Split Screen Linux

by benfelts70 on 03/06/2010 00:21, 6 messages, last message: 03/13/2010 02:36, 1813 views, last view: 04/25/2024 19:42

Hello I want to start a project called \"The Linux Split Screen Project \".

The goal of the project would be to edit the source code of free Linux games and make them function in a two player split screen modes.

My hope for the project is to start small and convert a few games to split screen like Nexuizs, or Cube fps etc...

After the conversion it\'d be nice to put the split screen games into their own distribution that contained tv out, much like the Mythbuntu.

I feel that this idea is different from other game linux front ends because it would allow two people to play on the screen at one time; like the xbox or PS2.

Do you know anyone who would be interested in working as a team to edit the open source code of existing Linux GPL games?

Two Linux Games that are already split screen are Torc racing simulator and Battle tanks. I am interested in how they managed to code split screen two player into their games but can\'t find the creators email addresses.

   Board Index   

#1: How *not* to start a mod.

by LeftClicker on 03/06/2010 01:21

Just in case (*cough* *cough*) you haven't read this: read it. You'll get further with people.

http://cube.wikispaces.com/How+Not+to+Start+a+Mod

reply to this message

#2: Re: How *not* to start a mod.

by MeatROme on 03/06/2010 10:15, refers to #1

Indeed, LeftClicker.
If you (benfelts70) don't have the knowledge on how to code multiple viewports into an OpenGL application yourself chances are slim you'll get your idea off the ground.
Still, I can't stop myself from commenting on your idea a bit:
Split-Screen gaming is really fun, but IMHO it's a relic of pre-interwebs times - although possibly something indeed worth a revival since it's a lot of fun to actually smell the opponents sweat and see the hectic pressing of keys, instead of possibly just hearing their swearing over VoIP or the even less personal silent dropping of their avatar and a quick-key post of "Good Shot!" ;-)
The games you mentioned though are a good deal less complex than sauerbraten or nexius - such games put a high demand on the hardware for one player alone, rendering two seperate instances of the game on the same machine will drastically reduce the processing power available to each "client" - meaning either you dial down the level of detail (shaders, shadows, ..) for both or suffer insufferable (sic!) drops in fps.

reply to this message

#3: ..

by SheeEttin on 03/06/2010 10:26

So let me get this straight... You want to divide the screen in half (or quarters, or more) and put one player in each segment?
I'm not really sure how that'd work.
You'd need multi-pointer X, which was only merged in X11R7.5, which is the very latest version. Ubuntu 9.10, the latest, only has 7.4 (though 10.04, scheduled for release April 29, does have 7.5.)
Even with MPX, you would probably still have issues with pointer grabbing. (Keyboard not so much, apparently other physical devices are associated with virtual devices, i.e. pointers.)
Oh, and I don't think you can do much with SDL 1.2. SDL 1.3 apparently you can, but as far as I know, it's nowhere near being released.

You'll probably want to read (and understand, good luck with that) this: http://wiki.x.org/wiki/Development/Documentation/MPX
And a conversation on the SDL mailing list (search for "[SDL] Let's talk about device input in SDL 1.3")
http://lists.libsdl.org/pipermail/sdl-libsdl.org/2009-October/thread.html#72450
Or, the first message in that conversation (note, there's one more message after the Taiko drum tangent, but it's not especially important for your purposes): http://lists.libsdl.org/pipermail/sdl-libsdl.org/2009-October/072450.html

So yeah, you can if you want to, but why wouldn't you just play over LAN or multiseat X? :P

reply to this message

#4: ..

by kripken on 03/06/2010 15:00

SheeEttin is right that input would be problematic, especially with two pointers/mice.

Aside from that, if you are still going to do this somehow, I would recommend the following approach: Not edit the game's source code at all. Instead, write a wrapper script that runs a server and two clients, and positions the windows properly. For games with client-server architectures - like sauer - this would be much, much easier than editing the source code so a single client will work with two players.

reply to this message

#5: Re: wrapper

by MeatROme on 03/06/2010 17:46, refers to #4

sneaky smarts kripken ;)

reply to this message

#6: Alternative input

by velociostrich on 03/13/2010 02:36

Split-screen would be possible given SDL 1.2 if joystick input was used in place of a keyboard/mouse; this would still, however, require a significant amount of work to implement.

reply to this message

   Board Index