistently. But Modularization and strict separation between interface and core logic could help a lot ...

[edc 0]

I don't believe Open GL is supported by OFP1, I think there was a thread on it pretty recently.

[toadlife 3]

OpenGL was supported by the OFP1 engine when they were developing it, but they chose to go with Glide and Direct3D. From the sound of the following quote, they could support OpenGL with OFP2 without too much hassle.

From an interview on 4/2000 with Marek Spanel at CombatSim.com

Quote[/b] ]

COMBATSIM: What resolutions will players be able to use in Flashpoint? Does it support OpenGL/Glide/D3D?

MS: Flash Point uses our proprietary 3D engine "Real Virtuality" developed from scratch. Its open object core enables easy implementation of various rendering models. Currently, we're going for Direct3D and Glide in the native mode. (We've had a software engine and OpenGL as well but we haven't found a real use for these two renederers.) The engine uses all features of now a days 3D cards but it scales to older cards as well. There are not any known limits in the resolution - but we haven't tested more than 1600 x 1200 yet so I can't ensure Flash Point will run in 3200 x 2400.

[Ranger Giando 0]

I don't believe Open GL is supported by OFP1, I think there was a thread on it pretty recently.

LOL I was told Glide is a limited OpenGL implementation.

so from Glide to full OpenGL the gap should be narrow

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Another idea about minor gaming platforms like Linux-x86 & Mac: although M$ OSes are overwhelmingly wide spread in gaming communities, M$-gamers have also much more choice. You'll easier find long-lasting fans in linux or mac gaming communities than in windows ones. So you can be sure you'll find them in the shop when OFP2: resistance or OFP3 come out

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BIS: please think about letting your marvellous game be ported to other OSes/archs by iccus or other groups, maybe with a NDA.