What is the communities opinion on....

[Pathy 0]

Modifying the addon (for release) of a person who seems to have disappeared entirely and doesnt respond to PM's or emails?

Just thought i'd test the water......

[edejl 0]

Which addon and by whom?

[Pathy 0]

Well i knew that would be asked sooner or later but i hoped later rather than sooner so at least i could get a few answers totally unbiased in any way.

I want (and have started) to make HYK's 1985 infantry into Colombian Soldiers. Colombian soldiers dress pretty much the way 1985 US soldiers did (read into this: old surplus US gear ---> Colombia), so, given that HYK's is the most accurate reflection of this era soldier, its also the best for me to convert......

Now i have tried to contact HYK for the last 2 or 3 months and not got one reply. I know this is not an isolated problem and that others have experienced a similar blackout from the guy. I also know that before his disappearance, he gave permission to TOW to modify his modern units, but they have also had no luck contacting him since then.....

...if i were to go ahead and finish making Colombian soldiers, i would of course deliver all due credit for the textures ect, but i wouldnt want to end up getting accused of stealing, or flamed for any reason......thus, i am currently (in this thread) testing the opinion of the community over this dilemma.....

[edc 0]

Personally, if someone does not reply to emails/pms/etc, and/or makes it impossible to contact them, I would take it as a "I don't really care". Why? Because I think its certainly reasonable to to expect someone to make some method of communication available(exceptions would be like if someone was in the military and was being deployed, etc). And if they don't provide some way of contacting them, then I think it would be safe to assume that they aren't concerned or interested in what happens to their addons.

[Gollum1 0]

Those Japanese and Asians overall...they're a bit different when it comes to this community stuff.

They usually release good quality addons without much hype, answer one or two questions (or none), then disappear and can't be contacted even through their email

Ok maybe not, but that's the impression I've got.

[CounterForce 0]

I believe that it is not ok to use their work without their permission.

If you can't contact them, they will not give permission.

The fact is that it is their work and they can decide what should be done with it.

And if don't decide anything it should not be used by others

[Pathy 0]

2-1

Keep in mind that he previously gave permission to another mod for the modern soldiers, indicating that he would A) reply to requests (if he were around) and B) accept them. Thats my thinking.

But its what the rest of you think im interested in, to go for it or not?

[Landwarrior87 0]

Pathy i say go for it, as the same with Combat! they gave the credit and did it properly in the read-me and in the forums thread everywhere.. as long as you credit him and thank him i see no problem why not. i say GO FOR IT!

if you made a good addon that everyone uses and everyone knows you made it.... you would let someone else edit it for something different because it would add more variety and everyone will thakn you even more for building the foundation of the addon.

[Drill Sergeant 0]

Pathy i say go for it, as the same with Combat! they gave the credit and did it properly in the read-me and in the forums thread everywhere..

I was under the impression we had permission for that...

Also one meber bailed on ons before he finished skining my

new troop models. The HKY base was used in there place.

We had also in an early stage asked Suchy and Earl if we

could use there troops and had permission to. Further along

we swtiched to my models then back to HYK.

Honestly what is so hard about re makeing what you used?

Then it's your model and is correct and theres no sticky

problems if this person comes back and chews your head off.

As was said before, not responding is no.

[CanadianTerror 0]

Do it and give credit.

Nothing wrong with that after trying to contact the author.

[<>Crippler<> 0]

I'd say go for it- if anyone takes the stance that it is 'theft', then it could be argued from the postion of the 'reasonable steps' as in "have you taken reasonable steps to find/contact the owner?". I'd say that trying to contact the maker for 2/3 months is reasonable, and if the owner does see that they've been re-released and objects, you can always officially withdraw them from download if worse came to worse. So I'd say for you to release

[BraTTy 0]

Altho I am open with my addons and I would be honored if someone redid/rereleased an addon of mine.But then there is the Corsair that I didn't do the final texturing and don't own those parts.Texture artist might take insult if someone redoes his work? Then it would go on to whether people assume its your addon after,and you give them permission to use,then they give others permission etc...the original author's name gets lost in there.

Then there is the EULA that Bis technically owns the addon,so its hard to say.That sorta gives addonmakers rights to it too,If it was me I wouldn't use it without permission,I would just make what I needed.

Which brings me to my Zero's that I am doing, they are exclusive to OFP, as far as I know no other game has Zero's like it,I am making all parts not using anything from anywheres,I make the whole thing but Bis owns it?

[scfan42 0]

I was under the impression we had permission for that... Also one meber bailed on ons before he finished skining my new troop models. The HKY base was used in there place. We had also in an early stage asked Suchy and Earl if we could use there troops and had permission to. Further along we swtiched to my models then back to HYK.

Quoted from the Combat! APC Crew readme, a few sections cut out to save space:

Helmet and textures by Rudedog

NOTE: Every attempt was made to contact Hyakushiki. After sending many emails' date=' PM, etc and after 4 months of no answer by him or any other BOH member, I decided to release this hoping I would have the authors praise.

Models and Textures by Hyakushiki[/quote']

IMO I'd say it's fine, as long as you give him proper credit and such. Though I think it is possible that he doesn't speak English and got someone else to translate the readme for him...

[Shabadu 0]

Don't see anything wrong in it here.... so long as credit is given where it's due, what more could you ask for?

Especially given that you've put it out there, on this forum, and not simply gone right ahead and released some addons without saying something. You put the effort in to contact the guy, had no response, cleared the air and then are going to make a decision.

I'd say, go for it.

[Goeth 0]

If you don´t get reply from author then you leave his addon alone.

[mr reality 0]

Don't see anything wrong in it here.... so long as credit is given where it's due, what more could you ask for?

This is exactly what i would of said.

HYK's units are without doubt my most used units in OFP.And i personally think all the "good" addons should be tweaked as it can only make the game better.Stopping people from using excellent addons as a base for there addons only hinders the addon makers from making even better units.

@ Pathy

Why don't you start a differant thread with a "Vote"

[Goeth 0]

Why don't you start a differant thread with a "Vote"

Maybe because this is not a matter of vote.

[Meathead 0]

I guess this is alittle off topic but I think addon makers should include this info in the readme as "standard"

As in: Info on permissions for modification and the extent of those permissions

For example if I was to release an Addon I would put a section in the readme headed as "permissions" then under this section I would either have

A. No modifications of this addon without written consent.

B. Texture Modifications allowed.

C. Full Modification permissions.

etc...etc...

Just a thought on the matter.

[mr reality 0]

@ July 25 2004,02:57)]Maybe because this is not a matter of vote.

Well for one,it would be easier for us to see the way people are thinking about this,and i would like to know your reason why it shouldn't be a "Vote".I'm guessing your against the idea of Pathy using HYK's units.Voting is a diplomatic way of finding out how people feel towards a certain subject.Are you affraid the votes will be in favour of the "Use the addon but with an acknowledgement in the readme" people.

[BoweryBaker 0]

You know what? If you did make an addon out of the HYK units don't bother getting permission because Hyakushiki won't care anyways. If he did care he'd be responding to the community. Next thing I gotta say is try to make your addon self contained. Don't make it so that it requires the HYK units in order to work. However, I won't be all angry if its not self contained because i have the HYK units and so do most other people.

Edit: If he does gripe about it, then the addon will get pulled so just take your chances. But most likely he won't care. I have a japanese friend and they mostly don't care about stuff like that. My friend made the wanzer and he's like if you need any help on your addon from mines then go ahead man. I'm sure HYk is the same way, not trying to be generalizing them or nothing even though I am kinda but I'm just almost positive he won't care. He'll what's he got to lose? What have you got to lose? And if people don't like you for it... *uggum. That's my view on life.

[vektorboson 8]

It's bitter sweet irony, reading this thread.

I'll say only one thing: You don't have permission. Nuff said.

[Pathy 0]

I didn't turn it into a vote because i wanted it to be a more objective discussion based on getting a feel for what people thought than a yes or no vote. But i probably should have made a poll.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, as you can probably see for yourself, with the exception of 2 people, most people think i should go for it. Its clear to me that most people dont have a problem with it and unless this thread turns into a sudden storm of critisism, i will go ahead and make these into Colombian Soldiers, giving all due credit to the original authors.

Thanks. Pathy.

[laulau 0]

i say: if he doesn't reply, do it. Nobody blamed CBT to use HYK's unit to make their APC crew. There will always be people thinking that it's stealing or not right to do it but it's just a game, nothing more. You don't make new HYK US soldiers saying you made it yourself but different ones based on his. As you said, just put in the readme that you used his units.

I remember the start of OFP, did all the addon makers asked BIS if they can modified their units? i don't think so.

If one day the author of HYK unit is not happy that you used his addons, be sure he will say it and ask people to remove your units from their servers.

Sometimes, i feel like the community is crazier than lawyers about copyright and intellectual property!!!!

[Pathy 0]

It's bitter sweet irony, reading this thread.

I'll say only one thing: You don't have permission. Nuff said.

And what happens if the author isnt around to give permission? We sit and wait till he comes back? If he ever comes back? Not bashing you, just wish to explore your opinion abit more.

[theavonlady 2]

I say you should continue trying to contact the creator for 60 days and if he doesn't reply by then, do it.

Just being pragmatic and reasonably ethical.