Questions

[kfrench16]

My vote for opensource release as well. I'd really like to see how you communicated back and forth between the world and zone servers

[LordRathgil]

anyone know if theres a way to turn the gui fade off?

[Scorpious2k]

My opinion, for whatever it is worth is that, while it would be nice for it to be open source (albeit in delphi), doing this would make it worthless for serverOps.

Once the code is available to all, anyone can recompile it with their own changes. Specifically for cheating. Is there any serverOp out there who wants players with the equivalent of MacroQuest on steroids in the hands of their players? And that would be built in to the client.

I feel that if this were open source, a legit server would be impossible.

On the other hand, if you had it in the hands of a few trusted programmers to help, it might take off some of the pressure on you.

[LordRathgil]

I disagree Scorpious, simple fact is anyone who wants the source will most likley Rewrite it to suit their needs and wishes and wont redistribute their particular brand of the client. Atleast thats what anyone who would actually want a truly custom client would do source or no source there is enough already open sourced in the client to do far worse then macroquest considering every single packet struct is there not only that but the loginserver code is oss among other things.

If people want to cheat the system i doubt they are going to take the time to edit then recompile a whole client to do it when it would be soooo much simpler to just edit those plain text files.

The entire point of SC is to allow people to make brand new games this cannot be done without the source code, unless they want a cookie cutter version of well EQ.

My two cents is to have an open source version to allow the community to work on it, however SC does NOT work with any servers currently on the public ls anyway so the cheating aspect is really a moot point as any server ops who really are serious about making a totally unique game would likely change a great deal to make it happen both on their server and in the client atleast that is what we would do with LJ.

I mean whats the point of SC if you cant customize it entirely its just a much less developed flavor of the base EQ client if people cant edit it as they want to, seems like a buttload of wasted time on WC's part when you want to impose the same limitations on the people using it that they already endure with the main eq client anyway, Like i said what is the point when they can just use the EQ client if all they can do in SC is add zones and things like that which is all they can do in the EQ client now?

Keeping it closed source is what is keeping the people interested in it from devoting any real time to using it IMO Because like I said why would they bother with it when its simpler to use the main eq client which already works with the latest servers, has a ton more content and models and features

[LordRathgil]

gah hit the button too soon to finish that last sentance...

It just doesnt make sense to bother with it if you have the same limitations you have with using the eq client the only difference is you can add zones instead of replacing them but you still have to do all the modeling work and everything else so really all you get in the end is the same result as you get when you add custom zones to your eq client.

I fail to see how people can make a truly custom game that gets away from SOE stuff with out being able to truly customize the client.

[LordRathgil]

I mean really think about it. Keeping it closed up is jsut basicly making it another SOE client that people cant do what they want with to make something truly unique anyone using it will just endup with a customized carbon copy of everyone else that uses it.

I know I for one wouldnt waste my time using something that cant be changed adequately, some people might want to replace the graphics engine for their game, others might want to change the opcodes and add features that are custom to their servers, some might want to remove features.

Keeping it closed up takes all those options out of the mix. Heck some people might want to add encryption specific to their server and login system to it. its just i dunno a waste of WC's time and vision if you want to limit people using it the same way that they are limited with the eq client, its like a total waste of his time and work, Imean he worked his butt off for 4.5 years according to the posts on this to give people the change to make something truly unique and now your saying they shouldnt be able to truly make something unique because of them cheating?

[Richardo]

Scorpious is right, however... There's ways around it. Require server ops to distribute their own version of the client that is not opensource. For example:


I run server (REVENGE OF AOREKAEPROKROTHERIOAS [PVP]).

My RoA compiled client will have a special ID (that cannot be changed considering it's in the binaries). The server will check the ID and if it does not match what I have specified, it will not connect. And there you go...