Hyrule Kingdom map

[TheTerminator2004]

I should first point out that the only reason Vivendi Universal (who I believe hold the copyright to the LotR games) decided to shut down MEMod was because they were about to release a LotR RPG, and were worried that people would just play MEMod instead of buying their game.

 

You should at least contact Nintendo to ask their permission first- just to be sure.

 

Now personally, I don't think it would be a true Zelda mod if you changed the names- there's something special about riding into Kakariko village on Epona, after a long fight in the Goron mines. Riding into Ankakarikon village on Teponal, after a long fight in the Regoronae mines just doesn't seem right. But that's just my opinion; this is your mod, you can do whatever you like with it- and if other people like it, then that's great.

[Legendary Slyther]

I should first point out that the only reason Vivendi Universal (who I believe hold the copyright to the LotR games) decided to shut down MEMod was because they were about to release a LotR RPG, and were worried that people would just play MEMod instead of buying their game.

 

You should at least contact Nintendo to ask their permission first- just to be sure.

 

Now personally, I don't think it would be a true Zelda mod if you changed the names- there's something special about riding into Kakariko village on Epona, after a long fight in the Goron mines. Riding into Ankakarikon village on Teponal, after a long fight in the Regoronae mines just doesn't seem right. But that's just my opinion; this is your mod, you can do whatever you like with it- and if other people like it, then that's great.

 

Well, I don't know what you're worried about, dude. If I take any risks to making it illegal, then I got the heat on me. Not you. You're acting like you're gonna end up in jail for only a copyright breach that I made. Think that's gonna happen? No! You're not guilty, so you have nothing to worry about.

 

Now, I may change the names for my mod, and I KNOW the names would be quite strange, but this is the only thing I gotta do to make it legal. That way, I will NOT get a lawsuit, and Nintendo can't do s**t about it. Plus, I'm not gonna rename Kakariko to Ankakarikon village, or something like that. I need to make the names almost familiar to each other, but not exact. I may come up with something like Kakarikon, or something like that. Plus the horse's name won't be Epona. It would only be a normal horse saying "My horse" when you approach it. Now you know the guy in my avatar, right? I made him and designed his abilities, so he is actually property of MY ownership. Not Nintendo. Take that for an example. But, I could try asking Nintendo permission to use the exact names, but I didn't bother to. They would probably say no, even if I asked. So, I can make the map exact, but the names HAVE to be different. Why not just simply credit Nintendo if you made the mod without asking them. Although, I'm pretty sure they won't accept it.

 

And I highly doubt this project will fail. If I know what I'm doing, then I should succeed to the project. Now about the quests and storylines. They will be more epic, and completely different. Imagine like there's a civil war between Cyrodiil, and Hyrulen Kingdom(I don't know if the title would suit me, but that's my choice.). Now about the characters.. I don't know how I should rename Link and Zelda, but maybe I could use Zant to Zent. Or maybe it's a little exact. That's why I need ideas.

 

Anyway, that's too bad that your Project Serpent failed. I feel sorry for you, man. Although, if your mod project ever succeeds, I'll check it out sometime. And this project wouldn't be Zelda. Because it will have different names. Anyway, thanks for the Good Luck.

[TheTerminator2004]

Well, I don't know what you're worried about, dude. If I take any risks to making it illegal, then I got the heat on me. Not you. You're acting like you're gonna end up in jail for only a copyright breach that I made. Think that's gonna happen? No! You're not guilty, so you have nothing to worry about.

 

I was just telling you what I think- I really don't care if you listen to me or not.

 

Now, I may change the names for my mod, and I KNOW the names would be quite strange, but this is the only thing I gotta do to make it legal. That way, I will NOT get a lawsuit, and Nintendo can't do s**t about it. Plus, I'm not gonna rename Kakariko to Ankakarikon village, or something like that. I need to make the names almost familiar to each other, but not exact. I may come up with something like Kakarikon, or something like that. Plus the horse's name won't be Epona. It would only be a normal horse saying "My horse" when you approach it. Now you know the guy in my avatar, right? I made him and designed his abilities, so he is actually property of MY ownership. Not Nintendo. Take that for an example. But, I could try asking Nintendo permission to use the exact names, but I didn't bother to. They would probably say no, even if I asked. So, I can make the map exact, but the names HAVE to be different. Why not just simply credit Nintendo if you made the mod without asking them. Although, I'm pretty sure they won't accept it.

 

I was just giving you my opinion, as a potential user of this mod. I think you should at least try contacting Nintendo, because if you are allowed to use the names, it would make this mod so much better. And if you're not, you can just use different names. Just crediting Nintendo without asking their permission first wouldn't work, I don't think, although you never know.

 

And I highly doubt this project will fail. If I know what I'm doing, then I should succeed to the project. Now about the quests and storylines. They will be more epic, and completely different. Imagine like there's a civil war between Cyrodiil, and Hyrulen Kingdom(I don't know if the title would suit me, but that's my choice.). Now about the characters.. I don't know how I should rename Link and Zelda, but maybe I could use Zant to Zent. Or maybe it's a little exact. That's why I need ideas.

 

I've no idea if this project will fail or not, because I don't know how skilled you are, or how much time you're putting into it. I can say, however, that there's never been a TC, or even just a large-scale mod like this (It doesn't count as a TC, because you're keeping the original Oblivion world too) that's been finished by just one person. So forgive me if I'm a little skeptical about your chances of success. Besides, who knows? You might actually succeed.

[Legendary Slyther]

If you wish, you can edit the esp, and rename it back to their true names, but if I were you, I wouldn't publish my modified esp. Otherwse Nintendo will, as you said act accordingly, and chances of breaching copyright are huge. But yes, I guess I'll give it a shot(Asking Nintendo's permission), and I'll tell them what I plan to do. If they say that I have their permission to use the same names, then I would be more than happy to make almost a realistic Zelda Oblivion! But until I get express permission from Nintendo, the names will stay as they are.

[bben46]

A suggestion, Use Hyrule in the description but not in the actual name. That should get around some of the copyright BS. Something like 'Similar to Hyrule' in the description. That should allow it to be found by searches.

 

I agree that huge total conversions are extremely difficult. However, if that is what you want to do - Go for it. Just remember to have fun first. It's a game. You might just learn something in the process.

 

Good Luck

[Legendary Slyther]

A suggestion, Use Hyrule in the description but not in the actual name. That should get around some of the copyright BS. Something like 'Similar to Hyrule' in the description. That should allow it to be found by searches.

 

I agree that huge total conversions are extremely difficult. However, if that is what you want to do - Go for it. Just remember to have fun first. It's a game. You might just learn something in the process.

 

Good Luck

 

Yes, it's kinda hard, because I sometimes get illegal errors on it, which doesn't make me happy. Although, I still continue anyway. I beat Oblivion unmodified like 5 times already, but I find beating it the modded way is even more fun! Anyway, I might finish it sometime around April. Maybe I can get enough time to work on it from then. Thanks anyway! :)

 

Btw : Does anybody know how I can contact Nintendo?

[TheTerminator2004]

Well, looking around their website, it seems to me that you would either want to email [email protected], or phone 1-800-255-3700 for legal enquiries (This page has all the different ways to contact them). I'm assuming you live in America here, because I think it's different if you want to contact NOE.

 

Anyway, fingers crossed they let you use their material- A Zelda mod for Oblivion is something many people (including me) have been waiting for for a long time.

[Legendary Slyther]

Anyway, fingers crossed they let you use their material- A Zelda mod for Oblivion is something many people (including me) have been waiting for for a long time.

 

I sent the request to Nintendo, but I'm in Canada right now, visiting my cousin. I'll be moving back to the states after 2 weeks. So, would that work, even if I sent it to that address, or do I have to use a different address?

[Stokes52]

Many many total conversions mods have been made from many different games and have portrayed many forms of material under a copy right without lawsuits. I wouldn't sweat it. I doubt Nintendo would prosecute you for making a mod which gives free publicity to their game UNLESS you were going to try to make a profit off of it. Technically speaking, modding in general in the gaming industry is illegal in *all* forms because you are taking someone elses product, modifying it, and redistributing it, however many game companies are fine with modding and even support it. Sometimes community mods even turn into standalone games, and all without lawsuits. If you look at the legal stuff in many games that you are supposed to read before you install, they prohibit any modifying, redistributing, or copying of their game, however that same company oftentimes provides mod tools to modify their game! Legally, they have to write that to cover their butts in case someone tries to modify, copy, or sell their game illicitly for their own profit or to hurt the game publisher, but in actual practice modding is generally ignored or even supported by the company. The same principle applies to copyright material and modding. If you are going to make an object whose concept is 'owned' by Nintendo, while they have the *right* to prosecute you as they see fit, in practice you are 100% okay with making that object as long as you aren't doing anything to hurt their company. The point I'm trying to make is that while legally you can prosecute your friend from coming onto your property uninvited, why would you?

 

This is the main reason why are we not seeing lawsuits for Oblivion mods which depict swords and things from Final Fantasy, or any number of "The Sims" mods which create characters from TV shows, games, movies etc, or why are we not seeing lawsuits for mods in games like Call of Duty or Medal of Honor which many mods take names, ideas, and characters from movies like Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. There are thousands upon thousands of mods for hundreds of different games, many of which copy direct ideas from copy written material, and none of them have been prosecuted, because in the real world, game modding generally overlooked by many companies, it usually only helps them because of free advertising, so why prosecute, and also lawsuits are expensive, so they make absolutely no gain in prosecuting a single person whose only motive is to further enjoy his love for the game he is playing and his love for their product. While legally they can prosecute like I've said before, they have no reason to, they lose money, they lose fan(s), and they gain nothing.

 

The main reason for actually prosecuting modding is if it steals profits from that company, which is more than likely why the LOTR mod was shut down, because the company was in the process of making its own LOTR RPG.

 

The_Terminator, you're blowing the issue out of proportion. You can't look at a legal document and gain actual knowledge into what will and will not be prosecuted, because in such documents they have to account for the worst possible scenario, meaning they might even contradict themselves to cover all the angles. (For example games banning modding in their legal readme, but then giving out modding tools!) You really have to look at the big picture. It kills me when someone goes to the community to show their creative ideas and it is shot down with such ridiculous things like "You might be breaking the law". Theres nothing wrong with voicing your concern, but at least give some feedback on his idea before you post why he can't do what he wants to do. My two cents.

 

Anyways, good luck on your mod, looks like you've done a good deal already. These kind of conversions take a lot of time and usually big teams, so we'll see how it works out, but best of luck to you.

[Legendary Slyther]

You must've also been in and out of court. At least you know how the laws are. That's good. Although, I have to admit, when I first came up with the idea of making this not-so-called total conversion, I didn't quite fully understand the laws like you and Suzarn did. At least, she said she was in and out of court before, so I have a pretty good reason to run this. And, by the way, my mods are meant for fun. It's meant for everyone to enjoy. I'm not making them so I can collect profits, but that's my opinion. So, as a reason at last for me to make the real Hyrule. From what you said, Stokes, from this day forth, I shall reunite the Hyrule Kingdom once again(So, you actually said the exact thing was ok as long as I don't sell it in public. I'm ok with giving it for free, am I right?).

Well, I already asked Nintendo permission, but I can make this mod as long as I don't steal money from them. That ain't my style. I'm not a thief. So, the names will go to normal as they are in the game.