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Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

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Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#231

Post by torginus »

grogenaut wrote: post #214
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.

I've worked on games before. We ported our game to havock between versions. That took 8 months for one dev. The code review was 3 weeks. Ripping ours out was a month by itself. There were several libraries like that. The sound system was similar and we had to upgrade it every game which was similar work to havock. Heck there was a really simple font to bitmap lib/utility we used and that would have taken several mont…

Thanks for taking your time to answer my suggestion in detail. I was just trying to suggest something very simple - just don't include the files that you don't have the rights to - so in your case just don't publish those font and physics library files. No need to completely rip out all references to it.

The resulting code will be broken, but if the community cares enough, they can fix it up.

I don't think this would be a huge effort to do - do you see any issues (legal or otherwise) with this approach?

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#232

Post by grogenaut »

torginus wrote: post #231
grogenaut wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked on games before. We ported our game to havock between versions. That took 8 months for one dev. The code review was 3 weeks. Ripping ours out was a month by itself. There were several libraries like that. The sound system was similar and we had to upgrade it every game which was similar work to havock. Heck there was a really simple font to bitmap lib/utility we used and that would have taken several mont…

Thanks for taking your time to answer my suggestion in detail. I was just trying to suggest something very simple - just don't include the files that you don't have the rights to - so in your case just don't publish those font and physics library files. No need to completely rip out all references to it. The resulting code will be broken, but if the community cares enough, they can fix it up. I don't think this would…

We did have our code mostly sorted into 3p and 1p... However I'm not a lawyer and not sure how the taint might leak up. I forget where Google/oracle landed on apis being copyright but havock ids and other concepts leak into your code everywhere. Heck even proprietary details might or algos. It would still be hard and the lawyers would be skeptical. You'd need a business case besides goodwill to get over those humps.

I bet a ton of companies don't follow those best practices. And there's also the fact that you've now exposed yourself to litigation where some dev violated copyright of previous companies or libraries or whatever and put it in the wrong place or copied it. Before open sourcing you were fine. After you have essentially incriminated yourself.

The doom/quake case is kinda an exception. In that you likely (I'm guessing) had Carmack who is a founder/owner, deeply understand the tech base, understands cost and estimates, likely understands licensing quite well, able to go do the work, but also able to make the cost benefit tradeoff and override objections in some cases. That's not common in many companies.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#233

Post by ChoGGi »

alerighi wrote: post #203
hesdeadjim wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends, if it’s code calling a console SDK API then you are bound by terms of the NDA to not publicly share it — forever. Even just function names! More realistically, a drop of source code is basically painting a big target on your company to get sued by a troll. I’ve wanted to release my game’s source but am terrified of this.

> Depends, if it’s code calling a console SDK API then you are bound by terms of the NDA to not publicly share it — forever. Even just function names! This is not true. API itself (function names and parameters) does not hold copyright. Otherwise you wouldn't have open-source applications on any proprietary OS, since they have the function calls of proprietary APIs inside. What can be copyrighted are the header files…

> you are bound by terms of the NDA

> This is not true.

You usually have to follow contracts you sign.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#234

Post by cahoot_bird »

mediumsmart wrote: post #178
cahoot_bird wrote: post #77

I remember there is a bug with the hang glider that if you move down and up you gain momentum Back in the day far cry 1 was ultra realistic graphics. The game was fun to play, the most annoying thing is if you throw a rock or grenade where they can see if your stealth meter in instantly goes to zero and they start shooting you. I played it a lot, hehe.

:) me too - guiding trigens towards the mercs from a patrol boat with rockets. Coming out of the bunker was amazing and then the realization that it would be a guided tour because "Doyle" :|

The game is riddled with small bugs, like you can knock the phone off the rock in the first level bunker then the cut scene will have him picking it up.

Having the trigens fight the people throughout the game was fun, and stealth aspect as well.

It's funny how the game emphasis seemed to be on the realistic mode, but it's like it was only tested on medium - the trigens would die very quickly and easily on realistic if the guards shot them, if I had to guess probably the bullet damage is turned up on that mode.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#235

Post by wengo314 »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #169
dahart wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is there any good reason why the sources need to stay closed if they aren't going to make any further gains, financial or otherwise, from this product and its ecosystem? I can think of lots of reasons. From a competitive point of view, you might risk having a big enough resurgence that it eats into the business of your replacement. From a technical point of view, it may reveal parts of the sausage making, or expose…

I'd guess something big as Windows 9x contains A LOT of licensed third party code which would be a nightmare to get permission for. Try finding five dozen rights holders after thirty years...

don't quote me on that but i read somewhere that microsoft has a strict policy of NIH in their codebase - everything gets reimplemented from scratch unless it's completely unfeasible.

The only problem might be the software patents that their code leverages.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#236

Post by zirgs »

TillE wrote: post #167
zirgs wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

16 year old games were considered "retro" when Crysis came out. Crysis came out 16 years ago.

Hell, if you were making a game that looked like Ultima VI (1990) in the mid-late 90s, that would be treated as embarrassingly retro. Call it 5 or 6 years. Once we settled on quasi-realistic 3D games with a mostly consistent control scheme as the norm, that process of obsolescence has slowed down dramatically. Games have sort of plateaued in that way. So you really can go back and play Crysis and it's still fine. It'…

Yeah, seems like that every year the age of games that are considered "retro" keeps increasing. Now it is at least ~25 years or so.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#237

Post by maccard »

sixothree wrote: post #135
naillo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me think I shouldn't care as much about perfect code and best practices and focus more about actually shipping things.

It matters 17 years later if you’re still in the same code base.

Best practices evolve. This code base predates modern smart pointers, and from experience bit fields were a requirement on some of those... tougher platforms.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#238

Post by rkagerer »

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

Maybe start a non-profit whose sole mission is to buy up this old IP and release it.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#239

Post by zokier »

zirgs wrote: post #236
TillE wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hell, if you were making a game that looked like Ultima VI (1990) in the mid-late 90s, that would be treated as embarrassingly retro. Call it 5 or 6 years. Once we settled on quasi-realistic 3D games with a mostly consistent control scheme as the norm, that process of obsolescence has slowed down dramatically. Games have sort of plateaued in that way. So you really can go back and play Crysis and it's still fine. It'…

Yeah, seems like that every year the age of games that are considered "retro" keeps increasing. Now it is at least ~25 years or so.

idk. 80s-early 90s pixel art style was all the rage 10 years ago as retro, nowdays the action is at late 90s-early 00s wonky polygon graphics, so it seems to have advanced pretty proportionally

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#240

Post by jjrh »

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

From a pure archiving point of view it would be great.

It's a shame how many pieces of software are already totally lost forever.

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