Battlefield 1942 open-source ?

[yanapa]

Hi,

I'm the developer of BGA, a replacement tool for WinRFA.
I found that the RFA archive format is using the LZO compression/decompression algorithm to compress data into the archive.

After some research, you can find that LZO is an open-source library licenced under the GPL, for more information you can read it there:
http://www.oberhumer.com/opensource/lzo/lzodoc.php

One point is really important in the GPL, if a binary executable is linked with a GPL library then this binary and its sources must be licenced under the GPL.

Technically, "bf1942.exe", "battlecraft.exe" and "DedicatedServer.exe" are able to decompress any valid RFA.

That's why legally, DICE, the original developper, should distribute the sources of these binaries for free.

NB: If someone from DICE read this, don't be afraid to share your work, BF1942 is a very old game now, a lot of developpers did the same before, for other game engine like the one from Doom or Quake series, even Duke Nukem 3D and Homeworld became open source, and if you take a look on these forked projects now, you will see that they gave us a way to increase compatibility (linux, opengl), gameplay (Mouse aiming in Duke3d or Doom) or rendering (Ambient occlusion in Doosmday project).

NB: Battlefield 1942 game data ressources (*.con, *.wav, *.tga, *.sm, *.rs, etc.) are still copyrighted DICE and are not concerned by the GPL.

[Diamondback]

Hi yanapa,

A very late reply, but I would like to thank you for your excellent work on BGA. A tool that has proven to be an excellent replacement of winRFA in many ways, and which I use often.

I find the information in your post concerning the GPL license very interesting. Concerning BC42, in the main folder of that program there is a subfolder called "SDK".

Inside this folder are multiple scripts; there are two C++ files made by EA for surface map generation and material maps respectively. While this is not much to go with, it shows at least some sort of attempt by EA to release a fraction of the BC42 source code.

I have heard rumors that the BF1942 source code was lost forever, however, perhaps a few of the game's developers decided to keep personal copies of the source on their computers, I don't know.

Cheers,

Diamondback