A Quake 2 Game Might Get Ported To Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: A Quake 2 Game Might Get Ported To Linux

If you are into retro gaming, there's a Quake 2 game mod that might now see a Linux port...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Quake-2-Berserker-Linux

[DanielG]

wow, what an assortment of WTFs:

1. if it has been around (for Windows) since 2005, why is the code only being published now? Did he not use GPL code but had a source license?
2. Who still uses sourceforge?
3. http://sourceforge.net/projects/quake2berserker/files/ really? the source not downloadable as an archive, nor in svn/git/..., but each file separately in the sf download section?

is this some kind of joke?

UPDATE:
ok, the whole engine+moddata is downloadable at http://www.moddb.com/mods/berserkerquake2/downloads and, besides the game data, the archive indeed contains a Src/ folder that, at first sight, seems to contain the files that have been uploaded to sourceforge.
So the source being available is nothing new, but with sourceforge it's now possible to download it without >800MB of data.. if you feel like downloading each source file separately.

Seems like the author didn't really "get" sourceforge

[adler187]

1. if it has been around (for Windows) since 2005, why is the code only being published now? Did he not use GPL code but had a source license?

Mods are built against a mod SDK (basically just a bunch of header files and probably a .lib for Windows) which doesn't require source distribution. If he'd taken the engine and incorporated the changes in to it to make a new game or total conversion, he'd either need to comply with the GPL or get a license from id.

[DanielG]

I think it has always been an "engine mod", not just something that messes with the SDK.

But as I said, it seems like the code has been available before (dunno if since 2005, though), so the GPL probably isn't violated, but "Now though the Russian developer behind this game mod has finally published his code" was just wrong.

[Chewi]

That's cool. I checked out the various engines a few years ago and found that there were actually different engines recommended for single player (Yamagi), client (AprQ2) and dedicated server (R1Q2) usage, which was kinda annoying. None of them did anything too fancy with the graphics though. I was wondering just the other day what the current situation is.

[uid313]

I would recommend trying out War§ow, it has really nice graphics.
Though, it takes time to learn the game play.

[MaxToTheMax]

Berserker is kind of an oddity. It's been around for a while, and actually I think source code has been available for a few years as well. The developer put the entire codebase into one single 100,000 line file for some reason (probably couldn't figure out Visual Studio's build system.) We (Alien Arena folks) have taken some ideas and code from Berserker before, so we're definitely grateful to the crazy Russian hacker who made it.

There is definitely a gap needing to be filled for a modernized Quake 2 client that doesn't break compatibility. I currently use my own lightly patched version of R1Q2 that just adds higher screen resolutions to the menu, but there are obvious next steps that would make it better. For example, I actually can't run it at full 1080p resolution because it makes the HUD and crosshairs too small; 1440x900 is the biggest I can make it before it becomes unusable. I also don't think vsync works, and the Linux port in particular has some issues with the mouse input code (common to a lot of Q2 derived games as well-- see this commit for the fix.) There are also basic improvements to the underlying renderer that would yield better performance, and maybe some better particle effects you could do.

However, I don't think Berserker is the right choice to carry on the torch of Q2, mainly because of its avant-garde codebase structure.

[DanielG]

MaxToTheMax: Try Yamagi Quake2, it supports scaling the HUD and crosshairs etc for high resolution. Mouse input and vsync also work (as far as I know) and it seems to have fixed lots of bugs, especially for Singleplayer and Coop modes: https://github.com/yquake2/yquake2

Apart from support for high resolutions, scaling HUD etc and supporting high res texture packs (jpg, tga and png) it doesn't have graphical improvements, though, so it's closer to R1Q2 than Berserker@Quake2.

[roboman2444]

if you feel like downloading each source file separately.

Just a little wget wizardry should do the trick.

[Berserker]

Hello guys.
I am the developer of Bers@Q2. Source code I posted as soon as I made the mod workable.
This mod I have developed for themselves the purpose to learn the C language and explore the idTech2. So, my source code is horrible... Heh )
In those days I liked Doom3 graphics and I wanted to do something similar with Quake2.
I showed my work, people liked it, and I upload it to the Internet.

if you feel like downloading each source file separately.

Sorry for sourceforge )) I'm still learning to use this tool. Source code moved to 'Code' section.

Pay attention to:
0. My bad English...
1. Mod development is my hobby, so I do not have much time for it.
2. 'crazy Russian hacker' yes, I hacked some progs and games in 90s of the 20th century, wrote some tools (assembler), thus the logic of programming in accordance.
3. I was wondering to add new things into mod, some things requires to change network protocol. However, my mod is able to work with the old protocol: cvar net_compatibility 1.

I collaborate with other developers, they took my code, I took their code. Q2Pro took my idea of a shortened configstrings, Trebor (Xreal) took Light Pre-Pass renderer.
With Quake2XP developers (Kirk Barnes (Russian) and KriGSSv1N (Ukrainian)) I talk everyday. Did not work out with q2evolved blur team, o'dium with his childish behavior ))))