Comment by plmpsu | Hacker News Reader

Comment by plmpsu | Hacker News Reader

FAQ says:

  "[...] a source port is just the executable code for the game, you still have to provide your own copy of the game's data.

  So for example, using Quake III: Arena again, the game consists of both an executable and a set of data files (pk3 files, in this case). The download for ioquake3 is an executable that is up to date and has been maintained to work on modern Macs, but you still need to acquire the pk3 files from a legal source, such as an existing installation of the game from disc or Steam or GOG."

I have original copies of a lot of these on CD, but even if it was easy to read CDs in 2025, that doesn't mean they're still in readable condition.

A lot of abandonware games have ISOs posted on the Internet Archive. There's a glimmer of worry in the back of my head about the safety of downloading random executables, but it seems like they're usually the real deal.

The executables are built from source if you use the OpenSource ports

That's a good point. I was thinking more generally about downloading binaries from unofficial sources.

In a lot of cases the easiest way is going to be to get the game from GOG and use my Extractor utility to get the data from the Windows installer

https://www.macsourceports.com/utility/extractor

Extractor is just a GUI-based version of innoextract, so if you prefer the command line you can use that.

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