Source port

A source port is a software project based on the source code of a game engine that allows the game to be played on operating systems or computing platforms with which the game was not originally compatible.

This article is about software ported by the associated fan community. For software ported by the original developer, see porting. The term "source port" can also refer to the port from which a packet is sent, e.g. a TCP port.

Description

Source ports are often created by fans after the original developer hands over the maintenance support for a game by releasing its source code to the public (see List of commercial video games with later released source code). The term was coined after the release of the source code to Doom. Due to copyright issues concerning the sound library used by the original DOS version, id Software released only the source code to the Linux version of the game.[1] Since the majority of Doom players were DOS users the first step for a fan project was to port the Linux source code to DOS.[2] A legitimate source port includes only the engine portion of the game and require that the data files of the game in question already be present on users' systems. Source ports are in no way meant to encourage copyright infringement of software.

Source ports share the similarity with unofficial patches that both don't change the original gameplay as such projects are by definition mods. However many source ports add support for gameplay mods, which is usually optional (e.g. DarkPlaces consists of a source port engine and a gameplay mod that are even distributed separately[3]). While the primary goal of any source port is compatibility with newer hardware, many projects support other enhancements. Common examples of additions include support for higher video resolutions and different aspect ratios, hardware accelerated renderers (OpenGL and/or Direct3D), enhanced input support (including the ability to map controls onto additional input devices), 3D character models (in case of 2.5D games), higher resolution textures, support to replace MIDI with digital audio (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, etc.), and enhanced multiplayer support using the Internet.

Several source ports have been created for various games specifically to address online multiplayer support. Most older games were not created to take advantage of the Internet and the low latency, high bandwidth Internet connections available to computer gamers today. Furthermore, old games may use outdated network protocols to create multiplayer connections, such as IPX protocol, instead of Internet Protocol. Another problem was games that required a specific IP address for connecting with another player. This requirement made it difficult to quickly find a group of strangers to play with — the way that online games are most commonly played today. To address this shortcoming, specific source ports such as Skulltag added "lobbies", which are basically integrated chat rooms in which players can meet and post the location of games they are hosting or may wish to join. Similar facilities may be found in newer games and online game services such as Valve's Steam, Blizzard's battle.net, and GameSpy Arcade.

Alternatives

If the source code of a software is not available, alternative approaches to achieve portability are Emulation, Engine remakes, and Static recompilation.

Notable source ports

Original name	Port
Aliens versus Predator	icculus.org/avp
Arx Fatalis	Arx Libertatis
Blake Stone: Aliens Of Gold	BStone
Blake Stone: Planet Strike	BStone
Blood	BloodGDX, NBlood, Raze
Catacomb 3D	Reflection Keen, CatacombGL
Call to Power II	Apolyton Civilization Site: Call to Power II: Source Code Project
Commander Keen	Commander Genius
Descent/Descent II	DXX-Rebirth, D2X-XL, DXX-Retro
Doom/Doom II	See List of Doom source ports for a detailed list.
Duke Nukem 3D	EDuke32, JFDuke3D, Rancidmeat Port, xDuke Port, nDuke Port, hDuke Port, Rednukem, Raze
FreeSpace 2	FreeSpace 2 Source Code Project
Heretic	Chocolate Heretic, ZDoom, Doomsday, GLHeretic for Linux, Heretic for Linux, HHeretic
Hexen	Chocolate Hexen, ZDoom, Doomsday, GLHexen, HHexen, WinHexen
Hexen II	Anvil of Thyrion, Hammer of Thyrion
Homeworld	Homeworld SDL
Ken's Labyrinth	LAB3D/SDL
Jagged Alliance 2 Wildfire	Stracciatella/SDL
Marathon 2	Aleph One, Aleph One/SDL
Myth II	Project Magma
Quake	QuakeSpasm, QuakeDS, DarkPlaces, FitzQuake, GLQuake, Project: Twilight, Telejano, Tenebrae, WinQuake, QuakeWorld, ezQuake, fodQuake, FreeQuake
Quake II	KMQuake II, q^2, Q2PRO, Yamagi Quake II
Quake III	ioquake3, OpenMoHAA, Q3Base, Quake III: Arena for FreeBSD, Spearmint
Redneck Rampage	Rednukem
Rise of the Triad	WinROTT, GLROTT, rottexpr
Savage: The Battle for Newerth	Savage: Rebirth
Shadow Warrior	JFShadowWarrior, SWP, VoidSW, Raze
SimCity	Micropolis
Spelunky	Spelunky ClassicHD[4]
Star Control II	The Ur-Quan Masters
Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force (holomatch)	iostvoyHM
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast / Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy	OpenJK
Strife	Chocolate Strife
System Shock	Shockolate[5][6]
Tyrian	OpenTyrian
Warzone 2100	Warzone Resurrection
Wolfenstein 3D	ECWolf, NewWolf, Wolf4SDL, Wolfenstein 3-D Redux, WolfGL, WolfGL-3D
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory	ioWolfET, ET: Legacy

See also

• Enhanced remake
• Game engine recreation
• Static recompilation
• Unofficial patch
• List of commercial video games with later released source code
• Fork (software development)

References

1. Carmack, John (1997-12-23). "doomsrc.txt". Doom source code release notes. id Software. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
2. "Source Ports". Doom Wiki. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
3. "LordHavoc's DarkPlaces Quake Modification: Downloads". Retrieved 2008-10-23.
4. SpelunkyClassicHD on github.com
5. Wawro, Alex (April 6, 2018). "Nightdive shares source code for System Shock on Mac". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
6. Logan Booker (2018-06-16). "'Shockolate' Is A Cross-Platform System Shock Built On The Original, Open-Sourced Code". Kotaku.

External links