Freelancer Initiative

@tai: I think you like the package managers from Linux a bit too much

@Azureus: Two points:

1. It’s nice and smooth to include other software in a new installer, but that package would get outdated VERY quickly. You also get the problem of what to include. w0dk4’s workaround? Crazy’s? Do we want to support FLDS and FLCompanion directly or not? Is the “Unofficial 1.4 patch” something that should go in, or would you rather include the Quickfix? What about JFLP? Hardware update? That thing gets updated very often and would actually require a small refreshing right about now.

I just feel like it would be a LOT of work to keep the installer updated.

2. You keep saying “without the EXE” because that’s illegal. Well… It’s the other way around, actually. A no-cd crack is usually accepted by companies on the basis of “backup copies”. Distributing the whole game, however, would be a big no-no. That means redistributing copyrighted material, including and not limited to reverse-engineered pieces of code. I hope you realize that, since Microsoft has never made its stance clear on the matter, we’re treading on the border of legality with our mods, patches and tools? Things like the UTF editor, the SUR exporter, the SDK, the list server, most mods, etc. used some part of reverse-engineering, which is against the law.

Oh and psst… 99% of the mods around here include a no-cd patch so EXE hacks can be applied (the original EXE is obfuscated and cannot be hacked in this way). Not including the EXE would just reduce the number of people who’d be interested in distributing and trying the game because of the hassle (after all, what’s the point in downloading the whole game if you can’t play it without having an original copy in the first place? Just install the game yourself instead, no need to download stuff).

Finally, I’ll point out that it’s not “taboo” as you say. It’s a rather simple thing, actually: if we want to stay around, we need to be legal. As simple as that. Advocating what amounts to warez would put us in direct infringement of copyright laws, which could result in a swift death at the hand of a thousand angry lawyers. As you could expect, we aren’t wishing for that, so any attempt to pursue your idea will have to either be put off until the game is no more sold anywhere (at which point it becomes abandonware and policies often change, even though it’d still be stretching it), or you don’t get to mention it here.

Is the “Unofficial 1.4 patch” something that should go in, or would you rather include the Quickfix? What about JFLP? Hardware update?

I feel that this little bit right here needs to be specifically highlighted, considering that not all of the so-called unofficial patches are universally supported or approved of. What works on server X won’t always work on server Y, and may end up getting you banned outright from server Z.

Give people Crazy’s list server, the GLS workaround (as a failsafe), FLMM, and the resources needed to go from there.

Perhaps a link to a simple server index site of some sort that contains barebones information regarding registered servers - ie the mod they use (if any), requirements for the mod (like the SDK, if any), website URL, and other such information would be better than trying to throw everything and the kitchen sink into one single package - easier to manage, and it’d keep the filesize from becoming astronomical.

@FF: I know, but it would just rock!

PHP cannot do what FLDev does.

And JFLP and Quickfix aren’t the same thing. There isn’t a most “recent” one, it’s more of a Ford VS Toyota thing than a 2007 VS 2009.

@Azureus: I think that this is NOT possible with PHP!
PHP is mostly a scripting language, it is able to calculate, draw grapics and such things but not that much more.

Yet the #1 feature in FLDev, the DLL editor, can’t be reproduced in PHP. I’d argue 90% of the users of FLDev don’t touch anything but this.

The Template feature is also greatly improved by its DLL support.

The CRC tool would also be unfeasible in PHP.

I am all for anything that promotes Freelancer in a positive light. Have to use care with the words “Torrent” and “Patch” in vicinity of commercial products or a real bad opinion forms.

They have not actually stopped selling the game in retail stores. I find three major store chains with a quick search…

Target Sells Freelancer

Radio Shack Sells Freelancer

Walmart Sells Freelancer

I doubt the story is different on the European side of the pond, someone is still selling it. They don’t do that for very long if no one is buying a product. I still see new players myself, the activity just goes up and down.

Last thing Azureus, there is other servers and MOD’s with less rules.

Yes, but clearly not in this way. They still retain copyrights and still get money off every purchase, hence why they wouldn’t like to see some random person start distributing their game for free.

As for the infocards, what’s the point? XML != DLL. Whatever you do, you’d still need another tool to sit between that XML data in the DLL data. At that point, why bother? There are already tools that allow direct modification of DLL files which are way more convenient than a web page (and safer, too).

If you want, I guess. Personally I just write the DLL infocards directly in FLDev, no need for the CSV parser. If I need to write dozens of guns including INI code, Excel or Google Spreadsheets beat web forms any day.

I often wonder how the FreeAllegiance group convinced Microsoft to allow them access to the Allegiance source code myself.

They are distributing a fully functional and fixed version with no fear of Microsoft legal actions.

That is the direction I wish Freelancer could go…

I will offer my opinion here, for what it is worth.

I am hugely against the idea of using Torrent site etc for Freelancer. Alot of hard work has gone into promoting Freelancer in the last 24 months by many people here and on sites like SWAT, FLC etc.

Now although Microsoft have removed support for the game, they wont appreciate any torrenting going on, or any individual sites that support it. (Yes I know Torrents already exist).

I would also recommend any sites represented here stay well away from getting involved in this also.

Personal opinion. Shoot me down if you will.