Zoo Tycoon beta

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

Has anyone thought about the expiration of the copyright/patent? Those don't always last forever, so that the actual game 'innerds' would no longer be off limits, especially since Blue Fang no longer exists. Microsoft no longer supports the game and it isn't being pressed or distributed any more; can't help but wonder if we could possibly get permission to mess with it.

[Fern]

I was told this:

US Copyrights are for at least 70 years, and can go longer. US Trademarks have no expiration. It does not matter whether or not something is still supported or distributed, but CC is still supported, although limited, and still distributed.

[Eragon845]

Generally, prototypes of games are not really considered to be illegal to tamper with. I'd consider Zoo Tycoon to be "abandonware", which is a term given to software that is no longer supported/and/or their parent company no longer exists. There's entire websites, such as "Abandonia", devoted to distributing old games on DOS that are considered abandonware. It would be really exciting to see how our technical knowledge of how ZT works may expand as a result of this beta, and unless we dive into the files ourselves, we may never learn.

 

I was curious as to why certain files for the game are in compressed/zipped folders. Also, does this still use ".ztd" format for some of its files?

[Fern]

Problem is that Blue Fang many have created it but Microsoft own it and even Blue Fang are not allowed to do anything with it. Nor is it abandoned since you did not read this line

but CC is still supported, although limited, and still distributed.

[JohnT]

Problem is that Blue Fang many have created it but Microsoft own it and even Blue Fang are not allowed to do anything with it. Nor is it abandoned since you did not read this line

but CC is still supported, although limited, and still distributed.

 

I wouldn't mess with the programing at all. Just as you wouldn't mess with the ZT1 or CC version. As Fern said, and I'm sure Jay will confirm, you would have to get permission from MS to do this, and David doesn't give anything away for free!!! :413:

[Fern]

I asked and here is the answer:

I have also made bold a comment/warning he has made about running the beta and its possible effects on your official ZT and your registery

A beta is not the same thing as a prototype. But it does not matter because all works are copyrighted, including betas and prototypes. As pointed out, Zoo Tycoon is not abandoned. But even if it was, the copyright is still valid. Here are excerpts from the Wikipedia article on Abandonware:

 

"In most cases, software classed as abandonware is not in the public domain, as it has never had its original copyright revoked and some company or individual still owns exclusive rights. Therefore, sharing of such software is usually considered copyright infringement, though in practice copyright holders rarely enforce their abandonware copyrights.

...

It is still unlawful to distribute copies of old copyrighted software and games, with or without compensation, in any Berne Convention signatory country.

...

Even if the copyright is not defended, copying of such software is still unlawful in most jurisdictions when a copyright is still in effect.

...

US copyright law

 

Copyright law does not recognize the term or concept of "abandonware". There is a long held concept of abandonment in trademark law as a direct result of the infinite term of trademark protection. Currently, a copyright can be released into the public domain if the owner clearly does so in writing; however this formal process is not considered abandoning, but rather releasing. Those who do not own a copyright cannot merely claim the copyright abandoned and start using protected works without permission of the copyright holder, who could then seek legal remedy.

 

Hosting and distributing copyrighted software without permission is illegal. Copyright holders, sometimes through the Entertainment Software Association, send cease and desist letters, and some sites have shut down or removed infringing software as a result. However, most of the Association's efforts are devoted to new games, due to those titles possessing the greatest value."

 

For software betas in general, the people getting them often have to agree that they will not disclose things about it and that they will not use it after the official release. But sometimes for software betas, the companies will allow the people to talk about what they see, since that is a form of publicity that can encourage others to buy the released product. I do not know what the rules were for the Zoo Tycoon beta, but I suspect they allowed people to talk about the betas. And it is probably okay to convert beta objects into released ZT objects, since it was encouraged from the beginning (with the APE program) for owners of Zoo Tycoon to create other Zoo Tycoon things based on in-game things. But one should be careful about running the beta. By default, it logs activity and is configured to try to send the log over the internet. It might also change the Windows registry or the zoo.ini file of the officially released Zoo Tycoon, possibly causing problems in the officially released Zoo Tycoon.As for the question concerning the use of file compression, there are several reasons it is used. It allows more things to fit on a CD-ROM, which is how the game was originally released. It also uses less space on a person's computer. And since disk drives are slower than computer processors, it is usually faster for a program to read a compressed file and uncompress it than it is for a program to read an uncompressed file. So most large games today use file compression. They also use internal compression, as does ZT. ".ztd" files are actually just ".zip" files. The beta used ".zip" files. They were probably changed to ".ztd" files to reduce the chance of people accidentally unzipping the ".zip" files. I suspect that is something they learned the hard way with the beta.

 

- Jay

[(Admin)Savannahjan]

It's all very interesting and also frustrating. The beta is a great find though and I would also love to see whats different in the DD & MM versions. Due to the success of some of the Facebook games that are 2D, maybe it isn't a dead format and someday there might be interest in upgrading ZT once again.

[(Trustee)ZooGrammy]

I have already finished the stable and lean-to as scenery. Also the two trees that were changed before release. I have extracted the other things that were different and will work on them. Zoogrammy what would you like that compost building to be? I could just release it as scenery since it really is not as nice as the released version. I will configure the reptile house for something and maybe some of the others. The petting zoo has different textures for wall and roof but the released version is nicer.

 

I thought it could be a pig pen or something that is used on a farm.

[jbl89]

jbl89 aka Jeff returning from retirement, but only to share some information on the beta.

Not sure if this was mentioned somewhere, but the original ZT beta included different statues (available as a download at ZooTycoon.nl ).

ZT1 language files (DLL) also contains interesting bits about things which were left out or never made at all: "Monorail Station", "Train Station", "Gondola Station" (how cool would those have been?!).
There were definitely more items listed in the DLL-file. Anyone still interested should check that out.
An umbrella table was planned but I doubt it was made (however, I made a working one myself years ago), and a binocular stand was included but for some reason removed too.
=> http://zootekphoenix.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=53228 that download seems to list most stuff (search for ??? )

The beta version I got from Kazaa back then, also still had .zip instead of .ztd extensions.


No information to add about Dinosaur Digs.

An early version (alpha or beta) included different backgrounds for Marine Mania, this could be seen in promotional screenshots. Kind of weird they were still on the official site AFTER MM had been released.

 

• Guests standing up, some sitting down: I guess the show is over, but even if the marine specialist left, he's nowhere to be seen in the neighbourhood? How long has he been gone, he's not that fast (probably the specialist in the background. Also, something weird is going on with the tank in the background, near the platform Check the fencing. Not only does it look 'double', the second 'pilar' is also weird. :)
• Also notice how this show tank has no other tanks attached to it. Underground entrance?
• You'll also notice that plants could be placed in show tanks - which might have been better regarding certain suitability, but more difficult towards one show tank for multiple animals:

[Firehawke]

Great information! I really like the pic of the show tank with foliage. Wish they kept that in the game!