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Classic Shooters Heretic and Hexen Released Under GPL

Posted by Soulskill on from the giblets-want-to-be-free dept.

phanboy_iv writes "Fans of both of the Raven classics, Heretic and Hexen, have been trying for almost a decade to convince Raven Software to release engine source code for the games under the GPL, much like the DOOM engine on which both of them are based. Well, they finally did it! Source code is available at Sourceforge. Both of these games have had the source available for a while, but under a restrictive license that hindered ports and modifications. Now, thanks to dedicated fans, that's no longer a problem."

2 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not needed anymore? by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 4, Informative

    They do, but it wasn't technically legal to redistribute their code under the GPL. ZDoom still has this problem with Ken Silverman's BUILD engine, which uses its own license (Randy Heit lifted slope code and uncapped frame rate stuff from it, amongst other things.)

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  2. For those wondering what the hell this is about by IntergalacticWalrus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Many of the Doom source modifications out there use code from the Heretic and Hexen source bases in order to create a combined port that can support all games, and support the additional engine features that were brought by Hexen in the older games.

    However since the Doom source is GPL while the Heretic and Hexen code bases were not, any project doing so was actively violating the GPL, until now.