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Jedi Academy turned 20 this year! We celebrated in a ton of different ways: mod contest, server event, podcast, etc. Thank you to all who have been a part of this game for the last two decades. Check out the anniversary content!

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This community is dedicated to the games Star Wars: Jedi Outcast (2002) and Jedi Academy (2003). We host over 3,000 mods created by passionate fans around the world, and thousands of threads of people showcasing their works in progress and asking for assistance. From mods to art to troubleshooting help, we probably have it. If we don't, request or contribute!

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This game turned 20 years old this year, and it is still one of the greatest Star Wars games of all time. If you're new or returning from a long hiatus, here are the basics of getting started with Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy in 2023.

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Source Code Release: One Year Later


 

The release was not without problems, however. Initially, it was discovered that the two .zip files I received (josource.zip and jkasource.zip) were not actually labelled correctly; the JK2 source code was actually the XBOX code for JK2. The subject of the XBOX code sparked controversy, as there were proprietary libraries from RAD Game Tools and Microsoft which were included in the code. Technically speaking, the libraries were pay-to-use, so this could be considered software piracy to some degree. In addition, the code was not intended for modern compilers, so it took a few days of editing to get a compilable version of the code. Due to this, Raven Software unfortunately pulled the source code, and the people involved have been in hot water ever since.

 

The coders split up, each of us working to get a section of the game compiling and working. Singleplayer and multiplayer were completed at roughly the same time. In the meantime, Raz0r had begun work on assembling a common project for all of JK - titled OpenJK. Originally, there was some discussion with the ioquake3 team to build an iojamp or iojk. Some conflicts and ideological issues arose between the ioquake3 project head and our coders, and OpenJK became the more predominant project. In a year's time, many of the exploits and bugs which plagued the original game were fixed, and new features, such as a modular renderer system, were added. While a first release has yet to see fruition, the project is still going strong, and code is being committed on a daily basis. 

 

Many projects also went opensource with the release of the source code. Most notably, Jedi Knight Galaxies went completely opensource, allowing others to contribute on both assets and code. The codebase was retooled from the ground-up to work with OpenJK, and it still remains in active development. Also, several other notable mods became public, including compJA and JA++. @ent's mod, jaMME, gave a whole new dimension to video creators. OpenJK is also being considered by the Moviebattles team.

 

I have asked the coders about what they remember thinking about and doing when the code first came out:

 

 

 ZTM: "The Jedi Academy GPL release appears to be the Xbox port."

 

 

 ensiform: what ZTM said.

 

 

 Scooper: well, I had just arrived the next day and there were tons of people in IRC

 

 

 RMS: This GPL soup has proprietary products. I specifically ordered free.

 

 

Xycaleth: i remember Rich Whitehouse coming on to the channel and saying that he would make the game run with 300 reborn onscreen. I just laughed and laughed. 

 

 

Raz0r: ensiform and eezstreet were talking about the SP source probably getting released. As I recall, eez was like "OMFG, THEY GAVE ME THE SOURCE," and ensiform was like "what. no way. is it full source?" After a few minutes, eez said "yes!!!" and gave us a link. 

 

 

spior: I remember [the #JACoders IRC channel] being packed as all hell the day afterwards. there was tons of commotion.

 

 

deepy: It was a truly exciting moment, it was better than sneezing

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking about the future, contributors had this to say:

 

 

ensiform: About the same as with Q3. Let's fix the fucking bugs.

 

 

 ent: I wasn't thinking about future at all, but I was happy that I could make the mod which I wanted. and the source releease is a cause. my thoughts are that now more people can make cooler vids :D

 

 

 deepy: I feel a bright future ahead, the source release has enabled some truly great people to continue perfecting JKA

 

 

 

The following infographic lays out the statistics of the project as a whole. I was hoping we could have some more of these in the future. :)

 

Click here to download as .PNG

 

 

What do you think about the source release? Do you think it has helped or hurt the community as a whole? Let us know how you think in the comments.


By eezstreet, in Community News,





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This release definitely ushered in a new age

I am one for Open-Source community efforts, especially for things like this as it does drive it forward and often add a new dimension to applications that were considered "fruitless".

 

I would like to personally Thank OpenJK and the people who work hard at it. Their efforts do not go to waste and I bet if there was a stat that could track number of people running OpenJK and users who play JKA, it would have definitely increased!!!

 

Muchos Gracios from me and EFF!

Morabis likes this
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Such an old game, I still can't believe the source was ever released, I look forward to seeing the future of this game, the various fixes and rend-2. I am still to much of a novice to even understand programming or how to even get openjk.Is their a version available?

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Well multiplayer works but my computer blue screened 2 minutes after I closed it.Any clues Eezstreet?

I haven't touched it in a while. Best to discuss it in the OpenJK mod forum. ;)

Mandalorian likes this
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aw yiss I'm famous

 

I'll have to admit, the source code being released kinda killed part of my imagination as everything was just so easy now.

But it also let me do some stuff I never thought possible so there's that :P

therfiles and eezstreet like this
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I love the idea of OpenJK, but I have a question...

There's two sites that I know of;

 

https://github.com/JACoders/OpenJK

http://builds.openjk.org/

 

Now, the first one, when downloaded, gives me a OpenJK-master folder, with a bunch of stuff in it. Do I simply put that into my Gamedata, or do I put everything that's inside that folder into my Gamedata?

Then, the second link.. gives me a couple files, and a folder "OpenJK" with a .pk3 in it.. are they completely seperate or what? Not really sure how exactly I'm supposed to go about installing this...

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The first link is only the source code for developers.

The second link provides the files needed to run it (client executable, server executable, gamecode in OpenJK folder).

 

Extract it to GameData and run the client executable.

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Extract it to GameData and run the client executable.

 

Okay, so I take it OpenJK doesn't run side-by-side with something like JA+ then?

As I have my Steam setup to auto-start in JA+.. thought OpenJK ran along with it to help fix some things like that error with the config files.

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OpenJK replaces the JKA exe. Mods don't make any difference. The pk3 you see is if you wanted to use OpenJK's "base" mod.

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Hi, guys, maybe here I will get the answer... What happened with irc channel #jacoders on aloria? Is there any substitute channel or chat to join?

Also, why linux binaries of OpenJK have been removed from the sites?

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irc.arloria.net/#JACoders still exists.

I don't think the linux buildbots are uploading their files, but they're still running. I think it was an issue with 32 bit binaries being named weird so it was disabled.

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Yay.  More reminders about this significant historical event is always great!  Hopefully it'll draw in more coders.

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One day I will return to this vintage game to contribute again...but man it is a whole decade already...and we JUST got the source code a year ago. I hope some coders return.

Circa likes this
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