Civ2 Source Code Petition

I can't excactly start a petition for civ1 because.. well, look at the state of the civ1 forums (not excactly thriving). It's just that there are more civ2 people on these forums then civ1.
 
Again, I would attribute that to a lack of interest--but let's drop it shall we, as it's deviating from the thread topic too much.
 
I've been too busy to do anything about this now (yes I post around here occasionally but this requires time and most of all, tact; I don't want to mess this up).

I was going to contact the same people HT did and some people here at CFC, but if you can suggest something else please feel free. I was also thinking of contacting some of the MP people, if I can find them.

(Then there's the people at poly: their situation was different but maybe just for advice.)
 
Imperator666, Tomislav: Will have to get back to you.
 
Okay, Imperator666 and Tomislav: if you PM me your (active) e-mail addresses, I'll add them to the petition list.

Seeing as how it's apparently okay to do this, anybody else who ISN'T already on the list feel free to send me your e-mails within the next couple weeks and I'll add them. (Note that this is just an estimate so I can't promise anything.)
 
I'll join. Space to fill in min words...
 
I apologize for disappearing like that but RL has a nasty habit of oozing into the foreground when you least expect it. I assume nothing horrible happened during my absence.

Unfortunately, I’m usually busy now and not really free to work on personal stuff like this.

I told EivindIV to take over this thread but he’s more active at Poly where the source code is concerned.

As for 2K_jason, he only confirmed what we were already pretty sure of regarding the code.

As for who has the code (if anyone), the most likely person is Brian Reynolds (and if you’ve read the interview posted in the Civ2 Discussion forum, you’ll probably agree; he did the original work on Civ2—it is among his proudest achievements). If anyone can help, he can. The problem is contacting him.

Eivind mentioned a while back that DarthVeda—not sure if he posts here or at Poly or both—may have been hired by Big Huge Games and might be persuaded to act as a middleman when contacting Mr. Reynolds. I haven’t heard anything more about that—or from anyone concerning this thing for that matter—so I don’t know what the status is on any of this.

Oh and BG_Zero, Emp. Killyouall, robert-ns: PM me your e-mails if you like (avoid posting them in the forums—note that these forums are visible to everyone, including non-members) but keep in mind—and this is for everyone reading this thread—that the petition deadline was quite a while ago and even though some people have been added in this year, it’s officially over. The petition is impressive enough as it is IMO, it’s really more important to get it to the right people.

Of course you can always try your luck getting Skyer and Timbatron to hack the exec in the meantime. But as I understand it, the really important changes are just too difficult to implement without the code.

I won’t be around much so just e-mail me (through CFC) if anything important comes up.
 
It seems the source code petition has stalled among the labyrinth of commercial legal nonsense.

....
 
I think Locutus was right when he said (incredible though it may seem) that the Civ2 source code just doesn't exist anymore.

Maybe someone (Brian Reynolds is the obvious suspect) has a copy on some ancient hard drive in his attic, but I doubt that any such copy could be legally released.
 
I remember downloading a mod for MGE that made the computer players not ridiculosly aggressive. I can't remember who it was BUT in order to do such a thing wouldn't it mean that access to the source code is required? I think I got it from somewhere here (civfanatics) I can't remember where and who did it but is it possible they have the source code?
 
That would be Skyer and this thread, but no he doesn't have the source code.

In theory, you can change anything in any computer program without needing the source code. The only problem is that it's about a hundred times harder, and there about a hundred times fewer people who have the required knowledge to do it (... nevermind that software licenses usually expressly forbid it).

So in practice, certainly for a bigger program like Civ2, it's not really feasible to change anything more than just a few minor things unless you have plenty of time... And to add some (more) perspective, even with the source code I wouldn't expect anything significant out of it for several years (just look at the progress of the Call to Power II source code project).
 
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