ODOL Explorer v2.0

[m21man 0]

A note about VBS1 models.

DO NOT TRY TO INTRODUCE THEM TO OFP.

This is a very serious issue.

TJ

If you're releasing modified models from VBS1, you aren't just annoying some addon makers, you're getting yourself on the legal shit list of the U.S. government (You'll be low on the list, but you'll still be on it). I don't think anyone is stupid enough to do that.

[Major Fubar 0]

I don't think anyone is stupid enough to do that.

You'd be surprised...

[NZXSHADOWS 0]

I was wondering if this tool will have some new features added to it in the future like for example,The ability to change the texture directory with a simple type and click,an the whole .p3d model textures are changed.And like someone else mentioned the ability to easily binarize the .p3d for better game performance.??

[ruff 102]

I had the same issue.  It's because everything is out of alignment.  Create another LOD and paste a copy of a soldier  from the demo models. Right-click the LOD number and choose Show as Background.  Then align the rest of the lod's with it.

but how do i realign it?

i did everything but dunno how to realign the lods

do i copy and paste the contents fo the new lod on the old ones?

[Rudedog 0]

I had the same issue.  It's because everything is out of alignment.  Create another LOD and paste a copy of a soldier  from the demo models. Right-click the LOD number and choose Show as Background.  Then align the rest of the lod's with it.

but how do i realign it?

i did everything but dunno how to realign the lods

do i copy and paste the contents fo the new lod on the old ones?

When you create a new lod with the copy of the demo soldier in it, and choose show as background, the new LOD will show through like the first LOD usually does. Then you will have to go to each LOD and select everything and manually move it around so it is aligned with the new lod. Once everything is alligned, delete the new lod you created.

[T J 0]

Maybe a new feature could be the inclusion of binarize and then helpfully a means of encrypting a model, so that those addon makers who do not wish their work to be modified can still feel free to release their models, or so that anybody who wished to bring in a commercial model would be able to do so.

In other words, giving back what was taken away.

TJ

[m21man 0]

Quote[/b] ]then helpfully a means of encrypting a model

"That's why i want to get out of this really pointless encryption debate once and for all. I have the impression no one in favour of this has any understanding of computer security. I always read nebulous "encrypt the addons" but can't see how they want to do it. Especially as there is no decryption inside ofp1 at all. It would be cool if everyone wanting encryption either tells us of their genius idea and how to do it (i would patent it first though, you could get rich with this) or buries the topic once and for all." - Benu

[benu 1]

Hey, i may be wrong, i have only basic encryption knowledge myself. But so far i did not see any detailed explanation that i thought could work. I talked with a friend about this scenario who just mastered with best grade possible in encryption and he just laughed his ass off. But he may be wrong too. Sometimes the ideas are quite simple. But so far i have not seen any idea about the implementation explained.

[suma 8]

Proper and reliable encryption is not possible as long as anyone has access (and therefore can reverse engineer) the decryptor (which needs to be in the game exe) and get the private key needed for decrypting this way.

The only reliable way to get this are suggested "trusted computing" platforms like "Palladium".

What can be handled by current means it the exact opposite: limiting ability to create addons by requiring all addons are digitally signed, as for this only the public key needs to be stored in the game exe. If we wanted, it would be easy to create OFP so that it accepts only addons created by us - but this is probably not what anyone here wants.

[ruff 102]

Proper and reliable encryption is not possible as long as anyone has access (and therefore can reverse engineer) the decryptor (which needs to be in the game exe) and get the  private key needed for decrypting this way.

The only reliable way to get this are suggested "trusted computing" platforms like "Palladium".

What can be handled by current means it the exact opposite: limiting ability to create addons by requiring all addons are digitally signed, as for this only the public key needs to be stored in the game exe. If we wanted, it would be easy to create OFP so that it accepts only addons created by us - but this is probably not what anyone here wants.

here.....here.....

[Blake 0]

Indeed. Having open and mod-friendly design on a game is the best way to make it popular.

[benu 1]

Thanks for chiming in Suma. I guess the legal issues are more part of codemasters business than yours, but can actually say something about that too?

I think a lot of the "people should do like this with other peoples work" debate could be resolved if we knew what parts are already covered by (international) laws like copyright/ip or similar. Also the validity of licenses that creators may attach to their creations. We are having discussions and different opinions about this even in national boards (ie we agree that eulas/licenses are void here for bought software, but are not sure about downloaded/free software). Can you give any info about that too?

[kegetys 2]

Everything in OFP is copyrighted to BIS/CM. Everything you make is copyrighted to you. The fact that the EULA in OFP for example is not legally binding in your country does not change the fact that all the material in it is still copyrighted, and while your country's law may grant you certain rights like reverse engineering or making backup copies, distributing the copyrighted content without permission is still illegal. In free material its the same, except as you haven't paid for it then at least here you aren't granted the rights to reverse-engineer for example, the only law that applies to those works is the copyright law, which means that no one else than the creator can use, modify or distribute it. The creator can make a license that grants more rights, and to this everyone must agree if they want to use it, as if they don't agree(or if the license would somehow be illegal) the copyright law still applies which gives no rights to anyone else.

[benu 1]

That's exactly what i was thinking.

So most problems regarding addons/scripts/models/configs misuse could be solved by the creators attaching some sort of licence to it it seems.

Does this apply to all countries in a similar fashion? IE at least these rights of the content creator are protected?

[ruff 102]

r u guys talking of actually paying for the "COPYRIGHT"

coz u really have to pay to make a real copyright

u have to register it

[kegetys 2]

coz u really have to pay to make a real copyright

u have to register it

No, I dont

Quote[/b] ]Does this apply to all countries in a similar fashion? IE at least these rights of the content creator are protected?

I dont know much about international copyright laws, but the copyright should be pretty much the same in most european countries at least...

edit: here's a list of countries that are part of the Berne Convention, of which you can read from here for example.

[suma 8]

Quote[/b] ]u have to register it

No, you do not. Registration was necessary in the US quite a long ago, but it is not now - and it was not needed for very long time in Europe. There is some internation treaty on called, if I am not mistaken, Bern Convention.

Quick search on internet will reveal many pages on this, like this one.

[Guest]

You don't have to register copyright....it is automatic. If I doodle on a piece of paper while on the phone, the copryright belongs to me even if I don't explicitly say so. Maybe you are thinking of trademarks or patents

[denoir 0]

Quote[/b] ]u have to register it

No, you do not. Registration was necessary in the US quite a long ago, but it is not now - and it was not needed for very long time in Europe. There is some internation treaty on called, if I am not mistaken, Bern Convention.

Quick search on internet will reveal many pages on this, like this one.

This is a copyright violation. I have copied your text without permission.

No but seriously, copyright law is messy. Basically anything you produce is copyrighted and per law requires an explicit permission from the holder of the copyright to be legally copied. As you can imagine in context of the web, this can get quite absurd. Any image for instance that you post on this board and every text that you write is copyrighted and others have no right even viewing it as the content is copied locally to their computer. Every time you view this forum you are violating copyright laws.

Ok, that's impractical. So how is it dealt with? Accoding to this site:

Quote[/b] ]In the USA commercial copyright violation involving more than 10 copies and value over $2500 was made a felony.

Less than that and it isn't punishable. So how does it fit with software or music copyrights etc? I have no idea.

[kegetys 2]

Quote[/b] ]In the USA commercial copyright violation involving more than 10 copies and value over $2500 was made a felony.

Less than that and it isn't punishable. So how does it fit with software or music copyrights etc? I have no idea.  

It is punishable of course, but not classified as a felony (a crime carrying a penalty of more than a year in prison.).

[Master_Chief 0]

Would there be any legal difference between a modified BIS model being released and a modified version of the ofp executable file being released? What if so much copyrighted material gets released that it becomes a Warez issue?

[Powerslide 0]

If we wanted, it would be easy to create OFP so that it accepts only addons created by us - but this is probably not what anyone here wants.

Certainly not. The addon community has taken a great game and added alot of good things to it, it's good for everyone involved.

[Pathy 0]

Ruff i have a feeling your talking about trademark.

As everyone else says, copyright is automatic and free.

And its the solution out of this mess.....which i'm pleased me and Sniper Skull were the ones who brought it up (we DO have a use, at last!) Kegetys seems to know the copyright law back to front though

[JGreyNemo 0]

Hmmm obviously you're all new to this copyright game.    I work for a legal publisher in Australia - LexisNexis.  And before that I used to work for Baldwin Shelston and Waters, which is a Intellectual Property Firm for Australia and NZ.  So here's the lowdown

Firstly.  Maintaining copyright over anything be it digital or traditional media is EXPENSIVE, why?  Because in order to maintain a copyright over anything you need to make sure that somebody is looking over the vast number of things that could infringe on your copyright, and take action upon such infringements using written warnings for the offending party to cease and desist all actions relating to the infringement.  and failing that, legal action.  These are your copyright agents.  You will find them usually working for intellectual property firms along with Patent attorneys and Trade Mark Lawyers.  For the looking out for infringments upon your copyright You can always do this part yourself.  If you find an infringment you will then need to notify an Intellectual Property Lawyer to asses whether or not you can claim copyright infringment, ie.  This is a very tricky thing to assess as there are many ways to claim that there is no infringement, ie Parody, date of release etc.  Then you will then need to go through the laborious not to mention expensive process of official warnings giving the offending party a fair enough time to cease such infringements and if they don't a court order for civil damages etc can then be launched.

Also, copyright is limited.  In that it needs to be maintained, and registered at a copyright office, all of which comes at a fee, not to mention needing a notary to help you fill out the advanced forms if your copyright is seen to infringe on another copyright previously registered.   Then your copyright is posted in a gazette under which other intellectual property firms can scrutinise the application to see if it impinges on any of their clientelle's copyright.

This and you will also need to renew your copyright every so often (I can't remember the time period).  And it doesn't last forever like a Trademark application does.  There is a specific number of years a copyrighted item is protected, after that period of time it is free for the general public to use/misuse.

Here's the killer for OFP addon copyright.

If you want your copyright protected internationally you will need to lodge your application in EVERY country you want it to be protected in.  This is why big business like music, software and large printmedia industries are the only people who can usually afford copyright.  BERNE Convention only covers print and some other types of media but NO REAL PROTECTION for DIGITAL MEDIA.  The sheer scope and science of digital media (ie.  The physical sense that it is data stored in 1's and 0's).  Means that the interpretation of Berne Convention would be a waste of time on OFP addons because it is not a traditional form of media that the Berne Convention was orginally setout to cover.  Which is why the Western world has been so flummoxed to create new laws, some good some stupid in order to combat Digital Copyright Theft and Crime.  Eg.  Australia's Spam Act only was created THIS YEAR.  

There is currently NO international protocol under which a national copyright protocol can affect another nation's copyright.  Unlike trademarks which have the Madrid Protocol to protect trademarks around the world no matter where it is lodged, copyright must be lodged in each and every country where it is deemed to be useful to have protection.

And even places like China don't listen to even THAT protocol, which is precisely why the west is so reticent to have businesses set up there because the Chinese are so efficient at copying something and producing it at a larger/faster and more efficient scale that copyright/trademark/patent applications simply don't get registered there because it's such a waste of time.  China is an intellectual property sinkhole.  I used to spend a lot of time tracking illegal counterfiet goods coming OUT of China, because it's only when that stuff lands in another country that people can do anything about it.  The Chinese Goverment are doing some to help this problem, but not enough.

So there you have it, the pockmarked process of copyright and intellectual property registration.

I hope you guys have the cash.

In the mean time I suggest you check out this  (this is the American version, but it's fairly similar and the most up to date with coverage of digital media types and issues arising.)

http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/hr2281.pdf

http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/

Oh and EULA is part of the copyright process, as in it's not the whole copyright thing.  EULA is simply a document to make the End User (That's the person who's using the copyright material) aware of any copyright and proper use that is applied to that Digital media.  EULA must be protected by a national intellectual property agent within the country of the end user.  Otherwise you've just got a fancy sounding TXT file.  eg.  EULA in CHINA = EULASLESS

Mind you, no disrepecting China, but as I said they're in intellectual property anarchy world.

IMPORTANT - ON TOPIC TO THIS TOOL AND WHAT WE COULD DO WITH IT

In the meantime can I get someone to go into the BIS angelina P3D, remove her stupid hat, (which I can do now thanks to this brilliant tool)  add NVgoggle/handgun proxy/RPG proxy/flag proxy and any other proxy I've forgotten about.  And release the P3D to the adoring BIS public.  How does one add a proxy in the first place?  I just want a decent female soldier model out there.  Probably go in and fix the Resistance females as well... fix the dodgy rifle proxy which goes through the arm with the default BIS rifle animation, as well as the fact that the NV goggles don't show up as well as the fact that the RPG proxy is missing too.

Why did BIS do such a rush job with the female characters in OFP?  WE HAVE THE POWER NOW GO TO AND FIX THIS SILENT TRAVESTY TO OFP GAMING!!!

Otherwise I'll just have to learn how to do proxies and do it myself.  (*sigh*)

[kegetys 2]

Also, copyright is limited.  In that it needs to be maintained, and registered at a copyright office, all of which comes at a fee

Maybe in Australia, but here in Finland there is no such thing as a copyright office. Anything I create is automatically copyrighted to me, and I do not need to maintain it, it automatically lasts for 70 years after my death.

Quote[/b] ]If you want your copyright protected internationally you will need to lodge your application in EVERY country you want it to be protected in.

The very point of the Berne convention is, that you do _not_ need to do so. Though while it can be difficult to sue anyone from another country for copyright infringement, its still a very "powerful" way of getting your point across to internet service providers for example who are hosting files you own copyright(in your country) for. Especially large backbone operators have specific abuse email addresses to where you can report such activity, and they do care.

Quote[/b] ]BERNE Covention only covers print and some music media but NO REAL PROTECTION for DIGITAL MEDIA.

That's incorrect, quoting the actual convention:

Quote[/b] ]The expression "literary and artistic works" shall include every production in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, whatever may be the mode or form of its expression, such as books, pamphlets and other writings; lectures, addresses, sermons and other works of the same nature; dramatic or dramatico-musical works; choreographic works and entertainments in dumb show; musical compositions with or without words; cinematographic works to which are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous to cinematography; works of drawing, painting, architecture, sculpture, engraving and lithography; photographic works to which are assimilated works expressed by a process analogous to photography; works of applied art; illustrations, maps, plans, sketches and three-dimensional works relative to geography, topography, architecture or science.

(emphasis mine)