Question about porting resources

[Helixien]

@DrakeTheDragon:

 

Oke, just asking, what is the problem with screenshots? Just asking because I have an screenshot with an Umbra camo in my Huntsman mod. Should I take it down? If yes, I will do so.

And the MERP thing sucks. Looked so good!

 

@DrakeTheDragon and DrNewcenstein: In case of the N7 Armor for Skyrim(its on the Steam Workshop and since it does not really look like the Mass Effect version, I will add a link.) would something like that be alloweded or not?

[DrakeTheDragon]

I'm refering to this line in the ToS:

 

 

Images showing private mods and mods from other sites
As a rule of thumb images showing content from mods not hosted on a Nexus site, including unreleased private mods or mods obtained from sites other than Nexus, that would not be permissible on the Nexus file servers may not be uploaded to public and supporters' image share. If you create a private mod for your own enjoyment using content from other modders without permission then do not upload images of that mod. Simply put; if any mods shown in your image could not be hosted on the Nexus because of our rules then do not upload the image to our Image Share.

It's about showing illegal or stolen content (ripping a mesh/texture/sound from a game to use it in another is stealing from its original creators, if not expressly permitted) in an image is like advertising or advocating the act of stealing it. And what will you do when asked about where it's from? Talk about how you stole it here in the Nexus comments or through the Nexus PM system? That you can only share it privately due to the rules, but in doing so involving the Nexus in your sharing? Yeah, no, better let's not go down that route.

 

As for that N7 armor thingy, it really doesn't look like any port from Mass Effect to me, rather like some modified Blades armor or something like that. But I know neither the game Mass Effect nor the actual looks of a Skyrim Blades armor well enough to judge here. However, this is a perfect opportunity to further evaluate what DrNewcenstein was talking about. The item itself 'to me' looks to be in the clear here, but I can see the creators from Mass Effect having some issue with the blatant use of their likely-trademarked N7 logo on the armor or even naming it after their's. That's where their lawyers could come in, if they ever will. Remove the logo or add your own, rename the armor to something not ME-related you came up with, and they will likely never even look. Think you get the idea.

[Maylle]

And now a potentially stupid question from the unexperienced fellow that I am:

Legally speaking, where exactly lies the problem in, say, taking resources from Oblivion and using them for Skyrim - and I'm not talking about anything special like whoe quests or stuff like that, but, idk for instance furniture, building parts, things like that, taken from a game that is now what, nine years old? There's no profit they might lose from that whatsoever, is there? Plus the fact that Oblivion is and has always been completely opened to the modding community, meaning we have the permission to mod that game as well. But when we start porting resources between two games within the same franchise, suddenly we might get in trouble? Where's the logical explanation for that?

 

Not meaning to provoke anyone here, rules are rules after all - just me being curious :smile:

Edited April 8, 2014 by Maylle

[Helixien]

I think, personally, that Bethesda don't want people to have assets from Oblivion, when they only have Skyrim.Only because a movie is old, doesn't mean I'm allowed to pirate it (if you do its your problem), but you can't say, eh, the movie is so and so many years old, no one would have bought it anyway.

Bethesda made these assets extra for Oblivion, not Skyrim. As long as you own both games, I think they wouldn't even have a problem (Like Skyoblivion or Skywind?), but since most people don't, you would just copy things out of a game and give them to people for free. You could pirate the game itself too then, would be nearly the same.

I would wish Bethesda would allowed it! Dont they think about how happy the modding community would be? And TES lives from it's modding community. We are, I guess, the biggest modding community after Minecraft.

 

@DrakeTheDragon: I see, I see. Oke, thanks.

[Kraeten]

I would wish Bethesda would allowed it! Dont they think about how happy the modding community would be? And TES lives from it's modding community. We are, I guess, the biggest modding community after Minecraft.

 

@DrakeTheDragon: I see, I see. Oke, thanks.

 

Yeah, I wish so too. Bioware lets people port assets from Dragon age 2 into Origins, and vice versa...and you don't hear them screaming about lost revinue. It's rather strange imo that Bethesda is so stingy about this sort of thing.

[DrakeTheDragon]

To avoid any legal trouble for the Nexus let me make this expressly clear once more. Unless specifically telling so all I'm writing is not the Nexus staff's point of view but my own personal opinion.

I'm talking far too much legaleze now, so let it be known once more, this is not an official Nexus staff statement nor does it represent their official point of view on the matter!

 

It's a licensing issue, as far as we (modders that is, I wasn't staff back then) were told by Beth officials in the past. Those assets aren't all Bethesda's property to begin with. They were created for them by 3rd parties and are expressly licensed to be used 'only' in Oblivion.

Bethesda allowing them to be used in a different game of their's would be seen as a violation of the license terms and could have massive financial backlash towards Bethesda before court, not to forget said 3rd party will never work for Bethesda again in the future either. You wanna miss out on the highest quality models in the next game, only because Bethesda messed with their designers over license terms for modding in the past?

 

Now, we know it's clearly not all assets in Oblivion (or any other Beth game) 'not' property of Bethesda, but then again they didn't really feel like adding a couple thousand lines of permissions and non-permissions into their manuals either, only so modders know which ones are free to use in any game and which ones not, and instead just prefered to give a blanket 'no for all'.

 

If this is logical enough an explanation for you or not, is up for anybody to decide for themselves. It's what Bethesda told us about it.

 

But it doesn't really matter anyways. If the assets aren't licensed 3rd party creations, Bethesda's the owner, Bethesda's the rights holder, Bethesda's the provider of the tools we use to create mods, and Bethesda's the owner of the games we're modding, they make the rules and the terms for modding and use of game assets, and they said 'no'. The point can't really be argued, and will only end up before court, if tried.

 

Link to staff's official topic about porting/reusing of different games' assets

 

As for those projects which should not be named, as much as they state they 'recreated' every asset from scratch by now, they still say they require you to have 'both' games installed. What's the reason for that? If they require the game they're trying to recreate in order for their recreation to work, they must still be using some of its files, thus they're still in violation of Bethesda's terms, thus they're still looked down on by Bethesda's legal department. Until this is gotten rid of, and no original game files whatsoever are required anymore, I just don't see them become legal anytime soon.

 

Other, legal, recreations of old game content don't require you to possess the original game they recreate. That's why they're legal and considered a fan work rather than an infraction. They don't mean any legal danger to Bethesda.

[Maylle]

 

Those assets aren't all Bethesda's property to begin with. They were created for them by 3rd parties and are expressly licensed to be used 'only' in Oblivion.

Well that pretty much explaines it all.

 

 

The point can't really be argued, and will only end up before court, if tried.

No worries, like I said: not meaning to argue anything here. I am personally simply against all this licensing-nonesence, that is why I decided to throw a slightly critical question in here. As iWilliBlecha correctly said before imo, without these restrictions, the modding community probably would be even more powerful in creating and recreating content.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Maylle

[Helixien]

As well, I´m only curious and want to avoid trouble in the future. I appreciate that you take the time to write that down Drake.

 

Still, we could make so much more amazing things, if companies would give us more rights. Do they realise that it would be some kind of advertising? If I see, for example, an Halo armor mod in Skyrim and I wouldn´t know what game its from, I would look it up and may end up buying the game. Well, at least I would. But that are just some thoughts.

[DrakeTheDragon]

And rather valid thoughts as well at that. Many people think like that, and apparently some companies do so as well. It does have its merit.

 

But like I said, in regards to Beth assets it isn't really in their power even to allow it to begin with, even if they maybe wanted to.