Pulled the HDD from my Dev. Box.

[game_player_s]

We at the forums are very pleased of this news. We are also quite fearful, though I imagine the old project OPDE will be very fortunate to have the original source to study from and recreate, as that's probably the most legal option.

What's OPDE?

And "legal"? Clearly if there were any concern of legal issues I don't think the company to whom the development kit had at one point belonged to would have let it go without first erasing or destroying the HDD and likewise destroying the CD-R's that contained source code. True that there is a rights holder out there somewhere, but the games in question were released a decade ago and not again (to my knowledge at least) since then, and never before did their ports to the DC ever get leaked.
1. I'm not out attempting to profiteer from this. At no point have I asked for money or donations... Though a replacement gas tank for my car is direly needed.
2. "Thief" and "System Shock 2" are getting positive public recognition out of this. "Oh cool, betas of console versions of these previously 'PC Only' only titles actually exist!". It's like free advertising for them. Neither of the DC game betas are playable at this point in time. So even if the games do get re-released in some other medium in the future this hasn't effected future sellability and profits for whomever does own the rights.

[New Horizon]

What's OPDE?

OPDE is the "Open Dark Engine Project". It was started a few years ago as an attempt to recreate the Dark Engine in an open source format by reverse engineering it.

And "legal"? Clearly if there were any concern of legal issues I don't think the company to whom the development kit had at one point belonged to would have let it go without first erasing or destroying the HDD and likewise destroying the CD-R's that contained source code.

When Looking Glass Studios was shut down by Eidos Interactive 10 years ago, it happened VERY quickly. Equipment was taken and auctioned off before anyone really had a chance to know what had happened. Nobody knew what happened to the equipment or the source code. We Thief fans have been trying to track down the source code for 10 years now, but every attempt to get the parent company Eidos to track it down has lead to "It's lost. We don't know where it is."

True that there is a rights holder out there somewhere, but the games in question were released a decade ago and not again (to my knowledge at least) since then, and never before did their ports to the DC ever get leaked.

Thief 1 and 2 are still sold, along with Thief 3 in a collectors package by Eidos interactive. Eidos also sells Thief from their main website and are working on Thief 4 for release in 2011 or 2012.

1. I'm not out attempting to profiteer from this. At no point have I asked for money or donations... Though a replacement gas tank for my car is direly needed.

Whoa, slow down game_player_s, nobody was accusing you of profiteering. Albert isn't always great at expressing himself. He's a member of the same forum I am. All he meant by us being 'fearful' is that now we have to wait and see if Eidos is going to grant us an open source license to 'openly' develop the code...or if we'll have to do it 'underground'. Clearly, we want their approval.

See, one of our forum members had actually found the source code for Thief 2 and System Shock 2 back in February. A former Looking Glass Studios developer had it on a disk. We the fans never gained access to that code however, we asked the former LGS developer to send it directly to Eidos for their consideration to open source it to us. We've been waiting for over 10 months, and they still haven't gotten back to us.

So, you see, we're fearful that they're going to say "no, you can not have an open source license to develop patches or update the source code". If they say no after our ten year search...it's going to be like a knife to the heart.

In any case, we are EXTREMELY thankful to you for releasing a version of the code. At least now we have it, and have backed it up so it will never be lost again.

[pavomba]

i ve uploaded the TECH folder for system shock 2, there is one in D2S1T5, C, but seems to be incomplete, since the shock2.exe mentions more source files and folders, só ive created.

http://hotfile.com/dl/89717839/3a467ee/TECH.rar.html

i don´t know if the folder have to be on D2S1T5, C, only replacing the older one, or have to be on the root, because my dreamcast is on my neighboor.

[game_player_s]

What's OPDE?

Thief 1 and 2 are still sold, along with Thief 3 in a collectors package by Eidos interactive. Eidos also sells Thief from their main website and are working on Thief 4 for release in 2011 or 2012.

...All he meant by us being 'fearful' is that now we have to wait and see if Eidos is going to grant us an open source license to 'openly' develop the code...or if we'll have to do it 'underground'. Clearly, we want their approval....

So, you see, we're fearful that they're going to say "no, you can not have an open source license to develop patches or update the source code". If they say no after our ten year search...it's going to be like a knife to the heart....

Oh, I see. thank you so much for clearing those matters up. And, you are all most welcome. I wish you success in obtaining the permissions you seek from Eidos.

[pavomba]

no one tried to use the file that i ve uploaded, and see what happens?

[Favrenation]

what file?

[pavomba]

what file?

the TECH folder files, the .exe mentions them, but i don´t know if i had to be on the root or in C folder in D1S2T5 folder.

[Bob Dobbs]

no one tried to use the file that i ve uploaded, and see what happens?

The file is missing.

"This file is either removed due to copyright claim or is deleted by the uploader."

[pavomba]

uploaded again

http://rapidshare.com/files/439039070/TECH.rar

[pavomba]

well i ve got my dreamcast back yesterday, and today burned 4 cds of the game with tech folder, 2 were failed because i ve forgot to change tje 0winceos to 1st_Read, making the console reboot, and the with the TECH folders in root and D1S2T5, C folder, and another only in D1S2T5, C folder, but it didn´t work, it makes me to go to system menu, i will try again tomorrow.

I don´t know why does not work, maybe because of source code files.