Re:Valve releases Team Fortress 2 game code
by kvirani on Tuesday February 18, 2025 @04:43PM
(#43095480)
Isn't UE4/5 fully source available?
Re:Valve releases Team Fortress 2 game code
by bayindirh on Tuesday February 18, 2025 @04:45PM
(#43095519)
You need to get a license to get the source. When you pay for the license, you also agree that you won't share that source.
ID's engines are always called "The world's most expensive xcopy". You always get the source, but you never share it.
Same model. Get the license, get the source.
See the relevant page at: https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/...
From that page:
> This page provides detailed instructions for subscribers to download the source code for Unreal Engine (UE) from the Unreal Engine GitHub repository, and to get started working with the code.
(Emphasis mine)
Re:Valve releases Team Fortress 2 game code
by jsheard on Tuesday February 18, 2025 @04:53PM
(#43095606)
The UE4/UE5 source code is only available under license, but the bar to acquire said license couldn't possibly be lower. You just connect a GitHub account, click through a EULA, and automatically get access to almost* the entire source code for free.
* The NDA'ed console bits are hidden of course but all the PC code is there. Not just release snapshots either, you can see all of Epics commits in real time.
Re:Valve releases Team Fortress 2 game code
by bayindirh on Tuesday February 18, 2025 @04:57PM
(#43095643)
But it’s source available, and it’s not free software, correct?
It’s just free as in beer.
“Click through EULA” is the mammoth in the room.
Re:Valve releases Team Fortress 2 game code
by jsheard on Tuesday February 18, 2025 @05:01PM
(#43095673)
Yes it's source available, not true free software. Kvirani never said it's free software though.
Re:Valve releases Team Fortress 2 game code
by NoahKAndrews on Tuesday February 18, 2025 @06:19PM
(#43096399)
I think the point is that you're not legally allowed to borrow its techniques
Re:Valve releases Team Fortress 2 game code
by account42 on Wednesday February 19, 2025 @11:24AM
(#43103894)
Something as abstract as "techniques" is in general not copyrightable. Worst case, there is a software patent but that is not something that is granted automatically.
There's always in-house ways to deal with graphics drivers and certain effects. Remember how Source 1 was the only engine which was able to render HDR with measly ATI 9600XT, without a performance penalty most of the time?
You carry this know how in evolved form for generations, and it gets buried under as the foundation of the new things you're building on top of it.
This is what I remember from a friend who implemented his own game engine and created a company for it, and half the woes were making the graphics drivers and processors behave as they said in their manuals.