Abuse not working properly

[jascat]

I have downloaded Abuse & use Dosbox to get it to work on windows 7.
The game works great up to a point. It then stops & the screen shows a large mutant head, with the message "to be continued".
I have tried various download sites, but always end up getting the same message, at the same point in the game. It's a real pain getting to that point, just to get that message each time.
I have tried freeware & a number of other sites without luck.
Does anyone know where or how, I can download a version that fully works?

[Rwolf]

I read that the released free version does not contain all the levels from the registered version.
Not sure if these can be had from GOG or other similar websites.
There is a level editor built-in, so you can make your own I guess.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/abuse

A linux port from the released source, with some links are here: http://abuse.zoy.org/
(again, not sure if any more levels are available in those)

[Quadko]

All levels and artwork are now part of the Abuse source. It is a merge of abuse-lib, the original shareware version of the game (released into the public domain except for the sound effects), abuse-frabs, the result of a community effort to create free Abuse levels, abuse-data, a full registered game dataset and abuse-mac, the Mac version developed by Bungie.

Licensing terms for the data are still unclear but are being sorted out. Jonathan Clark and Dave Taylor, the original Abuse authors, allowed the full dataset to be freely redistributed with Abuse-SDL. Same with Bobby Prince, the sound samples author. However Bobby did not allow modification of the samples.

It is possible to build a tarball stripped out of its known non-free data. See the PACKAGERS file in the source distribution for more information. A stripped down source tarball is available here:

* So, you might have all the levels, and that just teases for a (non-existent) sequel.
* Or you might need to find the abuse-data or abuse-SDL download, apparently legally containing all original levels.
* Or maybe you'd have fun with the fan levels!

(I don't know about that site, so I didn't link it. Google is your friend tracking down the above quote if you want to find it.)

[MrFlibble]

AFAIK the original DOS version wasn't released as freeware, so the only legally available DOS releases are all shareware (not all levels included). The source ports on the other hand should contain all levels, and there seems to be a functional Win32 port out there (haven't checked out myself though):
http://www.moddb.com/games/abuse/downlo ... or-windows
http://www.indiedb.com/games/abuse/down ... or-windows
http://sourceforge.net/projects/abuse2/

[Quadko]

I guess it's just a theoretical question, but if the level data was released as freeware, and it works in the dos version... wouldn't it be legal to use the free "full" data in the shareware version? I have no idea if it actually works, of course, but in theory! Alternately, take the the released sources, compile them for dos... free legal dos version? What possible legitimate legal objections do you foresee?

[MrFlibble]

I guess it's just a theoretical question, but if the level data was released as freeware, and it works in the dos version... wouldn't it be legal to use the free "full" data in the shareware version?

I think that it pretty much depends on how game data works in the game. If you just swap the shareware data file and the registered data file and everything works fine, then it's okay I guess. However, if you need to hack the shareware EXE to make it accept the registered levels then technically it's still illegal.

Alternately, take the the released sources, compile them for dos... free legal dos version? What possible legitimate legal objections do you foresee?

That would be the ideal solution except no one is probably going to be bothered to compile a DOS port when it's possible to run the game natively on modern systems.

One more thing though, is that the freeware status of the game might not be as simple as it seems. Wikipedia states that only the shareware game data (with the exception of sound effects) was released alongside the source code into public domain. Here's what the original announcement at the developer's website (Wayback Machine copy) says:

Is Abuse Public Domain?

The source code, artwork, and shareware levels (1-4) are public domain. This means you are free to copy, sell, or modify it with no restrictions. To get this point across you can do the following:

1. You can write a book about games and include the data on CD with the book. Some people have done this already.
2. You can put the data on a FTP or web site without asking permission to do so. People have done this many times as well.
3. You can make your own game based off of the Abuse source and artwork and sell it as your own. As noted below you can’t call the game Abuse or Abuse 2 because the name is trademarked.

Data that is not public domain:

1. The sound effects in Abuse are owned by Bobby Prince (contact http://bpmusic.com). Since we do not own them we cannot make them public domain, but you should not have a problem using them in most cases. Besides they are 8bit 11khz, games these days are expected to have higher quality.
2. The levels with commercial Abuse (4+) are not public domain. We did not make them public domain because some stores are still selling the game.

[Edit] Here's a snippet with updated information, from the Abuse-SDL website:

Licensing terms for the data are still unclear but are being sorted out. Jonathan Clark and Dave Taylor, the original Abuse authors, allowed the full dataset to be freely redistributed with Abuse-SDL. Same with Bobby Prince, the sound samples author. However Bobby did not allow modification of the samples.

However, no official license texts are to be found either on that website or inside the latest release tarball.

[jascat]

Eventually found the solution. It is on the site.

http://www.dosgames.com/forum/viewtopic ... ight=abuse

Dogbreath (admin) posted a link that allows a fully working version ( at least I am well past the point I had problems with).
It is a great game to play.
Thanks to all who replied to my problem.

[Quadko]

Glad you got it sorted, jascat!

MrFibble, looks like we are on the same page. That's the same paragraph I found quoted in the abuse wiki. Thanks for talking through it.

And bad laws are still laws, but the law that makes hacking an exe that you have the PD source code for is a bad law. It's like they were so afraid of unmaned drones that they passed a law to control them only to later realize they'd worded it so it also outlawed commercial aircraft. Crazy.

[MrFlibble]

Eventually found the solution. It is on the site.

http://www.dosgames.com/forum/viewtopic ... ight=abuse

Dogbreath (admin) posted a link that allows a fully working version ( at least I am well past the point I had problems with).

Hmm, I didn't realise we've got fRaBs on the site - I thought it was no longer available except from the Wayback Machine copy of the project's homepage. It's not the registered version of Abuse, it's a free, open source project that supplements new third-party levels and enemies:

What is fRaBs?

fRaBs is just a silly acronym for 'Free Abuse'. It has the network support of the registered version,
but also comes equipped with many new single player and deathmatch levels, as well as additional
enemies and artwork, all coming from outside, free sources. A list of updates and modifications can
be found in the updates section. As far as I know, there is no material in this archive that is not
public domain. I sure hope that the acronym is justified. :-)

In fact, it's a DOS version compiled from the source, just as we discussed above

[jascat]

As I progress through the game, it is getting really challenging, much more so than the old version I used to play. There is much more to it than before.
This could take some time to progress.
Then if it was easy, it would not be interesting.

[dosraider]

Of course there always is ....

Gotta love them Linux adepts, BTW, they included improved sounds/SFX as addon.
Running here on Ubuntu 13.10.

Don't mind the small game screensize, just too lazy to alter for one shot ...