Price: $2500
Description: Done laughing yet? Without CEF, it is technically possible to port the original GearCity Classic (version 2.0.x.x) to Windows 98. This bounty would port #350 to the GearCity Classic code base. It would also downgrade Ogre to version 1.6, and possibly down as far as version 1.4. The game should compile in C++03 with VS2005 command-line tools, and if not, MinGW 3.3 is an option. (Though I am not sure how well older versions of Ogre work with Mingw.) I may also have to replace a handful of 3rd-party libraries, specifically sound.
After all of that, the game should work in Windows 2000, ME, and 98… I might even be talked into doing it live at some retro-computer festivals…
Requirements: #350
Required By: None
Concerns: Bit rot and tooling. Older versions of GearCity use C++03, which doesn't have much support in the Windows 98 space. I might be able to drop to C++98, but it will require a few external libraries to cover missing functionality. Older Ogre typically only worked on Visual Studio on Windows. The game started off on Ogre 1.6 but used Ogre 1.7. 1.6 might work on Windows 98, but the last official 98 support version is 1.4. If I can get 1.6 working on Windows 98, the GUI library and sound library should work, or at least be similar enough to current, and version 0.1 of GC could be used as a basis. If we were to drop all the way down to Ogre 1.4, we could get Dx 7 support, AND that opens the door to Windows 95... yes... Windows 95, baby! Not that anyone would have a computer that is running Windows 95 fast enough to play GC.
Anyway, the biggest issue would be finding source code for ~20-year-old libraries that are dead and forgotten.
There is a high risk of failure with this bounty. And it's completely pointless, but boy would it be a hoot to try!
Eric's Opinion: GC 2.0.x.x has been tested in Windows XP on an 800 MHz Pentium 3 with 512mb of ram, and a Radeon 9200 GPU. It works, but barely. Hardware-wise, the game could work on machines of that era. But it might take additional optimizations to the code beyond downgrading much of the libraries. I do believe CEF is one of the bigger lag spots. In any event, this bounty is mostly me putting my thoughts on paper for when the game is eventually FOSS'd and these bounties are moved to a tracker. Maybe someone will be crazy enough to attempt it.
Links:
Description: Done laughing yet? Without CEF, it is technically possible to port the original GearCity Classic (version 2.0.x.x) to Windows 98. This bounty would port #350 to the GearCity Classic code base. It would also downgrade Ogre to version 1.6, and possibly down as far as version 1.4. The game should compile in C++03 with VS2005 command-line tools, and if not, MinGW 3.3 is an option. (Though I am not sure how well older versions of Ogre work with Mingw.) I may also have to replace a handful of 3rd-party libraries, specifically sound.
After all of that, the game should work in Windows 2000, ME, and 98… I might even be talked into doing it live at some retro-computer festivals…
Requirements: #350
Required By: None
Concerns: Bit rot and tooling. Older versions of GearCity use C++03, which doesn't have much support in the Windows 98 space. I might be able to drop to C++98, but it will require a few external libraries to cover missing functionality. Older Ogre typically only worked on Visual Studio on Windows. The game started off on Ogre 1.6 but used Ogre 1.7. 1.6 might work on Windows 98, but the last official 98 support version is 1.4. If I can get 1.6 working on Windows 98, the GUI library and sound library should work, or at least be similar enough to current, and version 0.1 of GC could be used as a basis. If we were to drop all the way down to Ogre 1.4, we could get Dx 7 support, AND that opens the door to Windows 95... yes... Windows 95, baby! Not that anyone would have a computer that is running Windows 95 fast enough to play GC.
Anyway, the biggest issue would be finding source code for ~20-year-old libraries that are dead and forgotten.
There is a high risk of failure with this bounty. And it's completely pointless, but boy would it be a hoot to try!
Eric's Opinion: GC 2.0.x.x has been tested in Windows XP on an 800 MHz Pentium 3 with 512mb of ram, and a Radeon 9200 GPU. It works, but barely. Hardware-wise, the game could work on machines of that era. But it might take additional optimizations to the code beyond downgrading much of the libraries. I do believe CEF is one of the bigger lag spots. In any event, this bounty is mostly me putting my thoughts on paper for when the game is eventually FOSS'd and these bounties are moved to a tracker. Maybe someone will be crazy enough to attempt it.
Links:
"great writers are indecent people, they live unfairly, saving the best part for paper.
good human beings save the world, so that bastards like me can keep creating art, become immortal.
if you read this after I am dead it means I made it." ― Charles Bukowski
good human beings save the world, so that bastards like me can keep creating art, become immortal.
if you read this after I am dead it means I made it." ― Charles Bukowski