Quake 3: Arena Source GPL'ed

inotocracy writes "At John Carmack's Quakecon 2005 keynote he promised that the Quake 3 Arena source code would soon be released-- turns out he wasn't just pulling our leg! Today it was released, weighing in at 5.45mb, it makes for a quick download and a whole lotta fun. Developers, start your compilers!"

Comments

Ha ! Bit late uh.

[88NoSoup4U88]

Releasing the source several years after the game is released, how lame !

Take a look at VALVe, at least they released the source of Half-Life 2 before the game was released...

Ohwait...

My first hack

[daserver]

#define cdkey_correct 1

Re:Source Source

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

October 2, 2003, if I read my log... er, recall correctly.

Mirror, sans registration...

[Dave2 Wickham]

If you don't want to register, but also don't want a capped download: Demon FTP.

Re:Mirror, sans registration...

[ctr2sprt]

And if you like BitTorrent: FileRush.

porting

[jaavaaguru]

I wonder what the most bizarre platform this can be ported to now is?

Re:porting

[ciroknight]

I dunno about you, but I'm firing up the compiler on my toaster just as soon as I get home.

Re:porting

[alphaseven]

Carmack mentioned during his keynote that the PSP should be able to handle Quake 3 level graphics, but I'm not sure if that means it would be able to handle a port of Quake 3.

Real download link

[cortana]

Anyone fancy posting a link to the actual download, rather than yet another javascript-implemented, advert-laden bullshit fest, registration required download portal?

Re:Real download link

[cortana]

Never mind, here's a link for UK readers.

BugMeNot

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember, http://www.bugmenot.com/ to get the download at more than 50KBps without having to sign up.

Hmm

[PsychicX]

I've been poking around the source since yesterday afternoon (late as usual slashdot) and it's generally MUCH cleaner than Q2. Things are well organized, categorized, and sensible. The id penchant for clumping a dozen header files into just one continues, but overall it's easy to find the code you're looking for. Hell, it took me 3 days to find the BSP code in Quake 2 because they had called it model_t or some such meaningless thing. I can see why Q3 was so popular for licensing, despite being in C. Indeed, it's some of the cleanest C code I've seen laid out to date. Naturally there are hacks here and there, and a few very weird design things...and the C versions of what would in C++ be inheritance and aggregation are hilarious. Overall though, I think this code is going to go a lot farther than Q1 or Q2 source ever did. Compared to everything else out of id, this source is really quite nice. No stretches of pages of uncommented assembly code. Most functions have documentation if it's not obvious what they do. All of the members of the major engine structs are well commented, for the most part.

In short, I like. 1 thumb up. (Hey, it's still C, and I'm a C++ guy in and out.)

Re:Hmm

[bani]

Indeed, it's some of the cleanest C code I've seen laid out to date.

Lollerskates.

Cleaner than q1 or q2 maybe, but it is not really a good example of clean / well written C code in general.

For example, take a look at CL_DemoFilename() for some real "OMGWTFBBQ".

I can't tell if that code is serious or a joke. But it's there.

As for stretches of pages of uncommented assembly code -- it's still there. See BoxOnPlaneSide() in game/q_math.c for example. Or S_WriteLinearBlastStereo16() in client/snd_mix.c.

I really wouldn't use quake3 source as an example of well formatted / readable code. :-)

Re:Hmm

[PsychicX]

Ok, admittedly there are stretches where you can feel Carmack's..."magic" work. They clearly wanted to leverage MMX. But, as a whole, the engine is nicely laid out and the architecture is pretty nice. Ignoring the lower level math code -- which frankly tends to look horrendous on ANY engine, due to the MMX, SSE, and whatnot that's usually involved in production code -- things are easy to find and understand. The renderer could still use a lot more commenting as to why it's doing some of the things it's doing (the sky code, for example), but it's really not that difficult to figure it out. No, it's not the best C code on earth. But it is pretty good C code, and besides which it's probably relatively hack free compared to most production source. (It WAS intended for licensing, after all.)

Re:Hmm

[bani]

The platform independent code is mostly ok (eg server/ and client/), but the platform specific code is an ugly mess.

While most of the code in game/ cgame/ ui/ etc are ok, most of the code in unix/ and win32/ is really ugly.

As for ugly low level C math code (game/q_math.c) most of it is actually pretty clean -- its the gobs of uncommented asm that's ugly.

The doom3 sdk is much better -- the simd asm code is in general very well commented.

But there's really little reason to use asm anymore, since the autovectorization in gcc is very nice. It also allows the compiler to optimize much better -- inlined asm functions are hard for the compiler to optimize.

As for hack free... no.. there are plenty of ugly hacks in the quake3 code. It's the nature of the beast :-/

Re:Hmm

[k4rm4_p0l7c3]

float Q_rsqrt( float number )
{
                long i;
                float x2, y;
                const float threehalfs = 1.5F;

                x2 = number * 0.5F;
                y = number;
                i = * ( long * ) // evil floating point bit level hacking
                i = 0x5f3759df - ( i >> 1 ); // what the fuck?
                y = * ( float * )
                y = y * ( threehalfs - ( x2 * y * y ) ); // 1st iteration // y = y * ( threehalfs - ( x2 * y * y ) ); // 2nd iteration, this can be removed

#ifndef Q3_VM
#ifdef __linux__
                assert( !isnan(y) ); // bk010122 - FPE?
#endif
#endif
                return y;
}

heh.

Re:Hmm

[John Carmack]

Personally, I think the Q3 code is pretty clean on the whole. It was a commercial product done under time pressure, so it isn't a polished gem, but I consider it good.

Anyone working on the Q3 codebase today should just delete all the asm code and use the C implementations. Making a commercial game with fairly high end requirements go 10% faster is sometimes worth writing some asm code, but years later when the frame rate pressure is essentially gone, the asm code should just be dumped in the name of maintainability. All the comments in the world wouldn't change this decision a bit.

>But there's really little reason to use asm
>anymore, since the autovectorization in gcc is
>very nice.

I was pretty much with you until that point. I fully agree that there is little reason to use asm anymore (I haven't written any in years -- Jan Paul did all the SIMD work for Doom 3). Knowledge of asm is good to allow you to manipulate compiler output by changing your C++ code, but there isn't much call for writing it by hand.

However, autovectorization in gcc is a particularly bad argument against writing asm code. Scalar compiler code is much, much closer to hand codeed asm in performance than compiler generated SIMD code is. Optimized SIMD coding almost always requires significant transformations that compilers can't really do on their own.

The argument about inline asm hurting compiler optimizations is only true if you are trying to use short snippets of asm, which is generally a bad idea. Asm code that doesn't loop a lot isn't likely to contribute significantly to your performance, with the exception of things like ftol replacements.

John Carmack

Do stores still have the game?

[m50d]

I'd like to get it but don't shop online (I know, I know, I'm being a fool), and I haven't been able to find it anywhere, even second hand. It looks like it was never released on Sold Out or Xplosiv or anything like that. Anyone know if there are plans to do any sort of re-release?

Thank you

[__aajwxe560]

In this day and age of everyone trying to patent this, litigate that, and everything in between, it's refreshing to see a company, that really doesn't have any motive to make any money off of this, AND in an industry where this concept seems somewhat unusual, release its source code, instead of letting this go off into some useless void. Actions like can only help the industry as a whole, as some burgeoning programmer will have many sleepless nights ahead spending his/her own time learning the tips and tricks employed in this source code. Thank you.

Mirror without the BS

[Anonymous Coward]

Mirror

What can be done with it?

[Anonymous Coward]

So what can be done with this? Since it's the Q3 Arena code, are developers limited to similar games of running around shooting each other? Or, could someone use this code and remake some older game such as Ultima Underworld?

Re:What can be done with it?

[FLAGGR]

Someone could turn it into a word proccessing app if they wanted to. Depends on how much effort your willing to spend, and how good at coding you are.

Re:What can be done with it?

[Flounder]

I'd love to see a Q3 port of Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior.

Re:What can be done with it?

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

"I see that you're trying to write a letter. Would you like me to..."

baaa-WHOOOM!

CLIPPY has been killed with a RAILGUN!

Re:UT forever.

[PsychicX]

It's 5MB after it's been compressed into a zip. As you may or may not know, zip compresses text really well.

The uncompressed size of the source is just over 35MB.

And that's why id Software rocks.

[HerculesMO]

No, id Software doesn't rule because they are open sourcing an outdated graphics engine. There will always be complainers...

They rule because they are open sourcing it to make room for cheap games based on that engine. Carmack and Co know that they don't have to give the engine out, but the people that follow their games religiously, this is kind of 'giving back to the community'. The fact this engine will be open sourced means that it can also be improved upon, free of charge. Indy developers (mind you, id Software is one of the FEW left) get a chance to develop a great game -- albeit one that lacks a bit graphically compared to the D3 and HL2 standards -- to cater to a niche crowd and make a name for themselves.

The sheer price to enter the market for game developing is HUGE. Especially when it costs more money to develop a reliable engine than to buy one from somebody else. Those engines can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and for a small gaming firm, or even a lone developer, that entry fee is too high a price to pay.

id Software should be commended for their efforts to continue supporting open source, make room for solo developers, and help broaden the PC gaming genre as we know it by including those who previously had restraints on their investment into gaming.

And to those of you assholes who continually compare Doom3's engine to the Source engine, and say it sucks... just write an engine that's even half as good as the Q3 engine, and then maybe you can say what sucks, and what doesn't. Doom3 may not have been graphically spectacular in its own instance, but I have a feeling that the engine behind it will do much of what the Q3 engine did -- pave the way for amazing games, and challenge hardware AND software vendors to up their efforts to support the T&L and effects that the D3 engine is spectacular at.

Re:And that's why id Software rocks.

[John Carmack]

Thank you.

John Carmack

Filerush.com torrent

[rg3]

Here's a link: http://www.filerush.com/download.php?target=quake3 -1.32b-source.zip

Tip for compiling on linux

[jayslambast]

While most of you probably know this, you have to do one thing before compiling the code. The '.md' files in the lcc/src need to be converted to unix end of line characters, otherwise one of the lcc compiler programs will barf. To fix this, jump into the lcc/src directory and run this little perl function on all the files in that directory.

cd lcc/src
tcsh
foreach i (*)
perl -p -e 's/\r/\n/g' $i.unix
mv $i.unix $i
end

and btw, if there is a nice unix utility that already does this, let me know.

MacOSX Version...

[graffix_jones]

Well, it compiles and runs under OSX, but it's not pretty.

So far, there's three pretty major bugs that I've noticed in my limited trial.

1. Trying to ping multiplayer servers crashes the game
2. Several of the 3D models are really messed up, and some are missing. I was playing against a bunch of bodyless people... all that were present was legs.
3. The Quake 3 header on the setup screen is missing.

The odd thing, is that I assumed that since the last build to come out of iD worked great on my G4, that the source would just compile and run without problems... boy was I wrong.

Of course I compiled under 10.4.2, and I think the last time it was compiled under 10.2.x, so the difference in compilers could probably be the difference.

eh... no need for perl here

[jbellis]

find lcc/src | xargs dos2unix

that's all you need

Re:Nice

[jericho4.0]

That's Carmacks magic number! Of course it doesn't need commenting!

It's the first guess for finding an inverse sqare root using Newtons method. We're still waiting for a mathamatitian to tell us if it's the best choice, but it works. That's one of Carmack's claims to fame in the CS world.

Re:Nice

[jericho4.0]

(replying to my own post)

float InvSqrt (float x)
{
float xhalf = 0.5f*x;
int i = *(int*)&x;
i = 0x5f3759df - (i >> 1);
x = *(float*)&i;
x = x*(1.5f - xhalf*x*x);
return x;
}

It runs much faster than math.h, and it's very usefull.

This paper says that it was first found in the Quake 3 source. I guess it's in the SDK somewhere?

I wanted to add, too, that this is an example of why companies don't release code. They view things like this as secrets to be kept. Kudos to Carmack for having the confidence.

Radiant

[Sludge]

First off, a big thanks to John Carmack for opening doors for developers... again.

The most exciting thing about this release is the GPL'd version of QeRadiant included with it. Radiant is a tool that many professional level designers swear by. For the first time ever, it is now available for independents to use when creating content for their own games. Prior to this, you needed a license from Id Software in order to use it for commercial purposes.

Re:Nice

[TheRaven64]

I'm intrigued. If this method is faster than the `standard' one, then why isn't it in libc? After all, math.h only defines the interface, and the C standard only defines the input-output semantics, not the implementation. Is it just laziness / ignorance on the parts of libc developers, or are there disadvantages associated with this approach (other than assuming a 32-bit float size and a specific format for floating point values)?

Re:Nice

[bani]

the reason why this code isn't in libc is because this code is an approximation (but a good one). suitable for games but bad for scientific purposes.

there are several reasons why this code exists in quake3:

1) it was written back before modern FPUs and SSE etc. nowadays doing square roots in hardware is faster, especially if you vectorize. but back in 1999 it wasn't.
2) it was written for mods to use in the quake vm (quake's bytecode interpreter). an engine trap may have been slower.

How to compile this on Linux

[jcdr]

Tested on a Debian Sarge:

# Get the code
wget ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/source/quake3-1.3 2b-source.zip
mkdir q3a
cd q3a
unzip quake3-1.32b-source.zip
cd quake3-1.32b

# Transformation for UNIX
find -type f -exec dos2unix {} \;

# Compiling
cd code ./unix/cons

# Result
cd install
find -ls

# Install the packs
# You needs to original files!
# I do not find them in the source.
cp -a /usr/local/games/quake3/baseq3/* ~/.q3a/baseq3/

# Playing ./linuxquake3

Gotta love grep

[zeno921]

Results of `grep -ri fuck *':

1. //NOW close the fucking brush!!
2. i = 0x5f3759df - ( i >> 1 ); // what the fuck?
3. // fuck, don't have a clean cut, we'll overflow
4. // since the cmd formatting can fuckup (amount of spaces), using a dumb step by step parsing
5. // fuck, don't have a clean cut, we'll overflow
6. // vm fuckage
7. // vm fuckage
8. //FIXME: this is a fucking mess
9. Note: Unix CR/LF in *.dsw/*.dsp fucks up MSVC++.
10. How the fuck did this happen?
11. some files, and between their revisions and ours we fuck this up.
12. break; // dragged backwards or fucked up
13. // FIXME: this code is a TOTAL clusterfuck
14. {"rem", "Less than half a fucking man."},
15. {"rem", "You're fucking dumb! Suck it down."},
16. // cleaning up after merging and thinks badly fucked up
17. this could fuck up if you have only part of a complex entity selected...
18. // FIXME: this bend painting code needs to be rolled up significantly as it is a cluster fuck right now

License problem, GPL/BSD mixed code?

[hauk]

I see quite a bit of BSD licensed code in there or usage thereof. Any BSD license with an advertising clausal is incompatible with the GPL (see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html) still Quake3 is licensed under the GPL. Wouldn't this be a problem?

Re:License problem, GPL/BSD mixed code?

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess you're referring to this in code/game/bg_lib.c:

/*-
  * Copyright (c) 1992, 1993
  * The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
  * are met:
  * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
  * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
  * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
  * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
  * must display the following acknowledgement:
  * This product includes software developed by the University of
  * California, Berkeley and its contributors.
  * 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
  * may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
  * without specific prior written permission.
  *
  * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
  * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
  * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
  * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
  * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
  * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
  * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
  * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
  * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
  * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
  * SUCH DAMAGE.
  */

The advertising clause was officially rescinded, so it shouldn't be a problem. It should be deleted from that file, though.

Re:Unreal Engine 4

[John Carmack]

Yes, there was a budget title (Paintball somthing or another) that was developed based on the Q1 source that purchased a commercial license.

We didn't charge much, but I still think they should have just saved the money and released their source.

John Carmack