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EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

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Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#21

Post by Macha »

nicce wrote: post #7

> To use the compiled binaries, you must own the game. > This repository and its contents are licensed under the GPL v3 license, with additional terms applied. Please see LICENSE.md for details. It does not sound open-source to me...

I mean, it sounds like the Red Alert code is available under GPLv3 (plus some additional "we want to be very clear, this doesn't cover the trademark" terms tacked on), but you can't build it without DX5, which gets compiled into the binary, thereby making the binary non-free. Someone could port it from DX5, GCL, and HMI and produce something that builds as GPL.

The other part is it doesn't include the game assets or usable replacements, much like OpenRA, or OpenTTD for the first half of its life.

I'm not going to fault EA too much for this approach, particularly if it paves the way to open sourcing e.g. EOL MMOs and the like if game devs don't feel the obligation to port away from all the commercial libraries. I've seen game devs who I genuinely believe on this say things to the effect of "Oh yeah, we'd totally open source dead game X, except we'd have to port it away from Bink and Havok and XYZ, and we don't have the time to do that for 0 revenue"

Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#22

Post by ratmice »

Flimm wrote: post #6

Nice! Now this piece of video game history can be better shared and preserved. Does this repo include the artistic assists, or does it include the code only?

I think this qualifies as art.

char insert_string1[]={"\n\r;\n\r"}; char insert_string2[]={";For some reason, inserting these lines makes it assemble correctly\n\r"};

Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#23

Post by HelloUsername »

MortyWaves wrote: post #15
HelloUsername wrote: post #2

Red Alert: https://github.com/electronicarts/CnC_Red_Alert Tiberian Dawn: https://github.com/electronicarts/CnC_Tiberian_Dawn Renegade: https://github.com/electronicarts/CnC_Renegade Generals Zero Hour: https://github.com/electronicarts/CnC_Generals_Zero_Hour EA post: https://www.ea.com/games/command-and-conquer/command-and-con... Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/commandandconquer/comments/1izmpmb (Deleted Reddi…

So not just one game like the title?

Perhaps @dang can change URL to https://www.ea.com/games/command-and-conquer/command-and-con...

Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#24

Post by bangaladore »

Flimm wrote: post #6

Nice! Now this piece of video game history can be better shared and preserved. Does this repo include the artistic assists, or does it include the code only?

> To use the compiled binaries, you must own the game.

I take that as buy the game to get the assets.

Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#25

Post by nicce »

dubcanada wrote: post #12
nicce wrote: post #7

> To use the compiled binaries, you must own the game. > This repository and its contents are licensed under the GPL v3 license, with additional terms applied. Please see LICENSE.md for details. It does not sound open-source to me...

Does open-source mean it's free? I don't think that is what it means, it just means the source is open, viewable, and you are free to use it as per the licensing.

Yes, it actually means that.

https://opensource.org/osd

Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#26

Post by Macha »

nicce wrote: post #20
josephcsible wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they just mean that for the game to work, you'll need art assets, etc. from the original game that aren't part of the code they open-sourced. I don't think it's a licensing restriction. (And even if it were, they released it under the GPLv3, which says "If the Program as you received it, or any part of it, contains a notice stating that it is governed by this License along with a term that is a further restri…

It certainly sounds like all you need is in the repository, and the usage of the resulting binaries are still restricted. Whether they find assets correctly or not correctly should not matter, if they are somewhere else.

> the usage of the resulting binaries are still restricted

To use the binaries, you need the game assets. The only legal way to acquire the game assets is to own the game, as EA have not included them in this release.

This is less a licensing issue, but stating the real limitations, that EA aren't volunteering to do the leg work to remove. Which is fine.

Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#27

Post by wglb »

HelloUsername wrote: post #23
MortyWaves wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So not just one game like the title?

Perhaps @dang can change URL to https://www.ea.com/games/command-and-conquer/command-and-con...

Best to email hn@ycombinator.com; dang can't possibly read all comments.

Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#29

Post by boomboomsubban »

The complete C&C bundle with all open sourced games and several others is currently $6 on Steam, if you need the art assets https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/39394/Command__Conquer...

Hopefully this causes a sales spike and encourages other developers to do similar things.

Re: EA Open Sources Command and Conquer: Red Alert, along with other games

#30

Post by modeless »

The complete game was released as freeware by EA over 15 years ago. It was freely available for download from EA's servers for many years and has been redistributed by many third party sites as well. So getting the art and other assets to use with this code should be no problem.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100214144634/http://www.comman...

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