Thanks for the kind words, everyone. :)

But keep in mind that the goal to play the games natively on GNU/Linux is still a long way off. Especially Dragon Age is still missing most of the basics. That's why I really need more people to join my efforts!

Quoting: xeranasHow end-user will benefit from it?

There's several way users will benefit from this:

• The games will continue to run on modern hardware and operating systems. In many cases, games are pretty awful at compatibility. For xoreos' target, this is currently less of an issue than for games supported by, for example, ScummVM. But even there, there's problems: one example is the Mac OS X version of Neverwinter Nights. It is a PPC binary only; it won't work on modern Intel Macs (Rosetta [External Link] stopped working with 10.7) [1]


• The games will also work on other operating systems, like GNU/Linux and Mac OS X, without the need for Wine. This is a potential performance increase


• There's the potentially for support on mobile platforms


• For some of the games, there's still a vibrant modding community. This will open up more modding opportunities, giving the games a new life, new adventures, etc.

Sure, it is unlikely that original rights holders will acknowledge this. But never say never: just look at the recent official rereleases of LucasArts games using ScummVM.

And yes, getting them to work might still be a bit hacky, and more difficult than just pressing "Play". But again, look at ScummVM and ResidualVM, those already make it more easier than for example Wine and DOSBox. It is a future goal of mine to make playing the games with xoreos as easy and unhacky as possible.

Still, I admit that this project is also a fun hobby, learning excercise and puzzle for me. :)

[1] See also the recent push of the Internet Archive to archive old DOS games for a tangential reason

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A whale? Is it falling to the ground next to a pot of petunias?

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Me, I'm quite partial to David Lynch's output, like Blue Velvet [External Link], Mulholland Drive [External Link] and Twin Peaks [External Link].

I'm a fan of the surreal and of Noir, and his work frequently hits those notes.

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Quoting: oldrocker99Purchasing NWN Diamond :wub: from GOG and installing the Linux client is much harder than installing it from the DVD (I've done both).

Dunno, it's kinda a wash. You'll have to extra the 1.69 Linux critical rebuild patch anyway, since the DVD is not at 1.69.

Quoting: subKnowing quite a bit of C++, I'm completely lost when it comes to the required low-level reverse engineering.

Well, there's other bits and pieces that need to be done [External Link]. Some of them don't need RE skills.

For example, we need a parser for some broken XML files that define the GUI in NWN2.
Another example is the GFF V4.0 format for Dragon Age, which is quite different from the already implemented GFF V3.2 format. Some write-up on how the new version works is here in the Dragon Age toolset wiki [External Link].

Many things that fall under "reverse engineering" can be figured out without touching disassembly, too. Just by observing what the original does, how the files it reads look and some educated guesswork. Plus some fuzzing, i.e. changing the data files and looking at how the original copes.

We also have a few links to some helpful notes about reverse engineering [External Link] on our wiki.

If you're interested, please, grab the sources [External Link], read a bit and fiddle with them a bit. I'm also always open for questions; you can find me idling 24/7 on #xoreos on Freenode IRC.

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Also, this means there's now an easy DRM-free source for Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords [External Link], in case people want to get it to help with xoreos [External Link]. *hinthint* :P

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Sure, rm won't remove /bin, etc., but it will recurse into them. It won't delete any file owned by root, but it will still go through your whole system and delete all files your user has rights to.

So yes, afterwards, your operating system will most likely still work. But all your personal data is gone.

Which is, actually, way worse. You can always reinstall your operating system, but your personal data is unique. You will need to have a backup for that.

Apropos backup: if you backup your data onto an external drive and it is still mounted, that's gone too then.

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No, --preserve-root doesn't help here (and it's enabled by default in many distributions already).

They're doing
rm -rf $STEAMROOT/*

Note the *. Which, when $STEAMROOT is empty, expands to

rm -rf /bin /boot /dev [...]

--preserve-root is completely okay with deleting that.

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Quoting: ElectricPrismNintendo is no longer the Indie game company I loved growing up in the 90s

Indie game company?!? Nintendo was founded in 1889, yes, in the 19th century, producing playing cards. It had massive amounts of resources and connections when it got into electronic toys in the 1960s.

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Well, anybody hosting the code or working with it after the first hosting and team has been struck down would do so in the full knowledge that they're doing something illegal.

I'm not a lawyer, but wouldn't that potentially open those people up for high damage claims? Maybe even claims of indirect contempt, since they're willingly defying a court order?

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Quoting: GuestLets say for instance I was a programmer, and decided to personally remake an old game in my spare time, "just for fun". How exactly could anyone stop me?

By going to a lawyer and sending you a Cease & Desist letter. If you'll ignore it, they're going to sue you for trademark infringement (use of the Super Mario name and character likenesses), as well as copyright infringement (creating and distributing works that is based on existing copyrighted work (character models, level layout, ...) without the expressed permission of the copyright holder).

These things are completely unrelated to you getting any money or not. Just the fact that you're doing it is enough.

Additionally, they're going to argue that, even though you're not getting any money, they're missing out on revenue as well, because instead of playing your free remake, people could have bought their original game.

Quoting: GuestIf I intended to profit from it then sure, they can (try to) sue me for copyright infringement. But not if I did it for fun.

It is copyright infringment no matter whether you profit from it.

Also, you could argue that you do profit from it. Not with money, but with fame, recognition and popularity.

Quoting: GuestIt reminds me of the old MikeRoweSoft case

Note that "MikeRoweSoft" is similar, but not exactly like "Microsoft", so the case is different. Microsoft has to proof that people might confuse those two, something Nintendo wouldn't have to do when the name is the same. Also, this was purely a trademark case, not copyright. Also also, Mike Rowe was the actual name of the person.

Also also also, they did settle out of court in the end and Microsoft took control of the domain.

Really, those cases are nothing alike.

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