Pandemic Zero engine source code.

[minilogoguy18]

I'm not going to dig around and see if this has already been discussed but since Pandemic studios doesn't exist anymore have any of you tried to get in contact with anyone who could make it possible for this old games source code to be released?

The reason is that all we did was ask a few people that worked for Raven, LucasArts dissolved with Disney buying star wars so there was no one to stop it anymore and bam, source code was ours. I'm of course talking about the Jedi Knight series which is just a modified Q3a engine which has had it's source code released for some time. Another reason why it would be nice to have is because, lets face it, SWBF3 isn't going to be what we all wanted and it's not going to have any modding support.

I know that this community isn't as old so I'm not sure if there are people that are even around that would even want practically endless modding ability to be opened up but just think of the possibilities and it doesn't hurt to ask someone. This community once had a few original developers that would pop in every now and then, maybe their emails can be found somehow or they've got a personal website in which they could be contacted through.

[Noobasaurus]

There's psych0fred I believe, but I'm not sure what his relations specifically are with those people.

[Teancum]

Psych0fred is your best bet as I know at one time he at least had some source builds archived. In talking to him I know he left at some point during the development of SWBF2, so I don't think we'd get any usable source code there. I think the sticky part comes in the fact that Raven as an entity still exists. Pandemic was shut down, so it all comes down to who owns the rights to the source code. I don't know if that defaults to the then president of the company, some holding company, EA, or some other entity. I think he'd be happy to post the source code provided legalities were in order.

Another great source for developers is LinkedIn. You can either search for Pandemic Studios, or search the game's credits and then try to lookup individuals there. Send a friend request with your reasons and they may be able to help out. I got in touch with the lead tools developer for Rainbow Studios a few years back (they did Star Wars: Racer Revenge) for some tools. He didn't mind releasing source code for the tools, but didn't have any engine stuff.

***EDIT***
Also, how goes things over there at JKHub? I wanted to contribute to the source code, but EezStreet and a few others pulled all the bits of the Xbox source from the SVN and I lost interest. I didn't see a reason to outright pull compatibility rather than just keep it in. It wasn't hurting a thing.

[thelegend]

If we had the source code would we have been able to change the cp colors?

[minilogoguy18]

To the post above, with the source code you pretty much can do anything.

Teancum, as far as the XBOX code you should just try to contact eezstreet about the code if you want it. I think the reason why it was removed was because they wanted to clean up the source by removing the XBOX specific stuff to compile OpenJK since the original JASP and JAMP were bloated with XBOX code that isn't used in the PC version.

If you wanted it for XBOX modding I don't know if it will help you at all, I don't think enough of it was released to do any XBOX modding as well as the fact that no XBOX community for both modding and playing even exists since the PC version is far superior and the console version was a mere port.

If you're interested in JK modding Teancum just head over there, the community is active, the game can be modded fully with freeware and it's pk3 system makes it very modular.

I was mostly just wondering if anyone here tried getting the code since we just kinda asked and they gave it to us. We really only needed it for SP though as the MP game is pretty much Q3a which the source has been available for a long time.

[Teancum]

You guys do some pretty awesome work over there at JKHub (.org, .net is totally different). I get a little overwhelmed by all that, though. I don't understand BSP engines like I do a terrain-based or sector-based engine. Still, I did some work with OpenJK back in the day. I might hop over there and play.

In regards to the source, I still have the original release that has all the Xbox stuff. I've compiled it just fine, but I haven't bothered to try to dig through all the updates ya'll have made to pick out the bug fixes. I think if I messed with it again it'd be to bring back PK3 support so I can support mods.

[minilogoguy18]

The BSP based system is sorta similar to having a low poly modeling mapping program, the terminology is just different, the basic thing is a brush=polygon. There are ways though to use modeling software to build your maps similar to how you do in this engine where everything is modeled then imported into the map editor, you just need a .MAP exporter for the software you're using since that's the pre-compiled format that Radiant uses. There are huge amounts of tutorials over there, you don't need to compile a map to add a character, vehicle or weapon to the game like this one. Everyone is willing to help each other out, just PM me over there if you need anything although I mostly do modeling and animation. I am however in need of a coder and level designers for a mod I'm working on.

I'm curious why you wanna mod the console version, like I said there is no player base at all. You'd probably be the first person to even attempt modding it.

LMK though and I wouldn't mind helping you set up all the tools needed for modding.

[Teancum]

I'm curious why you wanna mod the console version, like I said there is no player base at all. You'd probably be the first person to even attempt modding it.

I like the challenge of modding on consoles, and more than that I can set up a great LAN game for whatever game I'm playing with just two $50 consoles (including controllers) and a couple'a TVs. There's so much more to lug around for PC LAN games and I prefer to play stuff like this "on the couch" with my buddies. Plus configuring all PCs to run efficiently in LAN is a can be a nightmare.

That being said, you should try to contact Psych0fred just to see if he can give you some clues. You can PM me for his email.

[minilogoguy18]

I understand the wanting to play with like roommates as all my roommates are competitive at everything they do including games but a game like JO/JA is meant to be played on a PC. I had the console version, once I found the PC version I quickly forgot about the XBOX version MINUS that awesome game play video that runs when you let the menu sit idle (maybe you have that?).

Besides, the mods like Lugormod are just way too fun to make me wanna go back to base MP, I'd also mop the floor with my roommates, the world has too many good saberists out there lol.

But seriously, contact me if you need anything, they're like the most modular games when it comes to modding, I don't think there will ever be anything as great as them ever again and it's always good to have even just 1 more modder.

I was mostly asking about the source code to these games for you guys' sake, I may never mod this game again unless I can get a mapper to team up with me to help me make some KotOR1/2 themed space maps since I've made most of the models needed already.

[nobody3]

Can you please PM me psychofred's email too? I dont want to bother him just ask him for the source (to help me make a mod thats not possible without it)

[Teancum]

I'm not sure that's a good idea. If he were to help us out he'd probably feel a lot more comfortable with someone who has a proven, very long term track record. (No offense)

[nobody3]

ok.. I had one of his emails few years ago but I guess he uses a new one now since he stopped "caring" about swbf2

If someone more "proven" in this community gets the source though, can I still get the relevant files that I need? (im talking about modding AI stuff that are hardcoded to source)

[giftheck]

This has already been asked by members at SWBFGamers to psych0fred, and they did get response, but I don't think these will be very palatable:

No I can't release the source code. I have I think 1.2 source code. It was built using pre-2005 Visual Studio and the MS libraries changed so it basicallly needs sections re-written using current code.

Since they abandoned it for BF2 I doubt it’s readily available or that they have anyone who cares enough about it to invest their time (money) digging it out and having a lawyer work on a license for you. To release it even for personal use would require a license stating the terms of it’s use. I have a copy of what I think is the final BF1 code but I can’t release it and the code is obsolete so it does not compile. I’m not a programmer so I can’t update it to fix it either. I tried a few years ago but in addition to hundreds of warnings there were actual errors using modern-day compilers. One day I may return to it and try to het it to work but the time is better spent just learning modern game engines and recreating the game with one of them instead. Since games like Doom 3, Unreal, Unity and many others release their code and are much more versatile it seems like a better investment of time. I get that BF1's simplicity is appealing, but the game and editor code really was just cobbled together from an existing game engine and nit documented so it’s a lot more work than one would think.

Of course, it would be awesome if source code for both games could be gotten. There is a long list of things I would do to SWBF to improve it, and I'm sure there's a lot that could be done for SWBF2 as well.

[Anakin]

Isn't there a wax
Way to get the old compiler? And I saw that the new visual studio is very intelligent. Most problems it can fix by itself

[Teancum]

Isn't there a wax
Way to get the old compiler? And I saw that the new visual studio is very intelligent. Most problems it can fix by itself

That still leaves the much bigger legal issue. Lawyers are needed to write a EULA for the source code, and that's very expensive.

[nobody3]

Is eula still relevant since pandemic and lucasarts dont exist anymore?

[giftheck]

Pandemic was absorbed into EA, so, yes. And LucasArts does still exist so again, yes.

[ARC1778]

If you'd called them up in 2010, they might have said yes, I'm sure everyone on every mod would have coghted up atleast 15 quid to buy a license for us all, BUT with SWBF3 on the way -Remember that's Star War's *not as good as* BattleFIELD Urgh Starless, rubbish flying, on rails, classless, re-skined and gelded SWBF2, SWBF3, the answer, unless you're willing to move to sealand;

(A small independent WWII-AA-Gunplatfrom-Rig nation encompassed within the British sovereign waters with cheep cheep servers and no piracy laws for anyone but dutch mericanries belonging to the princes brother -There was a war, someone got shot, it was bad-)

Is no. Since it will be better than that bunch of Bantha Flodder they're trying to flog us without a single Clone Trooper and NO MODDING SUPPORT. >.<