A concern about WorldCraft 3.4 aka Hammer
by Harold "LabRat" Brown · in General Discussion · 06/16/2002 (2:39 am) · 8 replies
As many of you know Valve software released the new version of WorldCraft, now named Hammer, on March 31, 2002. With this release came a change in the EULA (previous versions seemed to be missing the EULA) this change states that "Hammer" can only be used to create maps for Half-Life or other Half-Life based games.
This of course did not sit well with the Torque community as this was (at the time) the primary method to create Interior objects for Torque (and Tribes, Tribes 2). After several E-Mails from the community and a discussion with Valve by the staff of GG we were assured that this was an oversight and it would "be taken care of". This announcement came on April 5, 2002.
We are now nearing July and the promised new EULA has not appeared yet. This does not bode well for the independent developers as simply using worldcraft provides Valve the ability to shut down your project if they so wished.
I would recommend that project leads no longer accept Interiors made with Worldcraft and that Mappers move to using Quark4Torque.
This of course did not sit well with the Torque community as this was (at the time) the primary method to create Interior objects for Torque (and Tribes, Tribes 2). After several E-Mails from the community and a discussion with Valve by the staff of GG we were assured that this was an oversight and it would "be taken care of". This announcement came on April 5, 2002.
We are now nearing July and the promised new EULA has not appeared yet. This does not bode well for the independent developers as simply using worldcraft provides Valve the ability to shut down your project if they so wished.
I would recommend that project leads no longer accept Interiors made with Worldcraft and that Mappers move to using Quark4Torque.
#2
--Rick
06/16/2002 (3:42 pm)
Valve has given GarageGames an explict OK to use Hammer for Torque games. Read the news here.--Rick
#3
Even the letter to GG posted by Jeff only explicitely stated that it will be coming. No one has actually seen it yet ...
06/16/2002 (3:52 pm)
I think the point being raised is that the communications to GG indicate that Valve will in the future post a revised EULA, but it has yet to happen.Even the letter to GG posted by Jeff only explicitely stated that it will be coming. No one has actually seen it yet ...
#4
None of the projects has a Legal document that they can point to and say "Nope, sorry you said I could use it"
I know lawyers are slow, but it's going on 3 months since they said the EULA would be changed and posted on the Half-Life SDK site (Odd since Worldcraft/Hammer isn't even available there)
06/16/2002 (4:13 pm)
That's the problem Rick, we have their "Word", unfortunately if they decided to shut a project down their word would be worth about as much as a piece of used toilet paper.None of the projects has a Legal document that they can point to and say "Nope, sorry you said I could use it"
I know lawyers are slow, but it's going on 3 months since they said the EULA would be changed and posted on the Half-Life SDK site (Odd since Worldcraft/Hammer isn't even available there)
#5
I'm not saying anyone should use a program they are not authorized to use, but I don't feel that Valve would be able to shut down any project simply on speculation that their product was partly used in its creation.
06/16/2002 (4:44 pm)
Why would it even matter? My builders give me their .maps, but unless I explicitly look over it, I would not know what app actually made it. And once its compiled and distributed, there is no way to know.I'm not saying anyone should use a program they are not authorized to use, but I don't feel that Valve would be able to shut down any project simply on speculation that their product was partly used in its creation.
#6
So basically it doesn't matter anyway...unless you are required to include the tools you used with the game.
06/18/2002 (9:00 pm)
Like Erik said, lots of editors use the .map format. QeRadiant, QuArK, WorldCraft and even some other independent ones like the Genesis3D editor.So basically it doesn't matter anyway...unless you are required to include the tools you used with the game.
#7
Just because another tool can generate the the same file, without restrictions does not make it OK to use a tool that has restrictions on it's use, just because no one can tell what tool made the file.
06/18/2002 (9:28 pm)
So just because you can use Milshape to export a .dts file it's OK to use a pirated copy of 3D Studio Max to do it? They both generate the same file.Just because another tool can generate the the same file, without restrictions does not make it OK to use a tool that has restrictions on it's use, just because no one can tell what tool made the file.
#8
What would be, if we just would use the WorldCraft 3.3? Will they create a EULA for this version too?
06/19/2002 (12:21 pm)
Harold is right, but as long as the can't say, with which tool we made our .maps, and there's no EULA that really says what we can do and what not, I think may use WorldCraft.What would be, if we just would use the WorldCraft 3.3? Will they create a EULA for this version too?
Associate James Lupiani
Sickhead Games
Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out QuArK. They integrated the Torque files into their latest versions, so it doesn't have some of the growing pains it had before.