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Medal of Honor Linux Beta Released

Posted by simoniker on from the honorable-conversion-deserves-medal dept.

DF5JT writes "Icculus has finally released a preview of his current work on the Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault Linux port, in the form of a Beta executable. He says 'It's playable, but the sound is wonky and has other issues.' You'll need an installed Windows version of the game to start the binary."

31 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Torrent file by DJFelix · · Score: 5, Informative
    Click here for a torrent link. This little site will probably die pretty quick.


    Meta info


    btshowmetainfo 20021207 - decode BitTorrent

    metainfo files

    metainfo file.:

    mohaa-lnxclient-beta1.tar.bz2.torrent

    info hash.....: fb4b1166a74f080cfb15347625e5a0b6fd8f62e3

    file name.....: mohaa-lnxclient-beta1.tar.bz2

    file size.....: 7142911 (27 * 262144 + 65023)

    announce url..: http://prologic.no-ip.com:6969/announce

  2. Windows version by olderchurch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What's up with "you need an installed Windows version"? Why can't they have a normal beta?

    That said, I'm all for Linux games. Great work guys! Gaming is the only reasion my best PC is still Windows.

    --
    Disclaimer: This opinion was created without the use of any facts
    1. Re:Windows version by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm sorry, but it needs to be said: RTFA.

      Why can't they have a normal beta?

      "They" don't have any linux version at all. This is a third-party piece of software unsupported by EA for making MoH:AA work in linux.

  3. who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    i'm wondering if there's really that much demand out there to play moh:aa now, since that game was released over a year ago, and i personally haven't heard of any friends playing it lately. insert your diatribe below...

    1. Re:who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      No. It makes everything (almost) one-bullet kills, makes some weapons have more recoil, and usually reduces the number of grenades. If you want all that you have listed, stick with Tom Clancy games.

    2. Re:who cares? by bogie · · Score: 4, Informative

      Umm maybe linux gamers will care? How about people who still play MOH and use linux but now have one less reason to boot into Windows.

      "and i personally haven't heard of any friends playing it lately. insert your diatribe below..."

      No diatribe, just a link to a page showing what a dumb AC you are. http://www.gamespy.com/stats/

      Gamespy shows 2084 servers and 2873 players currently(2:50amEST), of course its late so earlier there are probably more players online.

      So yea there are just a few people playing this one year old game.

      --
      If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
  4. Woah by getitconnected · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now wait. Can I run this over SSH on my Red Hat server? Now that might slow down my hosting clients and they might yell but who cares?? It's Medal of Honor. No GUI, No Problem.

  5. Linux Games Sales by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder if games sales/use for Linux would be greater if the Linux port were released at the same time as the Winodws version. It seems to me many people do not bother with the Linux version or patches because by the time it comes out for Linux they have been playing it in Windows for months and don't feel like moving it over. This was the case for me with NWN.

    If the major games were released for Windows and Linux at the same time though there would never be a need to install on Windows.

    1. Re:Linux Games Sales by notque · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I wonder if games sales/use for Linux would be greater if the Linux port were released at the same time as the Winodws version. It seems to me many people do not bother with the Linux version or patches because by the time it comes out for Linux they have been playing it in Windows for months and don't feel like moving it over. This was the case for me with NWN.

      If the major games were released for Windows and Linux at the same time though there would never be a need to install on Windows.

      There wouldn't be a need for Windows. (In my case.)

      Yes, Linux sales would be much higher, as well as Linux usage. No one wants to run a system that won't allow them to make use of the programs they want to use.

      Hopefully we will get to that point soon. I'm just happy to get to the point where when I want to use a program I can expect it to function properly, and not have to do a whole lot of configuring to it.

      --
      http://use.perl.org
  6. Porting games from Windows to Linux by chevelleSS · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why is it so hard to port games from Windows to Linux?? Is it just the connections to interfaces (graphics cards, keyboard, joystick mouse) or does it have more to do with compilers and incompatibilities??

    1. Re:Porting games from Windows to Linux by eddy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem seems to be that developers take multi-platform code as an afterthought. "We'll write the windows version and then we'll put some junior dev on porting it".

      Few seem to realize that developing multi-platform from day one is a) not harder, b) shows professionalism and c) is one of the greatest ways to accomplish good bug free code.

      I'm sure Carmack agrees. :-P

      --
      Belief is the currency of delusion.
    2. Re:Porting games from Windows to Linux by Slack3r78 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The difficulty comes from short-sited code written by developers who seem the think DirectX is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Porting something that has been built with the heart of its architechture around one platform takes far longer and is usually kludgier than a system that has had portablility in mind since its inception. The disaster that has been the NWN port is a key example - the game was built around proprietary file formats and libraries that didn't have a linux (or mac) equivalent. Really, there's no excuse for this in my mind, especially on a project that was intended to be that big from the start.

    3. Re:Porting games from Windows to Linux by tjwhaynes · · Score: 4, Informative

      Why is it so hard to port games from Windows to Linux?? Is it just the connections to interfaces (graphics cards, keyboard, joystick mouse) or does it have more to do with compilers and incompatibilities??

      Partly. But if that were all of it, it still wouldn't take so long. The real reason is that most software companies writing Windows software never consider any other platform at all during the design stages and so the code is written in the idiom of the target platform.

      If you want to write cross-platform (or even just plain good simple) code, you probably want to:

      • use definite sized types such as unsigned 32bit integer rather than native int.
      • segregate all platform distinct functions in separate layers
      • have a general graphics interface through which all graphics are done - all graphics interface (direct 3D, open GL, funky personal 3D lib as found in various consoles) work is done on in a library implementing this general interface.
      • have a general audio interface so that you can plug A3D, EAX, OpenAL or whatever in on the far side according to the eventual target.
      • have all input devices run through a general interface so that you can plug Directplay, libSDL or whatever into the far side as needed.
      • choose a specific endianess for all saved files and convert if necessary when saving/loading (this allows you to switch files between Windows and Max, or Linux Intel to Linux Alpha, etc.

      Given all that, and certain other caveats about threading, forking and other process model distinctions, you'll find that you can have multiple platforms up and running fairly easily. Your code won't be making specific assumptions about its platform architecture and most nasty bugs will either be shallow for one of the platform/lib combinations or limited to one of the platform specific libraries (such as the Direct 3D driver, etc) where you can hack/fix/workaround it in that library alone.

      Of course, robust code isn't necessarily always a priority for Windows games and at the moment, a Windows-only company is only cutting off 7% or so of it's possible market by being Windows only. That will change given time. Linux is here to stay and it's presence on the desktop will only increase from here. As people get used to the idea that Windows is not the only option, Mac OS may also pick up new converts.

      Cheers,

      Toby Haynes

      --
      Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
    4. Re:Porting games from Windows to Linux by HBI · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Linux is here to stay and it's presence on the desktop will only increase from here. As people get used to the idea that Windows is not the only option, Mac OS may also pick up new converts.

      You are an optimist. People buy home machines because they look like what they are used to at work/school/whatever. Hence, most purchases are Windows boxes.

      Breaking that requires breaking into schools and businesses with Linux on the desktop, and that isn't happening anywhere significant in the US. Cited issue is 'the users are used to what we have, why change'. You might have a better shot in Europe. Even the specter of huge licensing costs doesn't seem to have made much of a dent here.

      Macs even had a toehold in education once - it's pretty much faded far as I can see: most community colleges seem to be all Win32 now. Only the well funded private schools provide labs full of Macs anymore. Who knows how long even that will last.

      The window (no pun intended) for breaking Microsoft's desktop monopoly has passed. IBM had the last big shot back in the 93-95 timeframe with OS/2 and blew it for various reasons. I don't think we are going to see much luck here, now or in the future.

      I must sadly note that OS/2 had about as slick a desktop compared to Win31 as KDE or GNOME compare to Win32 today. Within close striking distance but not quite as good. The parallels to that situation back then are fairly striking. Big complaints back then were 'difficult to get vendor drivers for' 'new hardware isn't supported' 'lack of applications' - 2 out of 3 apply today. If you turn the third one to 'lack of commercial quality applications with a consistent interface', you have 3 out of 3.

      This one has been beaten to death by trolls in the past, but sheesh, when history repeats itself do we all have to stay dumb and watch things go south without comment? Huge expenditures of time and effort by both paid and volunteer coders are being made to match Microsoft's commercial application/os juggernaut. I have been watching this industry for 20+ years. I have seen companies come and go, and technologies follow their arc. I can't see a longterm plan where the current Linux model works to take over the desktop, however.

      Paradigm shift required.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  7. Re:If only all Linux ports worked this way by notque · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is CivIII for linux out? And what about Play the world?

    Just questioning as you mentioned it. Warcraft 3, and Civ III ptw are the only reasons I run Windows.

    --
    http://use.perl.org
  8. Because they're idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Because they rely on the installer to have extracted all the funky resource files from the CD.

    See, game companies love to hide all their data-files in propritary containers and put them on the CDs together with a closed source script-interpreting binary to unpack and install them.

    Nobody knows why they continue to do this even though developer after developer has been burned (see also: Bioware). Our best guess is that they're simply stupid.

    You wouldn't believe the stupidity you can find in the source code when it comes to portability issues, but that's another rant.

  9. surefire way to get linux into homes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If we're serious about getting linux much more widely adopted, linux needs a killer game that isn't available on windows...

    Just imagine if Doom III was shipped as Linux-Only.

    (hey, one can dream right?)...

    1. Re:surefire way to get linux into homes by notque · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If we're serious about getting linux much more widely adopted, linux needs a killer game that isn't available on windows...

      I think a better way would be releasing both games at the same time on both systems. A console war isn't what Linux needs. It can handle itself on it's own with a fair playing field.

      --
      http://use.perl.org
    2. Re:surefire way to get linux into homes by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Just imagine if Doom III was shipped as Linux-Only.

      That would do way more to kill Doom III than it would to boost Linux (unless it came with something like Knoppix on the CD, but rebooting is still a pain, and then people wouldn't have to install Linux, which is the point right?)

      Maybe if the Linux port was released like 3 days early, it might make some people try to install Linux just to get the game early, but I hardly think those people would get a good impression. I can hear them now: "KDE? GNOME? XFree86? Partitions? Ext3? ReiserFS? WTF? All I want is to play my Doom III dammit!"

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    3. Re:surefire way to get linux into homes by Peyna · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Just because Linux users install Windows to play certain games doesn't mean that Windows users will install Linux to play certain games.

      --
      What?
  10. Mirror by MrBiiggy · · Score: 3, Informative

    I have it mirrored: mohaa-lnxclient-beta1.tar.bz2

  11. Re:Dudes! by Buzz_Litebeer · · Score: 3, Informative

    its one of the most played games on the internet for FPS shooters, at least using gamespy stats. at any one time it can often have more players than UNreal 2k3, as it is right now it is number 5.

    Live Stats
    Game Players Game Players
    Half Life
    73661 Battlefield 1942
    7584
    Americas Army: Operations
    4938 Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
    4693
    Medal of Honor Allied Assault
    4014 Unreal Tournament 2003
    3966

    all gleaned from gamespy stats

    --
    If you don't vote, you don't matter, so don't waste your time telling me your opinion
  12. Just curious by JVert · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Havn't tried the game emulated but does the windows version run better in wine then the beta port?

  13. Re:Port requires installed Windows version??? by Istealmymusic · · Score: 4, Funny
    If you do not "have" windows, then you would not "have" this game, would you?

    Way "to" go, genius.
    --
    "The lesson to be learned is not to take the comments on slashdot too literally." --Vinnie Falco, BearShare
  14. Kudos by WHudson · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Kudos for just requiring the Windows version of the game. Except for some older DOS games that are being ported to work in OSX natively, it's a pain to buy two copies of my favorite games just because I have two different operating systems. I wouldn't mind paying a reduced fee, but shelling out for what is essentially a new binary -- the data content is largely the same -- seems to be a bit silly.

  15. Oh No!! by mojo17 · · Score: 5, Funny

    One of the reasons I boot to Linux is to force myself to stop playing MOHAA and get some real work done. I guess this trick won't work anymore. My existence is doomed.

  16. Installer for Linux by GiMP · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ravage's Installer for Linux.

  17. Re:WHen? by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Besides the .bust and possibly bad management, I think that Loki might have just been a bit too early into the Linux desktop arena. Right now, the Linux desktop universe is probably at least 5 times what it was in 2000, and may be starting to grow exponentially.

    Even so, one big problem that Linux games have is the prevalence of dual-booting. Too many Linux users are willing to keep Windows/wine running, if only to run games. Under such conditions, making a Linux version splits the market more than it expands it.

    If we really want to encourage game companies to start making Linux versions, we're going to have to start boycotting the Windows version, and wait until the Linux version comes out (if it ever does) to buy new games.
    Short term pain for long term gain..

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  18. Re:Are You Kidding Me? by antiMStroll · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Somehow, "serious home operating system" defined as "gaming platform" comes off as an oxymoron. Linux does most things well except for gaming. Universal home operating system? Not yet. Serious? Plenty.

  19. Really Powerful Stuff. by Mulletproof · · Score: 3, Funny

    "You'll need an installed Windows version of the game to start the binary."

    "That's right! Linux-- Bringing up the ass-end of gaming for over a decade!"

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  20. Re:If only all Linux ports worked this way by Erwos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, not in the way you're thinking. You need the Windows versions of these games because the Linux port _doesn't_ come with such essentials as sound and texture files. However, if you were to pirate the Windows game and then install the Linux version using those files, it would still work fine. Well, except that you still need the CD-key.

    However, I must add that pirating Windows software for the Linux version of a game is a sure way to kill any future ports of other games to Linux (why port if it _raises_ piracy?). Play it clean - besides, how much is MOHAA now anyways? $20? You're not going to break the bank buying it.

    -Erwos

    --
    Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.