IW4X Is Now Open Source

Yes, the title is not clickbait, the X Labs developers have stopped active development of IW4X and have open-sourced the code for their modded MW2 client. This might be the only time a CoD client was released by the developers before it was leaked. You might be wondering why this was done and what it means for the be IW4X community.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR IW4X?

For the most part, nothing will change. Don’t listen to the rumor its died. The IW4x client and servers will continue to function just as they always have. As long as the community continues to host servers, you will be able to play the game. IW4x relies on a node system for the servers and server list. There is no centralized master server the developers must maintain, so there is no need to be worried they will shut it off at some point or be taken down by a C&D order.

The major change is, you will not receive any more official updates in the future. The original development team is no longer working on it. IW4X version 0.6.0 is the last official update. There are still flaws and bugs that could have been fixed but the devs have decided to move on and spend their time elsewhere. Honestly, the game is 10 years old and some of the dev team have worked on IW4 clients since it’s release. I’m sure it can get a bit boring poking at the same game over and over. People move on. But, with the client code released, there are new opportunities. People move on, others move in.

COMMUNITY UPDATES ARE COMING TO IW4X

That’s right! With access to the source code, the community can submit their own updates and bug fixes which can then be incorporated into the client. Hopefully, this will result in the continued growth of the IW4X client and community. In fact, several changes have been made already and several more are being tested. Exciting things can still happen! More maps and game modes might be coming soon. The video below shows a ported Call of Duty Online map using a BR game mode being worked on currently by a modding group called MW2:R. The sky is the limit. While individuals have always been able to create mods, with access to the source code available, this will help mod developers further enhance their mods. Of course, the drawback is that this will also help out cheaters, but this can be counteracted with updates to the client and third-party tools such as IW4madmin.