How exactly does a port work?

[Virtual01]

People always talk about bad or butchered ports, but how is porting actually accomplished? From my minimal understanding, I've been told that it basically entails recompiling code that you already have to run on a different system. Does this mean that some games have to be "remade" from the ground up, depending on the differences that exist between the two platforms?

 

And why do bad ports arise? Are they simply due to inherent incompatibilities on the two platforms?

[TheKDub]

Well, with console games being ported to PC, those console games were optimized for the specific console, not for PC, from what I understand, the reason that some console games that are ported to PC suck ass on PC is due to shitty optimization, if you want to know more on shitty optimization, ask ubisoft

[Enderman]

1) a port is made by taking a game coded in language X and translating it to language Y to work on a different platform
technically the game is only sort-of remade because all the mechanics and gameplay stay the same, the only thing that changes is the way it is written, and most languages have similarities which make it easier to translate

 

2) bad ports are when a game is translated but not optimised for platform Y, so there are bugs, issues, and other things that ruin the game all because the developers were too lazy to take the time to fix things for platform Y

[Oberon.Smite]

1) a port is made by taking a game coded in language X and translating it to language Y to work on a different platform

technically the game is only sort-of remade because all the mechanics and gameplay stay the same, the only thing that changes is the way it is written, and most languages have similarities which make it easier to translate

 

2) bad ports are when a game is translated but not optimised for platform Y, so there are bugs, issues, and other things that ruin the game all because the developers were too lazy to take the time to fix things for platform Y

Yes, this is why the PS3 ports used to suck. Nobody understood Cell and the insctructions with it, so nobody could unlock its full potential.

[ItsFTP]

A bad port: When a developer removes dx11(or gl) code in the render engine and replaces it with an alternative with out caring about bugs, lighting, optimization, structure/memory management. Bad thread structure and memory management and lead to unplayable performance and graphics. Most consoles will use C/C++ or something alike so there is no need for much or any recoding atall.