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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

#31

Post by nicce »

Macha wrote: post #21
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…

That sounds reasonable, but they could have worded it differently.

They first statement about DX:

> or write new replacements (or remove the code using them entirely) for the following libraries;

But, they say that binary is proprietary regardless, no conditions. So it is very difficult to say.

If the code compiles without assets (no mention about them, it sounds like it should compile), then the resulting binary should be free to use. Missing runtime assets are different problem, and separate from the binary usage permissions.

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

#32

Post by nicce »

Macha wrote: post #26
nicce wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You could word it differently. Why not mention it?

It is separate problem if runtime assets are missing and the game is not actually a game without them or gives an error message. Let's also assume that you can bypass DX dependencies with other means.

The current wording sounds like binaries are always proprietary, no matter what.

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

#34

Post by worldsayshi »

Macha wrote: post #26
nicce wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Where are the assets for openra coming from? I guess those could be used in a fork of this?

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

#35

Post by lloeki »

Macha wrote: post #21
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…

OpenRA doesn't ship with the assets+ for Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, and Dune 2000 but they're downloadable straight from the UI as they were made officially available by EA/Westwood.

+ Without the music and cutscenes. If you want that you need original discs or other dematerialized versions.

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

#36

Post by harshreality »

ageitgey wrote: post #13

Who's going to be the hero that builds a modern update of C&C Generals/Zero Hour with 4k rendering, raytracing, etc?

Converting the assets to use the Spring engine (or BeyondAllReason's active fork of it) is probably easier than writing a new engine from scratch for the existing assets. And then it'll feel like BAR but with C&C's assets. The UI is what gives the game most of its feel.

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

#37

Post by tete »

This is really nice and positively surprising for EA. While the RTSs are amazing I think Command and Conquer Renegade is one of the most fun games ever made as well.

https://github.com/electronicarts/CnC_Renegade

What these people did is really amazing:

https://w3dhub.com/

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

#38

Post by MisterTea »

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…

Holy shit, Renegade. I had struck that from memory. God, I remember trying to play Renegade with my brother and all I can remember was a buggy nightmare. Also having flashbacks of extreme vitriol for gamespy.

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

#39

Post by tomw1808 »

I am speechless.

The most vile gaming company I know. The most beloved game I ever played.

Now, Open source ... from them? How? Why? Marketing gag or a step in the right direction?

But then, OpenRA has existed for a while - does that mean its getting even better?

Where is this going?

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

#40

Post by tete »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #17
ageitgey wrote: post #13

Who's going to be the hero that builds a modern update of C&C Generals/Zero Hour with 4k rendering, raytracing, etc?

I'd settle for a native Linux build.

Would be nice. But they all work just fine with wine and/or proton.
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