Question about legality - using Daz Models in non-commerical Game Mods
Rhian-Skyblade
Posts: 223
Greetings,
maybe someone can answer me this or point me the right direction.
I want to create a mod for an Elder Scroll Game called Skyrim (some of you might know it). All those player made Elder Scrolls mods are non-commercial and can be used by everyone who plays that particular game for which the mod was made.
The mod I have on my mind, is supposed to add several daedric temple/shrines on the surface somewhere in the landscape of that Game. So everyone who downloads my mod, can go to this place and use it as intended. That means, they download also the 3D models I added to my mod.
Now comes the question.... is it legal?
I will be using a lot of the original content coming with Skyrim, though it's lacking some things I have to create/supply myself.
For example a statue (like here e.g. http://rhian-skyblade.deviantart.com/art/Sanguine-Dawn-361661119 )
The statue has been created from M4 and Wood God ... and the complete statue has been turned into one object... afterwards I have reduced the poly count to a certain degree, removed all shader domains ... So, even a Pro couldn't strip the model apart and getting a free morphed M4 and Wood God attire...
If I want to use this one in the game - I have to also convert it into NIF. That's the native format Elder Scrolls Games use for their 3D models.
So, if I did... would that get me into any trouble with the law?
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Comments
In trouble with the law, doubtful. Sued, maybe. DAZ sells a game license fo 500 bucks I think it is, and even then it only covers daz originals, not PA stuff sold here :/
It is their claim that even derivitives would be against the license you agree to when you buy their stuff. Wether it would hold up in court is another story, I don't have the money to find out though lol.
Had hoped that game license only applies when I am creating my own game with commercial intention and not just adding a static object to a mod that won't run by itself anyway *sigh* pity :-(
Thanks for letting me know :-)
Rhiana, have you checked out Makehuman?
the figures import rigged as collada export from Makehuman into Carrara, just need ik restraints for posing
You can drape cloth on them modeled simply in vertex room too and create great Carrara textures
and are redistributable!
Unless your acquired content items actually have the provision to distribute or publish the project in digital 3d medium where the original geometry or texturex can be replicated. Its typical that most 3d content only allows for 2d publishing and distribution. The game license (DAZ Original) offered allow for this, however you still must obfuscate or reduce original quality so that the original product may not be extracted and reproduced by an user who acquired your distribution. This is a general explaination and should not be considered authoritative since I am only another artist interpreting the license terms as currently published.
I heard about make human, but since I suck at modelling "humanoids", I am not sure if I can get what I want out of their "humanoids".
Also the game license only applies to new games and not to adding mods to an established game, so even buying the licnese would not allow this sort of usage
the Makehuman app works much like Daz and Poser where you spin dials to morph characteristics of the figures.
then export the result to pose in Carrara,
when happy export as obj with morphs and skinning
reimport static prop and cut up, use displacement brush on or 3D paint etc, modify to your hearts content!
thinking softselect will add those horns, as a prop you can change vertex count.
Thank you Wendy :) I will try that!
Sounds like a good alternative, since I mostly only want to create statues and such.
http://makehuman.org/
Big, big fan of open source these days lol. Loving blender the most, there are a million free high quality tuts for that out now. Downside of blender, it is so feature rich, I often have a hard time choosing what the hell I am going to learn next lol.
Actually, I think there may be a much easier solution for you. When I modded Neverwinter Nights, I used a plugin made by the community that worked with GMax modeler. Look around in the modding community for your game and find out who's doing what. There is likely a plugin made for blender. That way you can use the models that are already in the game and edit them. I made an entire package that used nothing more than new textures that entirely altered the appearance of things. I have to warn you though, modding games is an addicting effort! Koukutso from the Post your Render thread might be able to steer you in the right direction in that regard. I think that it's Skyrim she's totally hooked on! :)
My son wants me to get addicted to Skyrim too. But I've just re-addicted myself to Neverwinter Nights 1 again! We made entire modules for Firefly (including the Firefly vessel), Star Wars, Warhammer, Dragonlance, Planescape, I was on the Spelljammer Team and C.R.A.P.(Classic Roleplay Adaptation Project) - where we had a bit of a motto starting out: Some acronyms are made from a group of words. Our group of words was created from the acronym! lol
Anyways, I started by just creating new textures for the game. Then a modder found me and asked if I would do textures for their cause - the Spelljammer Team (D&D in Space). Next thing you know, we became jolly friends and I was making models for the game. Thus was my entry into learning 3d software. I had GMax, and free version of 3dsMax for game modding - made by Discreet - who was the then developer for 3DS. GMax is still the same as it was back then - no updates. But it's still available - which is good. If you'd like to see if they have a compatibility with Skyrim it's at TurboSquid.com
I have a feeling that there's probably some plugins for it for Blender, though. Then you can bring in the models and tweak on them. You need the game plugins because they're what import and export the parts that the game needs to use such a model. In NWN, for example, there was a central Node to which all bone were connected. This node tells the game were weapons hit on a high, low or middle hit. It also held every animation for that, specific model. So, in GMax, we could change or add animations to the models. Changes aniamations would show up in the game. But I wouldn't even think of that... their animations is why I love the game so much! New animations can be added, however. You can call forth the animation in the game engine via script. That's how we eventually got rideable horses in the game. The Dragonlance Team (DLA) had the really good modeling guy. He made the ninja animations and many more - plus he made the plugins that really gave you the control you needed - and he made them not just for 3DS, but for GMax as well! How cool! Well that team figured the whole thing out and got it working smoothly. BioWare ended up buying their adventure and selling it to us as a Premium Module. They even had David John on their team - who composed and recorded their soundtrack. Modding teams like that are really cool. You'll see various teams get mad at each other - but in the end, we're all just people living together on the same planet. When you find a good team like that, they usually have a forum set up so they can all communicate to one another. Most good teams are more than happy to accept visitors and answer questions, point out links to where you get the tools, etc., Often there will be some ambitious new person on the team who hasn't been given an assignment yet - so they monitor the forum waiting for someone to chat with. They'll find you what you need and point you in the right direction - perhaps. At least that's how it was with NWN and NWN2. My friend, that got me into it all actually got his name in the credits of the NWN2 release! He became an expert at modeling areas. Man, Obsidian's people are so cool - so are the guys from BioWare. Those were some days, I tell ya... yup.
oooops - nevermind... you did all of that already!
Sorry. One day I'll learn to read the whole post!
Wann hear something sad?
Bethesda doesn''t even allow using Models from their older games in their own newer games...
So I would not be allowed to use a model from Elder Scrolls 3 in Elder Scrolls 4 or 5 in a mod ... how sad is that.