Rules/Etiquette question

[Argyuile]

I've been trying to contact another Mod author with no response. Do you think it would be ok if I built a mod that used another mod authors mod as a pre-requisite without that mod authors permission or is that against the rules written or unwritten?

[Reneer]

It's against the written rules of this site and also against the law. If you can't get permission from the mod author then you don't use the mod.

[Argyuile]

I don't see anything in the rules you linked talking about what I'm asking about but I'll just take your word for it.

[Reneer]

"If the author has not provided any permission information at all - you should assume that you must request permission from the author."

[DoctorKaizeld]

Isn't that only required if you were including assets from the mod in yours? In this case the mod they want is would require the other one to function, and last I heard you don't need to ask in that case.

[Reneer]

Isn't that only required if you were including assets from the mod in yours? In this case the mod they want is would require the other one to function, and last I heard you don't need to ask in that case.

Depends on what is meant by "including assets." I would contend, for example, that code is very much an asset. And you don't even need to include code in a mod to use it, just call the function from the 3rd-party script. But if someone goes and calls functions in my code without my permission I am not going to be all too happy with that person.

[AeonsLegend]

Don't think it's possible to create a mod dependency without referencing a part of that mod in your own work. I would play it safe and ask the mod author.

 

Some mod creators are very relaxed and some can be extreme pricks about their work. I wouldn't worry about the law here as you're not actually using their work and there's no loss. Even if the mod author makes money through donations. Officially mod authors aren't allowed to make money off of the content they create even though they use patreon or some other means to gain money. If a mod author would take me to court and use revenu loss as an argument they're royally screwed because then they'd make money by using Bethesda's assets and admitting to it. That's far worse imo.

Edited November 12, 2020 by AeonsLegend

[Reneer]

Some mod creators are very relaxed and some can be extreme pricks about their work. I wouldn't worry about the law here as you're not actually using their work and there's no loss.

Of course it is using the other mod author's work. Why wouldn't it be? Simply because it is made super-easy by the Creation Kit doesn't mean it is legal. Copyright law exists for this exact reason. As a quick example, if I write a book and post it up online for people to read, that gives zero justification for someone to take that text and put it into their mod, unless I've given permission for that particular use.

[SKKmods]

You dont need permission to post a dependency "For this mod to work you must also install mod X". Nothing illegal about that.

 

And before we get technical about importing assets, they can be non invasively referenced using Game.IsPluginInstalled and Game.GetFormFromFile. Nothing illegal about that.

 

Prove me wrong.

[AeonsLegend]

 

Some mod creators are very relaxed and some can be extreme pricks about their work. I wouldn't worry about the law here as you're not actually using their work and there's no loss.

Of course it is using the other mod author's work. Why wouldn't it be? Simply because it is made super-easy by the Creation Kit doesn't mean it is legal. Copyright law exists for this exact reason. As a quick example, if I write a book and post it up online for people to read, that gives zero justification for someone to take that text and put it into their mod, unless I've given permission for that particular use.

 

But it is ok to write something and then reference something someone else wrote. There's no law against that. It's even ok to quote pieces as long as you mention the original work. On top of that there's plenty of case law on this matter where people use someone else's product and get away with it as long as it doesn't interfere, compete with, lessen, devalue or affect the original work. You can for instance do a movie review and show parts of the move to comment on. I mean 99% of youtube are vids of things someone else made. Of course not all of those are legal, but most will not go to court regardless of the work simply because of how the product is used.

 

Like I said, I would still check with the owner of the mod, but in truth making a reference to another mod is simply adding a name of the EditorID in your mod. I wouldn't call that taking someone else's work. The EditorID on it's own has 0 value.