Maps released under free licences ?

[SeanHeron]

Hi, I'm compiling a list of Spring content that is libre (free and open source) licenced. I just wanted to announce that it would be great for people to add any stuff they have released that way on that wiki page, or post a note on it (link, what, licence, by who), in which case I will add it. Of course I'm expecting mostly maps here, but if you have a look you'll see that I've linked to the Thread with various things by Smoth (released as CC-by-sa), so obviously other stuff is welcome as well.
Thank you in advance, and regards
Sean

[Pressure Line]

Interesting idea. but im not sure it will really work for maps :/ tbh i have not seen a map which also includes its source image files (they would be HUGE) which would be needed for any real modification.

In my understanding maps are generally released to the community at large to be distributed in any non-commercial manner. but there may be other interpretataions out there.

[Otherside]

all maps ive made are free to distribute textures etc are made from l3dt or hand painting (i purchased my copy of l3dt) so any map ive released/will release (depending on features used on said maps) are free to use/distribute

[smoth]

Interesting idea. but im not sure it will really work for maps :/ tbh i have not seen a map which also includes its source image files (they would be HUGE) which would be needed for any real modification.

true that, the source files all of them for islands in war were released when it was made for spring.

they can be found here:
http://cs.selu.edu/~ssmith/spring/GPL/islands_in_war/

and note the file size difference between source and map.

[Pressure Line]

true that, the source files all of them for islands in war were released when it was made for spring.

they can be found here:
http://cs.selu.edu/~ssmith/spring/GPL/islands_in_war/

and note the file size difference between source and map.

precisely. realistically, the only way to get the source files is to ask the map creator, the big problem with that is that a lot of the maps were made a long time ago, and the creators have since moved on.

and tbh, i dont want to see the GPL bullshit moving into maps too.

tl;dr: any map released is assumed to be free for distribution, modification based on being able to contact the creator for source files

[smoth]

I put that up as GPL because Tobi asked me to. I can put it up as send smoth a pickle license.

if someone wants me to post it as PD I can.

the thing you have to remember is it is a matter of who is going to enforce it and do you honestly think I give two shits?

[SeanHeron]

Thanks for your replies! I'm a bit pressed for time currently, so you might need to wait a bit till I update the list.
Good point also on the map source files being very large, I hadn't considered that, and it certainly might be a problem. But changing stuff is only one side of why I'm trying to put together the list, having maps that people can be sure of going okay if they redistribute (e.g. in a game package) is the other. And while of course (in my opinion) asking is the way to go for that, you've already mentioned the problem that people might not be round to ask anymore...
I've been thinking about licencing as well, but haven't yet come up with a solution I'm happy with. Maybe dual or multilicencing could be useful ?

[smoth]

any author can do multiple licenses of their own content yes.

[BaNa]

Anyone may repackage my maps or distribute them or whatever (assuming anybody wants to of course, they dont seem to get much play), but if you change the content then rename them some totally-unrelated name that does not imply any connection to their current names.

[Pxtl]

Obviously making the source data available isn't an option much of the time, but at least a clear license with regards to modification (even if modification is barely possible) and redistribution is nice.

You know public-doman, cc:sa, whatever.

[Argh]

Obviously making the source data available isn't an option much of the time

I just saved a 8X8 map's main bitmap (iow, a 4096/4096, 49MB TIF) at 80% quality JPG, it came out to less than 7MB, or a ratio of 7:1 over TIF.

Most maps aren't larger than 24 / 16, so this really shouldn't be a major problem, I would think- just put the file up on one of the current Spring filehosts and voila. Ok, so that's impossible on dialup, but for even DSL users, it should work all right.

Yes, yes, I know, the format's lossy and all that, but 80% is really hard to tell from the TIF, with a typical set of noisy textures.

However, the main point I'd like to make is that the really valuable parts of an open-source map are the SMD and the small bitmaps- the heightmap, metalmap, etc. I mean... most people are going to want to repaint a remake anyhow, right?

[Frostregen]

I just saved a 8X8 map's main bitmap (iow, a 4096/4096, 49MB TIF) at 80% quality JPG, it came out to less than 7MB, or a ratio of 7:1 over TIF.

Hmm, inside a sm2 map the main bitmap is DXT1 compressed, which means a factor of 8:1. Are there any comparisons JPG<->DXT1 in terms of quality?

If the quality is ok, there would be no need to use source files at all.
(If the author is fine with it )

[BaNa]

Obviously making the source data available isn't an option much of the time, but at least a clear license with regards to modification (even if modification is barely possible) and redistribution is nice.

You know public-doman, cc:sa, whatever.

>_> I think i just said : do whatever you want, just change the whole name. I guess that's the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BSD/

That is fairly clear, no? I just don't want any more tabulav3's floating around that's all.

[Argh]

Hmm, inside a sm2 map the main bitmap is DXT1 compressed, which means a factor of 8:1. Are there any comparisons JPG<->DXT1 in terms of quality?

If the quality is ok, there would be no need to use source files at all.

Well, it depends on a lot of things, when we talk about "quality". After all, the map's going to have tiling artifacts, etc., which you won't see on the original. But, to be perfectly honest, unless whoever made the map did a really lousy job, it won't matter a whole lot, frankly. So if you have a strong desire to assemble the bitmap from the SM2 within your toolset, I personally think that's the way to go.