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Latest Comments by ObsidianBlk
GTA III and Vice City reverse-engineered code is back up on GitHub
1 July 2021 at 4:31 pm UTC

Quoting: Beamboom
Quoting: ObsidianBlkIt's actually no more or less difficult to pirate a game with or without the binary. Technically, just having any part the game is piracy, so, as far as distribution of files, it's six of one, half dozen of another whether it includes the binary or not. After all, the binary is useless without the assets and the assets are just interesting pictures and audio without the binary.

You missed the point of my post. You're now talking about the legalities. My comment was a response on the claim that "it only leads to more sales". Why would they take these actions if that was the *only* thinkable consequence?

It's much easier to just pirate asset files than cracking executable binaries to build a pirated copy of a game. That goes without saying. If one just bundled the (stolen) assets with this new alternative engine, that's a shortcut to piracy.

And like I said in the post you quote, I don't think they bother with this because of this particular game as it's so old (and practically free anyways). They just need to fight these initiatives because this might be a problem if it is done on newer titles with a higher market value (and a working DRM).

My apologize if I misunderstood your original post.

To the question, then, of "Why would they take these actions if that was the *only* thinkable consequence?"... My jaded side says it's some corporate admins that think something to the effect of "Why do we want players buying our old game for $10, when we can funnel them to playing GTA-V for $30... plus, more importantly, all of that potential in-game-purchases monies!"

While you'd think *any* money would be worth it... why settle for *any* money when you could force customers to a product that could take *all* the money!

Now... I'm not fully up on the details to the current GTA3 projects, so I'm not sure about their methods of reverse engineering. It's possible that Take-Two didn't really care, one way or the other (hence, they didn't follow through on the counter claims), but given this slight legal loophole, decided to issue a DMCA in order to "scare" otherwise uninformed gamers away from getting the cheaper GTA games to use them on this new engine which runs better, and, instead, settle on the buying the newest GTA (again, with all of that sweet, sweet in-game-purchase potential!)

GTA III and Vice City reverse-engineered code is back up on GitHub
30 June 2021 at 11:44 am UTC

Quoting: Beamboom
QuoteNo assets are included, which means to use the projects people need to actually buy a copy of the original game.

Just a thought, but won't this make piracy easier, and that's why they fight it? Sharing just the asset files in illegal ways should logically be way easier than to share the entire game w/implemented copyright protection.

I mean, not for THIS particular game, but in precedence in regards to future cases.
If they start allowing this practise they should logically then also have to allow a reverse engineered much more recent game with a working or tricky copyright protection.

It's actually no more or less difficult to pirate a game with or without the binary. Technically, just having any part the game is piracy, so, as far as distribution of files, it's six of one, half dozen of another whether it includes the binary or not. After all, the binary is useless without the assets and the assets are just interesting pictures and audio without the binary.

If you bought the game, then, you're free and clear to do anything you want with the binary and assets... as long as it's just for YOU! You can't distribute any derivative work you've done with those assets or binary data. That doesn't mean you can't create your own assets for the game (mods) and distribute them, as they are completely original works.

Now... projects like OpenMW and OpenXCom and the like are perfectly legal because they are building the engine from the ground up by sussing out how the assets are used and how the underlying mechanics worked (game mechanics are not copyrightable, only how those mechanics were exactly implemented). They are, arguably, writing their own game engine. It's an engine that does things very similar to how the original games work, but it is it's own thing and, therefore, legal. The fact that it's intended to be used with the original games assets doesn't make this new engine illegal. You are still required to buy the original game to get access to the assets. Or, of course, you can create all original assets for this new engine, if you'd like, lol.

Hope that all made sense.

What we want to see from the possible SteamPal handheld from Valve
11 June 2021 at 2:21 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: CatKiller
Quoting: ObsidianBlkhobbiest
A mild nitpick, because this really annoys me whenever I see it. That word would mean that you were "the most hobby." The word you're looking for is "hobbyist" - someone who participates in a hobby.

Fair enough

What we want to see from the possible SteamPal handheld from Valve
11 June 2021 at 11:33 am UTC

Honestly, if the device is no more than $399, can play most of my current Steam library, supports HDMI out, 3rd party controllers over bluetooth, AND I can easily install games that aren't on Steam (I'm a hobbiest game developer and it would be awesome to put some of my own small games on the system to show off to people)... yeah... I'd get the system!

What have you been tapping play on recently? Let us know
7 June 2021 at 11:51 am UTC Likes: 1

About two weeks ago I started playing Witcher 3 (Proton). I played the base game on PS4, but I never actually played the DLCs. Since I had it on GOG (I think they gave it away for free one day, so I nabbed it), I decided to play on my PC. I know I can play the DLCs directly, but for me, that doesn't feel right, so a full playthrough it is! LOL! Just finished the Bloody Barron's full quest line... soooo... like... maybe 1/3 of the (base) game?

I've also been lining up my next outings (that I probably won't get to for months) such as Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero (both Proton) as well as Delta-V: Rings of Saturn (Native) (Sorry, don't know how to make the proper delta symbol on my keyboard).

Utopixel blog about porting their title Outer Wonders to Linux
27 May 2021 at 4:34 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: PublicNuisanceI see so many developers say this. Do developers seriously not know how to dual boot an OS ? Failing that do they not have a spare HDD they can toss Linux onto and boot onto that ?
A big part of it is a lot of developers only have their one machine. Even if they have more than one drive, screwing up your only machine is a pretty big risk. Installing Linux might be easy nowadays but that doesn't mean if fits in with the hardware developers currently have. It's why I honestly think WSL2 with the proper GUI support coming up could really help developers with the testing part.

I get what you're saying and agree with you for the most part. That said, though... A hard drive swap or even a USB bootable drive is pretty damn trivial and should be as close to zero risk as you get when it comes to hardware (and the USB option *is* zero risk, for all intents and purposes). If they can spin up a VM, they should have all the know how to roll a spare drive with a linux install.

The upcoming modular Framework Laptop sounds super exciting
26 February 2021 at 2:13 pm UTC Likes: 1

I wish them the best of luck. I really do. I find the idea exciting... but I'm skeptical about whether the mainstream will care enough about this to be viable. I loved the idea when this was talked about for phones and that never materialized. I doubt businesses will care about these sorts of laptops, as, on average, they seem to only keep their machines for maybe 5 years before buying new models all together. As for home users... IDK... I guess I'll give them another look when their product is available and has been around for a year or two.

Valheim is now one of the most successful survival games on Steam with two million sold
16 February 2021 at 4:12 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: LosButchAnyone have experience with multiplayer cross platform? Curious about this game, so how hard is it to host a game with a windows, mac and linix mix?

Just anecdotally... My nephew (Windows) and I (Linux) played some multiplayer recently where he hosted the game and it ran without issues. I haven't played much on any servers or anything, but direct multiplayer seemed fine to me :)

Valheim has become the next survival game hit on Steam
8 February 2021 at 1:38 pm UTC

Ended up getting the game shortly after the previous article on this site mentioned it.
It's absolutely beautiful, and runs very very well (especially when compared to some other big survival titles) even as an early access game. Personally I find the crafting/building just complex enough to be interesting and fun, but not so overly complex that I'm spending hours just trying to figure out how to build a club or camp fire.

That's not to say it's perfect... I love how the camp fire thing works, but I really wish there was some explanation given in game regarding how to put the camp fire IN your house. It's ultimately pretty easy, but I had to look that up. There are times when combat feels just a little off. I'll be in the middle of a swing and the enemy takes a sudden turn and, just that small turn causes me to miss. Can't count how many times I thought I was lined up for that to happen and waste my attack. Then there's the key combination for dodging. IDK... doesn't feel right to me. In the middle of combat, I keep screwing up the dodge combo and jump instead.

Still... I love this game and it's only bound to get better!

Heroic Games Launcher is a new unofficial Epic Games Store for Linux
5 January 2021 at 6:32 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: benjamimgoisI got that... Linux users don't like epic games because they do not support our platform.
For some, that can be part. Honestly, though, I think most Linux users are used to being second class. I honestly think the bulk of the anger for Epic comes from their tactics in acquiring exclusives... pulling them from Steam (and, by extension, Linux gamers looking to play said games in Proton)

Quoting: benjamimgoisI also prefer to use steam, but it's great to have a such well made alternative to epic.
Agreed!


Quoting: benjamimgoisEven if it's not official, it can show them what linux comunnities are capable off, also show then there's a demmand here.
I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that the developers at Epic are very well away of the capability and demand within the Linux community. There're plenty of projects (this one included) that demonstration that. Sadly, I doubt Epic (administration) will give 2cents about this project. They're simply apathetic (generally or financially) to Linux as a community.


Quoting: benjamimgoisNow, putting myself in the developper shoes, it's very disappointing to look at comments and see no positivity or excitment towards your project, only hate.
I agree that from the Launcher's developers point of view, it may be disheartening that his particular comment chain seems geared more at shizzing on Epic than lauding over the launcher itself, having taken a peek at their github page, this project is not exactly a total unknown only just being brought into the light. There seem to be plenty of attention to their project and I'm sure that makes them plenty happy indeed!