Request for Review of P99 Source

[a_gnoll_pup]

Originally Posted by tristantio [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm pretty sure (at least the current server source code for eqemu) is GPL, which means if any of that is reused on p99 the p99 codebase is GPL and source has to be given to anyone who requests it (as long as they've been distributed the end product - not really the case here though).

Since we're just connecting to the server and not playing a distributed game, this would not be affected by GPL (unless the project were AGPL - Affero GPL, in which case simply providing a server requires release of source code to whomever asks and uses said server).

However, I wonder if any part of the custom DLL's/distributed files that p99 provides incorporate GPL'ed code (whether GPL'ed via the eqemu server source release, or by including GPL'ed code from other GPL projects).

Edit: I'm a big fan of the AGPL myself (and use in my own projects) so if someone ends up using something I spend my time on, they can't simply close off the source by using the "service" loophole of the original GPL.

If everyone followed GPL like you are saying, every major MMO would have to distribute their code to the public because they use zlib or components of GNU.

I'm pretty sure no one at EQEmulator cares that P99 is doing what they are doing either, mainly because P99 is one of our contributors - and we're provided hosting by Rogean for PEQ, Loginserver, etc.

The DLL itself does not use EQEmulator or MQ2 code - it uses raw assembly and C++. The version that some of you have seen is an early test version made by myself that was never distributed by Project 1999. I have made both wsock32.dll and dsetup.dll versions of my test DLL that does not interact with the Project 1999 server in any way (it can't even connect), neither of which contain any code that Project 1999 or its affiliates use.

[Clark]

Originally Posted by kank [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Maybe they'll add source-code access somewhere in the Kickstarter rewards...

lol

[Nuggie]

I'm not a dev, just a regular joe with another trade.

So I have two thoughts on this, keep in mind my previous statement.

#1 Keeping track of the changes that hundreds of people make would be problematic. In regards to backtracking to fix stuff that wasn't coded right.

#2 Who's to say he doesn't give out the code and someone starts antoehr server with it? Thereby losing control of the project.

I say he keeps it as is.

[Samhain]

While many enjoy the playing atmosphere free of cheating and hacking another reason the code will not be released for review is because such would reveal the spyware that comes with the custom dll's that facilitate anti-cheating but are nonetheless illegal.

[quido]

Originally Posted by Nuggie [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'm not a dev, just a regular joe with another trade.

So I have two thoughts on this, keep in mind my previous statement.

#1 Keeping track of the changes that hundreds of people make would be problematic. In regards to backtracking to fix stuff that wasn't coded right.

#2 Who's to say he doesn't give out the code and someone starts antoehr server with it? Thereby losing control of the project.

I say he keeps it as is.

1. Obviously not just anyone can commit changes. Changes are pushed once they are thoroughly tested and approved by the real staff.

2. People can already do this. The real content of p99 is in the database, not the source. If you don't recognize the difference, you probably shouldn't be commenting here. Nuggie, you are officially on my idiot list.

Originally Posted by Samhain [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

While many enjoy the playing atmosphere free of cheating and hacking another reason the code will not be released for review is because such would reveal the spyware that comes with the custom dll's that facilitate anti-cheating but are nonetheless illegal.

Sensitive source such as anti-hacks wouldn't be shared. Sharing the code relating to NPC pathing and displayed animations is a bit different.

[fadetree]

I am a developer. Open source has its benefits, but is a clusterf*ck as often as not. You need to have someone riding herd *constantly* and defending why developer a can't put special feature b in, and deconflicting changes.

[JackFlash]

Never going to happen.

[joppykid]

Originally Posted by Cynosure [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I'd like to put in a request for windowed mode crashes, too.

It seems anytime I'm in windowed mode and click outside the window for whatever reason (ie, to read, do research, or code while I meditate) the game freezes and I have to kill the process and wait a good while to log back in.

Download wineq2. This will help

[Estu]

Guys, anyone who wants to can work towards being a P99 developer and getting source access. The first step is to work on issues for which the P99 source is similar enough to the public EQEmu source that you can fix them without having dev access. Talk to Rogean and Nilbog about it, or other devs. If you show them that you're competent and trustworthy, you can be a dev. I was going down this road for a while until a bunch of stuff came up IRL and I lost the free time to work on it - I have several unfinished projects I was working on that I can tell people about if they're interested in dev-ing.

One reason it doesn't make sense to make everything public is because it destroys what mystery there is about the game for the players. We already have a huge amount of information on how the game works on the Wiki and on old Allakhazam posts, but the moment you have access to the database and the source code, your amount of knowledge about the game increases dramatically. Once you know exactly how every single thing works, the game becomes a lot less interesting to play.

[Aeolwind]

Originally Posted by quido [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Sensitive source such as anti-hacks wouldn't be shared. Sharing the code relating to NPC pathing and displayed animations is a bit different.

The issue that fixed Trak's Teeth caused the ghosting issues. As Sirk said, it is fixed in an upcoming patch. The changes presented didn't have anything to do with pathing.

Currently, we use stock pathing code from EQEmu written by KLH (I think) a couple years ago. There are some improvements being made however to address a few exploits that have been brought to our attention [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. But, those had nothing to do with the ghosting issue that popped up from the Trak's Teeth fix. It didn't present itself in the test environment.

Unexpected bugs happen sometimes.