Activision Releases Call to Power 2 Source

An anonymous reader writes "After some lobbying from Internet fans, Activision has released the source code for its Civilization-related PC strategy sequel "Call to Power 2". Fan-site Apolyton have announced this today, and the 8mb source code can be downloaded here . The readme notes that they could not distribute the Miles Sound library with the code, and that you need to have bought a copy of the game to use its data directory - there's plenty of discussion over at the CtP2 open source forums."

Comments

Almost open source

[leastsquares]

This would be truly great, if not for the fact that the EULA is extremely restrictive.

For example: You agree not to make copies of the Call to Power II Source Code or any part thereof, except for back up or archival purposes, or make copies of the materials accompanying the Call to Power II Source Code.

So that rules out distributing it, or any derivations. I guess you could distribute patches, but the main code would have to come from the original source.

You are explicitely allowed to distribute "New Game materials" (which I read as home-produced media files). But the source doesn't help in that regard anyway. You could always create new media based on evaluation of the original file formats.

I am disappointed...

Re:Almost open source

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm one of the guys who lobbied for the release of the code, and someone who has been in contact with Activision to arrange this (on Apolyton I'm known as Locutus, the Apolyton CS CtP1/2 Manager).

The basic idea the EULA wants to convey is that we can do with the code whatever we want, as long as any products we create still require the original game to work. The idea is that we don't just remove the copyright protection, include (or replace) all the data from the game CD and distribute the game as freeware. Activision wants to make clear that open source doesn't necessarily equal freeware.

The whole idea of releasing the source code is that we could use it to make CtP2 a better game, which would be rather pointless if the result couldn't be distributed. One caveat (if you can consider it that) is that we can't make money off of it. But it's not like we were planning to.

If you check out the download section of Apolyton you'll see that countless mods and scenarios were already made for the game, which often make pretty radical changes to the original game (and which are all freeware, of course). The game is extremely flexible in how far it can be modded. Having the source code allows us modmakers to take what we've already been doing for the past 3 years one step further, which is exactly what Activision intended.

LokiHack 99 Flashbacks

[SamBeckett]

They released the source code a long time ago, for LokiHack 99.. For those of you who don't remember, Loki (the now dead Linux game company) had a contest where the brought in a bunch of open source hacker dudes to try to make the coolest mod to Civ:CTP in 3 days time. (This was in Atlanta during some Linux Expo-- I actually met Hemos there (and had no idea who he was) and ESR (had no idea who he was either)

I was one of the particpants. I had never played Civilization anything AND was still wet behind the ears from my first years in college. It was embarassing how little I knew of C++.

Anyway, I putzed around with the source code for 3 days, while sleeping in my car every 16 hours or so.