[ut3] [UT3] Linux-Client

[Ondřej Hošek]

On 24.03.08 17:01 Uhr, Tobias Polzer wrote:
>
> > Ryan Gordon is working largely on his own to port code that is 
> written to
> > talk to the DirectX API.  All of the aspects of the game that call on
> > DirectX have to be rewritten to call on OpenGL instead.  This is no 
> simple
> > task.
>
> I thought the PS3 version already used an "embedded" version of OGL2 
> (with some more shader-extensions and a bit less stuff nobody 
> needs^^)... so this part of it should already be almost done? (Source 
> <http://www.opengl.org/news/permalink/nvidia_showcases_rsx_opengl_es_20_accelerated_graphics_processor_for_playst/>) 

Actually, I think most of it are the painful parts of the engine 
communicating with the operating system. Creating and maintaining a 
window or getting keyboard input on Windows is diametrically different 
from doing so on Linux. Ryan will probably port the engine to use SDL 
(http://libsdl.org) instead of native Windows code, and he'll have to 
test that extensively. I'm not sure if he has access to the OGL renderer 
code (I think he does), but there might be some cryptic shader code that 
is different on the PC and on the PS3.

Additionally, he has to spend much time porting (or requesting ports of) 
all the middleware Epic has purchased for UE3. He has ported the physics 
engine (NovodeX/PhysX) alright (see the Linux server), but there might 
be some client-side middleware that doesn't play along just like that.

Moreover, he seems to be spending a lot of his time on politics; this 
becomes obvious if you follow his Twitter log and his .plan. I wouldn't 
judge him because of that all too soon; maybe he's reached an impassé 
and has to wait for some lawyers or external developers to get things 
fixed and can therefore invest some time into the upcoming US elections. 
I don't know.

Naturally, I'm quite pissed about the UT3 client situation, but I guess 
I just wasted my money either way. €50 for a half-baked game with lots 
of bugs (no banning by CD key until 1.2), consumer-unfriendly 
partnerships (Games for Windows, GameSpy), imbecilic UI with a dumb 
control scheme and hardly any options (what happened to that of UT2k4? 
why don't they bring it back?), use of the cool graphics in the wrong 
places (menu background), lack of use of the cool graphics in the right 
places (cinematics), maps that just don't seem to match the atmosphere 
of the UT2k4 ones... and Epic's explicit (see CliffyB) focus on 
consoles, perhaps because they require less effort or because Epic's 
strategies just seem to be working out better than on the PC. I know I'm 
getting into minutia, but I miss the awesome Skaarj/Spidermine intro 
screen to UT2k4 (NvidiaLogo.ut2).

Back in 2004, Epic had demonstrated much skill in making good 
multiplayer first-person shooters for the PC. I still can't fathom how 
exactly they could fuck it up so much this time around. I guess it was 
the console compatibility and I fear that next time, it's not the 
console players but us who will end up without a game.

I still wish Ryan good luck. He's great at what he does, and I don't 
think he deserves to be blamed for the EPIC FAIL (omg bad pun) that UT3 
has become.

~~ Ondra