Developing a quake mod in linux

[ravalox]

Hey, here's an interesting what-if; how difficult is it to develop a Quake4 mod in a linux environment?

[-=GGW=- $ol!d $n4>|e]

quake4 is a no go, but doom3 is fine, i'm doin one right now if you have questions about packages. Reason quake4 can't be done in linux is because there is no map compiler released that runs under tux at this time.

[ravalox]

Ah but soft, the mod I have in mind will not involve new maps. Simply gameplay alterations, new rules and some new items for players to possess. Is the SDK developed enough for that under linux?

[-=GGW=- $ol!d $n4>|e]

yeah, should be fine for that type of stuff, as far as I know the only thing holding back development in linux is the mapping.

there is a guide to getting the sdk to compile over on modwiki.net

[Mandr4ke]

I've been playing with the Quake 4 SDK under linux, it's a little diffcult casue off all the .def files and most of the tools for it only run in windows.. haha

[-=GGW=- $ol!d $n4>|e]

the only big problem i've run into so far is that there isnt a .af editor for linux... been able to change almost everything else tho.. the .def system made absolutely no sense to me at first but I'm writing a small guide as I go for anyone else thats trying to dev

[Mandr4ke]

[-=GGW=- $ol!d $n4>|e]

wow, not having a .af editor is annoying as hell, just buckled and tried to get doom3 to install with cedega but it fails to run with "could not load default.cfg" I don't even know if gtkradiant ever plans on adding a .af editor. Untill ID ports thiers or the game runs under wine or cedega, its not worth it if you'r planning on adding any articulated figures such as anything that requires a bone structure.. which is everything in the game besides random map objects and the map itself... Guess tux users have to wait for 2k7 to finally be able to make a mod for a commercial engine

[Saint1911]

[-=GGW=- $ol!d $n4>|e]

[ravalox]

That's kinda disheartening, I mean we should be thankful id's linux support is as good as it is, but it seems like the linux community is a goldmine of developers willing to expand their game with new ideas. The quake4 mod I have in mind I don't believe has ever been done and I think it's simple and innovative. It would be a shame if I had to use windows to make it. Maybe we could appeal to id on those grounds, something like the notion that making their tools for the linux community would open up a new pocket of people willing to make new content and gameplay changes. It would possibly extend the online longevity of their titles, although I suppose when you are sitting as cash rich as they are that may just not be a priority.

[-=GGW=- $ol!d $n4>|e]

well, I've gotten past the problems and am now moving along nicely but regretably, you need to install doom 3 in cedega which makes the idea of writing up a how-to for it useless because its exactly like developing on windows. Theres currently an unconfirmed bug in der_tons md5 exporter for blender I've run into but if you need help with the def system or writing materials etc feel free to pm me any questions or post here.

I would start a wiki node about developing doom 3 but too busy developing to maintain a how-to as well.

Most of the stuff can already be found on idDevNet and modwiki.net, would be better to post problems on doom3world though.

The editors do work under cedega, they are just extremeley buggy by nature, the .af editor crashes with a runtime error unless you save a new af file, quit the game, go in and manually edit the md5mesh line then go back into the game, spawn the af, then kill it, then spawn again.

even then it's iffy, there was a reason id didn't bother to port the editors, only the map editor is really stable enough to be included witht he game and we have gtkradiant for that.