Porting 3D Movie Maker to Linux
3 days ago
- #open source
- #3D Movie Maker
- #Linux porting
- The author has successfully ported Microsoft 3D Movie Maker to Linux through the 3DMMEx project, marking the first known fork to run outside Windows.
- Microsoft released the original source code in 2022 under an MIT license, enabling further development and porting efforts.
- Key challenges included reliance on legacy C++ dialects, Win32 API dependencies, inline x86 assembly, and platform-specific assumptions.
- Solutions involved decompiling static libraries like AudioMan, replacing assembly with portable C code, and integrating SDL for cross-platform GUI support.
- Additional work included adding unit tests, debug visualizers, and ensuring file format compatibility to prevent regressions.
- Collaboration with developer Mark Cave-Ayland was crucial for addressing Linux-specific issues, such as case-sensitive filenames and multimedia playback.
- Future goals include improving mouse handling, porting to macOS and Emscripten, and creating binary releases for Linux distributions.