What exactly can we do with the source code...

dwmitch · Post by **dwmitch** » Tue May 08, 2007 3:28 am

Unable to find a suitable exporter for Blender or alter the render states of the scene nodes in Irrlicht (if it's possible I'd like to know, but I haven't seen anything in the source code, documentation, or the include files) I've decided to change to Direct 3D 8. This will allow me to do multitexturing with only one set of UV coordinates, which was really the only thing I don't like about Irrlicht.

My question is, does the engine have to be used as a whole or can it be dissected as long as we don't distribute the engine containing the components or misrepresent where those components came from?

In other words, would it be acceptable to just use DirectX functions for rendering, use Irrlicht's Octree implementation, just keep the entire setup in-house (i.e. if I make an engine of my own just keep it on my system), and credit the Irrlicht development team in the game produced with the setup?

sudi · Post by **sudi** » Tue May 08, 2007 9:44 am

http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/license.html

dwmitch · Post by **dwmitch** » Tue May 08, 2007 10:09 pm

That covers alterations to the engine as a whole, but it doesn't say anything about isolating components for use in a different setup, such as using strictly the DX SDK with one component pulled out of the Irrlicht source code.

The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.

Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.

This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.

Note that I do not plan on distributing anything, but as long as I make it clear that some of the work (specifically the octree algorithm) was done by the Irrlicht development team would there be a problem? I've already googled octree and BSP (and even found one or two that I didn't know of until now that sound interesting), but really the only working example of octree generation I could find is in Irrlicht itself.

hybrid · Post by **hybrid** » Tue May 08, 2007 11:02 pm

You can remove parts or just use some algorithms from Irrlicht. Just keep a reference to the original and clearly state that you use a modified Irrlicht version.

sio2 · Post by **sio2** » Wed May 09, 2007 9:56 am

You've raised two issues:

1. OctTree (or Octree)
Don't mistake this for a PVS solution. Keep in mind that worse-case scenario is that the whole tree is rendered. A large wall in front of you will not occlude anything behind it without some additional PVS/occlusion calculation. If you need indoor rendering with PVS you'd probably be better off using the vis information in Quake3 levels.

2. License
One of Irrlicht's best features, IMO. You can alter the source for your needs without having to make your changes publicly available. For commercial games and stuff this is extremely useful - a publisher is surely going to be happier knowing that a portion of your code doesn't have to be released publicly. You could even statically link Irrlicht into your app because of the great licensing terms and not be forced to distribute your entire source code (as with GPL and LGPL).

Just my $0.02...