Including other People's Work in my own Mod

[LittleBrownMouse]

Hey everyone. New member here. How's it going?

 

Sorry if this has been asked before.

 

I have a new worldspace mod I'm working on, with it's own small quest that encompasses a lot of land and exploring around. It's just me working on it, so of course it's pretty limited right now, only a few cells have really been developed, but there is one mod that I really want to include in my own.

 

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3331

 

I consider it a must have mod. However, the author hasn't updated it since 2006, and I don't expect to hear back from him any time soon. He never said "Use how you like, just credit me" or anything to that effect, and yet he never said "Don't use without my explicit permission" either.

 

So what's the etiquette here? I'm not new to the CS, but I am new to uploading and posting on modding forums. I'd really love to incorporate this mod into my mod, and would, of course, credit the original author for the scripting I want to use.

 

Thanks!

 

Little Brown Mouse

[Tomlong54210]

Does the author's ReadMe say anything about usage? I am fairly conservative on this topic, probably. I definitely would not included another's author work without any kind of approval, from the author or the mod's ReadMe. Just think of what happens if the person happens to pop up and you have absolutely nothing to say...

[ub3rman123]

In the case you mention, don't reuse it until you get permission.

 

You could look into the scripting of it yourself and just recreate it by hand. Or put a link to the mod and suggest it from your mod's page.

[Dyshein]

I wouldn't see a problem so long as you give credit and/or link to the authors work. It's not like people upload things to this site in order to make a profit, and you'd be giving the mod potentially more publicity which is always good. I think it'd be better to use it than to re-write the scripting yourself, you'd just be copying from the mod anyways (albeit not verbatim).

[LittleBrownMouse]

Thanks everyone. :)

 

@Tomlong: My only problem with not including it until I get permission is, it's been 4 years since the author even touched the mod. I don't know if I'd ever hear back.

 

@ub3rman123: Scripting is not my strong-suit. I would just end up copying it. And if I just recommend it for usage, then people have the option of ignoring it, and then my design is broken.

 

Just in case people didn't look at the link, it's a mod that makes you unable to swim if you have a certain amount of encumbrance. I think it's unrealistic to be able to swim in full plate armor, and since swimming adds to your Athletics more than running, this problem makes the Walk On Water spells unnecessary. It's more fun anyway, to gain the ability to do something during the game, rather than always being able to do it. I'm going to try and make this the only thing my mod depends on.