Porting content from other games

[xillus]

Alright I am a little bit confused here even though the answer is looking pretty obvious.

I took some things from a game I have and want to edit them and upload them here so this is what I put in the description (the mod is not up)

 

PLEASE READ FIRST:
Contents created by Gearbox Software and published by Sega all rights reserved

The intent of sharing the assets is non-commercial, educational, and only select assets, but not the entirety of the game is shared and is fair use as it does serve a beneficial purpose to the public without significantly impacting the value of the source material. I should be able to share this with other modders and this should comply with the nexus rules.

Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

if you are a modder and know how to apply proper weights to it please by all means let me know and do so because I cant figure it out (edit envelopes in skin)

[Deleted2547005User]

No assets what so ever can be ported into any games here on the nexus. There are very few exceptions, but your example is not. The copyright laws you have quoted have no relation to this private site, owned privately by Dark0ne, who does not allow porting of assets between games. He owns this family of sites, and his word is law.

[Clusta]

Not sure how that will fly since there isn't any legal way of having access to gearbox data without, as you said, having the game. Since there isn't a reliable method to tell if everyone who downloads said assets owns the game, uploading it here is probably out of the question.

 

As far as fair use is concerned, it isn't necessary to use materials from other games in order to learn how to weight paint. The vanilla meshes in the game are already good references for observing skin data. You may want to look up Nightasy's tutorials for help. Importing animations into (3dsmax, blender?) and seeing how each bone affects the mesh as you paint while the animation plays out is pretty fast way to understand how it works.

 

If you really want to use gearbox assets, then email them explaining what you're trying to do. See if they will give you an approval to share their assets. It never hurts to ask.

[Lisnpuppy]

First let me show you this site which is a wonderful reference http://www.publishlawyer.com/top10.htm.

 

Also the Nexus has rules specific to this site. I will point you to our Terms of Service here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules#uploading which says,

 

"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 (such as Russia)."

 

Now if you can get direct, verifiable permission from the maker of the game you are interested in (and it has happened) then we will consider letting the mod be uploaded here. You are of course allowed to do what you want in your game. If you have further questions please feel free to PM a moderator.~Lisnpuppy

[JimboUK]

Alright I am a little bit confused here even though the answer is looking pretty obvious.

I took some things from a game I have and want to edit them and upload them here so this is what I put in the description (the mod is not up)

 

PLEASE READ FIRST:

Contents created by Gearbox Software and published by Sega all rights reserved

 

The intent of sharing the assets is non-commercial, educational, and only select assets, but not the entirety of the game is shared and is fair use as it does serve a beneficial purpose to the public without significantly impacting the value of the source material. I should be able to share this with other modders and this should comply with the nexus rules.

 

Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

 

if you are a modder and know how to apply proper weights to it please by all means let me know and do so because I cant figure it out (edit envelopes in skin)

 

This is a UK site and thus must operate under UK law, UK law certainly does not allow the redistribution of assets that belong to someone else. Exceptions are below and none of them would apply to mods. Anyway, as already stated the site owner has said you must have permission so any loopholes are irrelevant. Try asking Sega or Gearbox, the worst they can do is say no but you might get lucky.

 

1. Research and private study

   Copying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or of a typographical arrangement of a published edition for the purpose of research or private study is allowed under the following conditions:

   • The copy is made for the purposes of research or private study.
   • The copy is made for non-commercial purposes.
   • The source of the material is acknowledged.
   • The person making the copy does not make copies of the material available for a number of people.
2. Instruction or examination

   Copying parts of a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or a sound recording, film or broadcast for the purpose of instruction or examination is allowed under the following conditions:

   • The copying is done by the student or the person giving instruction.
   • The copying is not done via a reprographic process.
   • The source of the material is acknowledged.
   • The instruction is for a non-commercial purpose.
3. Criticism or review

   Quoting parts of a work for the purpose of criticism or review is permitted provided that:

   • The work has been made available to the public.
   • The source of the material is acknowledged.
   • The material quoted must be accompanied by some actual discussion or assessment (to warrant the criticism or review classification).
   • The amount of the material quoted is no more than is necessary for the purpose of the review.
4. News reporting

   Using material for the purpose of reporting current events is permitted provided that:

   • The work is not a photograph.
   • The source of the material is acknowledged.
   • The amount of the material quoted is no more than is necessary for the purpose.
5. Incidental inclusion

   Incidental inclusion is where part of one work is unintentionally included in another. The incidental inclusion of a work in an artistic work, sound recording, film or broadcast is not an infringement.

   A typical example of this would be a case where a news broadcast inadvertently captured part of a copyright work, such as some background music, or a poster that just happened to on a wall in the background.

6. Accessibility for someone with a visual impairment

   It is considered fair dealing to make an accessible copy of a work for someone with an visual impairment if a suitable accessible version is not already available.

[Thandal]

Thanks, jim_uk. US copyright law has a similar, but less detailed, list of "Fair Use" exceptions.

 

And as with the UK ones, NONE apply to mods.

 

All of which is really irrelvant to the discussion here, since (via the ToS) ... Dark0ne has spoken! ;D

[crashinghell]

What would be the policies on dlcs that originate drone the same game?

[Spphy]

If you want to have something from that dlc in your mod you need to relate to that dlc and use assets from it as in - the people downloading the mod needs the dlc. If you take it out of the dlc and in your mod so it is non dlc dependant it would be considered pirating of dlc content.

[crashinghell]

Would this change if I edited the file completely differently than what the file originally was?

[Lisnpuppy]

If your mod uses assets from the DLC, even if they have been edited...you have to make your mod dependent on the DLC.