[plug] Linux Gaming Question

[Peter Wright]

Clinton,

On Tue, Oct 23, 2001 at 10:48:07PM +0000, Clinton Butler wrote:
> I enjoy playing video games (as most teenage high school students do). 
[ ... ]
> I have been playing an online game called Nexus (downloadable from
> www.nexon.net) but unfortunately it is a windows only application. What I
> wish to do is obtain the source code for the application and attempt to
> compile it for Linux.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. :)

> What I need to know is: how hard is it to convert a windows application
> to run under X (without Win4Lin or Wine).

I think what you need to know _first_ is if you can actually get the source
code for this application! I had a look on the site you referred to above
and found the game in question, but there didn't seem to be any indication
that the source code was available.

> I am led to believe that the application was written in C++.

And assuming you _can_ get the source code, how well do you know C++? :)

> If anyone could at least point me in the right direction to someone that
> can help me out... I would be most greatful... that is... if nobody on
> the list can answer my question.

Regarding porting applications to/from Window/Linux in general - it depends
on a _lot_ of factors as to how "difficult" is can be (I mean, how do you
measure difficulty anyway?).

Probably the most significant factor is what libraries/toolkits does the
Windows app use? If, for example, it is written to use just the Windows
MFC, it will be a lot of slow, painful work to convert. On a similar tack,
what compiler and/or development environment was used to build the app on
Windows? Visual C++ will involve a fair bit of pain, while Borland C++
Builder, in comparison, _may_ be relatively straightforward if you're willing
to wait until C++ Builder is released for Linux (which should hopefully be
sometime in the next six months) - then you may literally be able to take
source code and compile to a Linux executable with little or no changes.

If, however, the Windows app uses libraries that are simply not available
on Linux, you'd have to literally rewrite large portions of the code to use
alternative Linux libraries (as, for example, if the app links to MFC,
you'd have to rewrite so it uses Qt or wxWindows or something similar. Or
implement the functionality yourself from scratch).

> Clinton Butler

Okay, after all that negativity :), I just want to ask - why on earth do you
not want to use Wine? It would seem by far the easiest (and most likely to
succeed within a reasonable amount of time) approach for what you want to
do.

Have you _tried_ to install and run the app using Wine? I've successfully
used a number of Windows games (Half-Life mainly, but also the recent
Return To Castle Wolfenstein multiplayer test) and general apps under Linux
using Wine, and without a significant performance hit.


Pete.
-- 
http://akira.apana.org.au/~pete/

-- 
A bug in the hand is better than one as yet undetected.