The campaign for Freelancer's source code

[kramer]

Oh look, this thread again!

And again, and again, and again...

Yeah it makes really sense to ask for a more than 8 year old code from a company that even do not exist any more.

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Armin van Buuren

[ryeguy146]

I really REALLY wish that I could downvote posts like on other communities to express displeasure in selfish +1's that aren't even creative themselves. You've seen this type of thread before? Wonderful, then frack off!

What is with all the naysaying and crying lately? Sure, the kid's goal is neigh impossible, doesn't mean you have to be a collective bunch of pricks about it.

Nice work guys. Really.

[exlibrismortis]

I really REALLY wish that I could downvote posts like on other communities to express displeasure in selfish +1's that aren't even creative themselves. You've seen this type of thread before? Wonderful, then frack off!

What is with all the naysaying and crying lately? Sure, the kid's goal is neigh impossible, doesn't mean you have to be a collective bunch of pricks about it.

Nice work guys. Really.

signed

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I am [The_Angels]Mortis. If you need help regarding the rules, the game, or just need someone to talk to, feel free to contact me on skype or PM me.

[kramer]

I really REALLY wish that I could downvote posts like on other communities to express displeasure in selfish +1's that aren't even creative themselves. You've seen this type of thread before? Wonderful, then frack off!

What is with all the naysaying and crying lately? Sure, the kid's goal is neigh impossible, doesn't mean you have to be a collective bunch of pricks about it.

Nice work guys. Really.

Great deal in insulting others and ignoring the fact that this topic was discussed a lot time long ago.

Beside that Digital Anvil is no more the whole idea is nonsense.
And if you even got programming skills then grab some of the open source game engines and do it.

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Armin van Buuren

[stardust47]

I've heard of some way to get most of it which involves messing with DLLs.

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[Kazinsal]

Noone cares for Freelancer 2. Do you expect people to leave their friends on Disco for a game with slightly better graphics? Not to mention the hours of work they put in their characters.

Building on this, I believe it's been previously said that Disco is the closest thing we're ever going to get to FL2, if not better.

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Retired, permanently.

[Ingenious]

Updates

I think I will try my hand at sending an email to Phil Wattenbarger and Paul C. Isaac later today; if anyone has any constructive opinions as to what to say or the manner in which to say it, feel free to contribute.

Responses

Great deal in insulting others and ignoring the fact that this topic was discussed a lot time long ago.

Beside that Digital Anvil is no more the whole idea is nonsense.
And if you even got programming skills then grab some of the open source game engines and do it.

Microsoft owns the rights to the source code and possesses it, so the idea is not nonsense.

I've heard of some way to get most of it which involves messing with DLLs.

Tell me more.

Noone cares for Freelancer 2. Do you expect people to leave their friends on Disco for a game with slightly better graphics? Not to mention the hours of work they put in their characters.

Seriously? Have you ever played an open source game before? "Release early, release often" Changes are made slowly. Most likely, the discovery mod could continue to be updated on top of a base Freelancer game which would undergo continuous expansion of mechanics (not story), update, etc., while you get to keep your 30+ characters with pages of rp stories. Everyone's happy, and so is the rest of the modding community.

Building on this, I believe it's been previously said that Disco is the closest thing we're ever going to get to FL2, if not better.

I didn't post this topic so you could derail it with unwanted pessimism. If you don't think my goal is worthy or possible, then do not post here and derail my topic, if not out of respect for my goal, then out of respect for me personally. If you cannot do that, then I will contact forum mods. This topic is for the discussion of how to obtain the source code, not a "why it's not possible" rant, so take your negativity elsewhere and respect the OP.

[Mickk]

This is business and everyone knows, Microsoft does nothing without profit, regardless of how many people will cry.

Oddly, they do actually do stuff without the $$ being involved.

While the server was under attack, I got bored and went looking for a 'Mech Commander 2' torrent, which I found, but I also found that MicroSoft actually has the game (and source code as well!) to download for FREE on their web site!

Until the server came back up, I was playing the heck out of MC2, still play it a fair bit.

I reckon if someone actually asked the appropiate people at MS, they might just say, 'sure why not'.... although the chances might be fairly small.

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Mickk: One orginal, 4 clones. Telp..teleh....mind comu...comi..come...talking ability.
A possibly very ordinary signature coming soon.
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[Linkus]

You would be more worthwhile modding the game as it is.

Currently we can do a lot without the source code and that's pretty true.

Remember that full time, professional and paid programmers took a couple of years to make the game.
We are mainly a bunch of teenagers or young adults with no funding and only a meagre interest in doing the work to improve the game.

Seriously, what makes you think that the interest in changing the game will increase if we could maybe alter some more things?
We don't have enough developers as it is to do the work we want to do, this would just make the to-do list far far longer.


So really, it's a waste of your time.
It won't be useful for the community really.
If you want to improve freelancer, learn to mod it as it is.
You'll do far more good that way than this.

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Facilitating the rise of robotics since 0 A.D.

[Ingenious]

I just sent an email to Paul Isaac, Jorg Neumann, and Phil Wattenbarger. Hopefully I will receive some sort of reply. My name has been deleted from the transcript. In the actual email, I also included a handful of links to Discovery's modDB page and the like. Here is the body of the letter.

Code:

Hello,

My name is _________ and I, along with many others, am a frequent player of your game Freelancer. Despite this game's age today, it has nevertheless attracted significant attention over the years for its accessibility to "modders", and several prominent, permanent communities have come into being dedicated to the development of mods for Freelancer. These projects have accomplished and continue to accomplish great work. The mod community to which I belong is called the Discovery mod. In brief, the Discovery mod team has facilitated the growth of a sophisticated roleplaying environment complete with player factions, player diplomacy, and shifting tides of war. Allow me to indicate the popularity of this movement by pointing to the fact that the primary server for this particular mod has expanded the original server size from 16 players to 200 players, and this server is usually packed during peak time. These mod servers and a new global list server are supported entirely by donations and player efforts.

Despite its glory which we have come to appreciate, Freelancer is old and could be improved upon. Yet there is only so much that can be done to modify the core game without any actual ability to change the inner workings of the game. The ability to completely overhaul and update Freelancer hinges on access to the game's source code.

To my understanding, the rights to this source code were acquired by Microsoft along with the acquisition of Digital Anvil which was publicly announced in the Winter of 2000. However, community effort to ascertain the future of this source code has been disorganized and jumbled at best. Some question whether Freelancer's code will be tucked away in a box, never to be heard of again. Others ponder whether Microsoft Game Studios would ever consider releasing the Freelancer source code under a public license to enable the continued development of these gaming and roleplaying communities. Other games for which the source code has been "freed" have gone on to blossom into self-sufficient and up-to-date projects which offer players an immersive and interactive gaming experience.

I am not sure whether you have been approached by others about this matter in the past. However, I politely ask you to consider my request to provide me and by extension the Freelancer community at large the next steps which we should take with regards to opening a dialogue with Microsoft about this source code. Any information or contact details which you might happen to have would be wholly appreciated by the entirety of the Freelancer community. The most important thing is knowing the next step to take.

Best regards,
_________