4 replies to this topic

[zpimp]

is there a reason why ea doesent release red alert 2 source code ?

its basically ancient, it was released in 2000, 17 years ago

 

the reason i ask is i see lots of action here, lots of mods , and of course i enjoyed it

 

i am asking about the engine source code

not the art, models, textures

 

problem is, its too complicated to set up a modern mod

lets take mental omega for instance,

- after getting the original game (i got the first decade)

- you have to get the mod, wich includes a lot of custom binary stuff, like dll injecting

people have probably spent lots of nights trying to disassemble that stuff

and i heard its not pretty, especially the red alert 2 engine

- but for the mod and all the hacky stuff to work you need all the .net,vcredist, and other runtimes

- assuming you got all the files now the fun part starts, trying to get all the settings right

- depending on os (win xp,7,10,linux) the game needs lots of compatibility settings,

- depending on hardware (intel gpu/drivers) it might not work

- even if you get it running, engine is outdated, and not very optimized (lags on lan)

 

for the revenue part, people will still have to buy the game to play it

and ea would still make money

 

the technical part, the community will port the engine to the newer technologies and operating system and the game will live on

 

on the legal side, im not a lawyer, but im pretty sure the source code is ea's property, not a programmer they hired

so its their choice

 

the alternative is people who want to play that one game, they wont just buy the next, some will just stop playing

 

even if open source clones are started from scratch, progress is slow, and still have quirks

openra its still laggy, im not bashing it, and openra2 but thats even harder to setup

 

what im trying to say is, i really cant understand why companies dont release source code of old stuff

its not like its something impossible to replicate

its just hard to provide the same experience by reverse engineering

 

progress comes from sharing and learning

ea will not lose money, cause people would buy the game for the data/arts/content

ea will not lose the technical edge, because its stuff from 17 years ago

community will support/update the engine, for free as it happened with id software stuff

a better experience for the user buys and plays the game

modders will be more inclined to create content, appealing to more users, thus more profit for ea

 

[PurpleGaga27]

EA doesn't have it anymore because they lost it, whether if RA2 is free or not. Right now Ares is the best shot of starting coding from scratch. I hope soon OpenRA will have most of the custom RA2 engine source code... maybe.

[zpimp]

i seriously doubt it, i have lost some source code, but im not a multi million dollar company

 

ares seems to run better, seems to be more optimized

openra is probably more compatible since it runs on linux, but it runs slower

 

ea could try to search a little more, im sure its somehere in there

 

it would benefit everyone

[Plokite_Wolf]

They really did lose it, regardless of whether you want to believe in that. Olaf from XWIS tried to obtain it some years ago, only to discover the source codes for Westwood's games were lost in 2003 while moving.

[zpimp]

if they said they lost it, it is implied they would release it

if they want to release it, just do a remake, they have all the game data

thyre one of the greatest game companies, they have the knowledge and experience

 

make a hd remake for ra2, like even microsoft did for aoe (and we all know microsoft is the worst)

 

think it through, before starting to code, base it on open standards (opengl, openal, sdl, whatever open source crossplatform stuff)

so then you can make it for all device/os-es

make a 2d rts to take advantage of the new hardware

but at the same time, being 2d it doesent need a  $1000 gaming rig -> more users -> more profit

 

and if you open source it, it will live on its own

 

sell the game for a couple of years, then open source the engine

or open source the engine from the begining

 

you lost it, its your responsibility to make things right