Are purchased textures allowed in mods?

[Lagruej]

If I use textures I purchased from cgtrader or similar sites, am I allowed to upload them to the nexus? I have Royalty-Free liscenses to use purchased products and wouldn't be distributing for money. Wondering if this allowed by nexus rules? Tried to search but got the results were not what I needed.

[HadToRegister]

I would think it would be determined by the "licensing terms" that might come with the purchased textures

They might have terms that say "You can use this in anything, as long as you do not charge money for what you made with them", or it might say, "you can use these textures for personal use only". etc..


Well, I should've read your entire post before answering, lol

[Helmsmasher]

The royalty free license is designed for using them in videos etc not redistributing them as downloads afaik. Sounds like a blurry line that is probably specifically defined in your contract. I suggest you read the contract rather than ask here as contracts can differ.

[Lagruej]

The royalty free license is designed for using them in videos etc not redistributing them as downloads afaik. Sounds like a blurry line that is probably specifically defined in your contract. I suggest you read the contract rather than ask here as contracts can differ.

I have read the terms - and am pretty sure that on their end I'm okay. I'm more or less curious how Nexus would handle it.

 

According to my liscenses:

21.1. Product may not be sold, given, or assigned to another person or entity in the form it is downloaded from the Site or in 3D printed physical form.

21.2. The Buyer’s license to Product in this paragraph is strictly limited to Incorporated Product. Any use or republication, including sale or distribution of Product that is not Incorporated Product is strictly prohibited.

21.3. If you use any Product in software products (such as video games, simulations, or VR-worlds) you must take all reasonable measures to prevent the end user from gaining access to the Product.

 

So I would assume that by converting files to DDS, packing them into .BSAs, and then using them incorporated in the mod should be acceptable? I'm not trying to offer texture packs or the like, rather I purchased landscape textures for a worldspace mod, so I think (rather hope) that would constitute enough of an incorporation to be legal. The 21.3 section describes reasonable limits as encryption and changing to proprietary formats. This one is a bit grey, but I think conversion to .dds and packing constitutes "reasonable measures."

 

I have little worry of the creators of purchased assets pursuing me, just don't want to end up banned from Nexus. I'll still credit artists where its due, and I won't be taking any financial gain, so I hope this is safe to do here.

 

[Helmsmasher]

21.3 clearly states you are not allowed to give users access to the files. So no you are not allowed to upload it to the nexus as that means you give access to the product to everyone. Unless you find some way to encrypt the file. Which afaik is not possible with skyrim mods.

Edited May 4, 2021 by Helmsmasher

[Lagruej]

21.3 clearly states you are not allowed to give users access to the files. So no you are not allowed to upload it to the nexus as that means you give access to the product to everyone. Unless you find some way to encrypt the file. Which afaik is not possible with skyrim mods.

That is NOT at all what it says. Legal definitions are specific in how they're written. It says if I do distribute the file I must take reasonable measures to prevent the end user from having the files.

 

That is COMPLETELY different then saying I'm just straight up not allowed to give people access to the files themselves in any way shape or form.

 

Clearly the 21.3 clause you're misinterpreting opens up the idea that these assets can in fact be used in video games, it even mentions it which means they can be distributed if they are protected reasonably.

 

I'm not trying to provide direct access or loose files. Surely packing into an archive .bsa constitutes encrypting/protecting the file? It's not like joe blow can just drag the files to his desktop and start using them. The file is not being provided in a format where people can just have it, as though I gave them access... for them to get them out of .bsas requires special tools that require effectively breaking into archives, which is obviously beyond my reasonable control and could be done to literally any type of encryption or archive.

 

I'd l ike to see if somebody a little more knowledgeable on the subject could jump in. The important question here is, does packing into .bsa constitute reasonable enough measures? I would think so, as it is a proprietary format and not exactly intended for end users to be open or know how to open.

[IsharaMeradin]

Extracting from a BSA is very easy to do. There are plenty of utilities, including a popular mod manager, that can do this.

 

You may wish to communicate with the site where you purchased the textures. They might know best as to what they would consider "reasonable measure" in this specific scenario.

 

That said, there could be some things that you can do in combination to prevent the user from having access to an image identical to the original purchased work. You can crop to specific dimensions. You can down size the image. You can apply a watermark or other visual edits to the texture itself and cover them up in game with rocks, trees, etc. And of course changing to a different image type at even a small loss of quality.

[Helmsmasher]

 

21.3 clearly states you are not allowed to give users access to the files. So no you are not allowed to upload it to the nexus as that means you give access to the product to everyone. Unless you find some way to encrypt the file. Which afaik is not possible with skyrim mods.

That is NOT at all what it says. Legal definitions are specific in how they're written. It says if I do distribute the file I must take reasonable measures to prevent the end user from having the files.

 

That is COMPLETELY different then saying I'm just straight up not allowed to give people access to the files themselves in any way shape or form.

 

Clearly the 21.3 clause you're misinterpreting opens up the idea that these assets can in fact be used in video games, it even mentions it which means they can be distributed if they are protected reasonably.

 

I'm not trying to provide direct access or loose files. Surely packing into an archive .bsa constitutes encrypting/protecting the file? It's not like joe blow can just drag the files to his desktop and start using them. The file is not being provided in a format where people can just have it, as though I gave them access... for them to get them out of .bsas requires special tools that require effectively breaking into archives, which is obviously beyond my reasonable control and could be done to literally any type of encryption or archive.

 

I'd l ike to see if somebody a little more knowledgeable on the subject could jump in. The important question here is, does packing into .bsa constitute reasonable enough measures? I would think so, as it is a proprietary format and not exactly intended for end users to be open or know how to open.

 

 

Wow good job being rude and completely wrong at the same time. I am knowledgeable of the subject, the contract is very clear on the matter, you need to encrypt the file if you want to redistribute it as part of a game. As you can not do so with a skyrim mod you will have to somehow significantly alter the source material, like with a clear watermark that can't easily be removed, as Ishara mentioned, or significantly changing the appearance.

Again, if you want to avoid legal issues your best bet is to inquire with the people you bought the license from.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Helmsmasher

[Lagruej]

 

 

-snip-

-snip-

 

Wow good job being rude and completely wrong at the same time. I am knowledgeable of the subject, the contract is very clear on the matter.

I contacted the artist themselves AND the actual CGtrader website the same I asked this question, and got my answer last night. They both verified that I was okay to use the files how I intend to if they were archived as mentioned, in a proprietary format. I'm clear on their end - my concern now is nexus.

 

Not sure why you think being told you're misrepresenting something is rude, but that really wasn't my intention. I really do think you just blazed over the fact the line says you can put them in games if they're protected. You seemed to just skip right over the protection aspect and my questions about .bsa2. Sorry if that was how I came off.

[Helmsmasher]

 

 

 

21.3 clearly states you are not allowed to give users access to the files. So no you are not allowed to upload it to the nexus as that means you give access to the product to everyone. Unless you find some way to encrypt the file. Which afaik is not possible with skyrim mods.

That is NOT at all what it says. Legal definitions are specific in how they're written. It says if I do distribute the file I must take reasonable measures to prevent the end user from having the files.

 

That is COMPLETELY different then saying I'm just straight up not allowed to give people access to the files themselves in any way shape or form.

 

Clearly the 21.3 clause you're misinterpreting opens up the idea that these assets can in fact be used in video games, it even mentions it which means they can be distributed if they are protected reasonably.

 

I'm not trying to provide direct access or loose files. Surely packing into an archive .bsa constitutes encrypting/protecting the file? It's not like joe blow can just drag the files to his desktop and start using them. The file is not being provided in a format where people can just have it, as though I gave them access... for them to get them out of .bsas requires special tools that require effectively breaking into archives, which is obviously beyond my reasonable control and could be done to literally any type of encryption or archive.

 

I'd l ike to see if somebody a little more knowledgeable on the subject could jump in. The important question here is, does packing into .bsa constitute reasonable enough measures? I would think so, as it is a proprietary format and not exactly intended for end users to be open or know how to open.

 

 

Wow good job being rude and completely wrong at the same time. I am knowledgeable of the subject, the contract is very clear on the matter.

Funny for how clear it was to you, I contacted CGtrader last night and they verified that I was okay to use the files how I intend to. They said putting into Bethesda' proprietary format was a good enough measure by their standards.

 

 

 

Which I told you to do didn't I? I told you it was blurry and that you needed to contact them as the contract is not clear on the subject and could be interpreted in the way I mentioned. This was very clear to me. And it clearly was clear to you as well, or else you would not be here asking.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Helmsmasher