Rise of the Triad Shareware Deluxe Edition: Legal Status?

[MrFlibble]

I was wondering, since the Deluxe Edition had been discontinued and the actual levels were released for free, would online distribution of this version in its entirety still count as copyright infringement? BTW, does LaserSoft Inc. even still exist?

[jbailey]

I'm not completely sure, but as far as I know laser soft is long gone, joe
siegler would be the one to ask about legal stuff.

[Joe Siegler]

I suspect someone somewhere owns legal rights to the LaserSoft stuff. Just because the company doesn't exist doesn't mean SOMEONE owns the rights somewhere.

Honestly though, the only reason that existed was the extra levels in the package, which have been out for bloody ages. The box itself had some Rise of the Triad POGS, but that's not the kind of thing that you can "release" online, since it's a physical item.

[MrFlibble]

Well, the reasoning is that while the new content is both limited and available elsewhere as an add-on, the files of this edition themselves are of historical interest and value, even without their physical media.

For example, RGB Classic Games aims to collect all existing releases of old games, but will not put up anything online that is not eligible for free legal distribution.

[MrFlibble]

I've just realized that the Lasersoft level pack from the site can actually be used with the shareware version as well (I was confused about this because it's listed with the files that only work with the registered version).

From the readme:

All 6 levels were designed by Tom Hall, and you can use these either on your registered Rise of the Triad game, or on the shareware edition. Instructions on how to load these levels are shown below. The other levels in these level packs are the existing shareware levels - these extras are in addition to the shareware levels that are already in your game.

<...>

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SHAREWARE VERSION
----------------------------------

1) Copy the two level files (huntbgn2.rtl & huntbgn2.rtc) to your Rise of the Triad game directory.
2) Rename the original shareware level files (huntbgin.rtl & huntbgin.rtc) to something else (it doesn't matter what).
3) Rename the new file huntbgn2.rtl to huntbgin.rtl
4) Rename the new file huntbgn2.rtc to huntbgin.rtc
5) Run the game as normal.
6) These new files contain all the same levels that are in your original ROTT shareware levels, plus the new ones.
6) Your original files are not needed, but should be kept as backups in case you run into problems.