W3D Hub: Commanding the Future with the Renegade Source Code

[OWA]

Hi everyone and thank you for bearing with us as we continue to discuss.

We never thought that the Renegade source code would ever see the light of day after all of these years, but the impossible is happening right now and it's our duty as the Renegade/W3D Engine modding community to provide clarity and direction.

We've noticed your discussions, saw your questions, and had our own chats about going forward. Regarding the source code release, we have answers for you.

Where does W3D Hub stand?The release of the Renegade GPL-licensed source code by EA has presented us with both opportunities and challenges, but before we get into unpacking that let's start with explaining what we have been working on already.

We currently have two main development branches that are closed source: the Scripts 4.x branch and the Engine 5.x branch. Both of these closed source codebases are compliant with EA's modding guidelines for the Command & Conquer franchise: https://www.ea.com/games/command-and-conquer/modding-faq

Scripts 4.x Branch

Purpose:

The 4.x branch is primarily focused on maintaining and improving Renegade while ensuring compatibility with older content and systems.

Key Features:

• Compatibility: Ensures that existing Renegade maps, plugins, and other content remains functional on a variety of operating systems.
• Bug fixing: Fixes various bugs that were present in the released game.
• Anti-Cheat Measures: Includes various anti-cheat mechanisms to protect the integrity of the game.

Engine 5.x BranchPurpose:

The 5.x branch is a completely reverse engineered version of the W3D game engine, incorporating an expanded set of features and development improvements. 5.x no longer supports Renegade, as it's primary function is to advance and support games such as Red Alert: A Path Beyond, Tiberian Sun Reborn and Battle for Dune: War of Assassins.

Key Features:

• Advanced Features: Introduces new functionalities and improvements over the 4.x branch, such as better graphics, physics, and tools.
• Future-Proofing: Designed to support future development and expansions, making it a more flexible game engine than 4.x.

The Issues We FaceThe Renegade source code has been released under the GPL license, which means any code using that must also be open-sourced and available to the public.

We are unable to open-source our current 4.x and 5.x branches because of the following:

• Releasing our code requires the explicit permission of everyone who was ever involved, and after 20+ years of code contributions and some of its developers having left us or otherwise, this is not possible.
• Third-party libraries, such as FMOD which we use for our audio system, are not compatible with the GPL license.
• Releasing 4.x and 5.x code opens the door to cheaters who can exploit our games, which cannot be done for the sake of fairness and enjoyment of our games as they are.

Our Decisions

The Future of 4.x and 5.x

With both the 4.x and 5.x Branches, we will continue as we have always done. The Tiberian Technologies scripts patch will remain with 4.x and Red Alert: A Path Beyond, Tiberian Sun: Reborn, Battle for Dune: War of Assassins and other projects will remain on 5.x for the foreseeable future.

The reality is that we still need these branches to fix Renegade in it's current form and also maintain our own game projects. This ensures that no development is halted and that our games remain available to you to play.

To clarify our position, we will not be using the released GPL code in these branches as that would not be GPL-compatible.

In layman's terms, 4.x and 5.x will have to pretend the code is not there, and continue that work without peeking or using any of it.

A New Project Emerges: OpenW3D

Using the released Renegade source code and complying with the GPL license, we are starting a new open source game engine project, simply named OpenW3D.

We aim to bring the source code up to modern standards, get it building and usable, and then begin implementing the features and upgrades we developed across 4.x and 5.x and the rest of Renegade's modding history.

We are not tossing away our 4.x and 5.x work, but rather we are looking to get back to that point - this time from the source code. With the benefit of hindsight taking away a lot of the guesswork, and renewed interest in coding and modding bringing activity, we hope to get this ball rolling!

Here's an initial plan of action:

• Bring the codebase up to par with modern C++ standards (ideally 20)
• Put it into a modern build system (CMake, Sharpmake, etc.)
• Remove/replace 3rd party stuff that makes it incompatible with GPL (can be done simultaneously with above steps)
• As a baseline, just get Renegade working in it, and maybe build a single test map, just so we know that we can go from raw dev data to an exported and functioning game
• Start planning upgrades and porting over one of the W3D projects

We are also mulling over the possibility of cross platform support as well, which should excite all of you Mac and Linux fans!

We have hands already on this plan of action, with several of our experienced programmers tackling the codebase now. We aim to expand development shortly with some dedicated collaboration areas on our new Mattermost communication platform, so stay tuned for more info!

Quickfire FAQ

Here's a quick FAQ of what has been explained above!

What's happening? Should I be concerned?

- EA has released the Renegade source code under the GPL licence. This is great news for us as it will allow us to work on a new game engine. No need for concern!

A new engine you say, what's that?

- Yup, we're working on a new game engine called OpenW3D. This will be an open source version of the W3D engine that aims to be an accessible platform for developing Rene-like (Renegade-like) games. We're aiming for it to be a more robust platform than what we use currently.

Sounds good, how can I get involved with OpenW3D?

- Our infrastructure for supporting open development isn't quite ready yet, but in the meantime we'll be opening a public channel for OpenW3D in our Discord server. Eventually we will open a dedicated space for development on our Mattermost communication platform. Stay tuned for more info!

How does OpenW3D affect the Tiberian Technologies scripts patch?

- The short answer is, it doesn't. The team at TT will keep developing the TT scripts patch for Renegade on the W3D 4.x codebase as normal. The team won't be using at any of the Renegade source code that EA has just released though, as that would violate the GPL licence.

So what codebase or game engine do your games, like APB, AR and TSR, use?

- These games use the W3D Engine 5.x codebase described earlier in this post. Some other games use 4.x though, such as Interim Apex and ECW.

Is W3D Hub using the Renegade source code in existing projects like APB and TSR?

- No, we won't be, as including any of the release code would require us to release our code under GPL, which we cannot do.

What about using the Renegade Source code in the TT scripts patch?

- This is also not possible due to GPL.

Will any of your games switch engine to OpenW3D?

- Not in the short term, but in the long term when the engine has developed a lot more, we can evaluate whether we want to move our projects across. It's simply not realistic to switch engine at this stage, as it is way too early in development.

Thanks for Reading

Whew, that was a lot, but thanks for bearing with us! This is a really exciting movement for the community and couldn't have been possible without people at EA like CCHyper, Jim Vesella, Brian Barnes, as well as talented people in our own community here at W3D Hub such as @ jonwil , @ Unstoppable and @ Jerad2142 .  It's down to the hard work of these people that we can even think about doing this today. 

To re-iterate, we will be opening a new channel on Discord to cover OpenW3D development and Interested people from all levels of experience are encouraged to come and engage with us in there.

Once we have our infrastructure in order, we'll have more information on how to sign up soon too!

Thank you for reading, and please let us know if you have any further questions, concerns, or feedback.

- OWA and the W3D Hub Team

[Kushan]

This seems like a great and sensible step forward that keeps everything legal and provides a sensible roadmap for the future.

 

I think targeting porting of one of the existing Engine 5.0 projects over to OpenW3D makes a lot of sense - appreciating it'll take a long time, it should help prioritise feature development once the codebase is up to scratch.