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Commander Genius with 100% legal content?

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 13:27
by maximogparisi
Hi! I was just wondering if the content on Commander Genius is 100% legal and free (since the sprites, sounds and maybe music are taken from the original copyrighted CK games).
If not, would it be possible to create something like what they did with FreeDoom and replace all the sprites and sounds with free ones?
Would they work with the mods too?

Thank you and I'm sorry if this was discussed before (couldn't find it in the forum). I'm kind of a noob with this.

Re: Commander Genius with 100% legal content?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 0:00
by jmfmagnum
as far as i know, they use stuff from the shareware versions

Re: Commander Genius with 100% legal content?

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 0:35
by K1n9_Duk3
Commander Genius doesn't actually provide any content - or at least not much. CG just reads the files of the original games and loads all the actual game content (sounds, music, levels, graphics) from those files and allows you to play the games via the gameplay routines of CG. It is kind of similar to ScummVM in that regard. The program is pretty much useless on its own if you don't have any of the games it supports (and run it on a system that isn't connected to the internet).

The list of additional downloads (the +MORE button) is another story. Technically, only Keen 1, Keen 4 and Keen Dreams were ever released as shareware. The shareware versions are the full game and you were allowed and even encouraged to share them with other people for free. The Keen 6 demo is just a demo, so nothing wrong with that either.

But literally everything else is dubious at best. The original shareware licenses only allowed the distribution of unmodified copies of the games. That means every single mod (i.e. all the other content CG allows you to download) is violating the original shareware licenses and therefore definitely not 100% legal.

Re: Commander Genius with 100% legal content?

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 2:15
by jmfmagnum
I see, also was a bit confused with the game creating new folders and copying from my steam version , wish cg could be configured to use the installation folder for the games

Re: Commander Genius with 100% legal content?

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 5:49
by gerstrong
jmfmagnum wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 2:15 I see, also was a bit confused with the game creating new folders and copying from my steam version , wish cg could be configured to use the installation folder for the games
Actually you can set your own directory if you modify the cgenius.cfg file under section [FileHandling].

Re: Commander Genius with 100% legal content?

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 5:54
by gerstrong
maximogparisi wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 13:27 Hi! I was just wondering if the content on Commander Genius is 100% legal and free (since the sprites, sounds and maybe music are taken from the original copyrighted CK games).
If not, would it be possible to create something like what they did with FreeDoom and replace all the sprites and sounds with free ones?
Would they work with the mods too?

Thank you and I'm sorry if this was discussed before (couldn't find it in the forum). I'm kind of a noob with this.
Actually I pretty much would prefer that. Having assets like Freedoom does for Keen would be awesome. I have seen a lot of fan graphics, sounds and music here which in my personal opinion beats original work (MHO). It would make CG get more independent from the IP. It is something that can happen and has potential to become a game by its own with the gameplay roots lying in Commander Keen.

So artists, let get together and create something the world has not seen yet. Maybe one day...

Re: Commander Genius with 100% legal content?

Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 15:30
by jmfmagnum
gerstrong wrote: Sun Apr 25, 2021 5:49
jmfmagnum wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 2:15 I see, also was a bit confused with the game creating new folders and copying from my steam version , wish cg could be configured to use the installation folder for the games
Actually you can set your own directory if you modify the cgenius.cfg file under section [FileHandling].
thanks, it says
SearchPath1 = ${HOME}/Commander Genius
wonder if accepts the whole "c:\game goes here\cgenius" path

Re: Commander Genius with 100% legal content?

Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 18:37
by gerstrong
Sure, you can add multiple paths or set something your own. ${HOME} is just a placeholder of the user's directory.