Matrix Games Forums

Do you legally require permission for this? Because otherwise, I say just release them, because if someonen created a free and open scenario using the games scenario editor and posted it publically, then comes and complains when someone has tweaked it, then they are hypocritical and this trait is stopping us from trying your presumably good tweaks, why should you acccomodate them at all?

ElizabethRStevenson wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 11:42 pm Do you legally require permission for this? Because otherwise, I say just release them, because if someonen created a free and open scenario using the games scenario editor and posted it publically, then comes and complains when someone has tweaked it, then they are hypocritical and this trait is stopping us from trying your presumably good tweaks, why should you acccomodate them at all?

I think that the situation has more to do with health, volume of scenarios and time required; nothing to do hypocrites preventing you from enjoying someone else’s work. Prior to posting a revision, there is also something called courtesy which is extended to the original author(s), if in fact the original author(s) can be contacted.

Regards

This is what the main issue is, my health, which is improving since the heart attack, but just need time to sort, and post the scenarios. That work, and other game projects .I have already reached out to 10 or so original desires and got approval from three.

Sorry for the delays folks.

Zovs wrote: Mon Jan 08, 2024 1:57 am Sorry for the delays folks.

Not a problem at all. Good to hear that you are on the mend.

Best Regards, RhinoBones

ElizabethRStevenson wrote: Sun Jan 07, 2024 11:42 pm Do you legally require permission for this? Because otherwise, I say just release them, because if someonen created a free and open scenario using the games scenario editor and posted it publically, then comes and complains when someone has tweaked it, then they are hypocritical and this trait is stopping us from trying your presumably good tweaks, why should you acccomodate them at all?

It's mostly not needed to have strict permission. Rather the opposite: if the author hasn't explicitly banned it, you can publish it.

My point of view:

In general, modding a video game files for personal use or for non-commercial purposes is mostly considered legal (in most parts of the world), as it falls under the category of Fair Use or Non-Commercial Use.
Anyway: copyright is the legal concept that works — art, writing, images, music, and more — belong to the people who create them. According to copyright law, any original content you create and record in a lasting form is your own intellectual property. This means other people can't legally copy your work and PRETEND it's their own. They can't make money from the things you create either.

From this short point of view it's pretty clear that is completely legal to use other's people work under few conditions:
1. Attribution: You must credit the creator in order to use, copy or share the content. You must also indicate what changes were made by you.
2. Fair Use (statutory provision allowing the limited use of copyrighted materials without permission or license fees in certain circumstances): but it's mostly not a case in modified scenarios, as you use others work as a whole and fair use is originally limited to use parts of work.
3. Non-Commercial: You can't make a profit from the content. This is key attribute. It's obvious to games community that
published modifications are free and no one pays their creators. No one can be forced also to pay authors of Derivative Works (modified modifications).

So as long, as people strict to this rules, is obviously legal and moral to publish others people work, unless the original author explicitly forbids it. Why it is also moral? See point 1: You must credit the creator and not pretend that all this is your work. Some people seem to not understand the concept of copyright and claim that modifications cannot be published without the author's consent. But if the author has not indicated that he does not wish to have his work used and the modified content published, the above applies.