Possibility of 3DGS Mac Port

Posted By: Rush

Possibility of 3DGS Mac Port - 10/17/07 02:01

Greetings everyone!

I've been using 3DGS for almost 2 years now. It helped me out with my undergrad Thesis and did a job well done. I have no question in mind that 3DGS will have to be the ONLY (if not the best) real Game Authoring Tool in the market today.

I recently got hired on an entertainment company and we plan on developing some game. My boss (sadly) specified that we choose a multiplatform engine. That's the reason why I had to leave my beloved 3DGS for the moment and start the whole learning process with what will have to be the most feasible of the options left... Torque. I ran into other great engines too but all seem to have something missing (C4's lack of scripting, Unity's lack of Windows IDE, Unreal and Cry's price tag) that is why I ended up with Torque. I have to admit that Torque is really powerfull specially with the great terrain engine. However it is really hard to use (even the scripting language) and I really am missing the fun and level of control 3DGS provided.

But, I had to go on anyways. I am currently on the process of learning TorqueScript (a bit tough BTW). But I have no intention of permanently leaving 3DGS at all. One question though:

How possible Conitec port 3DGS over to Mac or other OSes like Linux?

While some may argue that 3DGS is a bit lacking on features like graphics, terrain, etc, IMHO, this (not being multiplatform) will have to be 3DGS's ONLY real weakness.

Can we hope for a future with MAC? I mean, we with 3DGS use scripts and DLL's extensively so the executable portion of games is pretty much encapsulated. Even our GUI system is not windowish (or Macish or Linuxish). The possible porting hindrance I can think of is the engine being DirectX based... but Lite-C can access OpenGL.

Thoughts?
Posted By: fastlane69

Re: Possibility of 3DGS Mac Port - 10/17/07 02:56

This is an old, old question. Please do a "search" before asking or making recommendations in teh future so as to avoid repeating ourselves.

Here is the abridged version of the answer:

a) 3DGS is DX based so a Mac port is not possible. It would have to be a complete re-write.
b) There are Win emulators which allow you to run Windows games in Macs thus making the lack of cross-platform not exactly a moot point, but less of an issue.
c) If you have the money, Conitec would be happy to do whatever you want... they're whores that way. But it would cost you about the same as investing in a cross-platform engine to begin with.

Here is the really, really abriged version of the answer: not going to happen.
Posted By: PHeMoX

Re: Possibility of 3DGS Mac Port - 10/17/07 07:42

Quote:

a) 3DGS is DX based so a Mac port is not possible. It would have to be a complete re-write.




I'd like to know if this is still true ever since we have Lite-C at our disposal in A7... sure, it wouldn't run on DX then, but you can make games entirely with OpenGl too methinks,

Cheers
Posted By: jcl

Re: Possibility of 3DGS Mac Port - 10/17/07 07:49

Yes, it's still true. Lite-C supports OpenGL, but the engine is still DirectX.

Gamestudio runs on the Mac under Windows anyway, so there is not much demand for a MAC port currently.
Posted By: Paul_L_Ming

Re: Possibility of 3DGS Mac Port - 10/18/07 15:19

Hiya.

Just an FYI: The C4 engine has Scripting.
http://www.terathon.com/wiki/index.php?title=Using_the_Script_Editor
http://www.terathon.com/c4engine/features.php

I'd suggest taking another look at C4 personally. I've been 'using' (re: getting my updates, reading the forums, and generally 'hanging out' with C4 since I bought it back in 2005).
Posted By: ventilator

Re: Possibility of 3DGS Mac Port - 10/18/07 15:23

this "scripting" system is very limited though at the moment. from what i see it is more for setting things like triggers and doors in the level editor. it isn't comparable to quest3d's visual scripting system for example. for C4 you need C++ experience.
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