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Jagged Alliance 2 Source Code Released
kovi writes "You might remember that game - it was ported to Linux a while ago (by Tribsoft) and is one of the 'overall top sellers' at Tux Games.
Well, according to
this press release from Strategy First, the newest mod for JA2, 'Wildfire,' will include full source code of the original retail release! It might not be the biggest news, and it might not even matter, but it is not very frequent in the gaming industry that source code gets released." No word on what's included with the source release, but the game's been out for a week now, so likely someone with a copy knows more. S! Apparently, the Bear's Pit Forums are discussing the code as we speak, including why shooting cows is bad.
The following is the text of the licence agreement:
This Strategy First Inc. Source Code License Agreement ("SFI-SCLA") forms a legal agreement between you and Strategy First Inc. ("Strategy First") for the source code, related materials, or related documentation (together, the "Software").
By using this Software you agree to be bound by the terms of this SFI-SCLA. Do not install, copy, or use the Software if you do not agree to the terms of this License Agreement. The Software is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws and Strategy First is licensing the Software, not selling it.
YOUR RIGHTS:
You may use this Software for any non-commercial purpose, subject to the conditions of this License. Non-commercial purposes include, but are not limited to, teaching, research, public demos and your own experimentation. You may distribute this Software with books or other teaching materials, or publish the Software on websites that are intended to teach the use of the Software for academic or other non-commercial purposes. You may not use or distribute this Software, or any works that derive from it, in any form for commercial purposes. Commercial purposes include, but are not limited to, running a business, licensing, renting, or selling the Software, distributing the Software for use with any commercial products, or any other activity which purpose is to procure a profit or gain to you or others. This Software includes source code or data, and you may modify such portions of the Software and distribute the modified Software for non-commercial purposes, as provided in this Licensing Agreement.
This Licensing Agreement does not grant you a license to any of Strategy First's copyrights or patents for anything you might create using any of the information included in the Software.
In return, you agree:
1. That you will not remove any copyright or other notices from the Software.
2. That if any of the Software is in binary format, you will not attempt to modify such portions of the Software, or to reverse engineer or decompile them, except and only to the extent authorized by law.
3. That if you distribute the Software or any derivative works of the Software, you will distribute them using a verbatim copy of this License, and you will not grant any
rights to the Software or derivative works that are broader than those provided by this Licensing Agreement. For example, you may not distribute any modifications of the Software under terms that would permit commercial use, or under terms that require the Software or such derivative works to be sublicensed to others.
4. That if you have modified the Software or created derivative works, and distribute such modifications or derivative works, you will cause the modified files to carry
prominent notices so that recipients know that they are not receiving the original Software. Such notices must state: (i) that you have changed the Software; and (ii) the date of any changes.
5. That Strategy First is granted, without any limitations, and on a royalty free basis, the rights to reproduce, install, use, modify, distribute and transfer your modifications to the Software source code or data.
6. That any feedback about the Software provided by you to us is voluntarily given, and Strategy First shall be free to use the feedback as it sees fit without obligation or
restriction of any kind, even if the feedback is designated by you as confidential.
7. THAT THE SOFTWARE COMES "AS IS", WITH NO WARRANTIES. THIS MEANS NO EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ANY WARRANTY AGAINST INTERFERENCE WITH YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THE SOFTWARE OR ANY WARRANTY OF TITLE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. THERE IS NO WARRANTY THAT THIS SOFTWARE WILL FULFILL ANY OF YOUR PARTICULAR PURPOSES OR NEEDS. ALSO, YOU MUST PASS THIS DISCLAIMER ON WHENEVER YOU DISTRIBUTE THE SOFTWARE OR DERIVATIVE WORKS.
8. THAT N
Standard copyright law stops others from using the code, in the absence of the license specifically granting that, so there's no need for additional measures.
NOT being turned based is what completely ruined Baulders Gate for me. It is a great game, but I can not manage 6 charactores doing 6 different things at once (telling you fighters to pull back as the mage is casting a fireball and the archers to target something else...all at once!)
did you know you could pause the game at any time, and then give your people commands? you could also choose to automaticly pause every turn, which would make the game play pretty much turn based
you're supposed to buy the $20 Wildfire, which contains the source for JA2. then you can use the source to change the game or make mods.
so, the game is not public domain, your still supposed to pay for it
There's what appears to be a modified version at http://www.webcodesign.de/the_whitehat_project/ which requires VC6 to compile it "painlessly" (according to the readme).
It's funny you mention multiplayer... the development of JA2 originally had multiplayer code, and the remnants are all over the place. I'm currently volunteered as the "network researcher" at Bear's Pit Forum. We're missing a few headers that weren't part of the source, but someone is already contacting StrategyFirst about it.
For the last time, PIN Number and ATM Machine are redundancies!
Just a quick note for those who care -
The source builds just as painlessly with VC7, and VC7.1 as well if you point it to iostreams.h and its family from VC7 (iostream.h et al were removed in VS2003)
For the last time, PIN Number and ATM Machine are redundancies!
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:cvsanon@207.192.154.134:/home/cvs co login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:cvsanon@207.192.154.134:/home/cvs co ja2-src
At the moment they need people experienced with DirectX and I guess someone would be interested in porting the whole thing to Linux / BSD.