DF-21 Forums

[Burning Gundam]

So I was thinking about it earlier today, with all the technology and new games out these days, and DF being as ancient as it is, I'm wondering how hard it would be to build a custom engine that could read the DF GOB files and such for newer computers? It doesn't seem like it'd be that hard to accomplish.

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[The MAZZTer]

Someone tried it (Dark3D) but the project died. He was also a bit of a jerk... he was gonna block downloads of the final product to USA IPs. (I would've used a euro proxy and mirrored it. >_>)

The only closest thing I know of is a partial Jedi Knight engine. COG sorta works.

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[Burning Gundam]

Oh yeah, I remember him... A piece of history here best forgotten.

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[Nottheking]

In all actuality, it wouldn't be all that difficult on the surface; perhaps one of the real challenges would be making sure it could properly both read the level data, AS WELL as handle the portal-based engine properly.

The trouble is that since we don't have access to the game's source code (and very likely never will) this will make understanding the ins and outs of the portal-based engine mechanism that much harder.

And yeah, Mr. Welander was working on Dark 3D; quite an ambitious project, even making use of D3D 9, though he did leave this website years ago; since then it seems he's taken up a teaching position at a university.

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Wake up, George Lucas... The Matrix has you..

[Darth Oosha]

An alternative to starting from scratch might be to adapt one of the versions of the Duke Nukem 3D engine. From what I've read, it's pretty similar to DF's, including portals. I don't really know enough about the subject to know which approach would be better in the long run, if either.

[Burning Gundam]

I agree, because to be honest (And I really hate to say this) unless someone or some group does it, DF is on it's last dying breath.

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[The MAZZTer]

I made a DF resource loader once... loaded all the stuff immediately dealing with a DF level (LVL, GOL, INF, LEV, MSG, O).



I was gonna look into making an editor dealie. I sorta lost interest when I realized I had no clue how to do collision/hit detection (IE for determining what the user just clicked on the map).

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[Burning Gundam]

If I had the knowledge and time I would do it myself. I just miss this game so much

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[lucius]

I wonder if people would make new levels in an updated engine. It would be cool to see the mod community come back for this game, I always thought it should get the "jDoom" treatment

[Burning Gundam]

That's what everyone here has been hoping for for years, but LucasArts is just too stubborn to release the source code to make it happen.

Hell, I'd be happy if they just made an update to make it playable on new machines.

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[Darth Oosha]

I'm not sure "just" really fits in that sentence, considering the amount of difference between DOS/System 7 APIs and Windows/OS X, the complexity of something like a 3D engine, and the amount of time it's been since anyone's looked at the code. But for the record, I wouldn't be happy with that - for one thing, it'd probably just end up broken again when the next OS came out.

[Burning Gundam]

Good point =/

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.

[The MAZZTer]

[Burning Gundam]

Hence why we must perform a heist upon the LA headquarters and obtain the source code

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I don't think outside the box... I customize it.