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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm

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IgorTheLight Apr 11, 2020 @ 8:27am
Open Sourcing Dawn of War series
DOW1 is a highly beloved series but it's also a very old one. Not all problems could be fixed by mods. I think it's time to release sources for the DOW1 + WA + DC + SS. Why do I think that it's a good idea:
* Let's be honest - publisher will not make a lot of money out of it anymore. All who wanted this game already bought it. All who pirating it will keep pirating it. I'm not sure that many new players would be interested in 12+ years old game.
* Sources for many applications are proprietary to prevent leaking of company secrets. I'm not sure that old RTS game (a very good one but still) could contain some Relic secrets that are interesting to modern developers. C'mon guys! :-)
* I think that's a smart idea to do as Jedi Academy developers did - open source the engine itself but NOT the assets. So players couldn't play the game "for free".
I hope that you still care for that game and for comminity.
"Hope is the first step to the road of dissapointment".
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Showing 1-15 of 19 comments
Nap Apr 12, 2020 @ 11:30pm 
In my opinion the only good option that is realistic is a HD edition. I'd buy it.
#1
Arii Apr 13, 2020 @ 1:32pm 
Originally posted by Nap:
In my opinion the only good option that is realistic is a HD edition. I'd buy it.
+1
Remaster would be sweet indeed.
#2
IgorTheLight Apr 13, 2020 @ 2:12pm 
Depends on how they'll do a Remaster :-)
Why not both: open source the original and make a Remaster? I'll buy that!
#3
Nap Apr 13, 2020 @ 2:49pm 
Because pretty much no company is just going to release an IP asset off the books just to be nice, that's not how the world works, and there is nothing wrong with that. lol It'd be nice, and maybe someone can think of that 1 time that 1 random company did do that, but generally speaking it's unrealistic.
#4
IgorTheLight Apr 14, 2020 @ 8:52am 
Originally posted by Nap:
Because pretty much no company is just going to release an IP asset off the books just to be nice, that's not how the world works, and there is nothing wrong with that. lol It'd be nice, and maybe someone can think of that 1 time that 1 random company did do that, but generally speaking it's unrealistic.
I absolutely agree.
I just bring their attention to it. The chance itself is very small.
#5
Internetor Apr 10, 2021 @ 2:53am 
A better solution would be to create an engine reimplementation like the folks at OpenRA or OpenMW did: basically you create an engine from scratch that is compatible with the file system of DoW and distribute that while requiring the original game files to run the game. It's perfectly legal and a better long-term solution that anything that can be delivered by Relic. It's a lot of work though.
#6
IgorTheLight Apr 10, 2021 @ 3:59am 
Originally posted by Internetor:
A better solution would be to create an engine reimplementation like the folks at OpenRA or OpenMW did: basically you create an engine from scratch that is compatible with the file system of DoW and distribute that while requiring the original game files to run the game. It's perfectly legal and a better long-term solution that anything that can be delivered by Relic. It's a lot of work though.
I'm thinking about doing this right now ;-)
I know that would be a long journey. But it's still a journey someone should embark on.
#7
Internetor Apr 10, 2021 @ 4:24am 
Originally posted by IgorTheLight:
Originally posted by Internetor:
A better solution would be to create an engine reimplementation like the folks at OpenRA or OpenMW did: basically you create an engine from scratch that is compatible with the file system of DoW and distribute that while requiring the original game files to run the game. It's perfectly legal and a better long-term solution that anything that can be delivered by Relic. It's a lot of work though.
I'm thinking about doing this right now ;-)
I know that would be a long journey. But it's still a journey someone should embark on.

Good luck, I do so hope you or someone goes through this. My recommendation is, don't go into it alone. Try talking with some of the folks behind the major mods, like UA, DowPro, Unification, etc, and get some support, since it would also be in their best interest to have a platform to make modding easier.
#8
IgorTheLight Apr 10, 2021 @ 4:28am 
Thanks!
I know FragJacker (the original creator of DoW Mod Manager) and he also knows a few modders so I think I could get some help when I would need it.
I myself is a second developer of DoW Mod Manager (I made most features from 1.52 and up) so I may qualify for the job. I hope ;-)
#9
Internetor Apr 10, 2021 @ 4:34am 
Sounds like a good start. You may also try knocking on the door of Eranthis, who is currently working on the Redux mod, which is already remaking a bunch of things for the game, such as UI and effects.

And keep it GPL or GPL compatible. :)
#10
Internetor Apr 10, 2021 @ 4:44am 
One more musing: maybe to have an easier starting base it might be possible to stripe and repurpose already existing open source RTS engines like MegaGlest or Warzone 2100?
#11
IgorTheLight Apr 10, 2021 @ 4:48am 
Thanks for an advice!
I tried Redux mod and I really like new effects and textures! Still confused about new UI layout but still :-)
About free licence - I may develop it as a propreitary at first but I 100% will open it out as fast as I could! The reason of being closed at first is because I want to lay a foundation for the work and I would reject any changes from anyone (at first). When I get more comfortable I choose a license like GPL or MIT (that was I who suggested FragJacker to use MIT liccense for DoW Mod Manager - I hope he is happy with it).
#12
IgorTheLight Apr 10, 2021 @ 4:51am 
Originally posted by Internetor:
One more musing: maybe to have an easier starting base it might be possible to stripe and repurpose already existing open source RTS engines like MegaGlest or Warzone 2100?
That may help if I will stuck. I'm planning to use Godot as my engine of choice. Godot 3 has a bad 3D performance and Godot 4 is still in Pre-Alpha... but I like it! And it's still Free and Open Source! I may even ask for help from the engine developers themselves (I'm sure they are interested in supporting RTS games).
Also Zero-K have a nice RTS engine (modified Spring engine if I'm not mistaken).
#13
Internetor Apr 10, 2021 @ 5:01am 
Good luck and keep us posted in this thread. :) Awesome it was you who helped relicense the mod manager.
#14
IgorTheLight Apr 10, 2021 @ 5:07am 
Thank you for encouragement :-)
I will post some news about development here so people would know if this project is alive or not.

P. S. Before MIT licence it was basically in public domain. It may be stoled or resold (theoretically). So I insisted so the origial author would licensed it under something free and liberal. Just so his effort could not be lost.
#15
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Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm > General Discussions > Topic Details
Date Posted: Apr 11, 2020 @ 8:27am
Posts: 19

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