Urban Terror Code Stolen

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Posted by timothy on Tuesday August 20, 2013 @01:23AM from the et-tu-b1nary-th1ef? dept.

New submitter herbalt writes "The code of the free FPS game Urban Terror (a standalone game based on a Quake 3 mod), has been stolen. The development team, Frozen Sand, at first stated their Git Repository had been hacked, but later issued an announcement stating the perpetrator of the leak was a member of the development team. Frozen Sand also states they have found chat logs indicating there had been 'a plot to get B1naryTh1ef to steal the code so they could sell Urban Terror under a different name on Steam.'"

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Well what do you know.... by metrix007 · 2013-08-20 01:24 · Score: 4, Insightful

I had thought it was open source all this time. Huh.

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1. Re:Well what do you know.... by RobertLTux · 2013-08-20 01:28 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  the CODE for the game could be open source but the ASSETS could not be. Plus its very skanky to jack somebodies code and then sell (for profit) the same game and not credit the original authors.
  
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2. Re:Well what do you know.... by operagost · 2013-08-20 01:45 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Well, that was literate. Any attempt to match wits with such an individual would be foolhardy.
  
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3. Re:Well what do you know.... by rwise2112 · 2013-08-20 01:48 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  even weirder is that B1naryTh1ef would be stealing the source code.
  Yeah, that's clearly a job for S0urceTh1ef!
  
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  "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
4. Re:Well what do you know.... by Captain+Sarcastic · 2013-08-20 01:55 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Well, that was literate. Any attempt to match wits with such an individual would be foolhardy.
  "Clearly, he has a dizzying intellect."
  
  --
  Strike while the irony is hot! -- The Freethinker
5. Re:Well what do you know.... by GoatCheez · 2013-08-20 02:08 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I have to agree. Stealing the source to sell the game on Steam? In what world does anyone think that they could get away with that? Even major corporations aren't that stupid. It's literally the dumbest idea I've ever heard. When a thief steals something that isn't money, they have to sell it "underground" or just keep it for their own personal treasure. They don't sell it in an auction or through an ad in the paper because it would be obvious they stole it and the stolen goods would be returned, and the thief would gain nothing. How would the thief in this case think that they would never get caught? Change the color of some textures? Fucking asinine.
6. Re:Well what do you know.... by kthreadd · 2013-08-20 02:09 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  And what if they don't want to open source their assets?
  They don't have to. No one is forcing them to do that.
  
  Your "desire" to see them "succeed" sounds eerily similar to blackmail: "That's some nice source code there, you should probably just make it open source, it'd be a real shame if something were to happen to it."
  If you cannot fundamentally respect their rights to license their work as they see fit - even if you don't agree with their choices - then you have exactly zero standing to complain when somebody else disregards your wishes as to how source code YOU wrote will be released and licensed. If you don't agree with someone's choice to not open source their assets, you do not automatically gain the right to take a copy. Don't like their license? Do without, or write your own open source alternative.
  I cannot wait to see the day when thugs who feel they have the right to take anything they want at any time they please are shunned out of any civilized company - as they should be.
  I think it's better for them and for all other software developers to produce free software. I don't understand how you can think that's blackmail, it's not like I'm in a position to make them do anything.
7. Re:Well what do you know.... by AlreadyStarted · 2013-08-20 04:23 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Trying to sell something that can be got for free is unlikely to be highly profitable.
  Bottled Water.
8. Re:Well what do you know.... by Khyber · 2013-08-20 04:47 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  "Stealing the source to sell the game on Steam? In what world does anyone think that they could get away with that? Even major corporations aren't that stupid. It's literally the dumbest idea I've ever heard."
  Never heard of Zynga, I see.
  
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9. Re:Well what do you know.... by drkim · 2013-08-20 08:10 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Trying to sell something that can be got for free is unlikely to be highly profitable.
  Tanning Salons?
Poor choice of name by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-20 01:30 · Score: 5, Funny

If you call yourself "B1naryTh1ef", and then steal the source, that just indicates a general sloppiness of character. Sheesh.
1. Re:Poor choice of name by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-20 01:33 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  That's why he chose that name. Nobody would expect B1naryTh1ef of planning to steal source code.
2. Re:Poor choice of name by CanHasDIY · 2013-08-20 02:34 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  That's why he chose that name. Nobody would expect B1naryTh1ef of planning to steal source code.
  In that case, maybe he should have called himself TheSpan1sh1nqu1s1t1on...
  
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U sure it wasn't NSA? by c0lo · 2013-08-20 01:37 · Score: 4, Interesting

I mean, a game with such a name...

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Re:Stolen or copied by Nukenbar · 2013-08-20 01:37 · Score: 4, Insightful

Until someone comes up with a single word that means "copied against the will of the code's owner", people will use the word stolen. Get over it.
Re:Stolen or copied by Russ1642 · 2013-08-20 01:44 · Score: 4, Funny

Copyrightinfringement. There. No spaces, like German. Is that alright with you?
Re:what am i missing? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-08-20 02:17 · Score: 4, Informative

That's just the open source Q3 engine though.
UT is a closed source mod to the engine developed seperately (under the Q3 SDK licence)
From http://www.urbanterror.info/support/196-misc/#1.1
"Urban Terror uses the Quake 3 SDK license. This means the game code (the .qvm's in zpak000.pk3) are closed source."
"Urban Terror's close sourced .qvm's (quake virtual machine) are interprated by the open source engine"
So basically there are three bits: engine, mod and assets. The engine can be the open source Q3 (but could be the closed source version, and doesn't really care). The magic bits of the mod are closed source, and presumably the bits that have been "stolen".
(no expert, just reading the FAQ's)
Re:Stolen or copied by Minwee · 2013-08-20 04:09 · Score: 5, Interesting

In German it would be "infringementrightcopy", plus about a dozen extra syllables on the end to show that you really mean it.
The real story by b1naryth1ef · 2013-08-20 06:32 · Score: 5, Insightful

Mildly hilarious to see this here. In fact, I did not steal the source code, nor leak it. I've already made an official statement (which you can read at the bottom of http://playurt.com/index.php?mod=news&action=view&id=7 that post). If you're really stupid enough to listen to anything Frozen Sand posts on their home page (with the only evidence being "screenshots", and the post being locked to responses) you don't have much going for you. I'm not going to go into the legal implications of what Frozen Sand has done (because I'm still processing documentation with my lawyer) but to say the least, they're in a wee bit of trouble. This basically boils down to FS trying to harassing and defame me after I quit.