APR 9, 2022 AT 8:34 PM
OpenNox is finally open-source!
Hello everyone! It has been quite some time since our last post, but the silence has been for a good reason. We have been figuring out ways to make the project
open-source (as the word "open" in OpenNox implies), and today we can finally announce that the project's
main repository is now
public!
Details
If you were following the project updates recently, you may know about our
open letter to EA.
We did get a response from EA, but unfortunately, they were not able to give an official statement regarding the OpenNox project, modding of the original Nox game, and the status of its source code.
Not wanting this response to hold back the development of the OpenNox project, we reached out to our other contacts and also members of the C&C community who had recent contact with EA (as part of the
C&C Remastered Collection) for advice to on how continue the development of the project and the open source process.
We want to specifically thank
CCHyper from the C&C community for assistance with open sourcing the OpenNox project!
The two most important parts of this open source process are: The GPL 3 license and The C&C Modding Guidelines.
Open-source license
OpenNox will be made open source under the
GPL 3 license. There are two main reasons for us choosing this license;
Firstly, the C&C Remastered Collection's DLL source code was
released under the GPL 3 license in 2020. This means that EA made an internal effort to review the terms of this license and how it ensures protection of their copyrighted assets and code, while keeping in mind the benefit that releasing the source code would have to the modding community. We assume that a similar license would be chosen by EA if it was to ever release the source code for any other game in the future under their brand, and because of this we feel it’s best to release the OpenNox project using the same license out of respect to EA and their intellectual property.
Secondly, GPL 3 makes it impractical to make a commercial project based on the released source, since it requires the modified source to be released under the same license as well.
Our choice of this license for the OpenNox project might
not be
final, so we have made additional steps to ensure that we can re-license it in the future if we receive more information on EA’s position. In practice this means that all PRs to the project
must be signed-off and explicitly allow re-licensing, otherwise we are unable to accept your contribution(s).
Further, we want to again emphasize that OpenNox is a
community collaboration project with the goal of preservation, modding and compatibility of the original Nox experience. No assets, texts, artwork or other media from the original game is included in this project.
We do not condone piracy in any way, shape or form and encourage users to legally own the original game. All PRs must explicitly state that the author owns the change and it doesn't breach the rules of the license.
Modding guideline
The second most important part of making OpenNox open source was to make sure we follow the
C&C Modding Guidelines going forward. These guidelines are the best example we have of EA's position regarding the modding of games under the Westwood Studios brand, and although these guidelines are specifically related to the C&C Remastered Collection, we can assume the guidelines are generic and define important rules under which a mod or project for any EA game must operate.
To give an idea what these rules include:
- Respect the right of others. Mods must not infringe copyright. Follow the same age rating as the base game.
- No EA affiliation. Project description must clearly state it's not endorsed by EA. Do not use original game logos.
- Safety and integrity. Must not jeopardize the gameplay, must not interfere with EA services. No malware.
- Intellectual property ownership. All game assets belong to EA. Project must not distribute them.
- Abide by all other EA rules. Including GPL, EA User Agreement, etc. See original article.
Additionally, funding efforts (like our Patreon) must:
- Donation requests must not appear in the mod.
- Donors must not be provided with in-game advantage, special levels, abilities, special text, units, items, etc. Users must get the same experience as donors.
- Donors that are corporations cannot be listed in credits. Only individuals may.
If you plan to contribute to OpenNox, it's required for you to read the
whole article and agree to these guidelines and rules.
What's next?
Of course, there are always more we can do on this front, so we will continue to ensure the OpenNox project follows all the guidelines and expectations set out by EA in their other games, and we will continue to develop a relationship with EA if the opportunity ever arises.
Now, having this process in place, we can finally resume active development. And what's great about open-source - you can now
contribute to the project too!
