What are your thoughts on old games getting reverse engineered PC ports?
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What are your thoughts on old games getting reverse engineered PC ports?
What are your thoughts on old games getting reverse engineered PC ports?
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Shopping Cart Returner Shirt $21.68 |
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finally PC gets some good games
pcsisters we got too wienery
Sorry I'm a literal moron, meant "old console games"
the only reason people do this is because the rights holders have no intention of ever making money off already made games
Objectively speaking, it's preservation.
The hardware is was made for won't be around nearly as long as the conventional personal computer.
Reverse engineering the binaries in order to bring it to modern platforms eliminates the needs for emulation - an abstraction layer consuming computational resources.
In addition to this, the disassembled code can be used for enhancements and modifications - mods to make simple alterations or change the game entirely while using the base engine.
Shut up.
>it's preservation
>true hope to preserve
I've always found this focus around preservation autistic as frick. Do people fantasize being a museum janny or saviors of vidya?
This is more about having a technical challenge, wanting to play this on other platforms with modern amenities, seeing how the dev's favorite game works under the hood, etc. No one (ok maybe the nintendo autists that did Mario64) is going to go for a herculean effort to achieve what emulators already do in general.
But whatever the intention is, I love stuff like Cannonball OutRun and ReDriver. Driver 2 in particular is finally able to meet its ambition, instead of struggling to run on PS1, it's really cool being able to play it on non-slideshow speeds for once.
>I've always found this focus around preservation autistic as frick.
>`remasters` having shit fricked up, changed, or removed.
>PC games become unplayable due to deprecated software support/incompatible with newer hardware in its original state.
>Good games that never saw the light of day again on newer generations of consoles because of legal issues/black holes.
¡Bazügle!
>to achieve what emulators already do in general.
No you spaz it's so people can fricking play the games aka true preservation, a game no one can play is not preserved at all. Emulation is great and getting better but source ports and decompiled ports can be superior.
I love the idea.
Is there a list of console games that were reverse engineered for PC? I was looking up something on Wikipedia, and I'm not sure if I saw the right thing.
there was this thread a month ago: https://warosu.org/vr/thread/8910176
but it's pretty much all source ports or remakes/reimplementations for games that released on PC.
if someone finds a list of console games reverse engineered for PC quote me
Jak & Daxter
https://github.com/blackgamma7/Aidyn
https://github.com/Cuyler36/Animal-Crossing-Decomp
https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos
https://github.com/n64decomp/banjo-kazooie
https://github.com/dethrace-labs/dethrace
https://github.com/Xeeynamo/sotn-decomp
https://github.com/CTR-tools/CTR-tools
https://github.com/mkst/ctr
https://github.com/libjet/robogx
https://github.com/AbyssEngine/OpenDiablo2
https://github.com/zestydevy/dinosaur-planet
https://github.com/OpenDriver2/OpenDriverEngine
https://github.com/OpenRakis/OpenRakis
https://github.com/wagrenier/Mikompilation
https://github.com/codenamecpp/carnage3d
https://github.com/Updated-Classic/gta-reversed-modern
https://github.com/GTA-ASM/SanAndreasUnity
https://github.com/open-goal/jak-project
https://github.com/n64decomp/mk64
https://github.com/riidefi/mkw
https://github.com/PrimeDecomp/prime
https://github.com/buffet/mzm
https://github.com/Herringway/ebsrc
https://github.com/Fluvian/mnsg
https://github.com/doldecomp/gnt4
https://github.com/OpenAWE-Project/OpenAWE
https://github.com/OpenXRay/xray-16
https://ryandwyer.gitlab.io/pdstatus/
https://github.com/projectPiki
https://github.com/pret
https://github.com/aap/librw
https://github.com/RocketRet/Rocket-Robot-On-Wheels
https://github.com/TheOnlyZac/sly1
https://github.com/Rubberduckycooly/Sonic-1-2-2013-Decompilation
https://github.com/KobaltBlu/KotOR.js
https://github.com/doldecomp/melee
https://github.com/jiangzhengwenjz/totkol
https://github.com/Interkarma/daggerfall-unity
https://github.com/ChrisNonyminus/sims2_mac_decomp
https://github.com/LazyDuchess/OpenTS2
https://github.com/lhsazevedo/tokyo-bus-guide
https://github.com/rr-/Tomb1Main
https://rec98.nmlgc.net/
https://github.com/Drahsid/turok3
https://github.com/abelbriggs1/tm2pc-reveng
https://github.com/hankmorgan/UnderworldExporter
https://github.com/vividos/UnderworldAdventures
https://github.com/CelestialAmber/xenoblade
https://github.com/shinny456/ygodm8
https://zelda64.dev/
https://github.com/Rubberduckycooly/Sonic-CD-11-Decompilation
>https://github.com/OpenAWE-Project/OpenAWE
>open Alan Wake engine
Huh, maybe one day I can play Alan Wake without those big glowing, spinning thermos objects around every corner going
>"TRIPLE-A VIDJEO GAME! COLLECT 'EM ALL, GOTTA GET THEM CHEEVOS, BRAH!"
and completely taking me out of the suspense, and maybe even with the tedious, repetitive combat nonsense fixed or reduced so it doesn't drag the game down. I wanted to love Alan Wake, and there's so much good about it, but...
this is insane, I had no idea almost all of these existed
Impressive commitment, anon
I'm all for it. If anything we need more of them. OpenXCom recused the game from its many bugs and created a whole modding community for it. OpenRA brought back the C&C competitive scene. I'd kill for a reverse engineering of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy Tactics.
>OpenXCom recused the game from its many bugs and
many of those were beneficial bugs like being able to toss grenades through UFO outer hulls
I don't particularly care but I am a little impressed that people actually care enough to do it. Especially when it's not extremely mainstream shit like Mario 64.
>not extremely mainstream shit like Mario 64
Ah yes, the best-selling N64 game. Very obscure.
frick I'm a moron sry
Reverse engineering in general is really cool for every platform, not only PC.
>Mario 64 will run at 60 fps on actual N64 hardware very soon, with many rom hacks.
>Lots of games like Diablo 1 have a version that runs on Nintendo Switch and crossplay with PC.
>Making expansions and restoring beta content for these games becomes trivial.
It's useless for some games that are feature complete and ported frequently, but there is no drawbacks to keeping software alive.
i know i'm going to sound like a diabetic in america's got talent, but i can't be the only one wondering where the unusual ports are at.
example: pokémon crystal running on the n64.
shit, i guess sm64 on the PS2 was the highest priority.
Cringe
I don't know why you'd spend the effort when you could just emulate them, like what do you gain? However on a technical level it is unbelievably impressive, and my mind cannot comprehend how anyone else could comprehend to do all that shit with decompilers and debuggers. I have successfully reverse-engineered some proprietary data structures in order to mod a game, but that took a boatload of time and they were just static, so in the end it was more like an IQ test of trying to find and map out patterns.
Decompiling running code, with a gazillion criss-crossing functions that have lost all function and variable names and descriptions, is something else entirely. I really don't know how they do it.
>I don't know why you'd spend the effort when you could just emulate them, like what do you gain?
Mainly improved performance since it needs less CPU overhead and also will run natively on the PC and not need you to play around with an emulator and settings.
But the games that are primitive enough that this would be feasible are games that already emulate perfectly with any half-decent PC. If the goal is to get them running on potato or a Pi, then I guess, but still doesn't seem worth it. And that's assuming you actually manage to replicate everything exactly, with no compromises or errors. If you don't do that, then it's not preservation either.
>wanting to replicate the arbitrary 30fps dip on perfect dark for computationally intensive segments for the n64
Unintended performance issues aside of course, I'm talking about stuff like all the graphical effects and shaders, AI, damage and hit calculations, and so on. If you're just taking the basic assets and making them move in roughly similar ways like how they sometimes did ports back in the day, then I really don't see the point.
the guy that made the driver 2 port did it as a project for his portfolio or something. pure autism
It's amazing, seeing Mario 64 being ported to every platform possible was something special and now there is true hope to preserve games like Silent Hill 2 & 3 whose source codes have been lost.
>every platform possible
what a load of crap
the sm64 "scene" is basically dead if you compare it to doom, which actually was ported to every platform possible
Lol, but it also just started like last year - and they have ports to Pc, Dreamcast, PS2 and more plus it’s a harder game to port so what point are you making?
it's like we've had doom's source code for decades or something
it's pretty cool
I hope you aren't moronic enough to think there wasn't already a PC port of Driver released in the same year it came out. That said as long as it is optimized like it's requirements are low (meaning it wasn't too lazy ported) then I am all in.
OP's post is from Driver 2 for PC (Redriver project)
well you're moronic enough to think that's driver 1
Good stuff even just as a means of preservation and the ability to be supported on future hardware.
this looks just like an old PC game, would be better if they tried to make it look like how it did on original hardware
>reverse engineered PC ports
Because they weren't totally developed on Windows machines.
>what are mac and linux ports
>what is compiling
consolecope
most moronic post of the week winner
>What are dev kits
The best thing that ever happened.
If you're slightly technical you understand what a huge benefit is having the source code of your favorite game
I know it's unreasonable but I wish more companies would just release the source code of their game once it has served its purpose
It's the next stage after emulation and FPGA. Decompilation is the final middle finger against stingy publishers and homosexual copyright law and there WILL come a day far into the future when we no longer need Mesen or bsnes or even m64p because all of Nintendo's games (the good ones at least kek) will have PC ports available FOR FREEEEEeeeeEEEEEeeeeee via Github.
>But muh filters muh compatibility MUH AUTHENTICITY
Cope Reddit
It's unrealistic to expect a significant fraction of decent retro games to get decompiled, and even then distribution is a pain in the butt because everyone pussyfoots around the copyright issue, leaving it up to the user to painstakingly compile the stupid thing themselves (oh yeah, so much quicker and easier than just getting the ROM/ISO and throwing it into an emulator)
It's neat when it happens, don't get me wrong, but it's far from a replacement for emulators/flash/FPGA and never will be.
>It's unrealistic to expect a significant fraction of decent retro games to get decompiled,
AI will be able to do it on demand ten years from now.
>leaving it up to the user to painstakingly compile the stupid thing themselves
The Jak decompilation is this simple, you just drag the iso onto an exe, it extracts the game, and runs. No need to compile releases if you're too stupid for that
A good thing for the most part. Modern control schemes, CRT-like filters out the ass.
The only issue is a company like Nintendo throwing around C&D pussifying the reverse engineers.
It's really cool and I like learning about the odd internal workings of games and the ways they approached their limits. I also like unlikely ports that come of it, like actual GBA Tomb Raider that happened.
Is there a master list of these projects anywhere? I know about a lot of the big ones, but I had no idea stuff like driver 2 was being worked on
Some links have already been posted.
Although it's not the same, I find this useful for old games repacked to work on modern hardware with additional QoL features.
https://www.magipack.games/