FreeRA - what's the point?

[siddartha]

I was going through the Linux Game Tome and I fount out about FreeRA. This is actually a pack to help you run the Red Alert game. So far, so good. The problem is that it needs the original files. And if you have the original files, you probably know that Red Alert runs in Dosbox.

So why do people even bother to start projects like this?

[Kitsun]

There are many reasons, such as making it easy to port these to other platforms (like the Neo1973/OpenMoko for example) that might not be able to emulate dos efficiently.

It also allows for modification of the engine, such as running at a higher resolution.

Also I would imagine DOSbox would have a different mouse sensitivity, which, if you are serious about RTS, is a major annoyance.

I'm sure there are more reasons too

[siddartha]

Yea, but besides Open Transport Tycoon, which is a remarkable project, all the rest are either dead long before perfection or they split... or you get to the point that there is no clear way of how to obtain the packs and the developers don't have the guts to host themselves the game.