I know that I'm resurrecting this thread, but there's some things I'd like to share.
So, as I've not mentioned, or may have (I can't clearly remember), I have unlocked the game assets (the meshes, sounds and textures). A set of tools that were developed years ago to unlock these assets called Zeiban's Defiance Tools, have come in handy and I have shared the link to it on DIscord and the official Defiance Forums before they were closed down. In fact, during the last day I was able to play, I spammed the link in both the Defiance Forums and the Discord, an action I had never taken before, and got banned from both before they closed (and I am glad to, because I was being defiant to Gamigo, the way fans should be against a company that exploits their userbase as described in the video posted back in March 16, 2021). And, as a result of my sharing the link for the tools, others have unlocked the game files and have started to do a lot of awesome things. One user plans on getting a modder to recreate the Arkhunters of his friends for the game XCOM 2. Another has imported one of the weapons from Defiance, the Mass Blaster (with it's skins and the various ammo types from Defiance), into Payday 2 and plans on importing more into it (see video below) as they functioned in Defiance.
A couple of users have imported some items into GTA: San Andreas. One user I know have imported Nolan and Cooper from the game into GTA:SA as player models. Another user is actually working to
recreate the world of the MMO in GTA:SA, currently unsure if he'll do it with GTAV. I have tested on importing a couple of the vehicle models into Second Life (but discovered I wouldn't be able to adjust the skin to have the Hemi Orange color because the textures were designed in a way that allowed for multiple colors without having to render thousands of skins for the vehicle, using what I think is called Vertex Colors). I have toyed with maybe recreating the town of Defiance in SL, but I see a lot of drawbacks than I see positives (but I have also considered on making a temporary Defiance tribute in SL, which would be sort of like a museum talking about the development of the story, the game, the show and their eventual end, while using some of the game assets to show what it was like). But fans are doing something with the assets. And to me, having something of Defiance remain alive is better than not having any of it.
I have also looked through the meshes and found the original Golden Gate Bridge model, as seen in the
original teaser video, as well as seen in the end of Season 2's "Painted From Memory", which of course isn't like
the model of the bridge that was in the game. I've wondered if it's possible to 3D print the models, but realized a bulk of the texturing for them are through the use of textures. And I have considered on possibly importing some of the models into games like Lionhead's The Movies or maybe The Sims 3.
But, that's not the end. I heard a rumor that I am not sure is true or not. To be honest, hearing it makes me hopefully naïve, but part of me is hesitant to share it with some of the fans I have been in contact with out of fear of getting their hopes up and it turn out to be false. But, I'm going to share it here because I have no one else I can share it with and I know there are those here who are more hesitant to believe in rumors: I know a user on Second Life, a nice guy who is really good at computers. He has told me he knows a game preservationist has a copy of the Defiance source code as well as the server files. The guy who has it is in Brazil and got it from an ex-employee from Trion World who got fired. From what he's explained, the version of Defiance 2050 that the server files have is v1.7, as he notes that there are some HD skins. He also says the user states he has files for D2013 and D2050. Now, the thing is this: he says the guy is currently trying to work on preserving the Playstation 3 store before it goes offline, which is taking up a lot of time and that he might release the files within a year or two (from what's been explained, he's also holding off for a bit to see if another company is going to take the IP. He's had a run in with Nintendo a while ago and is trying to avoid another possible legal issue by waiting). I honestly cannot confirm if this is legit or not. But like I said, I am hopefully naive.
For me, I have copied all the assets, the install files for both D2013 and D2050, a lot of images (such as concept art and even some of the images I posted to the Defiance Paper Prop post) and any additional information I can find to a thumb drive I've dubbed The Defiance Archive. I don't know what will happen with the franchise since the show's been off the air for so long, or if another company will purchase the license of Defiance and resurrect the MMO as it was or maybe make a new game. But with the fandom still kicking a bit, I am hopeful that the fans will remain defiant to the end.
