Hi gamesas guys,

Good to see the forums and new site, very nice

Anyway on to the subject of the Holy Grail for Fallout modding, which would make a masssive impact on the Fallout community - The Fallout 2 source code....

What are the chances of getting this released much like the Freespace 2 source code (thats still an awesome game, I would love to see a Freespace 3 to continue the story by the way)? I'm not a lawyer so I dont know what issues this involves but I know it would be an ammazing thing (thanks for the mapper by the way), and it would generate tremendous good will with the fallout community.

Also as long as I'm begging I might as well ask for any of the other offical tools used to make Fallout 1/2 to be released. Heck even any Fallout Tactics tools/code would be great.

Feel free to hit me with a stick and say no, but I figured someone was bound to ask and it might as well be me

Cheers and all the best with "Project Vault 13"

/whack

No.

^_^

It's not ours to give, sorry!

pax,
-Chris

How about releasing some Fallout 1 and 2 design documents? The fans would surely find them quite interesting. Of course, I'm aware that it might also be impossible because of Bethesda owning the Fallout franchise now, not gamesas, but it never hurts to ask. The Vault - Fallout Wiki * Fallout Online * Fallout IRC Channel * Fallout: New Vegas

So who actaully 'owns' the code now? What about the tools? What about FOT, does microforte' own that engine?

Who do I need to send a box of chocolates too? (not much of a bribe, but I'm really cheap).

By now, it might not even be a question of ownership, but of the code being lost. The Vault - Fallout Wiki * Fallout Online * Fallout IRC Channel * Fallout: New Vegas

You would need to talk to Bethesda. They own it all now. gamesas currently has the rights to sell the original FO1/FO2/FOT games, but we can't update them or make any changes.

I'm not sure if the source is still available or if it has been lost to time, but it's not ours to give even if we could find it. I've seen Bethesda quote some stuff from the design docs, so I'm going to assume (yes, I know) that they received some kind of data dump from gamesas when the IP changed hands.

Interesting that you cant make changes to the games anymore, not even patch. Though Kilap at NMA has made some awesome patches and the restoration project looks promising.

So I supose I need to email Pete or some at Beth (Last time I tried I was told that they didnt own it, so far everyone says they dont own it, but that was before they bough all the IP).

I'll go back and hide in my dark hole for a while now, thanks for clarifing who at least owns the code (if it still exists).

So I supose I need to email Pete or some at Beth (Last time I tried I was told that they didnt own it, so far everyone says they dont own it, but that was before they bough all the IP).

Even if Bethesda owns the source code in theory, they probably don't actually have it anyway. The Vault - Fallout Wiki * Fallout Online * Fallout IRC Channel * Fallout: New Vegas

That is most likely true for FO1 and FO2 but I've got nothing to loose by asking. Microforte probably still has the code and tools but just need permission from Beth to release them. I talked to a guy there a while ago and basicaly it came down to them needing permission from gamesas but that was a few years ago now.

Knowing Bethesda, I would be very surprised if they agreed. The Vault - Fallout Wiki * Fallout Online * Fallout IRC Channel * Fallout: New Vegas

I think Bethesda would have no good reason to hold onto this information. Obviously the content wouldn't be included in the source code requiring that you actually have the game to begin with as the game is still selling. It could actually boost their royalties since the longevity of the product would be extended.

But it's gamesas who's still selling the actual game, not Bethesda. The Vault - Fallout Wiki * Fallout Online * Fallout IRC Channel * Fallout: New Vegas

Either way it doesnt hurt Beth so why would they care?

To supplement what Chris said, Herve told me ages ago that Bethesda has the "exclusive right to any new offline content so [gamesas] cannot publish nor release anything besides of what already was sold". "Ownership" is a nebulous concept in this case: who owns the source code? gamesas? Bethesda? Doesn't matter as only Bethesda has the right to release it.

That means no source code from gamesas, but no design documents either.

And Bethesda - for those of us who don't know them that well - aren't...well...the easiest folk when it comes to stuff like this. They're never going to release design docs or the source code for Fallout 1/2 unless it is clearly beneficial to them to do so. They're not easy on this kind of stuff.

"It's just not something we do" is the Pete Hines answer I would expect. The Vault - Fallout Wiki * Fallout Online * Fallout IRC Channel * Fallout: New Vegas

Or more like "We'd like to.. but we're too busy building giant BoS statues and selling bobble heads to give a shit about modders" somehow I feel they didn't spend their budget money wisely enough. *sigh*

"Sorry but we don't believe in releasing materials like that, and certainly not from other people's games or from other companies." is the answer I got from Pete regarding design documents. It would probably be the same regarding source code. The Vault - Fallout Wiki * Fallout Online * Fallout IRC Channel * Fallout: New Vegas

Typical, Bethesda takes from the industry but won't give back.

You never know, they migth say yes. At least we've got Timeslips sfall program that seems to have gotten around a lot of the hardcoded limitations.

If they said no to concept art and design documents, why would they say yes to source code? The Vault - Fallout Wiki * Fallout Online * Fallout IRC Channel * Fallout: New Vegas