Source port
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A source port is a project that uses the source code of a game engine to make games run on different operating systems or platforms.
Description
[change | change source]Source ports are not official but use officially released source code. If this is not available, the developers try to turn the game into source code again. Most source ports require the user to provide files from the game.
The phrase "source port" was created after Doom's source code was released. Only the Linux version of this was released because the creators of the DOS version's sound library would not have allowed it.[1][2] Because most players of Doom were using DOS, the first source port of the game (DOSDoom) was made for DOS.[3]
Many source ports improve the original game. They can add support for higher display resolutions, new aspect ratios, hardware acceleration, more input devices, 3D character models (for 2.5D games), more detailed textures, digital audio (e.g. MP3) where MIDI is used, online multiplayer and more.
For online multiplayer, some older games use obsolete protocols, such as IPX, or need users to know the IP address of other players. Because of this, some source ports, like Skulltag, use "lobbies" to make it easier to play with anyone, as players can say which games they are hosting or joining. Some newer games and services such as Valve's Steam, Blizzard's battle.net and GameSpy Arcade also have lobbies as an option.
Alternatives
[change | change source]If the source code of a software is not available, emulation, remakes or static recompilation can also be used.
Notable source ports
[change | change source]| Original name | Port |
|---|---|
| Aliens versus Predator | icculus.org/avp |
| Arx Fatalis | Arx Libertatis |
| Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold / Blake Stone: Planet Strike | BStone, Blake4SDL |
| Blood | BloodGDX, NBlood, Raze |
| Carmageddon | Dethrace |
| Catacomb | CatacombSDL |
| Catacomb 3D | Reflection Keen, CatacombGL |
| Call to Power II | Apolyton Civilization Site: Call to Power II: Source Code Project |
| Commander Keen | Commander Genius |
| Descent / Descent II | DXX-Rebirth, D2X-XL, DXX-Retro |
| Diablo/ Diablo: Hellfire | DevilutionX, Diablo 1 Mod (Belzebub) |
| Doom/Doom II | PrBoom, ZDoom, Chocolate Doom, etc. |
| Doom 64 | Doom64EX, Doom64Ex+ |
| Doom 3 | dhewm3, RBDOOM-3-BFG |
| Duke Nukem II | Rigel Engine[4] |
| Duke Nukem 3D | EDuke32, DukeGDX, JFDuke3D, Rancidmeat Port, xDuke Port, nDuke Port, hDuke Port, Rednukem, Raze |
| FreeSpace 2 | FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project |
| Gloom | ZGloom |
| Heretic | Chocolate Heretic, ZDoom, Doomsday, GLHeretic for Linux, Heretic for Linux, HHeretic |
| Hexen | Chocolate Hexen, ZDoom, Doomsday, GLHexen, HHexen, WinHexen |
| Hexen II | jsHexen 2, UQE Hexen 2, Hammer of Thyrion |
| Homeworld | Homeworld SDL |
| Ken's Labyrinth | LAB3D/SDL |
| Jagged Alliance 2 Wildfire | Stracciatella/SDL |
| The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time | Ship of Harkinian |
| Marathon 2 | Aleph One, Aleph One/SDL |
| Myth II | Project Magma |
| PowerSlave | PowerSlaveGDX, PCExhumed, PowerSlaveEX, ExhumedEX-Plus |
| Quake | QuakeSpasm, QuakeDS, DarkPlaces, FitzQuake, GLQuake, Project: Twilight, Telejano, Tenebrae, WinQuake, QuakeWorld, ezQuake, fodQuake, FreeQuake, vkQuake |
| Quake II | vkQuake2, KMQuake II, q^2, Q2PRO, Yamagi Quake II |
| Quake III | ioquake3, Quake3e, OpenMoHAA, Q3Base, Quake III: Arena for FreeBSD, Spearmint |
| Quake 4 | Quake4Doom, gbQuake4 |
| Redneck Rampage | RedneckGDX, Rednukem, Raze |
| Return to Castle Wolfenstein | iortcw |
| Rise of the Triad | WinROTT, GLROTT, icculus, rottexpr, NakedTriad |
| Savage: The Battle for Newerth | Savage: Rebirth |
| Serious Sam: The First Encounter / Serious Sam: The Second Encounter | icculus,[5] Ray-Traced,[6] Serious Sam Classic, Serious Sam Evolution |
| Shadow Warrior | JFShadowWarrior, SWP, VoidSW, Raze, WangGDX |
| SimCity | Micropolis |
| Spelunky | Spelunky ClassicHD[7] |
| Star Control II | The Ur-Quan Masters |
| Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force (Holomatch) | iostvoyHM,[8] cMod,[9] Lilium Voyager[10] |
| Star Wars: Dark Forces | The Force Engine[11] |
| Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II / Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith | OpenJKDF2[12] |
| Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast / Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy | OpenJK |
| Strife | Chocolate Strife, Vavoom |
| Super 3D Noah's Ark | ECWolf |
| Super Mario 64 | Super Mario 64 PC Port |
| System Shock | Shockolate[13][14] |
| System Shock 2 / NewDark / Thief: The Dark Project / Thief II: The Metal Age | NewDark |
| Tomb Raider | OpenTomb,[15] OpenCroft, OpenLara,[16] CroftEngine, TR1X[17] |
| 'Tyrian | OpenTyrian |
| Warzone 2100 | Warzone Resurrection |
| William Shatner's TekWar | BuildGDX, JFTekWar |
| Witchaven | BuildGDX, JFWitchaven |
| Wolfenstein 3D | ECWolf, NewWolf, Wolf4SDL, Wolfenstein 3-D Redux, WolfGL, WolfGL-3D |
| Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory | ioWolfET, ET: Legacy |
See also
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ Carmack, John (1997-12-23). "doomsrc.txt". Doom source code release notes. id Software. Archived from the original on 2015-12-02. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
- ↑ Wilson, Hamish (2022-03-14). "Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 16: We Are All Doomed". GamingOnLinux. Retrieved 2023-02-02.
- ↑ "Source Ports". Doom Wiki. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
- ↑ "LGR plays Duke Nukem II in widescreen". Retro Refurbs. 2021-08-04. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
- ↑ Larabel, Michael (2016-04-04). "Open-Source Serious Engine 1 Now Running On Linux". Phoronix. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
- ↑ Battaglia, Alex (2021-09-09). "Serious Sam gets a fully path-traced RT upgrade - and it's beautiful". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
- ↑ SpelunkyClassicHD on github.com
- ↑ Middleton, Zack (2019-11-02). "ioEF preservation". ZTM's World of Wonder. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
- ↑ Procter, Lewie (2020-08-13). "Star Trek: Voyager Elite Force Holomatch Gets Free 20th Anniversary Re-Release". wePC. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
- ↑ Middleton, Zack (2019-11-02). "Lilium Voyager 1.40 released". ZTM's World of Wonder. Retrieved 2023-04-04.
- ↑ Bailey, Kat (2022-12-19). "Dark Forces: Classic Star Wars Shooter Gets 4K Overhaul Thanks to Fan Remaster". IGN. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
- ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2024-05-19). "Nothing is too niche for modders to remaster, not even a '90s Star Wars FPS expansion pack where you play as Luke Skywalker's weird non-canon wife rescuing my favorite Expanded Universe dork". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ↑ Wawro, Alex (April 6, 2018). "Nightdive shares source code for System Shock on Mac". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
- ↑ Logan Booker (2018-06-16). "'Shockolate' Is A Cross-Platform System Shock Built On The Original, Open-Sourced Code". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
- ↑ Alexander, Julia (2017-04-24). "Modders bring original Tomb Raider to browsers with new open-source project". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
- ↑ Larabel, Michael (2017-04-24). "OpenLara: Open-Source Engine Remake For Tomb Raider, Including WebGL Version". Phoronix. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
- ↑ Dawe, Liam (2023-11-21). "Open source re-implementation of Tomb Raider 1 'TR1X' gets Linux builds". GamingOnLinux. Retrieved 2023-12-18.