Pirated video games SOURCE CODE (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by zaknenou@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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So there are multiple sites&groups that pirate video games especially on PC. I was wondering if there are places on the internet where you find source code for games especially the highly modifiable ones like Half Life 2/Portal and Skyrim. Or groups that crack into the source code of games (or even software in general), not only for PC maybe PS, XBox or mobile too, and share it. I just wanted to see some code samples of games or their engines, maybe I get hooked into video game design. Shout out to Valve for sharing a lot about the creation of Half Life 1

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[-] Sylvartas@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I mean, if you want to see some games' source code you don't have to rely on piracy. As other people have already said, there are open source games, some developers of older games have officially released the source code (notably VVVVVV, doom, and also quake iirc), some devs have released important part of their source code (e g the entire inputs handling code of Celeste).

Additionally, the vast majority of all Unreal Engine games' engine code, including huge AAAs like Fortnite, is in Unreal Engine (duh), which is ~~open source~~ source-available.

[-] PropaGandalf@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

UE isn't open source afaik

[-] IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social 8 points 7 months ago

UE is open source as in the source code is available to anyone. But the license isn’t very open.

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/ue-on-github

[-] PeachMan@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Right, but it's best to call that "source available" so the pedants don't crucify you 🙄

[-] Draconic_NEO@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 months ago

Yes there is indeed a difference, but for us it makes little to no difference. In the end what matters is that we have it without having to reverse engineer it, which is a slow and laborious process (even when you do it with dirty methods).

[-] Sylvartas@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I knew I was gonna get this answer but still couldn't be bothered to check the correct term so that's on me.

I think you're technically right because the EULA specifies that you basically can't use that code (or a modified version) outside of a licensed UE project, but outside of that it basically is. All the code can be read, the engine and/or its editor and all related tools can be compiled from the source, and you can make pull requests on the official repo.

IIRC it is not actually open source because you can't modify and/or repackage it without epic having their say in it (I think one of the licenses tiers is basically you agreeing to pay upfront + royalties for the authorization to modify the engine's code and ship the packaged version with the project)