Backporting
Backporting (or porting) is the process of bringing over content from RuneScape, released after the August 2007 Archive, into Old School RuneScape. Currently, the main source of backporting by the Old School team is from a partial backup of RuneScape as it was in May 2012.[1]
Compared to creating new content from scratch, backporting content saves development time and resources by allowing the Old School team to re-use existing assets that were created by prior developers. However, the content is not brought over to Old School as it was in RuneScape; various factors, such as how the content was originally received, as well as balancing changes to fit Old School are taken into account. For example, Nex, one of the most difficult boss fights in 2011, was rebalanced in Old School to accommodate the lack of the Summoning skill, among other changes.
Backported content is not to be confused with extracting unused content from the August 2007 Archive of RuneScape, such as the God Wars Dungeon and the quest Land of the Goblins, which were already in a near-complete state, though the term "Backporting" is sometimes used to refer to such content interchangeably. In addition, content such as the Corporeal Beast and the Grand Exchange are not considered backports, as they were recreated from scratch rather than being backported from the May 2012 backup.
Content from after 2013 is generally unlikely to be backported into the game, as Old School RuneScape takes place in the Fifth Age and the development team has expressed a strong desire to avoid introducing content from the Sixth Age into Old School RuneScape. The death of Guthix will not occur and his Edicts will remain in place, thus keeping Gielinor and Old School in the Fifth Age.[2]
Backported content[edit | edit source]
| Content | Release date (OSRS) |
Release date (RS3) |
|---|---|---|
| Bonecrusher | 5 March 2015 | 12 April 2010 |
| Silver jewellery[n 1] | 2 February 2017 | 12 December 2016 |
| Soul Wars | 6 January 2021 | 10 February 2009 |
| Shooting Stars | 17 March 2021 | 2 September 2008 |
| Nex and the Ancient Prison | 5 January 2022 | 10 January 2011 |
| Land of the Goblins | 9 February 2022 | 12 November 2007 |
- ^ Originally planned for Old School RuneScape but was added to RuneScape due to demand.