Question? about uploading mods

[Deleted40201380User]

I've been modding New Vegas for about two years now, and over the past six months I've made three of my own mods.

 

They focus on diversifying the wasteland as much as possible while keeping a strictly lore-friendly vanilla feel.

 

The mods I made are single .esm files hand merging different mods to work together and reduce load order size.

 

I call it "New Vegas: Project Diversity"

 

New Vegas: Project Diversity - NPC's

A hand merged plugin of NVR3, FCO, NVCE, Mikoto Beauty and Ling's Coiffure to work together while adding hairs from Ling/Mikoto to hundreds of NPCs as well as custom body meshes/textures/scars/tattoos to the NVR3 and FCO Races. For example, adding Legion themed tattoos to Legion npc's, and NCR tattoos to NCR npc's. And using a variety of different body types and underwear so each NPC looks different when stripped of armor, like the old Body by Race mod.

 

New Vegas: Project Diversity - Equipment

A hand merged plugin using the leveled lists from FOOK-PN-WMX-WME-EVE-AWOP-SoL-ADAM-CNR-DTO-T6MNPC-Camon-Micolov and various armor and body mods. Based on Drithius's FOOK-PN Convergence but removing all the heavy scripting and utility features from Project Nevada and FOOK, like sprint, overlays, night vision etc. To make those mods more compatible with newer, lighter, more efficient mods like JSUE, and less of a burden on the game engine. As well as hundreds of nifskope mashups of different armors in just about every body type available, converting/customizing nearly all the armor in all of the mods listed above.

 

New Vegas: Project Diversity - Creatures

A hand merged plugin of the heavily edited leveled lists from Monster Mod, Monster Mod Wasteland Edition, and Monster Mod - Additions, to use the huge variety of meshes and textures from these different mods as well as the hundreds of different creature textures available to make as many different creatures as possible, while removing all the non lore creatures. It doesn't increase creature spawn rates so much as make 16 different colors of geckos, 12 different colors of scorpions, dozens of different ghouls, etc.

 

I understand the reasons for getting permission from mod authors, if I made a mod and someone else used it I would also want to at least get credit for a download.

And I also wouldn't want my mods being used on buggy junk made by some kid hopped up on Red Bull and codeine.

 

None of my mods are stand alone. All they are is three .esm files and a couple of hundred meshes. They would all need assets from the mods above to work.

 

I want to upload them to the nexus but I don't want to go through the hassle of getting permission from 50 different mod authors.

 

If I upload my plugins, but still require the mod user to download the assets from the various mods above, will I get banned?

 

I do this for fun, and that simply does not sound like fun.

 

Please advise. Would really like input from someone who works at the Nexus.

Edited May 15, 2018 by Guest

[dubiousintent]

When in doubt, PM a "moderator". They are the official word.

 

In my experience, everything depends upon the restrictions placed by the authors on the use of their mods (code) and art assets. Those are two separate issues. If the art in question comes from another source than that author but is used with permission, then you have to chase down the original author and verify their permissions/restrictions ... or not use their art (which can get down to the single mesh/texture combination). Requiring their mod be installed for yours to work is most likely to avoid the question of permissions concerning their code; but not necessarily their artwork. However it does not relieve you of the legal responsibility to check it out for yourself instead of taking the word of someone else for it. (Check out the Wikipedia article on "copyright infringement".)

 

If, OTOH, your mod consists of nothing but your own original work (code and art assets), then you are probably going to be okay by requiring the original mod be installed first. But just requiring them to pull art assets from the original is considered "redistribution in part" and probably not going to be acceptable. (You will have to spell out quite clearly how it is not infringing. Better be a lawyer in that case.)

 

Nexus is not interested in getting into legal fights, and will always come down on the side of the original author when in doubt. If you haven't documented that you have the appropriate permissions, they will yank your mod and ban you according to their "terms of service" as soon as it comes to their attention. (The inconvenience to you is not a point of consideration. The legal rights of copyright holders are all that counts.)

 

Building off of someone else's work (in whole or in part) is called "a derivative work". Changing it is called a "transformation". The rights to derivative or transformative work still belong the original work author. It's always a chancy proposition trying to dance that line. (Isn't Copyright Law fun? :confused: ) But these are necessary considerations for any mod creator to understand.

 

But I'm just another user. As I said up front: ask a "moderator".

 

-Dubious-