Hi
Big fan of the original game, but no longer have a pc, just a samsung tablet. Is FFED3D available for android devices?
i can't say yes or no, but i strongly assume no.
it would surprise me if such would exist.
probably one would be able to write a wrapper for FFE (resp. alter JJFFE).
in general it's exactly this why i guess it won't exist.
FFED3D is (a wrapper for) JJFFE (which is itself a wrapper for FFE).
the main problem i see is that there exists no source code for FFED3D.
we have to keep in mind that
surprisingly a (back then) 14 year old boy made FFED3D (Dreamzzz).
i assume he used the XNA gamestudio for it, by the missing source code (XNA uses a own system to exchange project modules) and the type of shaderscripts you find for FFED3D (they comply only exactly to XNA), i had only for a short moment contact with him, i couldn't asked him much and it sounded like he wouldn't have much
interest in my questions, e.g. "how and with which environment do you made FFED3D".
phew, not because of a version for a portable device, just in general i was interested in a source of it, problems which i would have liked to see solved,
for things which i couldn't reach with hacking.
however, i didn't think such exists, probably a android version of JJFFE, this in can imagine well.
anyway from my pov, the idea of FFED3D should be picked up new, the engine (FFE) is good and it looks like that if it's graphically "pimped up" you can still fascinate some players with it.
if there exists one person who can exactly tell you which elite game exists for which platform then it's steve.
http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/
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why don't you get yourself a old PC? it will cost nothing, probably one will even pay for recycling that crap.
a "miserable" 500MHz processor is enough to run FFED3D, such old machines you get for free, or almost.
if we would live door to door i would gift one of my old machines.
Hi kapteynsstar!
As Gernot has correctly surmised, JJFFE and it's deriviant GLFFE and FFED3D are wrappers around the original FFE code, and this part is decompiled x86 assembly code. That means it'll only ever recompile on an x86 PC and as a 32bit process. Porting it would only ever be likely if Frontier Developments decided to released the original source code.
Trying to rewrite the assembly for a different CPU architecture would be a non-starter, not just from the massive amount of effort deciphering the code but also from a legal point of view - when a reverse-engineered and updated Elite started getting ported to PowerPC's the project was shut down very quickly, it's simply not in FD's interests to see their IP spreading onto other platforms.
Actually, I did discover some abandoned source for FFED3D around 18 months ago, got it to compile and have been actively bug-fixing it/FFE ever since. So, If you do get a PC again, then you might want to check out my updated build, FFED3DAJ that's hosted in the downloads section on this site, here. v1.09 currently but v1.10 will be out 'shortly'.
I guess the only other option would be to run a machine emulator such as DOSBOX on Android (if it exists) and then run the original MSDOS version of FFE within it. I can't imagine that it would run very quickly though!
Cheers!
AndyJ
it would exist (DOSBox for android),
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fishstix.dosbox&hl=de
(you will have to switch to english prob.)
it costs a little fee (why? - ok, why not)
the performance of FFE via DOSBox isn't very good (compared to JJFFE).