A petition to Bioware and Obsidian

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

Hey guys, I just made a petition to Obsidian Entertainment and Bioware for some real tools and the sdk

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/483/163/158/release-the-star-wars-kotor-1-and-2-source-sdk-and-development-tools/

Please help spread the word! (Yes, you can sign anonymously.) 

[kyrie 17]

Signed. I would really really like this to happen, we could actually fix any walkmesh that needs work and it would be easier to improve the skyboxes easier.

[RFaurora 3]

Signed

[JK JA's Jaden Korr 30]

signed

[Vriff 21]

I just got word back from Obsidian from twitter (I TOLD YOU, AMIRITE?):

 

 

Obsidian ‏@Obsidian13h

 We licensed the code base, so we don't have the rights to do that unfortunately.

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

so then its bioware in charge of the code,  so I'll petition them, I think if bioware did, obsidian would follow suit.

[Hassat Hunter 571]

Considering it's a modified Aurora (Neverwinter Nights) I doubt BioWare just gives that away.

[Fallen Guardian 27]

If I remember correctly there was this old interview with Casey Hudson before KotOR's release where he talked about the KotOR engine. He said they took the aurora engine and then completely overhauled and changed it for KotOR. If that's so, it might not be as close to NWN's engine as one would think and they might not be as hesitant to release the code. That being said however, BioWare is essentially EA now and I doubt they'd let them release anything.

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

i find it funny how few people will sign a petition that directly is in their interests.

ive been thinking of game/news websites to try to get it featured on, any suggestions?

[ZM90 100]

I was the first signature for the petition, I wish others would sign it too.  I know some of you probably think signing it is pointless but you should at least try and see where this goes.  Who knows what'll happen with this in the end?

[bendarby24 24]

signed it

[InSidious 237]

The reason that people don't sign it is because it's completely pointles. It will achieve absolutely nothing.

 

BioWare, by the way, refuse to even acknowledge KotOR modding, and won't allow it to be discussed on their forums. And they certainly aren't going to give away their IP for nothing. If they haven't released the source code to the Infinity engine, why would they for Odyssey? They gain nothing and lose potential future licensing money.

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

i mean no offence to anyone and i am sorry if i have but you are right nothing well come of this, nothing, but there is a chance however slim if there are enough people who sign it. ea can be made to aknowledge us, they well see the petition if it gets enough support.  if it did succeed i doubt you would complain.  the point is we have nothing to lose and everything to gain. a lot of things were pointless and would never work, the plain, bicycle, pc's, cars, women's suffrage rights, stopping racial segregation. there are a long list of things that "didn't work." in reality, if nothing comes of this, at least we can look back and say we tried.

[sELFiNDUCEDcOMA 98]

Personally, I don't see why they can't release the tools as in world building and editing tools. They don't have to release an SDK / code for the engine or anything. Anyway, I think people aren't signing your petition and the reason why it will fail are one and the same -- beyond what InSidious has pointed out.

 

You need to rewrite your petition. It reads juvenile. You need to rework the tone of the text to be especially more respectful of Bioware -- its clear you like Obsidian and very clear you don't like Bioware. And while your at it, try and be more professional in your writing and use some CAPITALS. Not just once in a while for when you start a sentence but for ALL of our sentences. And when you finish a paragraph, leave a line of white space before you start another. This aids readability along with making it look far more professional. Like you care about what you have written because you've taken the time to make it read well, so therefore, others reading it will take it more seriously and take the time to actually read it.

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

all right, ill try editing it soon.

[Avalon17 0]

all right i'll do my best to spread the word of love and the petition two word that don't go together  XD don't worry i'll try my best to spread the word of petition but the love on the other hand i'll just leave it to die

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

thank you for your kind support.

[Dark_Ansem 12]

signed.

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

Don't we already have a bunch of development tools for modding?

[Darth_Sapiens 90]

we do have some community made ones, but a few things in particular would be very useful: the orignal model tools, whatever tools they used for valid bump maps and cube maps, the module tools (for however they populated modules and got the location variables (without using an in game mod) oh and what they used for gui file editing. seeing that neverwinter nights had a tool kit, kotor probably did too.

[Tharr 1]

signed

[MrPhil 58]

Yeah, I signed that too. Yipee, 40 out of 2K's

[The.Frosty.One 4]

So what's the benefits of having the source code?

[therevan789 7]

So what's the benefits of having the source code?

Have direct access to all the code, instead of searching through files and files of content

 

I guess that's it, altough i'm not sure.

[LiliArch 115]

To be able to beat some hardcoded issues, like the appearance slots available, the blaster bolt deflection with weapons that don't have the default lightsaber as baseitem, increase the leveling cap, and so on. And to be able to fix some engine issues. I'd guess.