A question about assets use

[Baixinhu]

Hey fellow modders and mod users!

 

I've been tinkering with a hideout mod (Underground Hideout) by adding FWE's bits and pieces. Before going any further, I will say that I got permission from the uploaders to use the assets from the mentioned mods. Thus resulted my mod: Insert shameless self-promotion here.

 

But I added so much that my PC slows to a crawl when looking at the places where I added those many things (namely, weapons from FWE). So I started using blender to reduce the poly count of the models to make it more manageable. But maybe some other folk are in the same boat and could use this.

 

The files I created have no animation, no projectile models, they link to the original textures and are very self-contained, that is, only appear in the hideout. But I modified models that were in the FWE that were in turn made by other people (some allow full use, others ask permission, and some don't state anything at all).

 

So my question is, can I add the weapons with no anim, no projectiles and reduced polygons to a file for people to download? The file would only have the modified and rather useless models, but the legaleese of this goes beyond me. If a modder uses files in a mod from others and them permits use of the assets in his mod, does the permission affect those files as well? Does that permission allow for "poly-reducing techniques"?

[DrakeTheDragon]

Well, as far as the Nexus is concerned, the ToS is pretty clear on that:

• Absolutely no copyrighted work is to be used without permission of the original creator. This includes content from other games, from DLCs, music creators or from other file authors. This also includes members from countries that do not recognise copyright laws.
• All files uploaded must have been created by the uploader or used with permission from the original author of the content. Such permission must be indicated in the Readme text attached to the file and/or on the Description page (or in the Description field for images), and must be obtained in advance, before uploading the file. If you cannot provide proof of consent then your file will be removed and your account is likely to be banned.

Basically a permission allows exactly what was permitted and only that.
- If you want to re-use other authors' assets unchanged, you ask them for their permission for that.
- If you want to alter other authors' assets and use them in your mod, you ask them for that.
Usually authors either give blanket permission for just about everything, minus maybe a few select no-go's, or they ask back what exactly it is you want to do with their assets before giving you permission for it.

It's really just a matter of communication. If you want to know whether you're allowed to do stuff <X> with asset <Y>, and it's not already allowed in their written permissions on their mod pages, you ask the author of asset <Y> if you are. Only because you were already allowed to do stuff <Z> with asset <Y> doesn't automatically mean you're also allowed to do stuff <X> as well now. You need to ask again, unless they already made it clear they don't care.

So, as a general rule of thumb, when in doubt, ask them.

[Baixinhu]

Thanks for the very clear answer! Guess I have to message a few authors, if they are still around.

[Belthan]

BTW, somewhat tangentally related to your question, I have found that reducing texture size often improves performance much more dramatically than reducing poly count. For example, I made a clutter/eye candy mesh with several outfits (my own) hanging on a clothesline, brought the game to its knees when I was in that cell. Reduced polys by 75%, improvement was barely noticable. Reduced textures from 2048 resolution to 512, problem disappeared entirely.

[Baixinhu]

Yeah, I did some googling and saw that big textures bog down processors easily. And then found a couple of 16MB textures used on a weapon, for details. But in this case, some weapons are very detailed (good for 1st person, not good when there are a lot of those on screen), so reducing both textures and polys should yield better results.