GitHub has blocked the repository of the RE3 project and 232 forks, including three private repositories, after a complaint from Take-Two Interactive, which owns the intellectual property related to the games GTA III and GTA Vice City. The block was executed under a notice of infringement according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the U.S. The RE3 code remains accessible on the GitHub mirror at archive.org. Access to the mirror on GitLab and the AUR repository has already been restricted.
Note that the re3 project has been working on reverse engineering the source code of the games GTA III and GTA Vice City, released about 20 years ago. The published code was ready for building a fully functional game, using files from the game resources that were suggested to be extracted from one's licensed copy of GTA III. The project to restore the code was launched in 2018 with the aim of fixing some bugs, expanding capabilities for mod developers, and conducting experiments to study and replace algorithms for simulating physical processes. The RE3 project has included porting to Linux, FreeBSD, and ARM systems, added OpenGL support, ensured audio output through OpenAL, added additional debugging tools, implemented a rotating camera, expanded XInput support, enhanced peripheral device support, provided scaling for widescreen displays, and included a map and additional options in the menu.
It is worth noting that the community is developing several open implementations of popular commercial games that require the use of game resource files from the original game. The key difference of these projects from the blocked RE3 is that RE3 was obtained as a result of reverse engineering executable files, whereas the projects listed below are developed as independent engine implementations, written from scratch.
- OpenAge — an open engine for the games Age of Empires, Age of Empires II (HD), and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds;
- OpenSAGE — an open engine for Command & Conquer: Generals;
- OpenMW — an open engine for the fantasy role-playing game The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind;
- OpenRA — an open engine for Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn, C&C Red Alert, and Dune 2000;
- OpenLoco — an open transport company simulator based on the game Locomotion;
- CorsixTH — an open engine for Theme Hospital;
- OpenRCT2 — an open engine for the strategy game RollerCoaster Tycoon 2.
Source: opennet.ru
