This is a little off-topic, but I thought it was still in the spirit of what Framework is about (plus, I used my Framework for the project).
This is a photo of my framework 16 laptop booting from a Fallout 3 GOTY (GOG) blu ray. I made it by taking a gentoo live install disk and:
* removing unnecessary applications
* adding lutris and its dependencies
* installing Fallout 3
* seting up an auto configuring persistent storage system for game saves
* configuring fallout to auto launch
The disc contains the kernel, operating system, and all dependencies needed to run Fallout 3. In theory, as long as I have a PC from this decade I will always have this copy of Fallout.
I don’t have a how to guide yet, but I plan on making this at least possible for others to do. Not sure how easy it will be though. Right now, it’s a pain in the butt and very manual to make one of these.
Note: I didn’t include nvidia drivers, so amd is preferred here.
Amazing. The whole physical setup is not my cup of tea, but this is impressive. I love your angle on ownership. Disk-contained kernel+software. Truly amazing mate.
A good question. The goal was to create a snapshot in time of a working system that could run the game. Given that it’s installed to a disc, which is read only, there is no updating of the system. But also, there’s no need for updates. The PC when booted from this disc it is only capable of 1 thing: playing Fallout 3. Granted, it won’t be able to support new hardware… but that’s also a limitation of consoles and their original hardware. If I just copied the GOG installer to the disk, I’d be dependent on the OS and software stack still being compatible with running it. To be fair, it probably will be compatible in the future, but that’s not guaranteed. I want to be able to pull this disc out of the closet in 20 years and still be able to run the game. It might be kind of difficult to install and configure a linux system from 20 years ago.
Given compatible hardware, this disc will always run Fallout. There is no license revoke, software patch, or policy change that can change that.
I wrote out this whole paragraph and then I think I now understand. You want the read-only nature and immutable aspect of an established hardware config to live on the disk so that you don’t need to dedicate a machine to this task, one that is unconnected to the internet and basically lives in the 90’s spiritually even if its hardware is much newer? Is that the idea?
If it’s not, I’m even more confused since you already mentioned the hardware compatibility aspect lol.
Somewhat related, are you using M-Discs or other archive quality discs? I almost feel like challenging you to do this on a LTO tape hahaha.
Basically, yeah. I’m not using M-Discs yet, but I plan on switching to them once I am absolutely certain I’m done messing with the configuration.
I also just found the https://kezeta.org project, and will likely be switching my efforts towards making use of that platform. If I backup the install ISO for that OS, I can achieve much of my goals at a fraction of the effort.
… also considering building a chassis around the FW16 that holds/integrates my blu ray drive. It’s a chonker though.
Are these Read-Only Discs or can you update things selectively? Unless of course performance is already at a high enough level that extra frames isn’t that important. Fallout 3 is an older title now, so it probably plays well even on higher settings, no?
What other games are you planning on backing up this way? I want to backup my games from GOG as well but I need to finish my project to rip my Blu-ray movies first.
You’re crazy in the best way, I hope you know that. I mean that as a sincere compliment.
Yeah, read only. Even if I can continue to write, I’m not going to. Performance on Fallout 3 is honestly pretty good… but it’s also old and only like a 7GB game.
Whatever I can that’s DRM free tbh. Cyberpunk, BG3, and Expedition 33 are also on my list. Those are going to be more challenging, for sure. Of course there’s also Fallout New Vegas and The Witcher 3, and any number of other misc. indie DRM free games in my library.
I’m most excited about GOG’s program to bring back titles that only had disc releases in the pre-internet days and restoring them to play nicely with modern hardware. I have discs for Black and White 2 and I did manage to get them to run and play the game but it was a headache and I needed to source a cracked exe for the DRM that no longer works, even on Windows. Bit sketchy, I think you’ll agree. Debating on subbing to their Patreon so I can have a vote on which games get this treatment next.
My bad, confusing name. It isn’t a Patreon. It’s just called GOG Patrons. It’s part of their Game Preservation Program.
Launched last December. $60/year isn’t a steep price to pay for this kind of program. No titles included with membership of course but I’ll probably sub soonish.
I subbed. I’d much rather pay to support the people working towards improving the gaming world than those lining their pockets with whatever they can get.
Thanks for sharing! Looks like it gives access to a discord, and now I can get GOG news through discord notifications which will be incredibly nice.
Kinda blows that it’s strictly Windows only but Proton/Wine have come a long way and without DRM interfering it stands to reason that even without Linux support these games should run well. That and the games are so old that reductions in performance is a minor concern.
Yeah, but honestly the Lutris support for GOG is pretty good so it hasn’t really impacted me too much other than not being able to easily use the official launcher (which is optional anyways).
