Zipper5

Sorry DM, but isn't that how this community has always worked? I.E. you're free to look around in my stuff so long as you don't steal parts of it and release it as your own? And then if someone did steal it and release it as there own, we've always unanimously "boycotted" it until the issue was resolved. I'm reminded here of when PR announced they weren't going to make their mod use CBA so as to be compatible with most other mods. People became annoyed, started complaining, and for a short while the PR team were pretty much driven off. I can only see something similar happening to addon makers who lock their work and only allow those who have their permission to even simply un-pbo it and look around. Sure, if all addon makers start locking their addons, then the complainers will be forced to accept it, but I find it highly unlikely every addon maker will follow suit...

That is a risk those companies granting the permission should be fully aware they are taking, as I'm sure they are.

A request for maturity followed by that... Nice one. Some of you get way too angry over this, so much so that you let it get in the way of what you are actually trying to state. This isn't the first time for a couple of you either. Keep in mind that this discussion so far is about the protection of something you are making unofficially and for free, hopefully as a hobby in that case.

But what reduction would actually occur? Are you talking about short-term reduction? Because in the long-run, if the methods and means appear and circulate, the reduction, if there was any at all to begin with, will become redundant, don't you think?

What becomes reduced once people find the means to crack it? It would be money (if BIS were to involve itself) and time spent on something that, in the long-run, would become redundant to those who's mind is set on stealing peoples' work, especially if the aforementioned means were to be publicly distributed. I ask you this: how will you react if this new, hypothetical system is put into play, and yet you still see your creations appear on these websites despite making use of it?

I just discovered the bolt action animations module. I am in love. The animations seem to stop playing once you reach two remaining bullets in your clip, however. :p

Yes, there is Omaha Beach, and it is nice. :D Oh wow, I didn't know that. Guess you learn something new every day. Nice to know you're resolving the Springfield bug already, heh.

That was fast, SFG. :eek: I've noticed so far that the Springfield scope's glass is white (read: missing a texture) and the M1 Garand + M7 fires like a bolt action weapon. As a side note: I really like the menu cutscenes for Omaha (and I like Omaha itself, of course).

This is actually running perfectly fine for me so far, apart from Omaha taking a pretty damn long time to load despite the progress bar filling to 100%. Very high quality mod you guys have here. Looking forward to updates!

Looks very cool! Will try out ASAP! :D

Hey guys, got a bit of a surprise release today: Check the first post for details. Enjoy! ;) This was actually a project I started right after the BAF DLC was released, and was intended to be a 2-mission mini-campaign detailing the British assault on Shapur at the end of Crimson Lance. However, I never got around to finishing the rest of it, so I thought I might as well fix up the first mission and release it. Hope you guys like it.

Agreed, I don't jump on that bandwagon. I was simply using it as an example. I think this is the most unfortunate thing to hit the community. It never used to be an issue back in OFP, but suddenly everyone wants it handed to them on a silver platter, or not at all. I have no idea why that is, but it's damn unfortunate for the addon making and MP aspects of the community. :(

Suddenly, industry big-weights lose their credibility when they say consoles lack innovation, even if he happens to be the creator of GoldenEye or BioShock. Gotta love it. :rolleyes:

Sure, okay, but that does happen already. If someone releases work that has content in it taken from someone else without authorization the community always "boycotts" it. But I guess with this method it would at least force them to ask, unless they use the methods that may appear to go around the protection. Then we just do as we always do - "boycott" them until they give proof of permission. I think it's too much of a generalization to think that the decrease in addon makers is because of people stealing their content, pufu. While I agree it certainly doesn't help, I think the lack of interest from the community in mods outside of commonly used ones (ACE2, as an example), or the greater difficulty with creating addons of Arma 2 standards, contribute to it as well. With OFP it was actually pretty damn easy to make addons, even I with my complete lack of knowledge back then was able to make basic ones that at least looked on-par with BIS'. :p

I'm not saying no one cares, I'm simply stating it's completely naive to think you will ever "beat" pirates or thieves. Fight them as much as you want, but they will always be there. Just like cheaters. Go ahead and lock your stuff out but realize that once someone finds a way around it all you will have accomplished is locking out those who simply want to learn from your stuff rather than steal it. It's exactly the same conundrum as video game DRM.

Well that is something you will not be able to change, no matter how hard you might try. I can imagine how frustrating that would be, but you are distributing content for free across the internet. It's basic internet knowledge that some douchebag somewhere will steal it from you no matter what you do to protect it.

There is such a huge sense of self-entitlement coming from addon makers recently. Is there a particular reason why we do not see the same coming from mission makers, script makers, etc.? What is putting you guys above the rest of those contributing to the community? This is just getting silly now, and I foresee a coming thread lock, just like the last 10 of these threads.

If you were to take the loss of learning material out of the equation, you then have a question of purpose. No matter how well you lock or encrypt your creations, people are going to find a way around it. That is a fact. What will you do if a new encryption or locking ability is made by BIS, but your next high quality model using these methods still appears on Turbosquid shortly afterward? Demand more be done, thus creating a never-ending cycle? You have to look at what you're actually getting out of this. The fight against piracy and theft on the internet is one you're almost always going to lose, as sad as that might be.

While I like the idea of your poster there, IceBreakr, the caption doesn't make sense. :p The correct term you were looking for is "eons", which means many years away. Eons is not pronounced the same as ions, therefore it doesn't really work too well. But if you still want to go with the idea, it should read: "We are IONs ahead of the competition." As the use of "ages" in that context is redundant. Cool idea, though! :D

You addon-makers need to stop saying this... I would think that if I were to view everyone who criticized my opinion as "whiny and ungrateful", they would stop using what I produce.

Of course, nothing about theft and piracy is "right", but it's also nearly impossible to properly punish on the internet. And by trying to do so, you simply make the thieves and pirates more angry, thus more determined to foil your efforts. It's a perpetual cycle. You might be angry, you might want stuff done, but it's something you have to accept as it isn't going to change any time soon, as unfortunate as that might be. If it's too much to swallow then perhaps you need to stop distributing your creations online to save yourself the anguish. And no, I don't believe it's only ridiculous when it's not my stuff being stolen. Making your customers (paying or not) suffer because of others would be defined, in my opinion, as ridiculous.

If I may be so blunt - is it really up to BIS to protect your addons? I get that you don't appreciate people stealing your stuff, no one does, but you're on the internet, and it is a cesspool of theft and piracy. No matter what you do to protect your addons that you're giving out for free, people will be able to steal them if they choose too because there's yet to be a fool-proof way to stop it entirely. It's the same situation with video games, movies, music, etc. Sometimes adding ridiculous amounts of "protection" even has negative effect, as quite clearly evidenced by Ubisoft's new DRM...

Now Kevin Lavine, creator of BioShock, agrees. It's nice to see the PC finally getting some love from the mainstream.

I'm getting this feeling that something happened behind the scenes in this community recently to make people very paranoid about protecting their work. I know of events in the past where people have blatantly taken someone else's work and released it as their own, but never has it provoked this level of paranoia. Community websites and members simply boycotted them. Can someone fill us in? Or is it literally just people becoming paranoid all of the sudden? :p You may have been concerned about the protection of your work since you started, but this concern over it has only recently just flared up within this community...

Well, in that case, you're forcing your own perception of what is a priority on to BIS, whereas Joe Shmoe might think inaccuracies with weapons are top priority, or animations to be one, and expecting your priority to be prioritized over others. As always, give it time. OFP's last patch was v1.96.