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Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

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Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#151

Post by Palomides »

catiopatio wrote: post #146
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…

> classic Mac OS I’d be really surprised if Apple still had the source code and custom tools necessary to actually build the thing.

they released the Lisa OS code (from 1983) recently, I think they still have all the Mac OS code

building it may be horrible, but the code would still be very interesting to hobbyists

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#152

Post by Heinrich_zHM »

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

Often Open-Sourcing is not an option, as they license closed source code for it.

Windows for example couldn't be made open source because of licensed, closed source code blocks.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#153

Post by nerdix »

concordDance wrote: post #82
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

What should really happen is a law that video games get declared public domain and have their source code released after 10 years. All assets and dependencies would get automatically released under a license allowing for their use in that game and derivatives of it. As it is, the source is mostly just lost to time, making humanity poorer.

Would be nice but remastering 10+ year old games is very profitable these days so I'd imagine that the industry would lobby very hard against it.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#154

Post by drewcoo »

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.

> anti competitive practices from Windows

You would more likely be amazed by all the dumb hacks in the system for backward compatibility, mostly for other companies' software.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050824-11/?p=34...

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#156

Post by jeroenhd »

ncphil wrote: post #116
jeroenhd wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

In my opinion, copyright and patent law needs to be altered significantly, with the copyright term obliterated so people can build upon advances in technology and culture within a reasonable amount of time.

Sadly, I don't think it's realistic to think copyright terms will ever be reduced. They'll only be extended, probably when one of the many Disney properties is about to become public domain.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#157

Post by photonerd »

sersi wrote: post #140
vertis wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That and things like Counter Strike / Day of Defeat that started as mods had a large number of maps back in the day. 99% of them were shit and weird experiments. The ones that did rise to the top eventually got incorporated into newer versions, and indeed became games in their own right. DOTA as well, started as a mod for Warcraft 3 and eventually spawned a franchise. Trying to capture ALL the value (in this case the…

I always wonder what happened with Ambrosia, they had a good library of games that they could update and could still sell but they just disappeared suddenly.

Updating and reselling their old games was the majority of their business for the last ~10 years of the company.

Their game library had some gems but they famously made most of their ga my es by ripping off other games. I’m guessing that didn’t scale.

Their biggest seller was a small Mac utility called Snapz Pro if memory serves.

They, frankly, were never a company run for anything other than milking a quick buck.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#158

Post by dahart »

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 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 technology and libraries that you still use and rely on. From a legal point of view, it could open up multiple kinds of liability. From a support and staffing perspective, it typically takes at least a little time to open source something, if you want to do it well, there’s usually vetting & review by engineers and lawyers, and usually the need for more/better documentation than the internal docs.

Think about this from a business perspective- if they predict there’s going to be no financial upside, even indirectly, and there are costs and risks associated with it, then why would they? When companies open-source something, it’s not usually because the code is dead, it’s usually because the people in it are committed to open source and the org agrees to support that cause, or because the company stands to gain valuable attention from the community, and eventually or indirectly, profits.

We do have to support and celebrate when companies decide to release code, but we can’t really expect it or complain when they don’t, it just doesn’t make sense to them and they’re not obligated.

Re: Far Cry 1.34 source code (2006)

#159

Post by dumdumchan »

als0 wrote: post #132
dumdumchan wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

There's a lot to be admired by Far Cry 2: the environmental mechanics, the introduction, the lighting effects, the gritty and exotic atmosphere... but to me it was not a fun game. Not in the way that Far Cry 1 was fun.

The immersion is what sold it to me. No hud, no on screen markers. Need to look at map? Pull it out, hold it in your hand and look at it. I'm surprised no other AAA game has tried this formula.
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