Star Wars: Jedi Academy

[Space Voyager]

You guys probably remember that Jedi Academy's source code was made available to the public etc.. Which - as I understood - meant that the game became freeware.

 

This understanding may have been incorrect as I can not find any way to obtain the game for free except for the torrents. You can BUY the game on Steam though for cca. 10€.

 

So, is downloading JA through torrents legal or not? Is Steam basically selling something that is free?

[Thorondor]

I've waded through quite a few broken links, but the source code for Jedi Academy can indeed still be found available online, for instance, here.

 

Yet, and in my limited knowledge, SV, it's one thing to have source code and another to have the retail distributables. You can supposedly compile it, make an executable, etc. of course, if you have the right C++ compiler, but what about dependencies, art assets, etc.?

 

A news piece regarding said source code release at RPS denotes just this:

 

It is, however, worth keeping in mind that Raven hasn't developed any additional, more fan-friendly tools, so expect a bit of a learning curve. Also, both games’ retail versions aren’t made to interface directly with modified source code, so modders will probably have to solve that puzzle if they want everything to nicely click into place.

 

Still, is it free software? Under which circumstances and in what form? This is the domain of lawyers or people more familiar with the particulars of the GNU General Public License and its rightful usage.

 

::

 

With both Steam and GamersGate having the retail version of the game in their catalogue it's at least reasonable to conclude that they're entitled to do so.

[Space Voyager]

Thank you, Thor. I have my doubts on them being entitled to, they would more likely be selling it until they are stopped by law. I'm no law expert either, naturally.

 

BTW, I was thinking about buying it as there are some good mods out and coming, but this issue kept bugging me. I'll pass for the foreseeable future.