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Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory Public Source Released
DeadBugs writes "According to Blue's News: 'The public source code for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is now available from id Software, Activision, and Splash Damage (the developer working on Doom 3's multiplayer content), offering modification authors the resources to create mods for the free multiplayer shooter.' First they release a free game, and now free source code for it - there are download links at Splash Damage's files section."
:p
This just gets better and better. I ran a networked ET session for high school kids earlier this month, and it was a hit, but having the source just makes it better, as I can now get my students to play with it as well.
While I'm all for releasing a game and its source for free, I don't see how a professional game studio can exist without selling anything. Maybe they are trying to prove themselves as a legitimate development house so that they can get paid projects later. Interesting strategy if that's the case, sort of like professional mod makers.
In linux libertas
ET is a really good game, lots of fun, great gameplay, nice graphics. Even an OSS zealot like me felt really happy when this came out as a free binary. Now the source, too? This is just fantastic. I eagerly await the amazing mods to come.
.. is the source code for the original two Wolfenstein games, though I suppose that they were written in 6502 assembly. (For the kiddies: Castle Wolfenstein is over 20 years old.) I loved those games, but if I could change anything about them I would get rid of 1) the annoying flicker effect when you ran into the walls, which could get you killed/captured very easily and 2) the damn time that it took to open up all of the treasure chests! (Who the hell wants to wait 60 seconds to find a vat of sauerkraut?) :)
Ahem, the public source code was released, not the engine code (obviously, but...). This is just for modmakers. Really cool, but the engine's still viable business for id.
Considering the game was released for free, there isn't too much to gain by keeping the source locked up. It also shows the ID thinks the source is past its prime, as they tend to release their older engines when they have been replaced by the next big thing.
I only see an windows executable (.exe) file for download on the links. Is the same source code used for Windows and Linux?
Expert Java EE Consulting
What makes a public source desireable then? What I mean is what can you do with a public source and what can you do with the engine source, the difference between them. For example since this isn't the engine source does that mean lets say you can't change the way the 3d animation system works? But you can say, add the ability to have a wider range of animations to choose from?
Ok last time they released the source for the original RTCW, there were a ton of cheaters spawning out of nowhere. Then punkbuster and a million different patches came. It was DLL hell everytime.
This time, wolf ET is a free game with no finanical backing or any development attention as a matter of fact. Some bored 15 year old is going to create new aimbots and player-kicker scripts using the source.
As if activision isn't ignoring and neglecting this game enough.
There are only 6 official maps and they get boring, very quickly. Why? Close quarters and open areas along with the ability to call in airstrikes/artillery and panzerfausts (for some reason the Allies use them too) means just two or three field ops or soldiers can bottleneck an entire team. Oh and I wouldn't recommend you stand around in your spawn for too long. Most players have figured out exactly where and at what angle to fire mortars into opposing spawn areas. Hopefully we'll see some more mods and maps which steer players away from this kind of spawn killing.
In particular I noticed these prohibited acts...
section 2 (prohibitions)
One may not --
h. reproduce or copy the Software (except as permitted by section 3. hereinbelow);
i. publicly display the Software;
j. prepare or develop derivative works based upon the Software;
you are allowed to distribute the software but
section 3 which describes permitted uses;
basically rules out everything except distributing the unaltered code without commercial gain.
To me, it really doesnt seem worth looking at with these kinds of restrictions. And presumably the mere fact of looking at the code could potentially lead to IP Violations if you were to develop a similar game.
I'll post the full licese as an AC after this message, but I'd like to here your views / interpretations of the license because it seems rather restrictive to me.
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
LIMITED USE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT Page PAGE 1 ...)()()()()() LIMITED USE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
.remove or alter any legal notices or other markings or legends, such as trademark and copyright notices, affixed on or within the Software; or
.remove, alter, modify, disable or reduce any of the anti-piracy measures or components contained in the WOLFENSTEIN[[\'99]]: ENEMY TERRITORY[[\'99]] game.
.Permitted Uses.
Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory Game Source License
This Limited Use Software License Agreement (this [[\'93]]Agreement[[\'94]]) is a legal agreement between you, the end-user, and Id Software, Inc. ([[\'93]]ID[[\'94]]). BY CONTINUING THE DOWNLOAD OR INSTALLATION OF THIS SOFTWARE (THE [[\'93]]SOFTWARE[[\'94]]), BY LOADING OR RUNNING THE SOFTWARE, OR BY PLACING OR COPYING THE SOFTWARE ONTO YOUR COMPUTER HARD DRIVE, COMPUTER RAM OR OTHER STORAGE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. You agree that you are obtaining a copy of the Software via download only, and you acknowledge and agree that you shall not copy or retain the Software except as expressly permitted herein.
1. Grant of License. Subject to the terms and provisions of this Agreement, ID grants to you the non-exclusive and limited right to use the Software only for the uses permitted in section 3. hereinbelow. The term [[\'93]]Software[[\'94]] includes all elements of the Software. You are not receiving any ownership or proprietary right, title or interest in or to the Software or the copyrights, trademarks, or other rights related thereto. For purposes of the first sentence of this section, [[\'93]]use[[\'94]] means loading the Software into RAM and/or onto computer hard drive, as well as installation of the Software on a hard disk or other storage device and means the uses permitted in section 3. hereinbelow. You agree that the Software will not be shipped, transferred or exported into any country in violation of the U.S. Export Administration Act (or any other law governing such matters) by you or anyone at your direction and that you will not utilize and will not authorize anyone to utilize, in any other manner, the Software in violation of any applicable law. The Software shall not be downloaded or otherwise exported or re-exported into (or to a national or resident of) any country to which the U.S. has embargoed goods or to anyone or into any country who/which are prohibited, by applicable law, from receiving such property.
2. Prohibitions. You, whether directly or indirectly, shall not do any of the following acts:
a. rent the Software;
b. sell the Software;
c. lease or lend the Software;
d. distribute the Software (except as permitted by section 3. hereinbelow);
e. in any other manner and through any medium whatsoever commercially exploit the Software or use the Software for any commercial purpose;
f. disassemble, reverse engineer, decompile, modify (except as permitted by Section 3. hereinbelow) or alter the Software;
g. translate the Software;
h. reproduce or copy the Software (except as permitted by section 3. hereinbelow);
i. publicly display the Software;
j. prepare or develop derivative works based upon the Software;
k.
l.
3.
a. So long as this Agreement accompanies each copy you make of the Software, and so long as you fully comply, at all times, with this Agreement, ID grants to you the non-exclusive and limited right to distribute copies of the Software free of charge for non-commercial purposes by electronic means only and the non-exclusive and limited right to use the Software to create your own modifications (the [[\'93]]New Creations[[\'94]]) for operation only with the full version of the software game WOLFENSTEIN[[\'99]]: ENEMY TERRITORY[[\'99]]; provided, however, you shall not make any New Creations unless and until you have agreed to be bound by t
ps, you have to use wine to decompress it...
ET is an excpetional game (arguably the best team based shooter around) .pk3 files. Only cosmetic things like sounds and models can be changed.
but none of the vitals were scripted in the
The actual game play stuff, rate of fire, damage, splash damage, weapon type and class, objective types, player classes ect were hard coded. Which pretty much prevented us from making and underlying changes to the actual play of the game.
Hopefully this source will change that.
"Public source" seems to mean the header files to compile against, and the source code for the RTCW:ET-specific bits of the game (i.e. not the engine). This is the same sort of thing as the Half-Life SDK which the original (pre-commercial) Counterstrike was based on.
:-)
(For Debian users: if this was in Debian, it'd be a binary package called something like rtcw-enemyterritory-dev
As for the licensing (Polyp2000: thanks for posting the text), many game SDKs have restrictive EULA-like licenses (presumably the publishers insist on them) which mean that the majority of distributed mods for those games are likely technically illegal, as are many activities which an average gamer would probably consider perfectly reasonable.
In this case, among other things, the EULA asserts that you can't back up the SDK to a CD (only to "one (1)" hard disk), and that commercial distribution of a "New Creation" (mod) is not allowed (so magazines which distribute "RTCWstrike", or whatever the next big mod is called, on their cover CDs are potentially in trouble).
This isn't Free Software, it's not Open Source, and indeed the "non-commercial distribution" stipulation probably means it wouldn't even make it into Debian's non-free section.
I remember someone from ID saying that the DOOM 3 multiplayer was going to be peer to peer instead of client/server. Is that still the case? Did I hear that wrong? Thanks
Journal
There are plenty of servers set to prevent spawnkilling and limit powerful explosives. With the servers I play on, it's been awhile since I've seen things like that. Bottlenecking can still occur, but only when the teams are very uneven.
...is all I need for now to be happy :) Getting tired of various workarounds for 32bit OpenGL apps.
Btw, I wonder how long it will take for the project to appear on icculus.org when the full sources will be actually released? :)
i tried to compile the source on os x. hm.. there is a problem with gcc and some variables. as far as i know et was designed as addon for rtcw. could the code work as mod under rtcw if it compiles on os x?
Its the same with other maps. Rail Gun? 2 soldiers can completely stop the tug with a panzerfaust into the tug driving controls. Oasis? Airstrike the old city wall and set up MGs in the water tunnels. Seawall Fortress? I call it the Omaha Beach map :P. The last two can bottleneck the Allies with a few MG positions, none of which can be targetted easily from the outside.
From what I heard, Shrub had the full source to ET(prior to this story). They made some mods here and there, making it into a really fun game. The "push" option to get other players out of your way is very handy. Double jumping has made some maps more interesting(making sniping more fun).
If it weren't for so many servers running Shrub(and more importantly, new maps), I wouldn't be playing ET for 2 hours every night.
The servers I regularly play on have heavy weapons usually limited to one of each weapon per team, artie strikes weak enough that it can't realistically kill more than one or two until you have four ranks in it, and not enough planes to support more than two field ops per team.
However, even when I play on public servers without those limits, that doesn't happen too often.
On Gold Rush, serious bottlenecking of the Allied doesn't happen (except on the rare occassions when they can't move the tank at all) until the tank reaches the second tank barrier, and there are a few good tricks that engineers can pull to get past there.
Yeah, Rail Gun can be a mess of a map if the Axis don't get the tug to the depot yard quick; the real bottlenecking occurs right past the Axis spawn in that level.
I've never seen a really good bottleneck of Oasis like that, although an unbalanced Axis team can easiliy hold the Old City long enough that the Allies just can't make up for the lost time. The problem with setting up a defense like that is one good Rifle Grenade in the tunnels and you're scrambling to protect the South Gun. Actually, the most solid defense of Oasis might be when the South Gun (I might be getting my directions mixed; I mean the one farthest from Axis spawn) is destroyed and all the Axis are hanging around the other gun.
Battery can be pretty sad, but I would say mostly because of high level covert ops on the Axis side. Build the ramp, die and have it destroyed. Build it again, destroyed again. Apparently, in the new ETPro patch they are enabling the Allies to dynamite the back entrance (although you can no longer spawn at the cp).
I haven't really seen the Axis dominate the Allies completely when it wasn't a case of unbalanced teams.
i tried to compile it under os x and linux x86. there are the same errors. did anyone get it to work? sh: line 1: /lib/libc.so.6: No such file or directory
Enemy Territory version 2.56
cpu : x86
OS : Darwin
libc:
configured for debug build, in directory debug-x86-Darwin-
CFLAGS: -pipe -fsigned-char -DMISSIONPACK -D_DEBUG -g -Wall -O
sh: line 1: gcc-2.95: command not found
Ignoring missing script "/Users/mz/WET_Source/src/extractfuncs/Conscript" (script::Build in Construct, line 334) at cons line 749.
cons: error in file "Conscript-game" (cons: variable "CC" exported but not defined by file "Construct")
cons: error in file "Conscript-cgame" (cons: variable "CC" exported but not defined by file "Construct")
cons: error in file "Conscript-ui" (cons: variable "CC" exported but not defined by file "Construct")
cons: script errors encountered: construction aborted
i tried to compile it under os x and linux x86. there are the same errors. did anyone get it to work?
/lib/libc.so.6: No such file or directory
sh: line 1:
Enemy Territory version 2.56
cpu : x86
OS : Darwin
libc:
configured for debug build, in directory debug-x86-Darwin-
CFLAGS: -pipe -fsigned-char -DMISSIONPACK -D_DEBUG -g -Wall -O
sh: line 1: gcc-2.95: command not found
Ignoring missing script "/Users/mz/WET_Source/src/extractfuncs/Conscript" (script::Build in Construct, line 334) at cons line 749.
cons: error in file "Conscript-game" (cons: variable "CC" exported but not defined by file "Construct")
cons: error in file "Conscript-cgame" (cons: variable "CC" exported but not defined by file "Construct")
cons: error in file "Conscript-ui" (cons: variable "CC" exported but not defined by file "Construct")
cons: script errors encountered: construction aborted
All spawn areas in ET should have been covered with a roof to prevent spankilling using mortars or air strikes. Some times it can get so bad that very few people make it out of the spawn area alive and then they face the enemy alone.
*twitch*
This is why I play on a server that limits arty and only allows one panzer per team. Also spawn killing/camping is a kickable offense and as I have admin powers...I can kick the little bitches that don't follow the rules. :)
I recommend you improve your in-game skills and get out of spawn (you DO have invulnerability time), avoid strategic/bottleneck areas, and help coordinate your team to take out areas that the enemy has pinned down. There's a counter-attack to everything providing that there's a bit of teamwork.