my biggest question, direct x, and will gaming be....

[tbay007]

Okay, So I was reading up on what ReactOS is and I like the idea of it very much. Now here is my biggest question:

I am a heavy gamer. I like World of Warcraft, Half-Life, Bioshock...etc... Will ReactOS team eventually implement a way to play these video games? Or, because of copyright laws, are you unable to do this. I realize some of the games that are out for linux are playable on ReactOS but I am more interested in the windows games.

I am sure you have been asked these questions many times and I know I have seen people ask them. I have been looking at your roadmap very intently too. Everything looks promising!

[Haos]

Eventually, yes.

[wojo664]

This as far I know will be called ReactX

Half-life demo can be installed, (finally) but will not run because of not installed graphics card drivers. When Developers will make it work, the Half-life will work either.

[Ey3]

Video hardware acceleration is still of secondary importance ATM. Devs are working on basic compatibility for a basic usage of the OS, as reading emails, surfing internet, chatting and thigs like these. When this step will be 100% achieved with stability then I think there will be more work on video drivers and ReactX (DirectX's clone).

I'm an hardcore gamer too, but I know also that we have to wait at least 2 years to play something good on ROS

[tbay007]

Awesome! Thank you for the replies. ReactX, interesting way of putting things.

I have craploads of other questions, but I haven't searched the forums yet. So I won't ask them.

Thank you for the quick responses! I can't wait until this operating system becomes 1.0 but two years is a long time. I will have patience. All good things take time.

[Ey3]

Awesome! Thank you for the replies. ReactX, interesting way of putting things.

I have craploads of other questions, but I haven't searched the forums yet. So I won't ask them.

Thank you for the quick responses! I can't wait until this operating system becomes 1.0 but two years is a long time. I will have patience. All good things take time.

2 years is not for 1.0! It will take a lot more.... but in 2 years I think (and hope) that we'll be able beginning playing something good (not everything, but maybe something in Dx7-9...)

[Kazade]

I've been thinking about ReactX - I know (well, I heard) it's not actively developed at the moment, and I think that's probably a good thing, here's why.

At some point ReactOS will be able to run the actual DX runtime from Microsoft (it may do now to a certain extent - I don't know), it'll be buggy at first then it will stabilize. Until then ReactOS will continue to have the D3D -> OpenGL wrapper from Wine (which continues to improve) so some DX games run now, and more will do in the future.

Meanwhile in the world of Linux graphics, Gallium3D (cross-platform, graphics driver and API framework) is making progress. Internally, VMware has a D3D state tracker for Gallium3D which provides native D3D on Linux (only on open source drivers though). At some point someone will release that state tracker, or write another one based on the work Wine has done (especially the conformance tests).

I personally think that devs should hold off on ReactX until the rest of the system is done. Users will be able to install DirectX anyway at some point (most games try to do so automatically anyway) until then Wine's implementation will fill the gap and in a year or 2 there will be more information and more code to reuse, and more conformance tests to work with to make the ReactX development much easier. Might as well wait for other people to do some of the work

[Angelus]

If you want to be legal, you're not (nobody is) allowed to install/copy DirectX components if you don't have a valid MS operating system license. DirectX is considering as an OS component so (maybe) you are not allowed to install in other OSes (please, correct me if i'm wrong). ReactX could be (will be) the solution.

[tbay007]

Well, right now I am running Windows 7, but my biggest gripe about microsoft, is that they will only allow 3 reformats and then you have to call their support line (may be on hold a half hour) and then have to enter a long code in.

I have been looking into free open source operating systems that can support the graphic intensive games that microsoft does.

Unfortunately, Opengl still sucks. I have screwed around with Ubuntu and tried getting Wine to work, unfortunately its not perfect, especially with video games. As much as I like free open source operating systems, they still not suit my needs. I will be relying on Microsoft for awhile apparently until something more stable pops up.

I have been doing my share and donating to various groups that have promising outlooks, such as reactos.

Its not that I am doing anything "illegal" its more about the hassle. I like stuff to be hassle free, just like anyone else. For instance, before xmas, I did all my shopping online instead of going out to the store, waiting in long lines, and waste a day doing that. Instead, online is more convenient and hassle free. I just don't like how Microsoft only supports certain things, their ToS sucks too.

I know the saying, "Beggars can't be choosers" and I am going to be patient until something better comes along. I was just needing information, thats all.

[preston]

just to make things clear about the DX runtime from Microsoft. it won't do you any good right now as reactos is missing kernel mode dx drivers and proper support in win32k (win32 subsystem driver).
when and if anyone implements the kernel mode part, then you can start arguing whether it is legal to install dx runtime in reactos or not

[fred02]

if you don't have a valid MS operating system license.

Considering how hard it is to buy a computer without one, it might not be an issue.

[RaptorEmperor]

if you don't have a valid MS operating system license.

Considering how hard it is to by a computer without one, it might not be an issue.

Personally, I'm going to use ReactOS on my old hardware. I do have a couple of copies of Windows myself (I can get them relatively cheap since I'm a college student), but most modern Windows OSes are resource hogs, so ReactOS will be fine if I'm running an old Pentium III system or something. I got an old AMD K6 computer lying around that I could probably run ReactOS just fine on if I wanted to. My current testbed computer is a Pentium III-based Celeron, and the only reason it runs slow is because I'm using an ancient 1.6 gig hard drive. I could use ReactOS to make good use of an old computer, or to make a fast gaming rig, once the hardware support and ReactX is up and running.

Most of the software I test is games, so I'm interested in seeing games run in ReactOS, too. To my experience, most of the trouble I've had running legacy games is because ReactOS won't run 16-bit installers, and there's no plan for implementing 16-bit support in the future, either.

[wojo664]

So maybe implementing the 16 bit support is a good idea We want 16 bit apps support!

[Wierd]

unfortunately, adding support for 16bit apps would require writing an entire subsystem, pretty much.

Specifically, the WOW16 subsystem. (Stands for Windows on Windows). This system on real windows NT makes system calls to NTVDM, which does some magic to create a v86 session, and then twunks and thunks syscalls and data around, so that the win16 environment inside the NTVDM can talk in the 32bit world.

The problem is that this is already a doomed method, and here is why:

AMD IA64 CPUs (the most common 64bit instruction set out there right now) does not offer v86 mode from 64bit native mode. This means that 16 bit applications would need a full fledged x86 emulator in order to run on a 64bits enabled machine. (Or, the 64bit machine would have to change modes to 32bit; and that is absurdly stupid to do. The vast majority of the stability problems of the old 9X days were caused by the system switching CPU modes between 32bit protected mode, and 16bit real mode regularly. This is NOT something that any sane or rational programmer wants to repeat.)

Microsoft's solution was simply to terminate 16bit support altogether. A handful of 16bit installers get substituted with generic 32bit ones supplied by the installer's vendors (InstallShield and pals) on the fly, so the 16 bit installer never really runs; this is how things like Office97 can get installed on 64bit windows. Other than that though, no 16 bit applications will run, period.

Since ReactOS doesnt have the pocket money to get InstallShield to license us a generic replacement installer engine for their 16bit installers, ReactOS does a Nancy Reagan, and "Just says No."


If you REALLY need native 16bit WOW, you are going to have to get creative, and find a way to hack up something like QEMU or DosBox to do it, since 64bit native is the future, and you wouldnt have any other option.

[Haos]

The previous post should be promoted to FAQ, under question "Why cant i have 16bit support, NAO!?"