Proper citations/permissions for an older resource?

[RandomAvatarFan]

Hi there, I'm not sure if I'm posting in the correct forum for this, but I want to know what people's opinions are, or maybe even some help in tracking someone down.

 

I've been playing Morrowind since the original GOTY release, and been slowly adding mods and plugins as time went on. Only now have I been properly inspired to create something of my own. it's a couple quests and dungeons, so I'm pretty new to the community. I have a question of ettiquette and citations.

 

Mephala is playing a role, and when I realized there wasn't a true in game statue of that one. I'm not comfortable yet making my own meshes and textures, but I found a mod that was billed as a "modder's resource" of a beautiful statue made by a modder known as "Westly." The modder included a plugin that puts it in it's own little environment, and the read me states:

 

"**The Mephala Statue Models are a resource, but I do ask that credit

be given to the proper authors and that you contact me if you are

going to use these."

The mod itself is over ten years old, and the only form of contact listed in the readme is planetelderscrolls forums and The Elder Scrolls Forums, neither are still accessible. After ten years, I don't know if the modder is still around the Morrowind community, maybe working on Skyrim, or maybe doing something else with his or her life.

Best Case scenario: Westly is lurking under a different pseudonym out here in the Nexus, or at least someone here knows of a way to get in touch. But I don't see that happening, so what would the best course of action be?

Would it still be okay to use a resource if a modder is gone? I would most certainly give credit that this statue was not made by myself. Would I be able to include it with the mod or would the better option be to make my mod dependent on his mod, forcing people to download the original to get the mesh and textures since I would be uncomfortable including it with my own. I don't feel comfortable creating meshes myself, so it'll be great to have, but if it's a bad idea to still use it, I certainly will do without a statue.

Thank you all for your time, and I look forward to being a bit more active on the forums as my project develops.

[DoctorKaizeld]

You cannot use the assets in a public mod without the authors permission. You can use the assets for a private mod though.

[Tchos]

I found this address for Westly in the readme of another mod:

 

For permissions and usage contact:
[email protected]

 

And you could certainly make your mod dependent on this one, if you don't get a response.

[RandomAvatarFan]

Thanks for the responses. I want to have my project polished and made public, but I want to make sure resources are used correctly and responsibly, so if I don't get a response back, I won't bother with the statue

And thanks, Tchos for digging up his yahoo account. I don't know if it's still active, but I'm gonna give it a shot, because it's the only lead I got.

 

Thank you!