It is not always an easy task to port a game, especially if it uses proprietary frameworks or engines. It can take time.

Quoting: chrisqTo those who think POL "ports" anything, you should take a look at the code base.
Its a unholy mix of shells-scripts and python that uses some helper scripts to install the program in its own WINEPREFIX, add some dlls etc.
I tried to hack it once, but ended up writing my own cli-program in pure python that basically did the same. It was just to much work to try to understand, and it made no sense why it had all that horrid shell code in there.

They do have a nice repository of precompiled wine-versions though.

Unholly and horrible shell code, but also hours and hours of tests. Making an app run with wine with zero configuration on a large number of very different computers is not easy task, believe me. And when I see some wine based "ports", I can tell you that some mistake could be avoided. Why chosing a mix of Bash and Python? Simply because it's easier for beginers to write scripts in bash than in Python. (See supported apps section for further information). Also, the first version was fully written in Bash. Python came one year after to add a GUI. We kept the bash base, that's why the program does not follow a MVC model, that's why you might find strange things in the code. We are aware of that. We've started working on that for the fifth version, but it takes time, as everything...

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Quoting: EKRboi

Quoting: tinouAlso, you'll notice that the website is called PortMyApps, and not PortMyBrandNewGame ;-)

I know.. I'm more speaking of wine in general and not pointing at POL exclusively. I just hope it stays "PortMyApps" and doesn't end up being "PortMyGames". that's all I was getting at. Give people an inch and they take a mile =)

Do not worry, it will stay PortMyApps ;-) As I said, Wine's results are too variable for us to afford the risk to work for very big companies, :-)

Quoting: AntaliusCool, as long as it helps the interest for the linux scene grow, especially the old games sector and not used as a cheap workaround by devs (EDIT: obviously for new games), I'm excited for it. Thank you for the work put in to develop this, all the best!

That won't happen really. Game editors that are interested in Linux do not want to give a bad image of their brand by bringing a low quality support for a title. Valve has proven it by not using wine for Steam.

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Quoting: EKRboi

Quoting: n30p1r4t3I never thought the response to this would be so negative. While a native port would be great, in some cases the studio is either too small, or not that well off financially enough to support a native port either in house or via third party.

If it really is a small studio who can't afford it then put your source out there (NOT the content) and let the linux community sort it out. If it's something that enough want then someone will port it for little to nothing. Then they will still get the game sale they might otherwise have not so the person can get the data needed to run on the native binary.

I just don't want to see it become even more of a crutch than it already is that they get use to using instead of doing it the right way.

Quoting: tinouAs a developer of PlayOnLinux, and by reading some comments, I want to make things clearer.

This tool is noway made to discorage use of native ports. In fact, you cannot use it port games because it is limited 50Mo.

It is designed for very specific apps (like the one we ported) that could not and would not be ported in other way, or very old game (in general the source code is lost).

Games that can be natively ported won't be ported with PortMyApps, it is not planed for the moment (And there are no point for that!)

thanks for this, makes me feel a bit better about it.

Also, you'll notice that the website is called PortMyApps, and not PortMyBrandNewGame ;-)

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Quoting: FutureSuture

Quoting: tinouAs a developer of PlayOnLinux, and by reading some comments, I want to make things clearer.

This tool is noway made to discorage use of native ports. In fact, you cannot use it port games because it is limited 50Mo.

It is designed for very specific apps (like the one we ported) that could not and would not be ported in other way, or very old game (in general the source code is lost).

Games that can be natively ported won't be ported with PortMyApps, it is not planed for the moment (And there are no point for that!)

This sounds like something GOG would be very interested in. Have you contacted the folks there?

Well, we are thinking about it, but for the moment, they are doing things on their side ;-)

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Quoting: n30p1r4t3

Quoting: tinouAs a developer of PlayOnLinux, and by reading some comments, I want to make things clearer.

This tool is noway made to discorage use of native ports. In fact, you cannot use it port games because it is limited 50Mo.

It is designed for very specific apps (like the one we ported) that could not and would not be ported in other way, or very old game (in general the source code is lost).

Real games won't be ported with PortMyApps, it is not planed for the moment.

Care to explain further? I understand the Limitation on size due to bandwidth, etc, but why not support for full games?

If a company were to contact you, would you be willing to work with them to port an AA title?

It will depend on the context. I know for example that GoG use wine for old games because they have no other choice. Our role is first to give good advices. Be sure we're going to be very clear about wine disadvantages versus a real native port.

@vulture, don't worry, we won't port Skyrim.

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As a developer of PlayOnLinux, and by reading some comments, I want to make things clearer;

This tool is noway made to discorage use of native ports. In fact, you cannot use it port games because it is limited 50Mo.

It is designed for very specific apps (like the one we ported) that could not and would not be ported in other way, or very old game (in general the source code is lost).

Games that can be natively ported won't be ported with PortMyApps, it is not planed for the moment. (And there are no point for that!)

Anyway, we do not have enough resources to bring profesional support for a game played by million of users, so clearly we won't take this risk.

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