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Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

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Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#111

Post by geek_at »

grishka wrote: post #107
Havoc wrote: post #2

I wish companies would just opensource really old engines for educational purposes. Maybe take game assets resize everything to 1/10th so that it looks like sht but can still be used as placeholder. Would boost the pipeline of talent for the entire industry

In general, open-source all abandonware. Here's a few examples of non-game old software that would benefit the society if open-sourced: Windows 9x and classic Mac OS. No one has sold these OSes for 20+ years and they turned out to be evolutionary dead ends. It would make sense to release their sources so people could learn from them and run them on new hardware more easily. Flash Player. Adobe has stated in no uncert…

man I wish they had open sourced OS/2. It could have a linux sized community at this point.

Sadly microsoft had put so much of their code in it, that they didn't allow the release (according to my dad who worked for IBM and was even called "Mr. OS/2" because he had sold it so good to companies)

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#112

Post by dumdumchan »

Version467 wrote: post #14
b212 wrote: post #13

One of the most beautiful games of its time. Stopped gaming years ago but saw my cousin playing Far Cry 6 the other day and it looked better but not that much better. After 17 years. Crazy.

Have you compared it to screenshots from Far Cry 1, or to your memory of the game? Far Cry 1 was a beautfiul game, absolutely, but the new iteration clearly does look a lot better than the original.

They peaked at far cry 2 and it has been down hill ever since

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#113

Post by WastingMyTime89 »

suddenclarity wrote: post #6
kelsolaar wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

John Carmack did a stellar job in that respect. Doom and Quake are still very much alive thanks to his decision.

Even he had some challenges with releasing Doom: > The bad news: this code only compiles and runs on linux. We couldn't release the dos code because of a copyrighted sound library we used (wow, was that a mistake -- I write my own sound code now), and I honestly don't even know what happened to the port that microsoft did to windows. I would assume it's a lot more complicated today. Even the most simple programming p…

Less commercially motivated uninspired follow ups and more original content seems like a huge win for culture at large. Large video game and movie studios are mostly churning out copy-pasted garbage nowadays.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#114

Post by psychphysic »

grishka wrote: post #107
Havoc wrote: post #2

I wish companies would just opensource really old engines for educational purposes. Maybe take game assets resize everything to 1/10th so that it looks like sht but can still be used as placeholder. Would boost the pipeline of talent for the entire industry

In general, open-source all abandonware. Here's a few examples of non-game old software that would benefit the society if open-sourced: Windows 9x and classic Mac OS. No one has sold these OSes for 20+ years and they turned out to be evolutionary dead ends. It would make sense to release their sources so people could learn from them and run them on new hardware more easily. Flash Player. Adobe has stated in no uncert…

Is there a risk those closed source projects would be sued following the release because they disclosed some forgotten sin?

I'm thinking mostly of anti competitive practices from Windows.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#115

Post by rzzzt »

nrjames wrote: post #57
viktorcode wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can take a look at Amazon Lumberyard which is free. It's based on CryEngine, which is behind Far Cry.

Crytek and Crysis, not Far Cry. Edit: I stand corrected, it was Crytek and the CryEngine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Cry

Far Cry 2 starts to diverge from CryEngine roots with the introduction of Dunia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft#Dunia_Engine

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#116

Post by ncphil »

jeroenhd wrote: post #102
bullen wrote: post #56

I'm curious about the legal side of copyright and code. If you have a closed source game and copyright expires then how does that affect the sources? Do closed source games not require the sources to be released after copyright expires?

There's no reason why a company would be required to release the source code once copyright expires. Someone finding an old copy of the source could spread it around, but that's about all. However, with copyright expiring 70 years after the death of the author(s), by the time copyright does expire, the sources will have disappeared.

Under the Sonny Bono Act in the US corporate copyrights were extended beyond 100 years. The original US Copyright Act was limited to 14 years, and allowed a single renewal of the same length. After that, public domain. The short term goal was to provide authors with some income during the term, but with the ultimate purpose of enriching the commons to benefit the public. "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." US CONST, Art I, Sec 8, Cl 8. It could be argued that copyright copyright terms of over a century, especially during a particularly dynamic period in world history such as ours, no longer serve that purpose. As you point out, the end result of the current regime is the debasement of any real practical value many works would otherwise have. All that will be left are the cold entries in whatever royalty ledgers survive.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#117

Post by grishka »

psychphysic wrote: post #114
grishka wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, open-source all abandonware. Here's a few examples of non-game old software that would benefit the society if open-sourced: Windows 9x and classic Mac OS. No one has sold these OSes for 20+ years and they turned out to be evolutionary dead ends. It would make sense to release their sources so people could learn from them and run them on new hardware more easily. Flash Player. Adobe has stated in no uncert…

Is there a risk those closed source projects would be sued following the release because they disclosed some forgotten sin? I'm thinking mostly of anti competitive practices from Windows.

It's not like this kind of stuff can't be found by reverse engineering. For Windows specifically, the ReactOS team is doing lots of it to document the inner workings of internal Windows APIs so they could reimplement them.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#118

Post by hutzlibu »

Version467 wrote: post #28
cubefox wrote: post #12

I remember when Far Cry came out. Around the time, Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 were the most anticipated games for quite a while, mostly because they promised graphics far ahead of anything released so far. But as they were delayed multiple times, Far Cry stole a lot of their thunder when it came out months before them, with similarly impressive graphics. We don't see technically ambitious PC exclusive games like this any…

Huh? That doesn't seem right. We absolutely have ambitious games on pc that bring generational leaps in graphical fidelity. Like the Witcher 3, which was absolutely stunning when it first released. Similarly (although originally a console exclusive) Red Dead Redemption 2 looks incredible on PC. We also have releases like Hellblade: Senuas Sacrifice which pushed the limit of what was possible to achieve with limited r…

In general I agree, but I rather remember The Witcher 3 for the story and atmosphere, than for the graphics. Likewise Senuas Sacrifice - it pushed the limit for psychological games(the game is about processing loss through a psychosis, so it is not a casual game). In either case, both titles are really worth it.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#119

Post by skrebbel »

ironSkillet wrote: post #105
torginus wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be fine if they put up their code with the proprietary parts removed. They can just include a FIXME stating that the physics engine/video player etc. is missing. If the community picks up the code, they can just replace the missing parts.

Removing these proprietary parts can actually be a lot of work or potentially impossible without a major refractor, especially if they're foundational to gameplay, like a physics engine.

It can just “ERROR file physicslib.h not found”. Nobody says open source code must compile or work.
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