[Bobboau]

is there a way we can get on steam? I don't know how steam handles mods.

[The E]

I don't know. It depends on whether they allow Steam Workshop stuff for FS2, which AFAIK is up to the publisher to decide.

[Dragon]

Well, releasing a free mod on Steam is definitely possible. IIRC, you don't need the Workshop (though it's great if it's there) for an FSO-style modification, you can set it up as a separate "DLC". I definitely recall seeing this for HL2-based stuff. Someone well versed in the legal/technical side of things could talk to Valve and ask them how we'd go about making FSO available on Steam, along with mods such as BP (sadly, no Diaspora, FoTG, WCS or TBP. I don't think they'll take mods based on other IPs). That probably would be the end of our installer woes (though a non-Steam installer would still be needed), and would probably give us an userbase beyond or wildest dreams.

[The E]

Have you seen any of these for non-Valve games? I certainly haven't.

[Lykurgos88]

Have you seen any of these for non-Valve games? I certainly haven't.

Dayz Mod is one:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/224580/

This is the original mod, not the standalone. So I think it's possible to get mods for other games than Half Life 2 on steam.

[The E]

Thing is, I can't find any documentation about the process you'd have to go through in order to get a mod onto Steam without being a Source mod or going through the Workshop system. If you know how that works, please tell me.

[Lykurgos88]

Here is actually the full list of steam mods by their release dates. There are only 42 in total. Only 1 so far in 2014 and 4 in 2013. It's clear that Valve is pushing Greenlight and workshop more and this old functionality isn't advertised anywhere.

However you should probably try to contact the Just Cause 2 MP mod team for example by their twitter (or other means) and ask them how they managed to get their mod accepted:

https://twitter.com/jc2mpdev

Other place would be the official mail of Steamworks:

[email protected]

There is also this bit from the FAQ:

My game is a mod – can I still submit it to Steam Greenlight?

Yes, you can submit your mod to Steam Greenlight, but in order to be launched on Steam you will need to have a full engine license in place for your game. If you have a Source Engine mod, you can learn more here. For other engines you will need to work with them directly.

So it seems some kind of legal mumbo jumbo will have to dealt with the intellectual property owner of Freespace. Steam store page says it's still Interplay, but wasn't it recently purchased by someone else? You probably know better than I do.

What I find really curious is that from the 4 newest mods, only Half-Life: Before got accepted by the Greenlight system, the other 3 didn't even go through it at all and they still got released as mods. This is frankly very puzzling.

[The E]

So basically, it means we would have to deal with Interplay (who are still the rights holders for FS2).

[Bobboau]

there will likely need to be a steam build of FSO with their libs installed.</technical>

there is also the fact that FSO is not a simple mod running in someone else's engine, it is an alternative executable, which then allows other mods, I'm not sure how this would work.

and... there is also the added complication of our engine supporting more platforms than the one for sale here...

maybe we can work out some sort of deal where we are allowed to redistribute the game media if someone has bought the interplay version, or if we can sell a separate game giving them all of the money we make (this has more of the complication of dealing with Volition as well).

[Dragon]

So basically, it means we would have to deal with Interplay (who are still the rights holders for FS2).

Are you sure? It says "full engine license". Wouldn't that mean we'd have to talk to instead of Interplay? It sure does seem like a more likely prospect. Interplay only had rights to assets, last time I checked.
As for SCP supporting more than just Linux, Mac and Windows, users of other systems could just get FS here. Dunno if Steam would allow installing FS on Linux if it's only supported on Windows, though.

[ShivanSpS]

Well Multiplayer works?

[The E]

Are you sure? It says "full engine license". Wouldn't that mean we'd have to talk to instead of Interplay? It sure does seem like a more likely prospect. Interplay only had rights to assets, last time I checked.
As for SCP supporting more than just Linux, Mac and Windows, users of other systems could just get FS here. Dunno if Steam would allow installing FS on Linux if it's only supported on Windows, though.

I am quite sure that Interplay purchased any and all residual rights to the FS franchise in the THQ fire sale. That, to my mind, is pretty definitive.

[headdie]

Are you sure? It says "full engine license". Wouldn't that mean we'd have to talk to instead of Interplay? It sure does seem like a more likely prospect. Interplay only had rights to assets, last time I checked.
As for SCP supporting more than just Linux, Mac and Windows, users of other systems could just get FS here. Dunno if Steam would allow installing FS on Linux if it's only supported on Windows, though.

I am quite sure that Interplay purchased any and all residual rights to the FS franchise in the THQ fire sale. That, to my mind, is pretty definitive.

Indeed I believe the purchase by interplay was worded along the lines of all remaining rights

[Bobboau]

Are you sure? It says "full engine license". Wouldn't that mean we'd have to talk to instead of Interplay? It sure does seem like a more likely prospect. Interplay only had rights to assets, last time I checked.
As for SCP supporting more than just Linux, Mac and Windows, users of other systems could just get FS here. Dunno if Steam would allow installing FS on Linux if it's only supported on Windows, though.

I am quite sure that Interplay purchased any and all residual rights to the FS franchise in the THQ fire sale. That, to my mind, is pretty definitive.

was going to say we already had a license from V, but I actually looked at the disclaimer they put at the top of everything and it only says what we cannot do, it says nothing about what we can do.

So we need to talk to them and we need to get some stuff hashed out, If we play our cards right we might be able to get the code re-licensed  (GNU, MIT, Apache)

[Dragon]

I think it's worth a shot anyway, even if it means talking with Interplay. There might still be a chance of resolving this, and then we could get FSO on Greenlight. Interplay would also benefit from this, since FSO will always require the original FS, and a lot more people will buy it if the game has modern graphics and works well on modern computers.

[GammaDraconis6]

Will retail FS1 or FS2 even run on modern computers? I know that for me retail FS2 launcher isn't able to detect my Processor or my GPU (i5 3750k / HD 7970). Which means I can't even get it to start. It doesn't seem fair to sell a game that many/most people might not even be able to run.

[Scotty]

FS2 retail works fine on my modern computer.

[AdmiralRalwood]

FSO will always require the original FS

This is already not the case (and not in the pedantic sense of, "It requires FS2, not FS!"). Unless you meant the MediaVPs?

[mjn.mixael]

FSO will always require the original FS

This is already not the case (and not in the pedantic sense of, "It requires FS2, not FS!"). Unless you meant the MediaVPs?

Perhaps I don't understand what you are getting at.. but FSO won't run FS2 without the retail files present. I'm also pretty sure that FSPort requires a few retail files. The MediaVPs cannot run without the retail files either.

[AdmiralRalwood]

FSO will always require the original FS

This is already not the case (and not in the pedantic sense of, "It requires FS2, not FS!"). Unless you meant the MediaVPs?

Perhaps I don't understand what you are getting at.. but FSO won't run FS2 without the retail files present. I'm also pretty sure that FSPort requires a few retail files. The MediaVPs cannot run without the retail files either.

Yes, but FSO itself doesn't require anything FS-related (as Diaspora amply demonstrates).