.exe and .dmg?

[Chrono Reaper]

Well first of when this game is going to be for PC, Linux and Machintosh, One things goes through my mind... file names.

PC's read .exe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXE) files and I also think Linux reads .exe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EXE) as well.

But, macs run on a different coding and therefore read .dmg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.dmg) files only.

When this game is released are you going to have it on .exe for PC and .dmg for Mac computers? And how will you accomplish it unless the only way to make a .dmg file is with using "Boot Camp" or by using the Mac itself or some other program?

or am I missing something, like a file that can read both PC and Mac like what Blizzard did when releasing WoW on a two system computers? I like to know how the method of writing a file to where it can read both PC, Linux and Mac. Least thing I want is to run it and see a window pop up saying that it can't run the app. because it is a .exe file.

[karajorma]

Given that half the SoL team is also on the BtRL team I figure they should be able to learn from our mistakes enough to get a smooth cross-platform release without having to fall back to needing a PC to unpack it.

[Chrono Reaper]

are you sure i mean this IS going to to be the first complete conversion fan made game ever to cross over PC and Macs. its never been done before, only by Blizzard and a few cross over companies. seeing this makes me kinda nervous.

[karajorma]

BtRL already works on PC and Macs. We had separate downloads for each platform but Turey is probably itching to see if he can turn his java-based installer into a suitable method of delivery for all 3 platforms.

[Chrono Reaper]

It would be cool if you found out how to make a file that can read all computers... that way you don't have to go through all the trouble.

[DaBrain]

We're going to use Turey's installer, which should work just fine on all supported systems when we're ready to release chapter 1.

[gavin83209]

What a relief! I run on a Mac too, so for a while I was kind of worried.

[Adretator]

This is silly. Windows' binary files are indeed .exe, and Linux can execute those if WINE is installed, but their binaries have no extension.

.dmg is a completely different format, however. It's like a .zip file on Windows, or a tarball on Linux. It's actually a disk image. OS X executables are named .app for application, or, like Linux, have no extension.

But, you're on track. The game will have to be recompiled for each system (luckily, that'll be easy thanks to Freespace 2's open source...iness).

Also, although there are no fanmade Star Fox games that are cross platform, there are plenty of games made by people just like you and I that work for everything (Heck, Firefox isn't made by a corporation--though it was started by one--and it works on anything with a screen).

But all of this is really something DaBrain and anyone else under the hood needs to worry about, not us.

[Vertigo]

tar.gz???

[Adretator]

tar.gz is a GZipped tarball. It's just a package, similar to a .zip or .rar file on Windows. It's not an executable binary file, though.