Should new AC version keep/restore support for 32-bit Mac?

[grenadier]

We consider, whether to drop officially support for 32-bit Mac (last 32-bit Mac was released with OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard) in next version, like generally other programs. AC 1.2 uses 64-bit curl library, so official AC version can't be run on 32-bit Mac practically since about 3 years (last threads with complaints were created about 2 years ago).

The main reason of dropping officially the support is, that the newest versions of libraries, used by AC, are provided as 64-bit, so easier to keep them up-to-date, if we will use official libraries prepared by their developers - for example recently AC was ported from abandoned SDL 1.2 to SDL2 ( https://github.com/assaultcube/AC/commits/experimental ), and SDL2 is provided officially only with 64-bit framework (library).

So do some players want to use 32-bit Mac to playing AC? We would like to know, how many such players can be.

[Boomhauer]

I would personally rather burn my eyes out with a soldering iron than use anything with an apple on it, but I digress.
If it's possible to NOT exclude someone from playing AC it would be nice. I have no idea how much work it is to continue to release a 32 bit mac version. Is it something that is very time consuming? I would say if it's something that doesn't require a huge amount of effort then you might as well keep it. No point in excluding anyone from playing or continuing to play. If not, it sure won't affect me any.

[+f0r3v3r+]

@Boomhauer It sounds like the bigger issue is that the third-party libraries that AssaultCube depends on are generally only being released as a 64-bit release now. So, if I understand it correctly, then those libraries would have to be compiled from their sources in order to create a 32-bit version for use by a 32-Bit Client.
Once this is done, that creates another problem as libraries get updated - because in order to depend on the updated versions, they would again have to be compiled once they are updated. This creates some fragmentation among versions because they will always be using the AC version of the library and, potentially, not the most updated one.

It really is a lot of work to include something that may not ever help a single user, that will simultaneously make using the most up-to-date libraries untenable.

Generally, I don't think you are excluding anyone on a 32-Bit system....
I think at this stage of the game they are excluding themselves. Even Google Chrome doesn't release 32-Bit versions anymore.

I do have one toaster lying around that is strict i386. Shame on me if I waste my time trying to play AC on it, though. xD

Just my nickel on it...

[Boomhauer]

Ok, so I'm no expert on OS X but from what I have read it seems 64 bit programs have been supported on 32 bit architecture since OS X 10.5 if the EFI is still 64 bit, which is common. So I don't think it would be a big deal to cease support for 32 bit OS X. Someone who knows more about it could probably chime in. But I would venture to guess that people who can afford to buy a mac probably don't still use an ancient one...


Reference: http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions...-8-leopard

[Marti]

better focus on more important things and drop it

my 2 cents

[Alien]

mac users have too much money so i would give them paid version with 32 support ;)

[grenadier]

If it's possible to NOT exclude someone from playing AC it would be nice. I have no idea how much work it is to continue to release a 32 bit mac version. Is it something that is very time consuming? I would say if it's something that doesn't require a huge amount of effort then you might as well keep it.

You are right, in principle, but Mac is specific. Compiling 32-bit frameworks (libraries) isn't big problem, but thought it's some nuisance (for example it should be done on real Mac, not virtual).
After recent searching I found in Internet, that Apple sold last 32-bit Macs about 10 years ago, so nowadays they are rare and increasingly rarer, because they are technically weak and commonly unsupported. And probably they usually aren't the only computers "at home", especially at gamers. So "better to focus on more important things" and use prepared 64-bit frameworks, especially, if practically players don't use 32-bit Macs to play AC.

[Ronald_Reagan]

Hey all,

So yeah, I always thought this. But the thing is that the demographic for AC was aways really behind the times. People have always had super old machines (think that I've heard of a couple people with PPC machines).

That being said, I've only been able to compile for so much. The support for old versions of OSX has been pretty slim because for some reason my machine wasn't able to compile for them. Same with the PPC builds, I've never been able to build the game for them (although maybe I'll look into setting up an old PPC machine to do so). So I'm not sure 32bit has been actually supported in the past, perhaps people were able to play on it, I'm not sure.