OpenRW, an open source engine for Grand Theft Auto III

Not so successful here... (openSUSE TW, nvidia 364.19)

The engine was built only when I turned off the option to build the test suite as well. (cmake -DBUILD_TESTS=OFF)

To get the data files, I installed the original cds into a folder through my windows xp virtual machine. I also copied the contents of the audio cd (the 'Play' disc) into the audio subfolder. To set environment variables for X11 (xfce) under openSUSE can be tricky -- after a couple of false starts I learnt that I had to add the option to export OPENRW_GAME_PATH into ~/.config/xfce4/xinitrc

Anyhow -- here's the result. The game starts, and the intro sequence plays just fine (graphics, music, everything works except motion blur):


As soon as the intro ends, though, a screen-sized 'minimap' flashes for a second, and then the game hangs on this screen:


I can still escape into the pause menu, but can't do anything there.

I'll see whether I'll get different results on my laptop, later on.

EDIT: So, being an idiot, I forgot to select the TEST option from the main menu. This is what it results in:


I can get inside & drive the cars, but can't descend to the lower levels of the car park. To see even this much is pretty nice, though.


Last edited by walther von stolzing on 20 May 2016 at 3:50 pm UTC

getting this compile error on Linux Mint 17.3 64bit

[ 1%] Performing update step for 'inih-repository'
Already on 'master'
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
[ 2%] No configure step for 'inih-repository'
[ 3%] No build step for 'inih-repository'
[ 4%] No install step for 'inih-repository'
[ 5%] Completed 'inih-repository'
[ 9%] Built target inih-repository
[ 10%] Built target inih
[ 11%] Building CXX object rwlib/CMakeFiles/rwlib.dir/source/gl/TextureData.cpp.o
In file included from /home/chuck/Desktop/openrw-master/rwlib/source/gl/TextureData.cpp:1:0:
/home/chuck/Desktop/openrw-master/rwlib/source/gl/TextureData.hpp:3:23: fatal error: glm/glm.hpp: No such file or directory
#include <glm/glm.hpp>
^
compilation terminated.
make[2]: *** [rwlib/CMakeFiles/rwlib.dir/source/gl/TextureData.cpp.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [rwlib/CMakeFiles/rwlib.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

getting this compile error on Linux Mint 17.3 64bit

[ 1%] Performing update step for 'inih-repository'
Already on 'master'
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.
[ 2%] No configure step for 'inih-repository'
[ 3%] No build step for 'inih-repository'
[ 4%] No install step for 'inih-repository'
[ 5%] Completed 'inih-repository'
[ 9%] Built target inih-repository
[ 10%] Built target inih
[ 11%] Building CXX object rwlib/CMakeFiles/rwlib.dir/source/gl/TextureData.cpp.o
In file included from /home/chuck/Desktop/openrw-master/rwlib/source/gl/TextureData.cpp:1:0:
/home/chuck/Desktop/openrw-master/rwlib/source/gl/TextureData.hpp:3:23: fatal error: glm/glm.hpp: No such file or directory
#include <glm/glm.hpp>
^
compilation terminated.
make[2]: *** [rwlib/CMakeFiles/rwlib.dir/source/gl/TextureData.cpp.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [rwlib/CMakeFiles/rwlib.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

fixed it by installing libglm-dev


Last edited by on 20 May 2016 at 5:06 pm UTC

It's exciting news but I would be even more happy if it were a completely new game not just a clone... I mean, yeah, it would be nice to play it on Linux natively, but I'm sure that most of us won't play it for too long, only long enough to satisfy our nostalgia... If people would direct all this hard work into creating something new, and free (because this one requires us to buy the original) then it would also be much popular and more valuable.

I think that having this open source engine is great, and the same goes for OpenMW... but I really hope that one day we will see forks that bring new, original and open source data files as well... Unfortunately, I really doubt this will happen :(

There aren't many open-source games out there, and most of them are copies of Windows games... which is kinda sad. The best open-source game that it's also original, is, in my opinion, 0 A.D. which did start as a remake of AOE 1 but then became much more than that to the point that they don't really have much in common anymore.

There's also a difference between remakes and copies... If this engine would offer better mechanics and graphics and be more mod-friendly, then of course, I would be much happier. That would actually bring something new.

Now I'm sorry if I sounded too harsh, I'm actually grateful for their work, but I thought that someone should really make a critical comment between the sea of the positive ones.
I wrote this hoping to determine you to make an even better job, I didn't do it in bad faith.


Last edited by 1mHfoksd1Z on 20 May 2016 at 5:27 pm UTC

Do EULAs of modern games still allow such things?

Not so successful here... (openSUSE TW, nvidia 364.19)

As soon as the intro ends, though, a screen-sized 'minimap' flashes for a second, and then the game hangs on this screen:

I can still escape into the pause menu, but can't do anything there.

I'll see whether I'll get different results on my laptop, later on.

I can get inside & drive the cars, but can't descend to the lower levels of the car park. To see even this much is pretty nice, though.

The game hangs on the end of the beginning cutscene on Intel/Nvidia hardware only.
Runs flawless (but slow, obviously) on my AMD A8-7410 APU running fglrx 15.3 on my laptop.


Last edited by TacoDeBoss on 20 May 2016 at 6:55 pm UTC

The map issue on Nvidia hardware can be fixed by switching to Nouveau/Mesa.
Also, there's an in-game debug menu accessed with the M key.

Runs flawless (but slow, obviously) on my AMD A8-7410 APU running fglrx 15.3 on my laptop.

That looks great; and thanks for having already reported it on github.
I wish I had AMD hardware to try it on; but I'm limited to intel integrated & nvidia.

One of the flaws of the early GTA games were the loading breaks when entering another district of the city. I wonder if they could manage to get rid of them. It should be no problem to hold all the data in memory with today's hardware.

One of the flaws of the early GTA games were the loading breaks when entering another district of the city. I wonder if they could manage to get rid of them. It should be no problem to hold all the data in memory with today's hardware.

Already done. There's no loading in this version.

Do EULAs of modern games still allow such things?

That doesn't matter really. At least in the EU emulators and clean reimplementations of pretty much anything (except for certain crypto technologies I guess) are perfectly legal. No EULA can override law.

As long as OpenRW doesn't actually share anything that falls under Rockstar's copyright, it should be fine.

I hope the studios / publishers will stop going after reimplementation of engines for playing the games in linux requireing the original copy (since we need to pay for it anyway).

Happened with the guys reimplementing vampires: bloodlines (Project Vaulderie? Seem to have forgotten..)

Looks promising though, taking a few minutes browsing the source I didn't really think they would be able to render properly yet...

Well, they went after them after they started importing and improving character models and redesigning levels in Unity, which is something I would have loved, but it's certainly different than using the original data files.
CCP did go somewhat overboard with their cease and desist letter though: "Specifically, please remove all references to Vampire: The Masquerade and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines from your website, software, and related materials."

I'd be happy if this were done for San Andreas too

Have a look at http://www.gritengine.com/

View video on youtube.com