Open Source SC4?

[brianc1327 161]

I am not sure what forum this message is best suited for, so until it is moved (if it is moved), this is the forum it will be on.

The other day, I saw an article about an "open source" version of SC2000 that was available on some gaming site.  It turns out, however, that it wasn't quite as "open source" as the developers claimed because some of the artwork (I guess for some of the buildings like power plants or whatever) was lifted from SC2000 and not original artwork.

This got me to thinking about an open source version of SC4.  I do not have the programming skill to write one myself, and am not putting forth some sort of proposal to get one written, just sorta speculating about a few things, and the following are what I came up with:

1. I think if such a project were undertaken, it needs to be cross-platform, that is, it source should compile to either Windows, Mac, or Linux executables, and run directly on  any of these platforms without having to use some type of emulator such as WINE.  I did some looking, and some types of basic at least claim to be able to do this.  Python also seems to claim to have this ability.
2. The second problem would be in the use of plugins.  According to this article: http://www.wiki.sc4devotion.com/index.php?title=DBPF, plugins are a type of database file that is proprietary to Maxis.  I could not find any more information, so I am not sure if being proprietary means that anyone can make one of these (or at least one in this certain subset), but that only Maxis/EA  can use them in the game.  If all the mods here and on SC4devotion cannot be used by this game, it might be a "good" city simulation game, but it would really be an "open source" version of SC4.  I am not certain if I expressed this very well, but I think how all the mods (such as fancier power plants, etc.) here and elsewhere could be used (or if they could at all) would be a very important consideration.
3. As for what sunk the "open source" version of SC2000, I think the artwork should be "crowdsourced" (I hope I am using that term correctly).  That is, a list of what artwork is needed (power plants, churches, etc.) should be posted on the appropriate forums here and on SC4devotion, etc., what format they need to be in, etc., and use that as the artwork for the game.

 

Those are 3 considerations that I think would have to be resolved before such a project could even be started.

Brian Christiansen.

[Duco 546]

1 hour ago, brianc1327 said:

this message

Or, maybe you should read this message (post). 

ps, I read it again and I think it is a little bit of a short answer. I think your post is about the source code, it is always the source code ( I think the government is behind it but ) So, that other post is in the same line, that's why the link. 

[twalsh102 1,601]

You also might want to take a read through this topic if you haven't already:

 

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

23 hours ago, brianc1327 said:

if such a project were undertaken, it needs to be cross-platform

That's what Java is for. You get the "Java Runtime Environment" (JRE) that runs on your hardware / OS, and then you can run a Java program in it. Minecraft is an example of a multi-platform game written in Java.

[RobertLM78 1,597]

On 8/21/2018 at 11:19 AM, jeffryfisher said:

That's what Java is for. You get the "Java Runtime Environment" (JRE) that runs on your hardware / OS, and then you can run a Java program in it. Minecraft is an example of a multi-platform game written in Java.

Ach....no Java.....  XD

Seriously though, a project like this should indeed be cross-platform, but not in some interpreted toy language.  It should be done in something that is compiled like C/C+(+).   

[jeffryfisher 2,176]

19 hours ago, RobertLM78 said:

a project like this should indeed be cross-platform, but not in some interpreted toy language. It should be done in something that is compiled like C/C+(+).

When compiled like c/c++ to machine code, you acquire machine dependencies.

If we synchronize the multi-threading correctly, then Java will be plenty powerful on today's multi-core machines. And Java can be semi-compiled with some optimization.

Java is an easy language to learn (I taught myself in about a week of starting Minecraft modding, and that was only about 2 hours per day).

[av29 2]

I read once a guy that was remaking a free city builder in this forum, was 2D, any help?

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

1 minute ago, av29 said:

I read once a guy that was remaking a free city builder in this forum, was 2D, any help?

The most recent is KotCity 0.49.3 (last updated 4/13/2018): an open source city simulator, but it seems to be inactive now.

[av29 2]

Just now, CorinaMarie said:

The most recent is KotCity 0.49.3 (last updated 4/13/2018): an open source city simulator, but it seems to be inactive now.

Just logged to find this, thank you