Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

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thephantomfiddler
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Joined: 06 Mar 2019, 01:03

Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by thephantomfiddler »

Hello,

I stumbled upon this project a few days ago, after I saw proof of concepts of the project running Skyrim and Fallout games. So after being excited by these things, I began to do some research into this engine and what platforms it supports currently, and to my surprise I saw it supported the 3 major OSs (which means I can run this on my macOS machine) and on top of that, it supported Android. However, on further research, I saw there currently wasn't any support for iOS as of yet (given the circumstances this is unfortunate for me because I only have an iOS device over an android one because the UI is much better :lol: ), so I was wondering if any developer here could give me insight as to if this project was portable to iOS (as me personally being the phone gamer I am, I would personally love to see Skyrim and Fallout on my phone at a few taps away).

Thanks in advance.
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AnyOldName3
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Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by AnyOldName3 »

I don't imagine Apple will ever let something that doesn't work without buying files from somewhere else onto the App Store, so if we bothered trying to make it work, it would only be useful for people willing and able to compile and sideload apps themselves. That's not a big audience. I don't think it's technically impossible, but there's bound to be something that needs changing.
thephantomfiddler
Posts: 32
Joined: 06 Mar 2019, 01:03

Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by thephantomfiddler »

AnyOldName3 wrote: 06 Mar 2019, 01:44 I don't imagine Apple will ever let something that doesn't work without buying files from somewhere else onto the App Store, so if we bothered trying to make it work, it would only be useful for people willing and able to compile and sideload apps themselves. That's not a big audience. I don't think it's technically impossible, but there's bound to be something that needs changing.
Even if it is not available on the app store, a lot of people will still be willing to do it, and IIRC there is a way to "install" apps (by signing them) not on the app store without a computer or any sideloading software.
thephantomfiddler
Posts: 32
Joined: 06 Mar 2019, 01:03

Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by thephantomfiddler »

To play devil's advocate here as well; is there a risk that Bethesda could c&d an iOS port?
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AnyOldName3
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Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by AnyOldName3 »

OpenMW doesn't use any Bethesda IP, so they have no legal basis to do so. That doesn't mean they wouldn't, but the technical and no-one-can-be-bothered issues are probably a bigger obstacle.
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psi29a
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Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by psi29a »

If someone want's to do this, they are free to do so. Send us patches :)
thephantomfiddler
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Joined: 06 Mar 2019, 01:03

Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by thephantomfiddler »

I've looked a bit into the matter (in the last hour or so) myself: it seems that Apple deprecated opengl, and they want developers to adopt metal.

Also, is there a list of libraries OpenMW currently uses?
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psi29a
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Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by psi29a »

As said elsewhere, deprecation of opengl doesn't mean it is being dropped. Your opengl apps should be safe for years to come, just don't expect any additional extensions or support from Apple's side.
thephantomfiddler
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Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by thephantomfiddler »

Would GL4ES be needed?
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AnyOldName3
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Re: Porting OpenMW to iOS possible?

Post by AnyOldName3 »

Yes, unless we change OpenMW enough that it runs on OSG compiled for GLES, and if that happens, it won't be necessary on Android, either.
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