Focalor's Quake1 Pak for Quake2

[quadz]

For copyright reasons, I have removed this pak from the web. It's obviously been years since I compiled this pak, but from what I remember, all of the sounds and most of the images contained it were ripped directly from the original Quake1 game, which would make it, let's say, less than 100% legal to post on the web for public consumption.

Quadz, for your own sake, I'd highly recommend removing any of the paks and files you attached to any of your posts in this thread if they are copyrighted.

Interesting. I'm not a lawyer, so this definitely isn't legal advice. But I guess I'd thought any sounds/textures from Q1 shareware (and/or Q1test) which are already freely downloadable from id Software's FTP site, are probably something id would be cool with being mixed into fan-made nonprofit paks for another one of their games (i.e. Q2.)

ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake/

I suppose if they were sounds or textures that didn't exist in the shareware version, that might be more of an issue? But it's not clear to me how borrowing (repackaging) freely downloadable Q1 content for use in Q2 would be causing any harm, economic or otherwise.

(Again, not a lawyer though.)

[|iR|Focalor]

Hmm, yeah, you have a point there. Thing is... I'm almost positive that I did not take anything from a shareware version of the game. It's been so long ago that I can't really remember, but I think I downloaded a full version of the game which I didn't pay for either from someplace on the web or through a torrent, and that's where everything came from. But yeah, I guess they would be the same files from the shareware version. I was looking through a Q1 forum somewhere else and it seemed like an admin there removed a download link from someones post because the item had content originally from either the pak0 or pak1 file from Quake. I guess maybe I should dig a little deeper and find out if they know something we don't.

[|iR|Focalor]

After asking about it on the QuakeOne forums, they all seemed to have a slightly different opinion on it from you. They make some pretty good points. Read for yourself here.

I don't think any individual is gonna be able to definitively answer the question about it. So I really only see two routes to go. #1, read the license that comes with the shareware version of Quake, or #2, email id and ask them if it's okay, and if it's not, then "May I please have the expressed written permission of the NFL to do it?", to which they'll probably say, "Nope."

Unfortunately... I don't have the shareware version, and I can't find one that is unpacked from the BAT file to where I can read the license TXT. I found this, but who the hell knows if that's 100% accurate. And I wouldn't even begin to know how to contact anyone at id about this. From what I saw on their site, I couldn't find a tech support email, just some form to fill in where they probably won't even read whatever you send them. Dunno that I'd WANNA talk to them either. I'm afraid if I pointed them to the page where the pak was, they might start digging around and find some shit that either I or someone else posted and... yeah, might be a bad idea.

[|iR|Focalor]

Anyway, just this white boy's opinion that the file should stay down since it's questionable. Besides, Prophet was mainly the one who wanted the pak, and he already got it. I don't anticipate anyone else will likely give a shit to want it. I mean... Just look at it. It's crap. My pak'ing skills have come a long way since this piece of shit was posted. If I were to make a Q1 pak today, it would be WAAAAY better looking than this pathetic garbage.

[quadz]

After asking about it on the QuakeOne forums, they all seemed to have a slightly different opinion on it from you. They make some pretty good points. Read for yourself here.

I'm in agreement with their points, but they're speaking to the general case.

They're entirely correct that the assets in the shareware Q1 paks retain id Software's copyright, and that the redistribution of these assets is bound by whatever license they were released under (which could be as simple as, "All Rights Reserved.")

So yes: When in doubt, it's safest to assume redistribution of said assets in any customized or repackaged form, is prohibited unless expressly permitted the license, or unless one has obtained special written permission from the copyright holder.

(It was probably a mistake for me to assume everyone already knew this much going into it, since it is merely by chance that my own profession has put me in the position of needing to think about software copyright issues for some decades now.)

Given all of the above as a starting point, my own (non-legal) opinions were intended to address a very specific scenario: Fan-made not-for-profit repackaging of shareware assets from id Software game "A" for use in id Software game "B".

This is the narrow use case under which I'd made the observation: I don't see how this causes any harm, financial or otherwise.

In other words, if my own company had developed a series of games called Quark, I find myself unable to see why I would be anything but pleased to learn that fans of the series still cared enough after all these years to want to remix some shareware assets from Quark 1 into Quark 2.

So I suppose I'm making an argument for the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law.

But this is certainly just a personal opinion (from someone whose income depends on customers purchasing rather than pirating my own software.)

[|iR|Focalor]

Well... what software do you make? I'll pirate it, just for the hell of it.

I mean if you're saying it shouldn't be a problem, I do agree. How much would it cost to pay a lawyer to sue you or me over something as small as this? There's really no damage being done to them, and no one's been making any money from it. id Software's legal team would have to be pretty fucking bored, in a bad mood, and just looking to fuck with someone for the sake of sadistic amusement to make an issue out of this. I don't see where them suing could net anything but a financial loss for themselves. On the other hand... technically they could. And since you pay for the webspace, I don't wanna do anything to possibly fuck you, that wouldn't be cool.

Another thing... I think I've seen clients out there packaged in zips or rars or exe installers that contain the shareware files which make it possible to play Q2 multiplayer without a complete version of the game. If the shareware files are bundled along side the client in the same container, and they aren't in their original standalone form, that's kinda ALSO against the license in the shareware, right? That's as bad or worse than what I've done, and I don't see id Software going after those people.

It's fuckin' gray, man. If you want me to re-upload it, I will, only if you demand it though. I ain't skeered of lawsuits myself. Of all the things I've ever done with an internet connection concerning copyright, this ain't shit.

[Jay Dolan]

Another thing... I think I've seen clients out there packaged in zips or rars or exe installers that contain the shareware files which make it possible to play Q2 multiplayer without a complete version of the game. If the shareware files are bundled along side the client in the same container, and they aren't in their original standalone form, that's kinda ALSO against the license in the shareware, right? That's as bad or worse than what I've done, and I don't see id Software going after those people.

Yea, older versions of my Quake2 builds for Mac did just this. The internal layout of an OS X .app bundle is pretty foreign, maybe even intimidating to your average user. And so rather than force the ~200 people who download the thing to fumble through a command line for the first time in their lives, I decided to include the shareware .pak files for convenience. I know that this technically violates the Quake2 EULA, but sometimes, you just gotta do what's right

I've since moved to an rsync distribution channel, with a client script that prompts users to accept the Quake2 shareware license before it downloads any data.

[|iR|Focalor]

I've re-up'd the pak. It's probably the end of the world anyway, I doubt we'll be alive long enough for anyone to care about possible copyright issues.

I'm also in the process of throwing together a new and better version of this Quake1 themed pak. A couple of parts may be borrowed from other Quake1 HD paks, but there's also gonna be plenty of original stuff in it. So far I haven't gotten to models or sounds, just the pics folder. Don't know when it will be complete, probably sometime after the middle of April at the very earliest. Here's some previews in the meantime.

[|iR|Focalor]

Think I just learned something new today.

I've been cutting up different Quake1 sound packs to scavenge sounds for this new Quake1 themed pak I'm doing. When I started, I was gonna be lazy and just kinda...  (whispers) *steal*... sounds from other Quake1 paks. But then it would've turned out kinda bad. So I've actually been doing quite a bit of work using my copy of the ACID Pro 7 program, which is like a pro-level digital recording studio program. Been tweaking files for volume, times, adding accents here and there and creating all new sounds as well. Been busy the past 2 days doing sounds from the weapons folder. Tonight I get to the hyperblaster sounds.

Discovered that apparently Quake2 doesn't actually use the hyperblaster spin-up sound file. Perhaps it uses it for single player enemies, but it appears as though it doesn't use it for players guns at all. It uses the fire sound, the barrel spin sound, and the spin-down sound, but not the spin-up sound.

Learned this after spending about an hour trying 100 different ways to get my thunder+lightning spin-up sound to play. Thought maybe there was something in the metadata at the beginning or end of the file, but no. After trying everything I know how to do, I finally checked the game with the stock sounds and used a null sound for the fire and barrel spin sounds so I could hear the spin-up clearly. NO SPIN-UP.

[quadz]

Discovered that apparently Quake2 doesn't actually use the hyperblaster spin-up sound file.

Interesting. I'm unfamiliar with Q2 sound logic; but I notice CHAINGUN has several states, while HYPERBLASTER (and most other weapons) have just one:

https://github.com/tastyspleen/r1q2-archive/blob/master/client/cl_fx.c#L311 (chaingun 1,2,3)

https://github.com/tastyspleen/r1q2-archive/blob/master/client/cl_fx.c#L293 (hyperblaster)

[|iR|Focalor]

I am not code literate, so I really can't make any sense of that other than the "machgf" wav files, of which there are 5 numbered 1 to 5. I only had one nailgun firing sound, so to randomize the sound a little more, I plugged the file into Acid Pro and used a pitch shifter plugin to change the pitch of it at random cent values within a one note/half step range. So maybe those are dealing with how the game randomizes the 5 bullet firing sounds depending on the timing of holding +fire.

I'm thinking the game does use the hyperblaster spin-up sound for the medic enemy. I think maybe I've heard it before when the medic is sitting idle.

[|iR|Focalor]

Eh... So it's not done. It lacks models. The only model I did was the blaster and hyperblaster laser model, which I just reskinned with a white to blue gradient texture to make it kinda look like a bolt of electricity. I was gonna try to convert some models from Quake1 HD add-on packs, but then I remembered how much of a pain in the ass it was to deal with models and I started procrastinating. And it's been 2 or 3 days since I've come back to do anything else with the pak, and I don't see that changing soon, so... I'm just gonna go ahead and post what I have for anyone who wants it.

Maybe later when I'm feeling more into it I'll start getting into doing the models. The idea was to have a pak that made all the models and icons look coherent, like what the pak is SUPPOSED to be: make your Quake2 look like Quake1.

So all the sounds are done. 99% of them are new compared to my last personal pak (Focalors pak v11). I tried not to "recycle" anything unless I absolutely HAD to. A few sounds are ganked from 2 or 3 different Quake1 updated sound packs that others made. Many sounds are modified versions of sounds from those Quake1 packs (volume adjusted, EQ shifts, pitch shift, sounds added to them, etc). And a few are all original ones that I made using sound effects I found all over the web. If I ever pick this up again and finish the models part of it, I'll likely add several more sounds as well, mostly stuff concerning single player/coop sounds.

The pics folder is "almost" complete. Only thing missing are the powerup icons, which I had planned to do based on whatever the end result was concerning the models I had wanted to include. In the meantime (as in if/when I decide to complete this pak), I've added older powerup icons from my v11 pak.

I did sort of recycle some of the icons, particularly the K (key) icons for single player, however, I did do a little artwork on some of them to make them look a little better or more interesting, particularly the pyramid key icon and the powercube icon.

OLD vs NEW





I'm not gonna do a full webpage with pics of all the stuff like I usually do unless I ever complete this pak entirely. So if you wanna see all the other stuff in it, you'll just have to download it and try it out for yourself.

Focalor's Q1V2 pak (20mb):
http://focalor.tastyspleen.net/zip/pak/Q1V2/Focalors_Q1V2_pak.zip

[rikwad]

Awesome sounds, really nice. Conchars and conback are very cool as well.

[|iR|Focalor]

Conback came from the web, just because I wanted something quick and easy that I didn't have to make myself. Although I did end up having to edit around the id software logo so I could edit the image down to 1280x1024 without just squeezing the image.

Not really crazy about the conback I used. I probably should've just made something myself.

https://gfx.quakeworld.nu/details/321/widescreen-conback-v2/

[|iR|Focalor]

Finally got around to doing a preview page for this pak. Check it out. Click below.