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The classic Driver 2 has a new reverse engineered open source game engine

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Any of our readers remember Driver 2? I remember spending absolutely hours driving around in this classic PlayStation game and now maybe you can relive it or experience it for the first time.

Thanks to a developer working on an open source (MIT licensed) game engine, using a little reverse engineering magic the game has be reborn. Like a lot of open source game engine reimplementations (OpenMW, OpenRA, openXcom), it does need you to own the original game to have the data files as this is just the code that is being offered - which means hopefully any rights holders will leave it alone.

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Their current goals include to make the game playable from start to finish, with all game modes working as intended. Eventually, they want to rewrite it all to properly upgrade it with modern stuff. You can get it running on Linux, and the lead developer has a GitHub issue open indicating they're looking for help to sort out automatic Linux (and macOS) builds.

You can find it on GitHub.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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fabertawe Nov 16, 2020
I loved the original Driver on PS1, great fun. Looking forward to playing this.
elmapul Nov 16, 2020
i played driver 1, i did knew that there were other driver games (eg: San Francisco), but never heard of driver 2.
elmapul Nov 16, 2020
i wonder why its easier to reverse enginering an game than making an free open source alternative to it...
it shouldnt be
fagnerln Nov 16, 2020
This reminds me that I never finished the tutorial on Driver 1... lol

I played San Francisco which is a good game, but it's boring
Julius Nov 16, 2020
Quoting: elmapuli wonder why its easier to reverse enginering an game than making an free open source alternative to it...
it shouldnt be
Actually no. Making an engine for an existing game is much easier. You have a fixed target and all the art assets are already done.
CatKiller Nov 16, 2020
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Quoting: elmapuli wonder why its easier to reverse enginering an game than making an free open source alternative to it...
it shouldnt be

Traditionally for game makers, about half the budget goes to marketing. Asset creation is almost all of the rest. Making the game engine, while both critical and often difficult, is only a small part of the whole. Content is also difficult to do incrementally: you need your story to happen in the right order, and you want all of your artwork to look good before people see it.
aristorias Nov 16, 2020
Well, only really if the data structures and formats are known or closely based known formats, otherwise a huge amount of time will be wasted on reverse engineering that. I wonder how much they had to figure out without specifications.
Regarding asset creation, there seem to be a lot of highly talented freelancers out there (thinking of all the elder scroll mods) who would be capable of competing easily with high end titles. But why would a team like that not ask for money instead? ;-)
whizse Nov 16, 2020
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I've always assumed there to be quite a different challenge, possibly a different mindset, between a reverse engineering project and creating your own game from scratch.

I kinda get it. It's somewhere between deciphering ancient hieroglyphs and restoring an old barn find. Plus the opportunity to study an old favorite from a whole new perspective, learning new things about the game, and possibly the minds who created it.

Anyhow, that's a pretty slick trailer! Makes me want to get out there, steal Eleanor and try some Halicki stunts!
brokeassben Nov 16, 2020
Quoting: fagnerlnThis reminds me that I never finished the tutorial on Driver 1... lol

I played San Francisco which is a good game, but it's boring
Holy shit, that MANDATORY tutorial was so difficult. It didn't help that there were no real instructions on how to perform the required stunts to get past the tutorial within the time limit. It got fun after that...
hardpenguin Nov 16, 2020
Oh sweeeeet! This is amazing, I love Driver series!
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