How much of Windows is needed?
- Thread starter Abysinth
- Start date
What we know at the moment is that ED runs upon FD engine - which is part of their framework Cobra - which uses abstractions so porting is one layer done once and then fixed bugs when necessary. So in nutshell not much as long as Cobra is ported to your system of choice. We know it has been in past ported to iOS (to support all niffy games FD has produced lately), and that's why they could promise port it to Mac just in 200k pounds.
Could it be ported to Linux for example? I think yes. Do I would like that? Yes. But is it worth for them to do that at this moment? I don't think so. They need to complete game for Windows first, regain investment, deliver on promises. After that porting it to other platforms is about porting Cobra to them.
So in Windows they (trough Cobra) will use all DirectX stack (sound, 3d, input control), aaand that's pretty much it.
Could it be ported to Linux for example? I think yes. Do I would like that? Yes. But is it worth for them to do that at this moment? I don't think so. They need to complete game for Windows first, regain investment, deliver on promises. After that porting it to other platforms is about porting Cobra to them.
So in Windows they (trough Cobra) will use all DirectX stack (sound, 3d, input control), aaand that's pretty much it.
I can understand needing Direct X (who wants to reinvent the wheel), but we're not going to need all the various apps and bloatware (I don't want to be distracted by email or skype for example)
so, if the computer is only running ED it's not going to need memory management or multi-tasking.
We've only go one app running then we won't need anti-virus or firewalls since to be infected by a virus it needs to be able to run and it can't run as ED is the only app allowed to run.
Windows doesn't need to run for Direct X since they're all a bunch of sub-routines buried in a dll attached to ED as part of the Hardware Abstraction Layer (I think).
You see where I'm going with this?
So what have I missed or does ED actually need windows?
so, if the computer is only running ED it's not going to need memory management or multi-tasking.
We've only go one app running then we won't need anti-virus or firewalls since to be infected by a virus it needs to be able to run and it can't run as ED is the only app allowed to run.
Windows doesn't need to run for Direct X since they're all a bunch of sub-routines buried in a dll attached to ED as part of the Hardware Abstraction Layer (I think).
You see where I'm going with this?
So what have I missed or does ED actually need windows?
Approximately this |---| much 
It's kind of like asking how much steel is required for my car to function.
Any OS is a platform that you can build on top of, often you need to hook in quite closely to get the best out of it; at the cost of code not being easily ported to a different environment.
It's kind of like asking how much steel is required for my car to function.
Any OS is a platform that you can build on top of, often you need to hook in quite closely to get the best out of it; at the cost of code not being easily ported to a different environment.
They need approximately 100 - 300 MB of dlls, and that's basically it. Of course they need good system call interpreter/core, something like wine
On more serious note, DirectX is infamous with it's availability to allow direct code paths for specific graphical chips, throwing it's wrapper layer away at the moment. Games uses this heavily to boost performance to newest cards - as there's gaming community obsessed with eye candy - and making them impossible to "port" to other platforms or using them under Wine.
That's why FD keeping on using their own layer Cobra, and giving solid abstraction down to game code is admirable and will probably make game very portable for years to come.
Peteris.
The operating system (that's Windows) requires memory management and multi-tasking capabilities to be able to function. How else will ED load into memory ? What if you don't have enough RAM (paging comes into play) Device drivers are required - they may make service calls to the CPU/OS so multi-tasking helps keep things smooth; and so on. There is a lot more to an OS than just those 2 things.
Vulnerabilities in the OS can be exploited - Good patching and a firewall are required. AV - not so much.
No - DirectX sits between the OS and anything else. It allows software developers to make system calls to the GFX/Sound cards using standard commands and the DirectX subsystem translates them into service requests to Windows that in turn uses drivers to talk directly to the hardware.
For the windows version yes.
For the Linux / MAC version - no.
For anything else - FD would need to write a baremetal OS loader to run ED natively on hardware which is a bit beyond the expectation of a software house. I am sure they could do it but it's a waste of time.
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Might simply be easier to ask what it is you're trying to to achieve here - why the questions ?
ETA: If you want the minimalist version of Windows that is optimised to run as fast as possible to give ED the most resources I suggest you build your own version of Windows. Using something like this you can select what is installed and what is not and create a custom OS disk tailored to your needs. I have used this several times when making a new OS installation disk with service packs pre-installed. (The process is called "slip streaming" where you slide an update into the original, but the software that allows you to do this also allows you to tweak things - like remove unneeded language packs; software you NEVER use; remove the inbuilt games; etc; plus you can tweak various settings like TCP/IP connections; memory page files, and so on)
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