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Planeshift Enters Open Testing
josePhoenix writes "You may have heard about Planeshift in this article, but now they have finished their period of closed testing and everyone can play/test features! This version of the open source (except the art license) mmorpg includes combat, a much bigger world than the previous version, and many other features that bring it closer to the level of commercial games. The project leader, Luca 'Talad' Pancallo has posted some interesting statistics on the making of Planeshift Crystal Blue on their main page, including that they have 'a virtual team made of about 40 people distributed in 25 countries.' Read the good news and other info about the project, and download the client from this page."
Speaking of a virtual team consisting of different countries. I have the following question: Which country is leading the game developement industry?
See them? I don't
gentoo# emerge -s karma Searching... [ Results for search key : karma ] [ Applications found : 0 ]
Because you know it'll happen...let's link it early, ok?
and I will say it again, MMOs are one of the few genres I could see open source taking hold in. Unlike other genres such as fighting games and racing games they arent a quick consume product. They require constant updates and new content, and frequency of updates is definatly one of OS's strong points.
You mean MMORPGs is classified as games? As entertainment? I always figured they were social death stars, but ok.
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
Putting a 217 meg file on Slashdot is just cruel. Anyone got a torrent?
If your theory is different from practice, then your theory is wrong.
Our server sponsor, fragnetics, jas just told us that their internet connection provider will be conducting maintenence during the next few hours... A bit of ill timing on my part, but it should be over in a bit. josePhoenix
A Planeshift (http://www.planeshift.it/main_01.html) Fanatic! Known as Tavaris in-game
Not being 733t enough to port it to Linux in one of my spare evenings, I have to ask: is anyone working on a Linux port? Is the game engineered to allow such an endeavor?
On a broader note: are there any MMORPGs for Linux? Not that I would play one; but a decent OpenSource MMORPG kernel could be used as a learning/information delivery platform in interesting ways.
-- ;-)
Who's buying what...
[19:54] [jani} you will be heavily hammered now/ 1728242&tid=209&tid=10 /. : Putting a 217 meg file on Slashdot is just cruel. Anyone got a torrent?
[19:54] [joseChristmas} yay!
[19:54] [joseChristmas} you just saw on slashdot?
[19:54] [jani} yes.
[19:55] [joseChristmas} I am the one responsible for that thingie }.}
[19:55] [jani} yeah, i instantly recognized the nick =)
[19:55] [joseChristmas} hehe
[19:56] [chrischoo} oh dear why do u post on slashdot when we'er going to have a maintenance window?
[19:56] [joseChristmas} you are?
[19:56] [Cad|away} Hey chrischoo!
[19:56] [chrischoo} yes, in the next 1 hr.
[19:56] [joseChristmas} it should be on sf.net
[20:00] [chrischoo} jani: we've been slashdotted on a couple of occasions. we know what it's like.
[20:01] [chrischoo} hhahaha jose u posted the download link on slashdot?
[20:01] [chrischoo} planeshift.it will be offline in a very short while lol!
[20:01] [jani} chris: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/25
[20:01] [jani} indeed.
[20:02] [chrischoo} u can start timing now.
[20:02] [chrischoo} we can start placing bets on how long planeshift.it will be available online.
[20:03] [jani} lol, second post @
[20:03] [joseChristmas} heh
[20:03] [joseChristmas} I saw that
[20:03] [chrischoo} jani: it's very very bad to link a 200MB file to slashdot. very very bad.
yush
It runs on lots of OS's, including *nixes. They just don't have binaries for other OS's yet. Just give 'em some time.
See http://www.crystalspace3d.org/
-chris
)ducks(
(anyone who has interacted with the planeshift team would know what im talking about)
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
http://www.planeshift.it.nyud.net:8090/download/81 23CB5142/PlaneShift_CBV0.3.004.exe
Can someone that downloaded this seed a torrent of it, because the site is feeding this in at about 8KB/s. :? C'mon, help avoid a slashdotting!
I'm a signature virus. Please copy me to your signature so I can replicate.
Now can we get a less pokemon-esque tag line for it than the previous crystal collector version of the game.
Gotta catch 'em all!
Cand you find them all?
that just redirects you to the real thing, doesn't help at all anybody want to start a torrent? I would, but I don't have the file or the bandwidth.
Why not use autopackage ? It just reached API stable phase. Inkscape and The Gimp already have .package files.
.package file executable, and just run the CLI or GUI installer. Should be better than Loki Installer, or even the one that aMSN uses.
For those that didn't hear about this before: autopackage is a cross-distro binary package with builtin dependency solving. Make the
I'm starting to get tired of OSS projects-games releasing only sources to Linux systems. Stellarium and Vega Strike are other examples of "oh, you run Linux, you should be able to spend a couple hours manually solving dependencies and compiling (and praying that it works afterwards)!"
Autopackage could solve that. It comes with an easy uninstaller, too, and soon it will even integrate with the distro's package management.
I was able to catch a 70% download before the whole server stopped responding :-(
What should I do now? All my msn friends are dining with family,I have nowhere to go.
Nice, it doesn't compile with crystalspace 0.98. The configure says it needs >=0.94, but what it really needs is 0.94 only. Gotta love the open source.
The source is available in sf CVS. See here for instructions.
However, a source release is not available, not in their home page, not on sf.
Also, the project is not completely Open Source. Part is covered by the GPL and part by a proprietary license of some sort.
See their explanation.
Some download mirrors here
World of Warcraft has some serious competition now... ;p
Wouldn't their proprietary "Planeshift License" that doesn't allow modification or use of their work outside their project be a violation of the GPL?
Also, I agree about the source problems and client issues. There should not be a 220MB file on just one server like that - imagine what the /. effect would do - and besides, their server is probably slow anyway. BitTorrent all the way.
They definitely need to make an actual source release; I don't like using CVS, I myself directly release everything. This could easily confuse users who think that they haven't released anything at all.
What's so hard about making a Linux package? Just make a .tar.gz file that you can extract in /, or even better, do a .tgz for Slack :-) They could also do their own live CD.
Just my 2 cents...
Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
Downloaded. Installed. Launched. App complained about missing MSVCR70.DLL. Couldn't find any documentation on this problem.
Moved on.
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
This is a beta, so take with a pinch of salt as things may improve.
Stability:
I was able to crash it within 30 seconds by simply opening the config dialog (the in-game one) and pressing the "X" at the top-right section of the dialog in order to close it.
I managed to crash it a few more times in the next 10 minutes just by playing around with the various interfaces.
The User Interface:
The difference between a good game and a great game is by how intuative the user interface is. The user interface here is awful. Everything from the character creation to actual gameplay is unintuative. I know it's far from complete, but we're talking basic stuff here. There's no way to easily understand what part of the user interface is active or not (i.e. mouse highlighting). This is very apparent on the character creation screen.
Game Engine:
The graphics are pretty good all considering. The polygon count on the characters is good, but the landscape is pretty low. Character movement is smooth, but doesn't seem connected to the actual surface they are walking on (when the character walks, it appears as if they are gliding over the surface while their legs are shuffling).
There are frequent mini-freezes as you turn around and walking down long staircases could make you dizzy as the screen jumps so much.
Camera pans are ok, but you can pan right through objects which appears odd.
Conclusion:
I'd give it several more months to mature, especially in the user interface department.
Zoom Player Lead Dev.
I wasn't the first to discover the licensing issues, but I guess I was the first to report it to SourceForge. Of course I wrote the project maintainer first, asking if they had permission from SF to host the art files. The answer I got from the leader was that it was the other way around - they granted SF the right to distribute all their files... Unfortunately SF has been very slow working with this issue. See https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid= 200001&aid=1054384&group_id=1
Authors of art work, music, etc are required to assign copyright and are prohibited from using their own work (except as a portfolio to show employers) as a condition of being a full contributor to the project! The Joint Copyright isn't enough to be a full contributor. Would it have been too much to give the author an unlimited license to THEIR OWN WORK. Slashdot people get mad at employers who put these restrictions on people's own work, they should also do so regarding volunteer projects.
So if I had something non-code related to contribute, I have to agree to not distribute my own work, even for free, in order to contribute to a project for which I wouldn't even be paid?
Are they crazy?
They are locking themselves out from even using free content. I would not suggest author's sell their soul (and the right to distribute THEIR OWN WORK) to this project.
If I create something, unless I'm doing it for a paying job, I damn well want the right to do with it as I wish, and not be told I can't be a full contributor to a volunteer project unless I agree to being shackled and enslaved and prohibited from free use of my own work!
If I give a gift of content (I will not say "intellectual property", there is no such thing, just a legal interest in gov't enforced monopolies, which isn't actually property in any non-legalistic sense) I shouldn't be punished for my generousity by being told what I can't do with my own work.
That isn't in the Christmas spirit, or in any spirit of giving.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
That is an insightful post.. Perhaps you should post some of your reasoning on the game forums and see if everyone can get Talad's attention to find out what his reasoning is.. I have to agree that the license is excessively (and perhaps needlessly) prohibitive, especially in allowing artists rights to their own work, but I am no lawyer and don't really have the sort of influence necessary to make thigs change...
josePhoenix
A Planeshift (http://www.planeshift.it/main_01.html) Fanatic! Known as Tavaris in-game
I have mentioned some of them in other posts, but I summarize them here and also mention what appears to be an untruth in their license webpage.
1. People are forbidden from using non-code content, even in other free projects. Legal, but nasty.
2. Authors are required to allow themselves from being forbidden to use their own content as a condition of being a full contributor. They aren't allowed to contribute content they used in any other game, EVEN IF THEY HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO DO SO, EVEN IF THEY HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO GRANT A COMPLETE UNREVOKABLE LICENSE TO USE THE CONTENT, AND EVEN IF THEY HOLD THE COPYRIGHT.. Very nasty, legal, but extremely unfair.
3. They claim these restrictions are needed to prevent authors from retroactively removing permission to use the content and to prevent authors from denying future uses of their work. A simple non-revocable, assignable, perpetual license granted by the author to the project would be sufficient.
I know they don't want forks, and want to have control, but the license even does the authors wrong.
Only people that would likely agree to those shackles would want to get paid in return. Not good for a free project.
See http://www.planeshift.it/pslicense.html
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Hopefully when they release "linux binaries", that'll be more than just the linux/x86 subset, but all of linux or at least linux/ppc and a few others like maybe amd-64 :)
:)
Actually, I'm looking forward to this game, since, with it's software mode, it'll be one of the few recent games that I can play on this laptop
Coders spend a zillion hours of their free time to make a free open source game just so others can enjoy it but you can't do the same for a bunch of notes?
One major difference between a computer program and a musical work is that it's possible to consciously avoid copying a computer program. Under copyright law, "copying" a work into one's own work is defined as having ever had "access" even once to a given work and then producing a work that's "substantially similar". The desirable qualities of a computer program are behaviors, which are uncopyrightable, whereas the desirable qualities of a musical work are expressions, which are copyrightable. Thus, unlike a performance of a computer program, a performance of a musical work taints the listener with "access" to the work. Courts have ruled ( Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music, 420 F. Supp. 177 (S.D.N.Y. 1976)) that a songwriter who writes and publishes a song that turns out to be similar to something he happened to have heard ten years ago on the radio or in a grocery store is just as liable of copyright infringement as "your friendly neighborhood pirate" who sells obviously copied CDs on a street corner.
Given precedent, how do songwriters avoid lawsuits from big publishers in practice? Computer programmers have the dirty/clean room method; what analogous method do songwriters have?
Don't know why no one has done this yet.
It needs more seeders, so if you already have it please help seed it.
http://www.binaryelysium.com/tracker/
While it may be insighful, as the authors should be allowed what license to contribute their license under especially if they're not paid to produce it, and also should be allowed to keep rights over their work, I'd suggest that the subject line is hard to get past. No one is likely to be converted by calling them fascists. "Hum, I'm a fascit, I've never been called that before." A less trolling tone might let the content make its point, though, as I believe the point is a valid one.
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
With their half-baked licensing scheme someone who contributes (FOR FREE!!!) loses a lot of rights associated with their work.. what the HELL is that about? Isn't OpenSource abour sharing and free-rights... not IP swindling 3 page license agreements and all this crap
Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
not to mention mozilla, etc. plenty of designers are very into the open source way.
tasty electronic music vittles
The Planeshift license page states that the developers use a proprietary license for all game content, making only the actual program code open source. While they use practical-sounding phrases like "keeping resources" and "maximizing chances of success", this is clearly acknowledged as a way to keep people from forking the project (by making it impractical to do so).
One of the primary freedoms afforded by the GPL and other FOSS licenses is the right to fork. Without the ability to fork, a project can die or stagnate if the leaders lose interest or turn into assholes, even when there are other interested people who would be willing to keep that project alive. In other words, the ability to fork gives you "The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3)."
IMHO, any project that claims to be open source but deliberately attempts to prevent forks should be regarded with suspicion.
No kiddin'. Their art licensing terms are, excuse my American, bullshit.
I was very excited when I first discovered Planeshift, and seriously considering contribution to the project, until I learned of their restrictive (and contradictory!) license terms. To me, Planeshift's schizophrenic licensing policy suggests an ulterior motive. Contrast to the genuinely Open Source game, The Battle for Wesnoth (http://wesnoth.org/, a turn based strategy game), which hasn't had problems getting fine art content, or with "forking". I suspect one could find other similar examples.
Congrats. You are the reason SF.net isn't part of our distro mirror list. Everyone out there with slow downloads from planeshift.it can thank you while they wait. :-)
Keith Fulton
Server Team Leader
PlaneShift
where are the mod points when you want them...
but seriously, anyone that comprehends remotely how much work goes into a game like WoW or EQ2 understands that stuff like this is a bunch of nerds wasting their time and compensating for being losers, at best...
Except for the fact that your PSL is not enforceable in the US or GB (search your forums if you wanna know why).
Okay, with some eager anticipation I joined the torrent, downloaded and left torrent up whilst I slept. I figured I'd try the install and game later the next day.
Next day events:
Spent more time on the games web site to garner info. painful in the extreme as the site is still nearly dead.
Installed game (This is on a WIn98se system)
Install seemed to go fine.
As per the newbie guide found in a acrane corner located at a link off games main site I ran the
update link . That opened a GD DOS?! WTF, window and spit out the following error.
LoadLibraryEx(D:\Program Files\Games\PlaneShift Crystal Blue\vfs.dll) error 11
57: One of the library files needed to run this application cannot be found.
WARNING: could not load plugin 'crystalspace.kernel.vfs'
Couldn't load VFS plugin "crystalspace.kernel.vfs"!
ERROR: csInitializer::SetupConfigManager failed!
Is your CRYSTAL environment variable set?
Exiting Planeshift. Press Enter...
Okay, wonderful. I even tried the setup game link as recomende in the now useless to me newbie guide.
Look, I'm no computing novice. I've been around them since 1985. I don't expect a LOT from a beta-alpha package but for gods sake that is inexcusable BS. THis package is a total waste of time if the developers can do no better than that for a INSTALL. THere is no excuse other that total incompetence. Sorry. Okay, maybe I'll grant sloppyness and failure to execute due diligence.
LOL. I gave up trying to log in on the games main
forum site to post query as WTF could I be doing so wrong, the site is just dead. Maybe in a week or two it will revive.
IN the meantime this game isn't worth the torrent space in my un humble opinion. Based on how it idiotically failed to pass a simple install and setup on this system it is junkware. Period.
I do hope though, that someday I can access the games forums and find out WTF I could have done so wrong as to cause it to bomb as listed above. Amazing.
Something between the lines jumps out and bites your arm off. Soltan Gris / London
That isn't in the Christmas spirit, or in any spirit of giving.
It's keeping in lockstep with the spirit (and intrinsic philosophy) of the GPL, though.
Everyone is discussing it's portability to linux, it's GPL licensing, or the funny way they are handling the art. What I would like to know is this.
is the game fun? is it worth downloading/installing?
swanker than you
Wow, what a genius, better go rush off and tell the record companies that it is impossible for singers to assign their copyright to them cause they've been under the mistaken impression that this was possible for decades now.
They are being paid for the rights, just as a scientist working for a company is being paid for his work (anything he discovers belongs to the company). Surrendering all of my rights to a piece I created without compensation (as the PSL demands) is quite different.
(you can even use the Planeshift engine!)
I would never. It's shit compared to the alternatives (and they seem to understand free software much better than the PS guys, not to mention that their webiste doesn't look like utter crap in Firefox--get your webmaster a book html).
Oh boy, yet another dark game.
Why must all these games be made from shades of brown and grey, where you always end up squinting at the screen?
Is it really so hard to make bright, easy to see games like Serious Sam 2?
I called the license fascist, not the people.
Attacking a wrong isn't the same as attacking the one who did it.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
I can still license work I contribute to a GPL project anyway I wish.
I can supply code to a GPL project (e.g. Linux kernel) and keep the copyright, but license it to them under the GPL. I can then go to a proprietary company and license it to them on a license which allows them to use the code in a product which itself has a restrictive license (e.g. Windows).
The people who I licensed it to via the GPL have those rights and responsibilities, the ones I proprietary licensed it to have the rights and restrictions associated with it.
Dual licensing is OK.
Now if you are talking about assigning copyright to the FSF, that is another story. I assume they license it back to you via the GPL and maybe some extra rights.
Assigning copyright to the FSF is something I'd have trouble doing personally.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
so many posts about "ah, oh their licence sux" but not a single post about how the game is actually. Did you even try to game? What the fuk is it? A lawyer convention???
Geez u are pathetic