Myth 2 Server Goes Open Source

iMacGuy writes: "As announced on Bungie.net, the Myth 2 Internet Server will be shutting down on February 15. However, they have released the source code. It runs on Linux currently, and can be ported to Windows, *BSD, and Mac OS X."

Comments

Myth == Gaming System, for those of you who wonder

[billstewart]

Like so many /. stories, this one's abstract assumes you know what FooBarBazz is,which all the FooBarBazz insiders know and some but often nowhere near all of the non-insiders have no clue because the name doesn't tell you. Is a "Myth Internet Server" a gamer thing, or a new operating system kernel, or a graphics widget, or a new coding project on Freshmeat?

Anyway, Myth II is a gaming environment. Here's the story from the Myth Vault on bungie.net web site, in case it gets /.ed.

Myth Game Server Open Source
February 7, 2002
By Mordia

Nothing in this world is permanent, and this must also be said of gaming servers. Over the past five years many of you have enjoyed the thrill of playing the Myth games online, as well as experienced the pains of a downed server or a rank reset. Ah! Memories! The time has come, however, to bid farewell to the old and tired Myth II game server.

We are finally and officially closing the doors on the Myth gaming servers for all time. Myth II online's last day will be Friday, February 15.

However, we realize that by doing so we leave a lot of people without a place to call home. So, what we intend to do is give it to you. Any of you who want it. The server that is. On this site you will find downloadable the Myth II metaserver source code. Do with it what you will!

Want to be an admin? Go for it! Want to make your own ranking system? Everything you need to do so is here. Have a yen for a custom WW2 server? You can make it!

This is the raw Myth II metaserver source code, stripped of a few proprietary bits of code, but still run-able. You can modify it in any way you want and use it for most anything you want. The only real conditions are that you don't then try to sell it and that you leave all the copyright and other legal notices with the code. Be sure to read the short, but very legal license agreement that comes with it before going nuts, but afterwards, go nuts.

The Myth Vault site will serve as a central location for the Myth game server development community, with a forum for people interested in discussing the code and the possibilities. In the future this site may also offer links to fan run servers, leader boards, order databases, whatever--that's all up to you.

License is not OSD compatible

[David Jao]

A quick check of the software license indicates that the source code is licensed for "non-commercial purposes only". This violates clause 6 of the Open Source Definition.

It's really too bad the Open Source trademark was rejected, because tactics like this lead to a lot of genuine confusion about what open source software really means.

Re:Not true.

[Arker]

Ironically enough, the literal content of your post is correct. It's not true. The code is being released, but not, as the headline claims, as open source.

Microsoft Broad Source License

This License governs use of the accompanying
Bungie.net game server software (the "Software").
Microsoft hopes you find this Software useful.

You are granted a
non-exclusive license to do anything you want with the Software, including but
not limited to the right to make modifications to the Software, provided that
all use of the Software is for non-commercial purposes only.

In return, we simply require that you agree:

1. Not to remove any copyright notices from the Software.
2. That the Software comes "as is", with no warranties. None whatsoever. This means no implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or any warranty of non-infringement. Microsoft will provide no product support for
   the Software. You must pass this
   disclaimer on whenever you transfer the Software.
3. That we will not be liable for any of those types of damages known as indirect,
   special, consequential, or incidental related to the Software or this License. You must pass this limitation
   of liability on whenever you transfer the Software.
4. That if you sue anyone over patents that you think may apply to the Software, your
   license to the Software ends automatically (this applies even when the rest of
   the License ends).
5. That the patent rights Microsoft is licensing only apply to the Software, not to any derivatives you make.
6. That your rights under the License end automatically if you breach this in any way.

By installing, copying,
downloading, accessing or otherwise using the Software, you agree to be bound
by the terms of this License.

Alternate Myth/Myth II server...

[MattHaffner]

An alternative to bungie.net for both Myth and Myth II has existed for a few months now via mariusnet. Marius did a great job reverse engineering the b.net protocol during the days of closed source while b.net began to falter. The site has quick and easy instructions on how to redirect your Myth app to the marius.net server.

mh

it's not really open source

[David Jao]

You, like many others, have been misled by the headlines at both slashdot and bungie.net, which both incorrectly label this release "open source".

If you read the license you'll find that the code is licensed for "non-commercial purposes only", so it's not open source in the sense of the OSD.

I'd rather have them publish the source code than not, but I'm disappointed that it's mislabeled as an "open source" release, when it's not.

Re:Good for them, but what about Warcraft III?

[iabervon]

Note that this isn't Myth II itself, but the metaserver, which allows people's copies of the game to find each other and negotiate games.

This doesn't mean they're opening the Myth II engine; it just means that when bungie.net isn't running a Myth II server, people who want to play online can still do so.

They do claim that it's open source

[David Jao]

First of all, as I and others are trying to point out, the bungie.net page does indeed assert (incorrectly) in the headline that the software is open source.

Second of all, even if the mislabeling is only in the slashdot headline, I still have a legitimate case that labeling this software "open source" is incorrect. This is not like hacker vs. cracker where a minority is trying to redefine a term from the majority. The term open source was popularized by OSI and most people, when they see "open source", do think of the OSI meaning.

So, for anyone, slashdot editor or Microsoft, to mislabel this software as "open source" is misleading, whether intentional or not.

Re:So what if Microsoft owns Bungie?

[Achronos]

Just some info from someone who actually works for Bungie...

- The Myth games are actually owned by Take 2 Interactive... Take 2 got Myth and Oni because then owned 20% of Bungie at the time of the buyout. Bungie's Online team runs the bungie.net metaserver still, though. The point, though, is that Bungie/MS makes no money off of Myth sales... that would all go to Take 2 Interactive.

- The license for the code is rather simplistic, basically just saying you can't use it commercially, and keeping copyright notices, etc. Other than that, I'm pretty sure it is fair game. Some of you here will no doubt point out it isn't "Open Source" in the truest sense. However, one of the primary goals of the license is allowing people to improve the code while not forcing sharing of such changes. One of the big reasons for this is because if you try to put a ranking system in there, it is desirable in most cases to hide the specifics of that system so that users can't stack the deck to artifically inflate their rankings. There are other issues of course, but that is one that I remember being brought up. The point is that a license forcing sharing of every change is not appropriate for this software.

- As for the "no commerical purposes" clause, well, let me just say this: bungie.net was always offered for free. Every copy of Myth 2 got you a bungie.net account. To me, it seems wrong to allow people to use something that was offered for free by us and now charge for it.

Well, I guess if any of you are Myth 2 players, or are just curious, I recommend checking out bungie.net's Myth Vault. Ask questions on the forum, or post them in our FUQ (frequently unanswered questions) database.

-Tom
Bungie.net System Overlord

Re:Hooray! I bet thats a complex set of code.

[schwatoo]

"In fact it was Bungie's networking code for Myth II that was so good [macworld.com] it was originally a replacement for, and later became a new version of, Apple's net gaming library (NetSprockets)."

Actually that isn't quite true. Bungie and Apple worked on the networking library together (the legendary Uber project) but the library's history is rather mirky here. Apple later took Project Uber and released it under their Public Source license as the "OpenPlay" library.

Unfortunately the code was in such a bad way that it's taken a very long time for anyone to do anything useful on it. Some volunteers have wrappet NetSprocket on top of OpenPlay. And that is where most of it's usefulness lies.