A question for real programmers, CoH on ARM?

[DoctorDitko]

I am a script kiddie. I hack together bash scripts to help with my system admin-ing, I can do a "./configure, make, sudo make install" without flinching, but I am in no way a programmer.

 

So, to anyone who is, given that:

1. Windows for ARM can now emulate 64-bit x86 fairly well.
2. WINE for Android just hit a milestone of compatibility, given ARM Windows executables.
3. We have the source from SCORE.

 

Is there any hope of combining these into a CoH I could run/walk/crawl on my Android phone? Would it be daunting to try recompiling for ARM-64?

 

Please destroy my vast ignorance, it has purple triangles on it!

[iBot]

Possible?  Yes.  Most things in coding are possible given time and resources to do it.  My guess would be the biggest hurdle is the underlying graphics engine used to render the game and then the networking code that controls the server communications.  Beyond that the game is designed to run keyboard/mouse so not sure how easy it would be to convert to a touch interface.  Again not impossible but certainly not a project to take lightly.

[DoctorDitko]

Excellent points, thanks for the expertise.

 

I was counting on the networking and graphics to be handled by WINE.

I think if someone compiled the CoH client for Windows on ARM, or maybe even RT, we might be able to fake it from there.

 

(And, yeah, we're probably looking at one of those Bluetooth keyboards...)

 

I'm not thinking of running a Hami raid, but just enough function to check my messages and maybe update my auctions would be fantastic!

 

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by DoctorDitko

[iBot]

Agreed certainly wouldn't try to do something that taxes even most PCs but just to jump in a fire farm or maybe do a few solo missions I think it would handle it.  I mentioned the graphics because it really depends on what libraries the underlying game engine uses.  Circa 2004 there weren't a whole lot of available cross platform game engines so most games used some form of home grown implementation.  Those dependencies are then difficult to port to other platforms.  If memory serves, CoH is some form or other of OpenGL but I could be wrong there.  Again not impossible but a technical challenge to be sure.

 

Hadn't thought of a bluetooth keyboard.  Good call.

[Glacier Peak]

Wouldn't it be easier to run a virtual machine and mirror it over a network? That way all the hard work is done by your normal gaming setup and you only experience a little latency instead of a terrible graphical interpretation of the game.

[Luminara]

 

[Replacement]

5 hours ago, Luminara said:

 

Specifically, scroll down to Faultline's response.

[DoctorDitko]

Thanks! I can't believe I missed that thread.

 

IIRC, CoH used OpenGL for graphics and DirectX for input. WINE would cover the DirectX part.

 

Some of the issues they raise are solved problems, though:

 

SDL 2+ has several OpenGL translation options, so that  may not be a problem.

 

I know OpenMW uses SDL to run Morrowind -- and pretty well on Android -- though Android 11 broke their touch controls, it's not bad with a Bluetooth controller. (Get it from FDroid if you are interested. You'll need an actual copy of Morrowind.)

 

And the whole point of WINE on Android is to run generic ARM[32,64] binaries on Android, so if someone could make a compiled one public, I'd love to play around with it.* (See WineHQ for that one.)

 

Lutris on Linux uses Vulkan stuff to run CoH now, so that part's not as silly as it sounds.

Screen size... That one's a puzzler, I bet that would take some actual coding to do one of the auto-zoom features some games have. (One of these might help!)

 

Anyway, it would be fun to try, however many black boxes need connecting.

 

 

* Probably during lunch or bathroom breaks at work, but I do some of my best mad science then!

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2021 by DoctorDitko
Links and stuff.