Ut2k3!

[ExoticFish]

i've been scouring any UT2K3 message boards i can find while eagerly awaiting the release of the demo and i came across this page.

http://www.navarre.com/catalog.asp?ProductType=VideoGames&qualifier=title&criteria=unreal&go=go

the release date says 6/11, they better release that demo soon or i'm going to scream!

[FattyMembrane]

it's never quite made sense to me why game companies release a game simultaneously for windows and linux, and then send it off to some porting company (in this case epic is doing it themselves) to port it to mac. i'm fairly certain that there's a larger osx market for ut2k3 than linux market, and porting from linux to osx should be far easier than from windows to linux. i'm no programming whiz, but a port from linux to osx would need a new front end and application package; perhaps some under-the-hood tweaking, but the linux version is just using opengl like osx is. it's not like these games rely on gtk or anything. wasn't the singleplayer demo of rtcw just a recompile of the linux version packaged as an executable .app? but then the full game was a carbon port of the windows code. it just doesn't make sense.

[DreaminDirector]

Nice find ExoticFish! Yeah, I'm dying for the demo. I wasn't too excited about a week ago, but when everyone started talking about it and finding cool little facts about UT2K3, I had flashbacks of college and going heads up with buddies until 4 or 5 in the morning....

Now I feel like an addict, waiting for the next fix....

[markjones05]

Originally posted by DreaminDirector
Nice find ExoticFish! Yeah, I'm dying for the demo. I wasn't too excited about a week ago, but when everyone started talking about it and finding cool little facts about UT2K3, I had flashbacks of college and going heads up with buddies until 4 or 5 in the morning....

Now I feel like an addict, waiting for the next fix....


A feeling that is a little too familiar to many of us.....

[bousozoku]

Originally posted by FattyMembrane
it's never quite made sense to me why game companies release a game simultaneously for windows and linux, and then send it off to some porting company (in this case epic is doing it themselves) to port it to mac. i'm fairly certain that there's a larger osx market for ut2k3 than linux market, and porting from linux to osx should be far easier than from windows to linux. i'm no programming whiz, but a port from linux to osx would need a new front end and application package; perhaps some under-the-hood tweaking, but the linux version is just using opengl like osx is. it's not like these games rely on gtk or anything. wasn't the singleplayer demo of rtcw just a recompile of the linux version packaged as an executable .app? but then the full game was a carbon port of the windows code. it just doesn't make sense.

I can't see it being any easier as there's a lot of stuff that doesn't rely on the OpenGL APIs and they're incompatible between machines. Also, if there's any x86 assembly code (they still do this!), then that's going to take time to re-do. That's also another reason why Mac versions are slower as well as slower to market.

I'm just surprised that someone hasn't done a source code conversion package. It would be intense but certainly worthwhile.

[Keith Purfield]

A lot of the porting time is because of DirectX. I mean, it's a smart move by Microsoft with not releasing DirectX for Mac, since it would practically be the end of Windows. But Coderus has developed MacDX which makes porting games easier.

http://www.coderus.com/

[FattyMembrane]

Originally posted by Keith Purfield
A lot of the porting time is because of DirectX
linux doesn't have directX though, does it? ut2k3 was simultaneously released for linux (same with rtcw).