Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Binary

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Mgalekgolo
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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Mgalekgolo » Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:08 pm

Nil.
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dirk

Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by dirk » Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:52 am

nil wrote:Not going to happen, they're not allowed to give source code out, and it seems ridiculous for them to anyway.

You could ask them to just upgrade and release the Halo Demo to UB [and show them our efforts], but I doubt that they would want to do that (no real gain). It's better than source code request though. A better request actually is asking for the full version to be released on Mac App Store at a low cost - they should do it, makes little sense for them not to (but then they'd have to fix bugs with newer hardware).
Infact, Macsoft cannot push an update without bungie giving the go ahead. Bungie cannot give an update without microsoft's approval. Macsoft does not own the code base anymore, at least not when I spoke with them about two years back about updating the shaders.

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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Sparky » Wed Jan 04, 2012 12:59 pm

So I need to contact Microsoft Game Studios, Bungie and Macsoft in the same e-mail.
Sounds like a plan.

Monoman and I will handle this.
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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Mgalekgolo » Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:21 pm

Mono's in this too?
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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Sparky » Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:54 pm

Letter sent to Destineer Studios and CC:'ed to an (probably old) email I found for Jason Jones who is one of the main contacts at Bungie, a generic Microsoft support email, and a generic Bungie support email:
Dear MacSoft:

Since January 2006, the online community members of Mac Gaming Mods (http://www.macgamingmods.com) have enjoyed creating mods and modding applications for Halo and Halo Demo for Mac. MGM members have had many thousands of discussions about this game on their forum and have released many hundreds of modifications based upon Halo Demo's only multiplayer map, Bloodgulch. They even created a wiki to publish the majority of their content as a separate web site called Halo Demo Mods (http://www.halodemomods.com), where mod authors could find everything they needed to learn how to expand the playability of the original Halo game according to their own creativity and the creative works of other Halo modding community members.

Recently, we at MGM and HDM have endeavored to expand the playability of the original Halo game through making it accessible to those using the latest computer hardware and software. The demo and full commercial versions of Halo 1 for Mac were originally released for PowerPC systems. Thereafter, MacSoft painstakingly rebuilt Halo's full version application for Intel processors as a Universal Binary, and we are very appreciative of this work. Since then, we have noticed the need and demand for a demo version of Halo that would also be built for Intel processors as a Universal Binary.

Our modding community formed a few projects exploring methods for how we might create a demo version of Halo in the same spirit as the original Halo Demo application built for PowerPC. Despite our enthusiasm and talents, our attempts at making our own demo version for Intel do not give justice to the finesse of Apple design standards nor credit the artistic workmanship of Halo's game engine. Furthermore, we strongly believe in remaining true to the values of the game's software license agreement; in several ways, we have led our members through values of remaining legitimate ideologists in order to stand apart from software piracy. Along these lines, we prohibit our fellow enthusiastic modders from publishing content only available in the commercial version of Halo, so that those who have not purchased the game remain unable to experience the game as it was published. Despite being limited to the assets provided by the free demo version of Halo 1, we persist in creativity, inspired by this game engine, and we hope to be able to pursue many of our exciting ideas for this game into the future.

On behalf of the Halo modding communities, we would like to discuss with you the creation of an official Halo Demo Universal Binary for Mac.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
<real name here>, owner, HaloDemoMods.com
sparky@halodemomods.com
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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Modzy » Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:16 pm

You have a way better chance of getting them to sell the UB again than make a demo UB.

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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Smythe » Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:29 am

Sparky wrote:Letter sent to Destineer Studios and CC:'ed to an (probably old) email I found for Jason Jones who is one of the main contacts at Bungie, a generic Microsoft support email, and a generic Bungie support email:
Jason Jones?
I thought he left bungie a while ago o.o
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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Dirk Gently » Fri Jan 06, 2012 8:53 am

Jason isn't the main contact. Roger Wolfson is the one that has updated Halo PC in recent years. He is why we have the 2.0.4 update.

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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Sparky » Sat Jan 07, 2012 2:40 am

Reply from Microsoft:
Microsoft wrote:Hello <name>,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Customer Service.

As a Customer Service Representative, I am here to assist you in finding the right place to get help with your questions and provide resources to resolve your concern.
I understand you would like to discuss with Microsoft the creation of an Official Halo Demo Universal Binary for Mac. Rest assured that I will provide appropriate information you need.

<name>, please be guided that while Microsoft does accept suggestions for existing products and services, we do not accept suggestions for new products, technologies, processes. We hope that you will understand our intention to avoid any potential misunderstandings or disputes that may arise from submissions of information not related to current Microsoft products. Thus, we are returning your information without review.

Information on Microsoft's unsolicited submission policy can be found on the following Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.mspx#EVE

Microsoft does value your feedback. We would like to encourage you to continue to send us suggestions on the products and services that you use today.

I hope the above information is helpful. Should you have other customer service concerns, please feel free to email us again.

Thank you,

Jeane
Microsoft Customer Service Representative .. Say hello to the new Windows Phone 7

If you have any feedback about your Online Customer Service experience, please send it to my manager, Shyeanne, by clicking the link below. Please be sure to include the name of my manager in the subject field.
I wonder if I should even pursue contact with Microsoft or if I should just try contacting Roger Wolfson. Oh, and the Jason Jones email address returned as an invalid e-mail address, so he most likely got nothing.
Modzy wrote:You have a way better chance of getting them to sell the UB again than make a demo UB.
Please elaborate upon this point, I don't quite understand what you mean.
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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Modzy » Sat Jan 07, 2012 4:04 am

There's just a much better chance of them selling Halo Mac UB as a whole. I believe the app store was said earlier in the topic.

spark too lazy

Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by spark too lazy » Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:27 am

You mean selling rights to the UB or having them make it available for purchase again as an end-user license? I thought the game was still available from the Destineer web site.

If you mean having us buy all rights to the game, well I guess that doesn't make much sense since first we have little money and second Microsoft would still own rights to the game so we couldn't do anything with it like we want to do anyway.

So I guess you mean that right now, MacSoft/Destineer are no longer selling the UB as a $5 or $10 download, but that Halo 1 Mac is a lost cause in general, even this UB version since it's no longer available. But like I was saying, I thought you could buy it from MacSoft/Destineer for $5 or $10 if you include your Halo PPC serial number on the download form.

So... you want us to try to get them to sell it to people who did not buy the PPC version, am I right?

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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Modzy » Sat Jan 07, 2012 11:36 am

I mean they would sell the game again. New CD keys would have to be generated. I'm not sure if the $5 UB is still available, even then you'd still need a valid CD key.

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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Sparky » Sat Jan 07, 2012 12:14 pm

I'm contacting Mr. Wolfson and inviting him to participate in our discussions here. I estimate that he receives an abundance of e-mail at his published address, so I don't expect a quick reply.

Edit: I used his contact information from this web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~rogerw7979/

Edit 2: I called Jason Jones "John" because of his email which contains "jon"... lolmuch.
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nil
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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by nil » Sat Jan 07, 2012 1:17 pm

*Dirk says that Macsoft needs Bungie's approval which needs Microsoft's approval to do 'anything'. With this kind of chain, it is unlikely anything major will happen at all.
*With the point above, it is ridiculous to even ponder about source code.
*The whole point of a Demo is to sell more copies of the actual game. Thus continuing on supporting a Demo here makes no sense.
*It is very unlikely they will generate new CD keys (especially with a cutoff date with Halo Reach award 'n all).
*So, they could, if allowed and given the effort, possibly create a version on the Mac App Store that is only available to Mac users only with no serial keys (sort of like Halo Demo). But it's still unlikely.
I am no longer active to Halo or MGM, and don't guarantee a response on the forums or through email. I will however linger around the discord room for general chatting. It's been fun!

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Re: Letter requesting source code of the Halo Universal Bina

Post by Sparky » Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:47 pm

Far be it from us to not try the obvious first.
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