chaospearl Posted April 23, 2010 Share Posted April 23, 2010 So I've been playing the Delivery Job mod that lets you be a courier for the Gold Horse Courier service, and deliver packages... and I've just now realized that the mod is rather buggy and includes a substantial unfinished section. The release thread states that the author was still working on it (why would anyone release an unfinished mod? I don't understand?) but said author hasn't been heard from in over a year. I sent him a PM here on the Nexus, 10 days ago, and haven't gotten a response. I've already opened up the guts of the mod and messed with my own personal copy because a door was conflicting with another of my mods, so I ended up putting a building in an entirely new place. I'd intended to keep it as just that; my own personal copy. But now that I know the thing isn't finished, I figure I may as well poke at it some more and see if I'm up to the task of at least making it playable. If I can do that... what's the standard etiquette regarding releasing it? Judging by the comments a lot of people would like to be able to finish playing the mod's quests, but I don't have permission to release it with my updates and I can't get in touch with the author. The readme says nothing at all about permissions either yay or nay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slygothmog Posted April 23, 2010 Share Posted April 23, 2010 So I've been playing the Delivery Job mod that lets you be a courier for the Gold Horse Courier service, and deliver packages... and I've just now realized that the mod is rather buggy and includes a substantial unfinished section. The release thread states that the author was still working on it (why would anyone release an unfinished mod? I don't understand?) but said author hasn't been heard from in over a year. I sent him a PM here on the Nexus, 10 days ago, and haven't gotten a response. I've already opened up the guts of the mod and messed with my own personal copy because a door was conflicting with another of my mods, so I ended up putting a building in an entirely new place. I'd intended to keep it as just that; my own personal copy. But now that I know the thing isn't finished, I figure I may as well poke at it some more and see if I'm up to the task of at least making it playable. If I can do that... what's the standard etiquette regarding releasing it? Judging by the comments a lot of people would like to be able to finish playing the mod's quests, but I don't have permission to release it with my updates and I can't get in touch with the author. The readme says nothing at all about permissions either yay or nay. As you have tried to contact the Author with no success, and there is nothing about permissions, i would say go ahead and do it, as long as you credit the origional author in your file description, you never know, they could be very happy that you have taken the time and trouble to finish what they, for what ever reason cannot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarya Posted April 23, 2010 Share Posted April 23, 2010 If there is nothing about permission then permission is considered NOT granted, I'm afraid. But maybe you missed something, post the readme or give a link to the mod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visvalor Posted April 23, 2010 Share Posted April 23, 2010 Imho screw that guy ;P I really want to play that mod. I want a job mod so I can roleplay more effectively instead of stealing and fighting for money. IRL I wouldn't just jump into doing that, and I'd like to be able to get a "legit" job. Then again watch taking my words, I tend to not have any etiquette or respect for other people and property XP with the exception of avoiding being caught when breaking the law for sheer sake of getting in trouble, I tend to do what I want regardless of what is right or wrong. With that in mind. If you edit someone else project without permission , that will make you quite a douche-bag. There won't be legal repercussions obviously but you might be frowned upon heavily and your mod will probably be removed from sites that well frown on that sort of thing. I'm all for it though :P keep me posted with progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Brasher Posted April 23, 2010 Share Posted April 23, 2010 I think that fixing and uploading this mod would be a noble and good act. The author has abandoned his mod and won't even answer your messages. Just be sure to list the author as the primary author of the mod and give him credit for all parts of the mod he made. Also be prepared to pull down your version of the mod if the author ever decides to come back and decides he does not like what you have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balakirev Posted April 24, 2010 Share Posted April 24, 2010 I think that fixing and uploading this mod would be a noble and good act. The author has abandoned his mod and won't even answer your messages. Just be sure to list the author as the primary author of the mod and give him credit for all parts of the mod he made. Also be prepared to pull down your version of the mod if the author ever decides to come back and decides he does not like what you have done. Exactly my opinion. I repeatedly tried to contact Reznod while doing my own spinoff of his Mannequin mod, Skin-toned Mannequins, and never got a response in over two weeks. Others as well told me he'd left the modding community, and couldn't be contacted. So I made sure to credit Reznod, and to thank him for all the great work he's done. I hope he would understand, but really...my mod adds something his didn't provide. And what you're describing? It's bugfixing. I would think any reasonable modder would be delighted for someone to pick up the gauntlet and repair their own work. Good on you, in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vagrant0 Posted April 24, 2010 Share Posted April 24, 2010 This is a topic where the answer is not clearly definite. 10 days is not a suitable amount of time to wait, and have you tried looking to see if the author is active anywhere else before assuming that they've just abandoned the project? Some projects go many months without an update, and many projects don't talk about their progress. In recent memory there was a halo mod which sat virtually inactive for 6-9 months without word from the author, then suddenly the author returned with an update out of the blue. Modders taking a break for awhile is not an uncommon thing. Modders deciding they're sick of a certain community, or have just been too busy is not an uncommon thing either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaospearl Posted April 24, 2010 Author Share Posted April 24, 2010 Thanks for the advice, everyone. I think what I'm going to do is go ahead with fixing my own copy of the mod, since I was going to do that regardless. I may not even be capable of getting it to a release-able state, so perhaps it'll be moot. I believe I can, but I'm sure it'll take me at least a week or so depending on how much time I put into it. While I do that I'll try contacting the author again and keep waiting and hoping. If I still can't get in touch by the time I'm done tinkering with the mod, I can make the decision then on whether to release it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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