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OpenQ4 Platform And Architecture Roadmap

This document defines the long-term platform direction for OpenQ4 and how SDL3 + Meson are used to get there.

Target End State

  • First-class support on modern desktop operating systems:
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • macOS
  • First-class support for modern 64-bit desktop architecture:
    • x64 (x86_64)
  • Keep original Quake 4 gameplay/module behavior compatible while modernizing platform and build layers.

Current Baseline (0.0.1 era)

  • Primary actively validated build target: Windows x64.
  • Build system: Meson + Ninja.
  • Dependency model: Meson subprojects/wraps.
  • Platform backend direction: SDL3-first (legacy Win32 backend is transitional only).
  • Language baseline target: C++23 semantics (vc++latest on current MSVC Meson front-end).
  • Toolchain baseline direction: MSVC 19.46+ (Visual Studio 2026 generation), with compatibility fallback permitted during migration.
  • As of March 30, 2026, Linux defaults to the SDL3 backend and keeps -Dplatform_backend=native as a fallback path.
  • Steam Deck support is delivered through the explicit OpenQ4-steamdeck launcher/profile, not hardware auto-detection.
  • When both WAYLAND_DISPLAY and DISPLAY are available, the Steam Deck launcher prefers XWayland by exporting SDL_VIDEODRIVER=x11 unless the user already set an SDL video driver.

SDL3 Direction

  • SDL3 is the default backend path and the portability layer for:
    • window lifecycle
    • input event handling
    • context/window interop glue
  • New platform-facing work should prefer SDL3 abstractions first.
  • Platform-specific code should be isolated under src/sys/<platform>/ when SDL3 cannot cover a requirement directly.

Meson Direction

  • Meson is the canonical build system going forward.
  • External dependencies should be consumed via Meson dependency resolution and subprojects/wraps.
  • New build logic should be host-aware and architecture-aware, with x64 as the active compatibility baseline.
  • Meson configuration defaults to cpp_std=vc++latest (C++23-targeting mode on MSVC).
  • Meson currently adds /Zc:strictStrings- on MSVC to preserve compatibility with legacy string-literal usage while the codebase is modernized.
  • tools/build/meson_setup.ps1 prefers VS 2026+ (major 18) when present; strict minimum enforcement can be enabled with -Denforce_msvc_2026=true.

Bring-Up Staging

  1. Keep Windows x64 stable with SDL3 default backend.
  2. Keep Linux on the SDL3 backend by default and retain native as the rollback path while validation broadens.
  3. Incrementally wire macOS build/source selection and validation into Meson.
  4. Promote Linux and macOS to first-class once they pass consistent compile/link/runtime validation loops.

SDL3 Migration Staging (Linux/macOS)

  • Linux now uses a real SDL3 runtime path when -Dplatform_backend=sdl3 is selected, and that is the default Linux configuration as of March 30, 2026.
  • macOS still maps platform_backend=sdl3 to native platform sources until its SDL3 runtime path is implemented.
  • This keeps one backend vocabulary across platforms while allowing Linux to validate the shared SDL3 stack directly.

Definition Of Done For First-Class Platform Support

  • Clean configure + build in Meson.
  • Engine initializes and reaches map/session startup with stock Quake 4 assets.
  • Core input, rendering, audio, and networking paths work without platform-specific content hacks.
  • Regressions are tracked in docs and fixed in engine/platform code, not with asset overrides.