::: Update :::
On the 22nd of November the Doom 3 source code was released with a few changes and omissions.
Gamasutra wrote: The source does not contain any game data, which is still covered by the original EULA.
The source also does not include functionality enabling rendering of stencil shadows via the "depth fail" method (commonly called "Carmack's Reverse"), which lawyers from parent company Zenimax said might infringe on a patent for a Creative Labs 3D shading technique.
You can find the download here on ModDB Moddb.com it is recommended however if you are reading this in a few months that you seek out any official versions due to it might be a more recent update.
Source: Gamasutra.com
Back at QuakeCon in 2009 John Carmack announced that the Doom 3 source code would be released at some point in the future. Confirmed today at two years later at the 2011 QuakeCon that the very same source code will be made available to everyone after id's next game RAGE releases later this year.
VG247_liveblog wrote: Carmack said in his keynote that these releases of Id code are a "challenge to other developers," and are beneficial to both Id and "the community."
This means that a whole mess of modifications like the Dark Mod, Arx, Last Man Standing can release a almost indie version. It also means we might see some fantastic new endeavours being birthed because of this, maybe this will start another Team Fortress as we all know how well that worked out last time.
Source: Joystiq.com
Just have heared it to, that is so damn great. Maybe my team PiPi Boys can now make Weatherman a Stand-Alone, YES!!!
Sikkmod's about to get shitloads more badass.
i've already merged some of his changes in :D.
Valve, Epic & Crytek fans can keep their "free" SDK's & royalty based engines, I'll take GPL code for great engines any day. 8)
Why don't I ever understand any of your hipster crap
I was elitist about open source software before anyone else was. Oh, that's right, you probably don't even know what that is.
I don't even understand why people upvoted your comment.
I don't understand why this comment was down-voted. id has released everything else GPL, if they skipped releasing Doom 3 under GPL, I'd be confused. Epic's UDK, while impressive, is still not up to snuff with id's offerings. I applaud id and their community support, Linux releases and modding tools. It's nice to see one company that can make loads of money and still care about their fans.
It's downvoted for outright taking a **** on those companies for offering anything to work with, the entitlement issues are pure douche chills.
It's down-voted because people crap all over id because they don't charge you for the "privilege" of paying them high royalties just so you can use their code. Indie companies already got an uphill battle, they don't need some "indie" friendly company taking 25% of their gross income just so you can put another companies logo in the loading screens.
It's down-voted because id never ONCE gave anyone a sense of entitlement, they expected their modders & GPL coders to make the tools they need (benefited Valve quite a bit, no?) and didn't put training wheels on modders bikes while putting them in a foam suit.
It's down-voted because the three companies I mentioned play buddy-buddy with "special" mod teams and id doesn't.
The doom 3 source code release is great and the engine is still neat - BUT, I think I would not use it for something I'd go commercial with, simply because of the GPLs restrictions (obligation to make the products source code available). For free stuff though I think it's (about) perfect . . . but then again: for free stuff you also don't have to pay a single dime to Epic/CryTek/Unity Technologies . . . so they probably aren't any worse in that regard.
Overall I think the choice of engine is -as often- depending on application, your (team's) experience and personal preference, therefore a concluding: meh.
You could always lock down assets other than source code to prevent people freely redistributing it. you'd still get piracy but thats an issue in any game.
people just go:
skim skim skim
Valve
skim skim
anything negative
HOLY **** - KILL THIS PERSON - NEGATIVE KARMA.
Lol thats exactly what i just did XD
I'm so tired of people overrating Valve and their games.
I wonder how long it'll take for an idTech 5 style megatexture renderer to be implemented. Five, maybe six months? :P
On a more serious not, I can see a lot of fun, creative games coming out in the near future, now that the sourcecode has been released.
The renderer is not the problem per se, it's the data format and decode efficiency. Though you might be almost right since some of those Open Source coders are pretty good with compression methods (FLAC anyone?).
This is huge. The first engine with fully dynamic per-pixel lighting is going Open Source. With a few tweaks this will be competitive with UE3 and beyond.
i wish they would release ETQW source code it comes with a modified version of megatexture and it's the only game to use megatexture with idtech 4! But so far so good to ave D3 src!
Apparently you can use mods to access megatexturing in Doom 3, just at half the resolution, so it won't be too long until some of the brilliant programmers in the modding community come out with code for a ETQW level megatexture system. Who knows, once they see how Carmack did it in the first place, they might even be able to implement id Tech 5 style megatextures.
well megatexture in etqw apparently works differently than in id tech5. How differently im just guessing tbh. Anyway there are some modification in scripting and multi threaded processing made by SD. those are easy to add but Megatexture will be a hard trick to pull!
Yeah, I know. My comment was a half-joking acknowledgement that the programmers in the modding community are really very good and, once they see how something's done, they can replicate it. Now, while I don't really expect id Tech 5 style megatexturing to be implemented, it certainly wouldn't surprise me :P.
There is already a prototype of megatexture in doom 3 and works pretty well, search around the net, there should be still a download.
I'd love to have ETQW's source code, people could revive that game too and I really miss playing it as it is.
Bout damn time :)
Litte late, but who cares.
Better late than never.
Wicked! ID are great!
Great news... Does this mean Linux potential as a gaming platform has just doubled? I sure hope so!
This is just another reason why ID has got to be the best gaming company! Most definitely my favorite of ALL time :D. Unlike all these other companies like Blizzard and DICE... ID FTW!
This is excellent news for the modding community! Considering what some teams have been able to do without the source code already, limits (I predict) would be endless. Thankfully, ID haven't yet entirelly forgotten their shareware roots, either, and are passing things along to the community again.
Definitely looking forward to seeing how projects like The Dark Mod progress after this release.
This will probably sound kind of stupid, but does this mean we can play doom 3 for free as well ?
No, you'd need all the art assets, scripts, etc for it to run. Without them you just have the engine.
Oh, thanks for answering. Still looking forward to the release though!
No problem, glad I could help :).
It would make sense to me if they released doom 3 free, its current sales probably don't amount to much, and it would hype up this engine release, create an art asset base for the mod community, and get people playing ID's games before another ID release, including the rumored next doom game.
but woo for id tech 4 all the same
Can't see that happening, Quake one is still 9.99 on steam :(
It could be something like Freedoom where the community creates the assets from the ground up..
I hope Dark Mod will be released as Indie Game, as I don't possess Doom3.
Good job ID!
FRIGGING YAY!!!!!
The Dark Mod team has to be doing cartwheels and somersaults right now.
This is TERRIFIC news for everybody.
I think that it's safe to say that when one looks at the gaming market today, that it's full of unimaginative clones whose sole goal is to make pretty games that are aimed to capture the largest audience possible, which means that in regards to game design that the chief targets are all of the lowest denominator. To no surprise, the results are totally lifeless and unengaging: much like pulling a Miley Cyrus mask over the head of a zombie.
The release of this will likely cause a whole cascade of imaginative and risk-taking games that should put a lot of pressure on the Big Boys to think more carefully about their future releases. And if they're capable of being embarrassed, then they'll be blushing the entire time that they try one of these releases out.
And then, if they're SMART, they'll HIRE from this pool of creative imagineers of great game design, and then hopefully don't smother them later with their corporatist ways.
Yeah, a great day for everybody. A great gift!
Don't get me wrong, this release is great and all for the community, but... Really? Unity has a completely free version, there's UDK, there's CryEngine SDK, there's Irrlicht3D, there's OGRE, there's a few id Tech 3 code bases with hundreds of improvements that make it near if not better than the quality of id Tech 4...
Just saying that at this point, I have no idea why all those super duper incredibly creative developers waited for this particular release.
WOOO! ROCK ON ID!
Can't wait to work on the id tech 4 engine.
Now that is something to get us all excited, Treb playing around with id Tech 4's code. Either ET-Xreal is going to get a whole host of upgrades or we'll see id Tech 4 surpass CE3.
A glorious time for idTech4 modding is finally upon us!
Thank you idSoftware!
It will sure be interesting to look at their code, perhaps there's another fast inverse square root function-like thing in there :)
"Valve, Epic & Crytek fans can keep their "free" SDK's & royalty based engines, I'll take GPL code for great engines any day. 8)"
Friar beat me to it :D
**** yeah !! :D
Awesome glad we are getting plenty of new engines. I think i may write a game in this if the source-code is good :D.
Kamikazi[UK] i bet it is has well coded has the C4 engine or even better we are talking about John Carmack coding here. ;)
sweeeeeetttt.