Is it legal to use a closed mod on a gpl engine?

[curzondax]

Say you got a user that bought Quake III arena, and his friend made a mod based on the SDK of it with a mod. That guy gets the source of SDK and makes a mod. The along the way quake3 is GPLed

Is it legal:
- To have Quake III Arena bought
-------- get Quake3 GPL and run that closed mod?
---------get ioquake3 GPL and run that closed mod?

- To not have bought Quake III Arena at all
--------get Quake3 GPL and run a Total Conversion mod in a closed form based on the SDK?
--------get ioquake3 GPL and run a Total Conversion mod in a closed form based on the SDK?


And the special case of Urban Terror
- They say they got 'ok' from id software to not have a problem with the SDK licence.
-------- Is it ok to not have bought Quake III arena, get ioquake3 GPL and run their closed Total Conversion?


Is it ok to 'bind' a mod of an incompatible to GPL license with quake3 at all?

[bludshot]

I was about to make a new post but figured it's fairly on topic with this one. I was just talking to a community programmer and he told me:

"1. ioquake3 publicly says they support all q3 mods, closed or open hence ioq3 doesn't care if you got a closed mod and run it on theirs."

Is that true? I was under the impression ioq3 wasn't *at all* ok with a closed source mod using ioquake3 - at least especially when run as a full game that uses ioq3 and distributes it with the game ('mod'). I'd like to know so I can answer this person who said that and tell them they are wrong since I'm pretty sure they are.

Thanks! :p

[Zachary]

I was about to make a new post but figured it's fairly on topic with this one. I was just talking to a community programmer and he told me:

"1. ioquake3 publicly says they support all q3 mods, closed or open hence ioq3 doesn't care if you got a closed mod and run it on theirs."

Is that true? I was under the impression ioq3 wasn't *at all* ok with a closed source mod using ioquake3 - at least especially when run as a full game that uses ioq3 and distributes it with the game ('mod'). I'd like to know so I can answer this person who said that and tell them they are wrong since I'm pretty sure they are.

Thanks! :p

I can't stop anyone from doing whatever they want with ioquake3 short of them releasing it commercially without releasing their modifications to the engine.
All ioquake3 covers is the ENGINE. If you make a mod that runs with Quake 3 /and/ ioquake3, it isn't my business to do anything about it.
This is the urban terror situation.
Plus the fact that they have some kind of unwritten agreement with id software means there isn't anything to be done for closed source mods.

[bludshot]

I'm really not being facetious, just trying to understand: Are you saying that if I make a game using the ioquake3 source I am allowed to not open source the cgame, game and ui folders? That Tremulous, Smokin Guns and World Of Padman don't have to open source their mod code?

(This is a serious question too, because I am currently making a mod using the ioquake3 source code and I was under the impression that I was required to make it open source (if I distribute it, which I totally will be).)

I understand that you can't stop anyone and that it's not your business to do anything about it, but surely the ioquake3 GPL license applies to anyone who uses the ioquake3 code to make a game with - whether they honor it or not, it must still apply to them doesn't it?

[speaker]

Hi,

The GPL is relevant to the code of the engine only, but it covers all that code including e.g. the game, client game and user interface VM modules. You will certainly have to modify at least one of these if you want to make a mod. IMHO it means that if you create a mod using ioquake3 as a code base and you publicly distribute your mod then your code is also GPL and you must provide it on request if asked by somebody. If you use the mod privately (e.g. only in LAN parties with your friends) then you are not obliged to give anyone anything.

If you use the original mod SDK released by id Software then you are bound by the specific EULA they included in the SDK package. I am not sure if that allows using the stuff with programs other than the original Q3A as released by id.

The artwork you create (textures, sounds, models, shaders, etc.) is IMO not covered by the GPL. You can put the artwork into another PAK file and apply a different license to that stuff (CC, whatever).

This is my interpretation. IANAL so if you need real legal advice ask one.

Speaker

[bludshot]

I'm still hoping for a reply to my post (above speaker's post). Speaker doesn't really address my questions, plus I don't know who he is and he has 10 posts so I imagine he doesn't speak for ioquake3.

Thanks

[Monk]

There's some more GPL-related discussion in this thread, if you want: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1043

[forquake]

I'm really not being facetious, just trying to understand: Are you saying that if I make a game using the ioquake3 source I am allowed to not open source the cgame, game and ui folders?

If you built cgame, game and ui from the ioq3 code, you need to provide the source code

That Tremulous, Smokin Guns and World Of Padman don't have to open source their mod code?

They are now using ioq3 code base so they need to provide source code

(This is a serious question too, because I am currently making a mod using the ioquake3 source code and I was under the impression that I was required to make it open source (if I distribute it, which I totally will be).)

You are right, it needs to be open-source.

I understand that you can't stop anyone and that it's not your business to do anything about it, but surely the ioquake3 GPL license applies to anyone who uses the ioquake3 code to make a game with - whether they honor it or not, it must still apply to them doesn't it?

It won't be legal.

But note that using q3 SDK to build game/cgame/ui is a little different. If you use the SDK you can keep the code closed. Then you can release engine only ioq3 as a separate download(if you made any changes to the ioq3 engine you must provide the changes/source code). But this way you guarantee not to use any code from ioq3 in your game/cgame/ui modules.

[bludshot]

I understand that you can't stop anyone and that it's not your business to do anything about it, but surely the ioquake3 GPL license applies to anyone who uses the ioquake3 code to make a game with - whether they honor it or not, it must still apply to them doesn't it?

It won't be legal.

But note that using q3 SDK to build game/cgame/ui is a little different. If you use the SDK you can keep the code closed. Then you can release engine only ioq3 as a separate download(if you made any changes to the ioq3 engine you must provide the changes/source code). But this way you guarantee not to use any code from ioq3 in your game/cgame/ui modules.

What if you release the io based engine in the same download? In other words, if all those games I mentioned just ported their code to the SDK code, and then released the game the same way they do now (1 full package) then would they be allowed to not open source the mod code? (Not in terms of what the SDK license would compel them to do, but in terms of what io's engine GPL license compels them to do.)