Quake 2 Possible?

[reallynotnick]

mmm... aleph one should be ported- this actually is open souce, and a more realistic request than quake/doom 3 4 etc.
plus it's a completely free game:

http://source.bungie.org/

anyone looking at what to port to GP2x- this could be a winner.

​

YES! this is the game to port! Not any of those slow running high end 3d games, this should be easy to do and woul still look awsome.

 

[icurafu]

I contacted them and they never responded. On the positive note there are still a lot of dev work going on there.

 

[grahf]

Its all about optimization. This doesnt have much to do with the topic, but does anyone remember a game called "Chasm - The Rift"? I remember playing Quake1 (or <i>trying</i> to) when it first was released on my 486DX4 100mhz. It was barely playable. Maybe 6 months later i played a new demo of a game called Chasm, and DAMN what a difference. The graphics were every bit as complex as Quakes (if not more so), but the thing that stuck me was that it ran smooth as a babys ass on my anchient 486 machine. It really opened my eyes to what was possible on slower equipment. Even without dedicated 3d hardware, a fast software renderer is perfectly doable. Especially at 320x240 resolution. I really like id software and am thankful for that they let us play around with the old engines, but the fact is that its not the end-all that some people make it out to be.

Some screenshots of Chasm for anybody who cares:
It may be anchient looking now, but it was QUITE impressive back in '97

 

[Skitzo]

It doesn't look like Chasm is open source meaning a port is pretty impossible.. I think with heavy optimisation, Quake 1 can get to an acceptable playable state, and maybe even a good playing state.

 

[grahf]

Yeah, i didnt throw it out there because it was open source.
Just as a bit of information, namely that it doesnt take a tremendous amount of processing power to produce Quake1 visuals. Not as much as most people think anyhow.

Porting quake2 is one thing,
but a made from scratch 3d software renderer should be more than capible of producing amazing 3d on the gp2x. We already have a bunch of HIGHLY talented individuals playing with the gp2x, and more will show up as time goes by. Im more of a 2d guy myself, but i have high hopes for a nice 3d engine once some serious effort is put into it. Im anxious to see what great homebrew stuff people will put out.

 

[OCA|]

For independant development though, using a Quake based engine is a big draw, even over specially written engines:

-Compatible with tons of platforms (release for Win/Mac/Linux, PocketPC, GP2x hopefully, so on and so forth)
-Lots of great tools to work with (Radiant and QuARK come to mind)
-Standard (though finicky) model format, mdl (md2 in q2 is better imo)
-Loads of documentation on how to get stuff done with the engine

Getting a good, optimised port of the Quake engine (or even better, the Quake2 engine) that remains compatible with other versions of the engine would be a dream to work with. Besides, I'd be able to go back to mapping for an old favorite =)

-OCA|


*patiently waits for his GP2x

 

[TheTurnipKing]

Its all about optimization. This doesnt have much to do with the topic, but does anyone remember a game called "Chasm - The Rift"? I remember playing Quake1 (or <i>trying</i> to) when it first was released on my 486DX4 100mhz. It was barely playable. Maybe 6 months later i played a new demo of a game called Chasm, and DAMN what a difference. The graphics were every bit as complex as Quakes (if not more so), but the thing that stuck me was that it ran smooth as a babys ass on my anchient 486 machine. It really opened my eyes to what was possible on slower equipment. Even without dedicated 3d hardware, a fast software renderer is perfectly doable. Especially at 320x240 resolution. I really like id software and am thankful for that they let us play around with the old engines, but the fact is that its not the end-all that some people make it out to be.

Some screenshots of Chasm for anybody who cares:
It may be anchient looking now, but it was QUITE impressive back in '97

​

As I recall, Chasm was a cheating bugger. You didn't get a full 360 viewpoint. Also, at least part of the fact it looks prettier than Quake is because most of the Quake palette is shades of brown

Having said that, personally, if I was going to design an FPS game for Squinky, I'd definately consider an engine like the Doom or Build Engine over Quake 1, simply because I find the Doom style of game is far better suited to joypad - though I'm sure I could find a use for the Quake engine - just probably not as a fast paced shoot em up.

 

[Cyclops]

Chasm was looked felt much better than quake, and when it started raining. I thought graphics couldn't get better than this. Never thought anyone else had heard of it.

QuakeII has two commercial add-ons "the reckoning" and "ground zero" also there is hexen II which people seem to leave out (and I don't mean heretic)

 

[OCA|]

Chasm was looked felt much better than quake, and when it started raining. I thought graphics couldn't get better than this. Never thought anyone else had heard of it.

QuakeII has two commercial add-ons "the reckoning" and "ground zero" also there is hexen II which people seem to leave out (and I don't mean heretic)

​

HexenII was based off the Quake1 engine, not QuakeII. Was a great game though, very atmospheric. But it ate ram like candy and my 200mhz Pentium wasn't too happy with it, so I don't know how realistic it would be to try to get it on the GP2x.

Heretic II was also great, but that's almost out of the question. Still, would be cool to see a good third person 3d action game on the GP2x =)

-OCA|

 

[TheTurnipKing]

Effects like rain that were moddable into Quake though, and that's just from a scripting language viewpoint, not from direct access to the source code. With source code, you could make a MUCH prettier (and faster) job of it.

I played Chasm briefly I think, when it appeared on budget, but for some reason, I don't remember being impressed at it (I suspect it was simply outclassed by the new games) But then, my first PC didn't really have any issues with Quake at all. It was fast, and smooth, so long as you weren't one of those people who had to have all the options turned up all the way

 

[Julius]

I loved chasm, exspecially the multiplayer part was great on LAN parties

 

[Radek]

Chasm was looked felt much better than quake, and when it started raining. I thought graphics couldn't get better than this. Never thought anyone else had heard of it.

QuakeII has two commercial add-ons "the reckoning" and "ground zero" also there is hexen II which people seem to leave out (and I don't mean heretic)

​

HexenII was based off the Quake1 engine, not QuakeII. Was a great game though, very atmospheric. But it ate ram like candy and my 200mhz Pentium wasn't too happy with it, so I don't know how realistic it would be to try to get it on the GP2x.

Heretic II was also great, but that's almost out of the question. Still, would be cool to see a good third person 3d action game on the GP2x =)

-OCA|

​

Yes. But we have the Doom1/2, Heretic1, Hexen1, SystemShock1, DukeNukem3D, Blood1, ShadowWarrior and even more.

All of those games are technically able to be ported to the GP2x at very good speeds. And they are a great games if not better than the newest ones when we focus on the gameplay. And this is the thing and the most important.

The Chasm shows an IDsoftware wasn't really using the machines to a full capabilities. There are always places for an improvements small or big.

And not forget not all of us are so old to remeber (and was playing) the old games. There are many new younger people and there is definitely a market for them! Is a "JumpingJack" (for an example) obsolete then?

No, it's not. We (the "oldtimers") are tired of those games but the younger ones don't have to. I even will be risking to say there is a big hole not fulfilled by current games industry.

Yeah, prove me wrong, criticize as much you want but why should we reinventing the wheel for another time?

 

[OCA|]

Yes. But we have the Doom1/2, Heretic1, Hexen1, SystemShock1, DukeNukem3D, Blood1, ShadowWarrior and even more.

All of those games are technically able to be ported to the GP2x at very good speeds. And they are a great games if not better than the newest one when we focus on the gameplay. And this is the thing and the most important.

The Chasm shows an IDsoftware wasn't really using the machines to a full capabilities. There are always places for an improvements small or big.

And not forget not all of us are so old to remeber (and was playing) the old games. There are many new younger people and there is definitely a market for them! Is an a "JumpingJack" (for an example) obsolete then?

No, it's not. We (the "oldtimers") are tired of those games but the younger ones don't have to. I even will be risking to say there is a big hole not fulfilled by current games industry.

Yeah, prove me wrong, criticize as much you want but why should we reinventing the wheel for another time?

​

A couple points I'd like to make...

I wholeheartedly agree that we have a ton of great games that don't need the Quake1 (or 2) engine. You listed many games that I still, to this day, thuroughly enjoy even though I've beaten them a dozen times over. That said, I have faith that the quake engines can run quite playable on the GP2x - I had a pocketPC with a 300mhz Samsung ARM based processor and Quake was *almost* playable (14fps average). And considering how much larger the GP__ development community is, and how much has been pulled off with that, I really think Quake could run comfortably. Probably better than it ran on the computer I had when it came out (p90, 8 megs ram)

My point there I guess is, we don't NEED Quake1 / Quake2. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Besides, it's exciting to push the envelope.

Still, I see those shots next to Quake1 and I think Quake looks better. Quake isn't perfect, but give credit where it's due

Also on Quake, I'll agree the gameplay wasn't the best... at least, not out of the box. It was the various mods that showed up that were amazingly fun. I miss that mod community - the modifications were quick, dirty, ugly hacks that turned out to be a lot of fun. Flashlight Quake was definately the precursor to DooM3 (though even in Flashlight Quake you could hold a gun and a flashlight at once). That did some interesting things to deathmatch, let me tell you :lol:

Finally, on the non-quake games that would be cool to see, Descent (which according to the wiki, Skeezix is working on) would be exciting. Controls could prove to be an issue though. Exult for Ultima VII (It seems Puck2099 is working on this) should be my RPG fix for a while. With what seems to be on the horizon, I'd be happy even without Quake =)

EDIT: Yeah, I missed something in those screenshots

-OCA|

 

[woogal]

I had a pocketPC with a 300mhz Samsung ARM based processor and Quake was *almost* playable (14fps average). And considering how much larger the GP__ development community is, and how much has been pulled off with that, I really think Quake could run comfortably. Probably better than it ran on the computer I had when it came out (p90, 8 megs ram)

​

I actually find the gp32 version at 156mhz with doublesize and all turbo variables on *very* playable, and that's only 11.8fps average . I've yet to get it running a timedemo on the gp2x though so I'm not sure what the speed will be like, but the zodiac benchmarks at 10.1 with full detail so I'm guessing it will be around that level. Might hit around 15 average at low quality I'd guess.

As for quake2, that will obviously be slower, but I'm sure an early port could reach around 6fps or so. A problem with quake2 may be memory as that needs much more than quake1 does.

 

[TheTurnipKing]

Quake 2 doesn't actually look that much more impressive than Quake 1. I think the biggest difference might be the coloured lighting. Sacrifice that though, and the speed should jump right up.

 

[OCA|]

Quake 2 doesn't actually look that much more impressive than Quake 1. I think the biggest difference might be the coloured lighting. Sacrifice that though, and the speed should jump right up.

​

Quake2 had no colored lighting in is software rendering mode, only in OpenGL.

Other changes are mostly bits and pieces from mission pack code - rotating brushes, etc. It also uses a newer model format, and interpolates animations. Go play Quake1 - it'll run at 60 fps, but character animation still runs at 15fps, and the effect is noticable. Quake2 fixed that by interpolating between keyframes.

Finally, some of Q2's geometry is higher poly count, so optimizing isn't something that can easily be done in software.


-OCA|

 

[craigix]

Yeti3d reminds me of chasm, infact if yeti3d was made to use both cpu's on the gp2x (every other line style) i'd imagine you could not get anything looking better, it would be amazing.

If anyone would actually use it though... thats another matter.

 

[deadlychicken22]

Yeti3d reminds me of chasm, infact if yeti3d was made to use both cpu's on the gp2x (every other line style) i'd imagine you could not get anything looking better, it would be amazing.

If anyone would actually use it though... thats another matter.

​

So, uh, how do you "use" it? (I haven't tried out Yeti3d because it was listed as a tech demo, not a game....)

 

[icurafu]

I would like to support it but there is a licence for the pro version of it. from what I understand.

I dont like knowing that my project could be better if I paid money.

 

[TheTurnipKing]

Quake 2 doesn't actually look that much more impressive than Quake 1. I think the biggest difference might be the coloured lighting. Sacrifice that though, and the speed should jump right up.

​

Quake2 had no colored lighting in is software rendering mode, only in OpenGL.

Other changes are mostly bits and pieces from mission pack code - rotating brushes, etc. It also uses a newer model format, and interpolates animations. Go play Quake1 - it'll run at 60 fps, but character animation still runs at 15fps, and the effect is noticable. Quake2 fixed that by interpolating between keyframes.

Finally, some of Q2's geometry is higher poly count, so optimizing isn't something that can easily be done in software.


-OCA|

​

I've seen source ports that implement many of the features you describe into the Quake 1 engine (Interpolation especially). Be nice if we could get a version of Quake for Squinky that is more or less the equal of the Quake 2 engine, but obviously, that's a discussion for the future. Most source ports have higher running requirements than the original though, so I guess there's not much use talking about what we might able to do, before most of us have sat down with the hardware