A plea to release your code…
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I think I just have a slightly different, limited and warped perception of the Freelancer community compared to everyone else
My perception is that some folks share selflessly and generously with what they do (mainly regarding tools). One name out of several that instantly springs to mind is Adoxa. I only ever see a continuous stream of posts - and he remains above all the nagging, arguments and everything else. Nothing but admiration for his work ethic, sharing and the manner with which he conducts himself. I don’t think he gets enough thanks or recognition - but I hate fawning, and I doubt he enjoys long drawn out adulation either
Then there is everyone else
Now if everyone was like Adoxa, everything would be “open source” or something
However, it appears that lots stand around waiting, whilst a few do. It is entirely unfair of me to believe that many who ask for such things couldn’t actually do anything with it once they had it - instead they hope others will do it all for them and therefore released source code would speed up the process of getting what they want…
Maybe it’s my perception that over the years there has been a drastic decline in voluntary sharing of knowledge, with most mods almost becoming “closed”. I guess people see tutorial writing as a waste of time, but I did immediately think “people want Source code so things aren’t forgotten and may be improved, but do not write tutorials upon how to achieve things - so these aspects of Freelancer modding may be forgotten and never improved”.
I guess I am cynical and very short sighted/unfair. I perceive some people want something, but don’t give… (I am not singling out any individuals here, or elsewhere, it is just a general perception of the Freelancer community in general that has built up over the years!).
As a genuine contribution to the thread though - why don’t people post what they would wish to see open source? Some of us may have contact details for some folks beyond the means others have… additionally, a list of tools that may need improving could signify to those who like making tools where they may wish to turn their hand if they take fancy. For example, I don’t even know which tools have bugs that you are talking about
I am nothing even on the scale of Adoxa, w0dk4, or any of the other tool makers/programmers so probably can’t do anything - but others out there may but just not be aware there is a need!! -
im gonna release my Freelancer .Net namespace in some time.
still need to check out hosting solutions and tidy the code a bit.
its a WIP currently supports:
un/signed CRC
un/signed Hash
FLS1 conversion, encode/decode player name
BINI conversion
INI file and reader classi also have a SUR file class but due to my lack of knowledge about the bits section i havent come up with a tool yet. (other than a GUI version of surdump)
CMP/MAT are on my list as well.
i think this will be a nice framework and i could use my sys calc and npc gen sources as example usages. -
Great man. Thanks for getting ready to do that.Tthe forge here is a good place to dump stuff if you are looking for somewhere to host it.
Just as an example of duplication of effort, I’ll point out there are already .net implementations in C++ and C# of most of the things you’re thinking about releasing. Don’t be discouraged by this though, there’s plenty of benefit by having multiple implementations.
For example, the newer UTFEditor on the forge contains a fairly complete CMP and model implementation + viewer (it also contains a broken sur decoder because the bits field is a bit messed up). If Adoxa ever manages to find time amongst his millions of requests, he may even finish the sexy new version of it.
The DS Account Manager contains hash, crc, infocard decoding, FLS1 decoding, bini encoding/decoding, etc…
There’s an implementation of a freelancer account ID generator program somewhere that shows you how account IDs are hashed (it’s just MD5 with some silliness).
The FLDev source contains similar things.
With out wodka, motah and more recently adoxa to show me how to start by sharing their code, I’d never have got into client hooking. (I also am amused that if it takes me a month to hook something client side, adoxa will do the same thing in a day XD)
I do feel mildly irked when somebody takes code I’ve written and improves it and doesn’t share the results but I get over it. I figure that if I share and only 1 person out of 3 shares back, I’ll still be ahead of trying to do everything myself. In my view the only way for us to advance is to improve our sharing of knowledge.
I remember that releasing code publicly for the first time was slightly daunting - people would get to see the badly written code - but it is worth it.
Please don’t take my first post the wrong way, if you don’t want to share your source but only the binary, this is absolutely okay. It is your stuff and your call. I’m only making a suggestion to remind people if they hadn’t thought about doing it.
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yes, im aware that these things exist in various forms.
some of the sources i used as references when building my library.
but mainly ive rewritten every line of code, having all in managed C++, learning by doing.
as you said having similar implementations doesnt hurt.
i will have a look at the forge, and the new utf editor sounds interesting too. -
My codes in my mind: I don’t care about my friend or i trusted guys use my any code even without credit me. But i cannot be tolerant of i_hated_people to do the same (They almost never credit me. LOL). I know this is bit selfish so when i want to release my code, i will put it to GUN. But you know GUN just for people who can protecting himself, and that’s not me.
Im not refuse code releasing with bin, i actually have a open source project(but no one care about it LOL), but you can found the bad point of opening system, just suppose if we have lot’s of version of program like Freelancer Mod Manager and each one has different function, the world will confused.
So that’s better to recommend all application creater add their email address to the application, and if other users found bug, the user will ask bug fix by send hate mail.
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I’ve been a bad person there, I still haven’t properly released FLDev’s source. Guess that’s me for being a little spread out over a dozen projects again. I promise I’ll get to it at one point in the near future so that at least my sole tool contribution won’t fall into the dreaded pit of closed-source abominations!
Now now, though, I can fully understand why people wouldn’t want to release their source. I know Lancer Solurus has built a very extensive library of code that he uses for all his projects and it’s understandable that he doesn’t want all that effort to be shamelessly ripped off by someone else without a word. In that case, he’d risk a lot since he’s using that library for much more than just a hobby.
There are also those tools which could have potentially disastrous consequences if released, like client-side cheats that have no current server-side detection/protection. Those are sensitive and should be handled with caution. However, I urge people in those circumstances to PM us; we have a specific section where coders can release such pieces so that counters can be developed prior to a full release of the thing. This way, you help servers protect from whatever problem might arise and yet you don’t become responsible for that problem spreading in the wild.
I’m really glad to have people like Adoxa, Cannon, w0dk4 and many, many more around.
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FF - I don’t want your source, I’ve just been waiting for 2 years for a single-core version! :?
And a ROFL button!
Guess it’ll be a long time then, huh?
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I expected you’d do that…
When I release the source, I’ll be able to tell you to go fix it your bloody self
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I’ll need a lot of help though, but yes I’m keen!
