What is and is not okay to use to develop material?

[Lunytic]

So, first... I don't recall seeing a thread like this anywhere, but if it is, please lock this thread and point me in the right direction and my appologies.

 

Now... completely new to modding, but looking to get into this time around with Skyrim, asked a few questions in chat before and have started lining a few things up. That being said, I'm not 100% clear on what is okay and what is not.

 

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/377405-porting-content-from-other-games/ <--- is the most description of what is and is not okay, but I'm still a little confused, being more on the lay side, of what constitutes an asset. If a game has a "Sword of Awesomeness", exporting the actual game files is not allowed, that much is clear. But is building that sword, meshes and all, from scratch allowed?

 

I've also see some images posted from the net asking for artists to create the meshes. Does the original sourcework for inspiration of a new item design need to be public domain/have permission, or if something like a picture is used, is it okay if it's copyrighted as a reference tool only?

 

Is there already a thread that simply talks about this? Such as:

 

Dos:

* Create content from scratch

* Get permission from other mod authors before using their content

 

Don'ts:

* Modify content files of other games for use in your mod

* Modify content of mods for other games for use in your mod without getting the owner's permission first

 

Insight is much appriciated. Thanks!

[RitualBlack]

You almost have everything correct. You can recreate something from another game from scratch and upload it as long as it is completely from scratch. You are also ok to use other modders work as long as you get their permission. You have both of those down solid. You can normally use model and textures from the game you wish to mod as long as they don't wander into other games :laugh: . Using and editing songs from games is a don't in most cases. Other than that you seem to know everything. It was a very smart move for you to make sure you understand everything before you post a mod :thumbsup: . The last thing is that you can take what ever you want from other games provided you don't upload it. 'Private mods' normally look very cool, and can be fun to make. Just be sure they stay on your own hard drive or you can run into problems.

[nosisab]

Just a few words about how the game treats some aspects of a given object (what may be anything not just "physical" items).

 

- The most evident identifier is the name - Skyrim, differently of previous TES games, sometimes use it as an identifier and then may confuse or become confused if two different objects share the same name, still that name is most figurative than actual object's identifier.

 

The FormID and baseID (sometimes used interchangeably) and the Editor ID are actually what the CK uses to identify the template (and then must be unique and not shared by mods) by which it will bring into the world an instance of the object which them receives a...

 

Reference ID (RefID). This is the identifier of the actual instance of object in game... it is unique to each instance even when two or more objects of same BaseID are in game (For example the game has lots of Iron Swords but each one has a proper RefID). The RefID can be sometimes be explicitly defined in a proper field on an actually placed in the world object by a mod. This is to grant the RefID is previously known so that specific instance can be dealt by the mod for enabling, disabling as example. Otherwise the engine supplies it. Edit: about objects already placed in the world by a mod, this is a concept better understood when the CK is released, for it relates to the Cell window and Render window and the objects that can be placed there.

 

When referred in game, the BaseID is dependent on the mod position at the load order by means of a prefix which is just a byte defined as an hexadecimal number. Different from previous TES games, Skyrim in game console has a help function able to get objects introduced by mods and return it's actual in game BaseID already with the current prefix value.

 

Keeping this in mind is easier to understand the dangers of making references to assets introduced by another mod, where it is at all possible. A good convention is naming the Editor ID using as prefix something you can easily associate with your job and will not be prone to be used by someone else. About the Ingame name, that who actually appears on the object, it is hard to be sure it is not used or will be used if named something like Sword of Awesomeness :) but that's it. Theoretically does not matter more than one mod using the same names for different items, just than in skyrim it may confuse the already dumbed/messed UI, mainly the Favorites menu and how it integrates with hotkeys and such.

Edited January 16, 2012 by nosisab

[Lunytic]

@Beyondtom - Thanks. So it seems the common sense approach works. If you build it from scratch, you're safe. Porting was just the only thing I could really see covered in detail, so I wanted to make sure.

 

@nosisab - Yeah, "Sword of Awesomeness" was the generic, never-gonna-use name for example purposes. Obviously some of the more popular items, like Frostmourne probably have a dozen different creators. I'm pretty sure I understand the IDs (spent too much of my life looking at PKs and FKs in Access...). The game is actually calling an ID, not the item name. Didn't someone end up making an Oblivion common core that people could reference to see what had and had not been created yet? So modders could see if their IDs were likely to conflict with others?

 

Thanks!