Platform Support

[Pennywise 0]

I'm just curious as to what OS people prefer the most and what OS people would like to see a port too. Seeing that many gamers are disappointed with Vista and given it's poor performance, I don't see many gamers migrating to the OS unless companies stop supporting the 2000/XP kernel. I really have not been that impressed with Vista and would prefer never to have to install it. However, if there was ever a chance in hell, I would definitely migrate over to a Mac OS X box as a primary ArmA gaming system. Chances are that would never happen, but it would still be interesting seeing what others would like to see.

[Mr_Tea 0]

I use Win2K Prof. SP4 what gives me the best gaming performance possible, because it`s low demand on system resources.

I already have Vista Home Premium installed besides Win2K, but i only use it for testing purposes until SP1 is out.

[shinRaiden 0]

+1 for Linux, I've got my ulterior motives, but the likelihood of it being realized is sadly slim to none.

[bravo 6 0]

+1 for Linux,

though i woun't mind WinXP.

[SHWiiNG 0]

Linux Ubuntu would be a godsend but linux does not support DX fo any version instead it uses OpenGL, (correct me if im wrong)

[Maddmatt 1]

Supporting a Linux version of ArmA 2 would be a waste of time, effort, and money for BIS. Anyone with an interest in modern games has Windows.

WinXP and Vista are the only ones that are really worth supporting. If ArmA 2 comes out this year, I'll probably still be using WinXP. I'm not interested in Vista right now.

[Johannes 10]

i would love to see ArmA 2 supporting Mac OS X since i am using it as my primary OS for work and for the most gaming.

The new OS X 10.5 has also added some very nice new features for game developers i think.

[stakex 0]

WinXP all the way... why fix it if its not broken? Making the game Vista only would be an utterly bad move. Im sure one day Vista will be as good as XP for gaming, but that days not now.

As for ports... Id personally rather they not port the game. I don't have anything against consols (owning an X360), but games like ArmA/ArmA2 (that push even top of the line PC's to their max) always suffer when they are developed with a port in mind from the beggining. Tho if it absolutly has to be ported... Id rather it before the PS3.

[Pennywise 0]

Quote[/b] ]

don't have anything against consols (owning an X360), but games like ArmA/ArmA2 (that push even top of the line PC's to their max) always suffer when they are developed with a port in mind from the beggining.

Yea, I'm not sure I have any real interest in ports for consoles either. Granted I think the wii would be pretty cool with the zapper, but I don't think it could handle the graphics. Either way, I think linux or Mac OS X would be less of an overkill than the consoles. There is one tool that will allow easy port of directx games for other platforms:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/hlsl2glsl

However, I think BIS would really benefit to a Mac OS X port, much more over an xBox port. There are plenty of Mac users out there that are waiting for a cool game like ArmA to be supported. I would much rather run Mac OS or linux than Winblows any day. Another tool that would make the migration ease:

http://www.coderus.com/macdx/index.html

Other than that, I'm just happy to have a game like ArmA exist.

[mrj-fin 0]

I prefer Vista DX10 then XP.

[Deadfast 43]

Would be nice to see OpenGL support.

[alef 0]

I'd like to play a client Linux/OpenGL or SDL or whatever library I don't need to buy extra, but just wonder if there are any kind of free copy protection mechanism available that a publisher, and customer, could accept.

The Linux dedi server is here, and that's great step.

Greetings,

alef

[Pennywise 0]

I'm not aware of any multi platform copy protection mechanism. I really don't understand why developers/publishers try to use them as they are always hacked right after release. They do little to prevent pirating software at the expense of the developer. They should however encrypt their network traffic so IDs can't get stolen. A USB dongle or switching to a new type of media like SD cards might help validating local copies. Anyways, topics like that are for the birds.

I wish BIS would focus on Mac OS X, Linux, and WIN32. The game is really too complicated to sell to kids in great volume on the console. They would have to kick the simulation and go more story based to grasp those type of gamers. Stuff I think most avid OFPers are less interested in. Plus I like using the keyboard, mouse, and joystick for customizing controls for each type of vehicle. There's only so much you can program on a single xbox controller.