THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME

[Seiroxena.6350]

Hello everyone !

First things first, i want to start this thread saying how difficult it is for me to access forum services sometimesnot to mention having to type my password 3 or 4 times before succesfully signing-in.Otherwise everything seems to be pretty fine. (Mostly)

Now moving forward to the core of this thread.Most of you probably have noticed this little file which is only 555 Ko named "THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME".Let's be honnest i really do believe that 99% of the community has ever bothered reading though all of that junk of text but i did.I really do believe most of the stuff in here has nothing to deal with Guild Wars 2 or ArenaNet and the amount of Copyrights all around is just absurd.In case we do not have the same game files or game version i will post a link below with my version of the file attached so you can review it and express your thoughts.

• I really don't understand the purpose of writing a file and calling it "THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME" because all this serves purpose is to advertise third party softwares …

http://www.mediafire.com/file/okdea3r8zylys09/THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt/file

[Healix.5819]

They're required to include the copyright notices of the 3rd party software they use in the game.

[Seiroxena.6350]

@Healix.5819 said:They're required to include the copyright notices of the 3rd party software they use in the game.

Third party software literally means software that is used outside of the game itself.I don't know what you are trying to point out.

[Seera.5916]

Third party software is software not developed by ANet.

So if ANet used software developed by Such and Such Co., they have to give them credit for their product that's being used.

Otherwise Such and Such Co. can sue ANet claiming that ANet is trying to take credit for creating something that they did not.

It's basically like the Works Cited page of a paper.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

ArenaNet uses software that is not proprietary (third-party software) in creating the game. You can find posts where the Devs have stated this, as well as hear them talk about other software used on Guild Chat.

[Seiroxena.6350]

@"Seera.5916" said:Third party software is software not developed by ANet.

So if ANet used software developed by Such and Such Co., they have to give them credit for their product that's being used.

Otherwise Such and Such Co. can sue ANet claiming that ANet is trying to take credit for creating something that they did not.

It's basically like the Works Cited page of a paper.

There is no viable source of information saying that ANet is using said software from the "THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt"

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:ArenaNet uses software that is not proprietary (third-party software) in creating the game. You can find posts where the Devs have stated this, as well as hear them talk about other software used on Guild Chat.

This is so wrong, at the bottom of "THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt" you have all the copyrights from each software.Saying ANet uses software that is not proprietary is wrong even if the licence is outdated, it is still copyrighted software and once again,there is no viable source of information saying that it is officially what is ran by the game.

[Dante.1763]

@Seiroxena.6350 said:

@"Seera.5916" said:Third party software is software not developed by ANet.

So if ANet used software developed by Such and Such Co., they have to give them credit for their product that's being used.

Otherwise Such and Such Co. can sue ANet claiming that ANet is trying to take credit for creating something that they did not.

It's basically like the Works Cited page of a paper.

There is no viable source of information saying that ANet is using said software from the "THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt"

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:ArenaNet uses software that is not proprietary (third-party software) in creating the game. You can find posts where the Devs have stated this, as well as hear them talk about other software used on Guild Chat.

This is so wrong, at the bottom of "THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt" you have all the copyrights from each software.Saying ANet uses software that is not proprietary is wrong even if the licence is outdated, it is still copyrighted software and once again,there is no viable source of information saying that it is officially what is ran by the game.

Could be software used when the game was made, not -ran- by the game as its running, but all the stuff they used in the process of making the game. Also, theres no viable source saying they arent using that software, unless you have one which id like to see?

[Healix.5819]

@"Seiroxena.6350" said:There is no viable source of information saying that ANet is using said software from the "THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt"

What are you expecting, for them to talk about how each one is used? The file itself is confirmation and everything listed was at some point used by them, otherwise they wouldn't have added it to the list. Not all are currently being used however - they dropped Awesomium for CoherentUI for example, which is used to render websites within the game.

Here's the user agreement:

 

15. THIRD PARTY TECHNOLOGY

     

You acknowledge that (i) the Game may contain other software or components that are either owned by a third party or in the public domain, and (ii) ArenaNet has no proprietary interest in such software or components (collectively and each, the “Third Party Software”), and as such, cannot grant You a license to use such Third-Party Software. A listing of any such Third Party Software (if applicable) is made available to You in the Documentation, the “Read Me” files for each component of Third Party Software, and is set forth in the THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt file located in the installation directory of the Game, and is available upon written request from ArenaNet. Your rights in any such Third-Party Software are governed by and subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the applicable third-party licenses set forth in the Documentation, the “Read Me” files for each component of Third-Party Software, and in the THIRDPARTYSOFTWAREREADME.txt file located in the installation directory of the Game. By installing or using any such Third-Party Software, You acknowledge and agree to fully comply with such terms and conditions.

...

 

[maddoctor.2738]

@"Seiroxena.6350" said:there is no viable source of information saying that it is officially what is ran by the game.

Video games require third party tools/libraries to work. It's usually cheaper and more cost effective (especially if it's open source) to use libraries created by a third party instead of re-inventing the wheel with whatever you want to do.As for viable source information, I know of a few:The game uses the FMOD library to play Audio (search for FMOD in the license file) and this is verified by the developers multiple times AND the wiki when discussing custom soundtracks:https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Customized_soundtrackThe game can play what FMOD supports, because it's using that library.

Second, the game uses Awesomium which is a tool that allows a web-browser to play inside a video game. This is used by the Trading Post and is very easy to verify that the game uses it, go to Task Manager with the TP open and you will find a process called Awesomium.dll running in the background.

Third, the game uses Coherent UI for the UI, that is easy to verify too if you are a Mac owner as Coherent UI doesn't have a 64-bit version so it doesn't run on latest Mac that don't support 32-bit software. The game is 64-bit but the UI library is not.

Fourth, obviously the game servers run on actual server software, not developed by Arenanet, and in this case it's Apachee one of the more common pieces of software for servers.

It's rather safe to assume that all the others are being used in some capacity by the game, or had been used during development.Saying that there is no viable information is false because it's rather clear that some of the third party plugins/libraries are in reality being used by the game. Others are not as transparent.

Edit: Thanks @Healix.5819 for reminding me that they ditched Awesomium and use Coherent UI for the TP and not the entire UI. But anyway point is, Awesomium used to be part of the game and was very clearly visible. Coherent UI is very visible now, there is even a file called CoherentUI.dll inside the game's bin folder...

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

You think ArenaNet created Maya or Mesa? Or any of the other art-creating software they use? How about Chromium? Netscape?Surely, you've heard/read that Guild Wars 2 uses Havoc? Coherent? Umbra?

For pete's sake, it's just standard business practice.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Wars_2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_Wars_2

Sources.