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Have fond memories of the classic The Elder Scrolls: Arena from the early 90s? A dedicated fan is rebuilding it with OpenTESArena, an open source game engine reimplementation.

Supporting modern platforms like Linux, macOS and Windows this project was inspired by the likes of OpenMW for Morrowind and OpenXcom. It needs the original content but thankfully Bethesda released it free some time ago so it's easy enough to get.

The 0.13.0 release is out now, check out the trailer:

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Some highlights of what's new:

  • Chunk system
    • Interiors "go forever" with default empty chunk
    • Cities "go forever" with floor wrapping
    • The wilderness loads by chunk IDs and can "go forever" by falling back to a default chunk when outside of the original game's 64x64 chunk area
  • Texture system redesign (renderer-independent TextureBuilderID, and TextureAssetReference for deferred loading)
  • Support for Raspberry Pi 4 (no release build yet since performance is very poor)
  • Fixed citizen animation RAM usage issue (no longer ~2.5 GB)
  • Fixed software renderer deadlock (@Alucowie)
  • Fixed streetlight activation updating (wilderness streetlights intentionally do not change activation state)
  • Citizens now only idle if the player is not moving and their weapon is sheathed, to more closely match the original AI
  • Revised sun and moon positions (not sure if they exactly match the original game yet, though)

You can follow the project 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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3 comments

ssj17vegeta Mar 29, 2021
Holy molee, guacamole. Didn't even know TES1 had a new engine. Crossing fingers for RPI4 !
Bumadar Mar 29, 2021
I have fond memories but I am afraid playing it these days will trash those memories.
A bit like the memories of somehow surviving a fight in bards tale 1 with 2x 99 skeletons when I was way to low the, tried and tried but never got that happening again

But cool people keep these games alive
BielFPs Mar 29, 2021
Nice project!

Unfortunately due to the lack of nostalgia effect on me I can't play anything before Morrowind without only see the limitations of the game (and also my lack of interest from procedure-generate maps)

But I know for people who player and still like the first game, they're probably very excited with this, so kudos for the developers!
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