Alas...a cruel image to bestow ye

[Stoned]

Does he look familiar? Hes Maldora :| The Maldora model is a port from War Hammer 40K unfortunately. A particular model that I liked. MSC is getting really out of hand from the model stealing. The only good original model you guys have is the bludgeon. Most of you will probably think "So? Whats the big deal?" the big deal is there is a chance that the developers of the retail game could see that you stole it and well....that would lead to a whole train wreck of events.

 

[Thothie]

This has been noted several times before. I think the model is original work though - just fan-made, and taken with permission at that. Not that it matters, we have several other models in game that are directly ripped from retail games (as well as textures, music, and sounds).

We're too small to bother with and non-profit. Thus, technically, most of it is fair use. Tis also not as if folks are still making money with the models we "borrowed" or that our using them is cutting into their profits in any way. The music is a bigger concern - especially since it might crop up in a warez-engine search.

Not that I like having stolen models, but meh, ya fight with the army you're given, not the one you would like to have. Worst case scenario, we get a cease and desist order and have to substitute with something screwy looking.

 

[TheOysterHippopotami]

the big deal is there is a chance that the developers of the retail game could see that you stole it and well....that would lead to a whole train wreck of events.

I'm not a lawyer but I am next to positive that if you are not making profit from someone elses work using it in your own creative context is completely legal.

Thothie - If you ever receive a cease and desist order I highly encourage you to tell the company in question to go fuck themselves. I sincerely doubt that there is anything they could do. This is a community lead project. Who exactly will they be taking to court? I don't think there is much to worry about though. It's not like we have ripped anything from LucasArts.

While I would love to see original models for every monster in MSC, it just ins't possible. Maldora is one of the more important villains in the game (the most important) so if somebody would like to take it upon themselves to create an original model that for Maldora I'm sure the community would shower you with superficial praises. I, for one, would love to see a new Maldora model.
That said, if someone does make an original model, but it isn't as good as the ripped model, keep the ripped one. Quality is far more important than being 'unique' or 'original'. Just look at any artist today whose primary concern is creating something new rather than creating something pleasing (like john cage). They all freaking suck. Just because something has never been done before doesn't mean it's a valid idea. Quite the contrary, usually.
In short, I applaud MSC for having the ability to recycle material without being hindered by the shallow complaints of those who do not understand creativity.

 

[Thothie]

Thothie - If you ever receive a cease and desist order I highly encourage you to tell the company in question to go **** themselves.

Eh... No. If I lived outside the US, and the forums and game hosting services were also outside the US, I might consider it, but here, people are second-class citizens to corporations. The copyright laws are pretty nasty, and even if they couldn't do anything legally, they could pull fiscal strings in the right places to kill the mod quite easily, if someone took a personal disliking to us. A few media companies have entire divisions dedicated to doing just this sort of thing on-line. (And some friends of mine have fell victum to them - not with video games, but simply by putting the poetry of Dorthy Parker on-line in fan-pages, for instance.) I would make sure said order was actually from the company though, and not just simply yet another MSC saboteur.

Besides, there is a moral issue involved. I would *like* to be able to ask the retail game makers *if* I could borrow their long abandoned work and credit them accordingly, but I know even if they *wanted* to let us have it, their hands would be tied due to the screwy way copyright law works out here. I actually tried this when working for the Wizard Wars guys, and the modeler (who worked on Thief II) even confided, "You should have just taken it without asking, as then it would be a non-issue. But now that you have..."

Quality is far more important than being 'unique' or 'original'.

Eh, I don't lean quite so strongly in that direction myself. I'll take something half-way decent and original, over something pirated for a game like this where the engine is so ancient that aesthetics have to be secondary. I suppose I do draw the line at some point though... Findlebind will likely be the only elf ever to look like that.

 

[Stoned]

The reason why I hate the model porting is because I think its morally wrong. It shows that the modelers are just to lazy to make the models themselfs so they just steal someone's work who worked very hard on. But eh...I will live with it as long as you dont go pass a threshold of model porting

 

[Thothie]

I also feel there's something morally wrong with letting the work put into long dead games, that the current generation, and future generation of gamers, would otherwise never even see, go to waste. Art, however insignificant its form, shouldn't be forbade to outlive its ability to turn a profit. (Thus my financial support to MAME and MESS.)

But I credit where I can, and as I've said elsewhere, I always credit non-retail modders, and gain permission, for there's no legal ramifications there, and it may aid in their professional portfolios. In the case of Maldora, again, I do not think it's stolen from a game, but rather a piece of fan-art from another fantasy world, and since we got the artist's permission long ago, there's no moral quandary at all, but only a break in consistency sourced in the accidental spanning of genres.

 

[Stoned]

I also feel there's something morally wrong with letting the work put into long dead games, that the current generation, and future generation of gamers, would otherwise never even see, go to waste. Art, however insignificant its form, shouldn't be forbade to outlive its ability to turn a profit. (Thus my financial support to MAME and MESS.)

But I credit where I can, and as I've said elsewhere, I always credit non-retail modders, and gain permission, for there's no legal ramifications there, and it may aid in their professional portfolios. In the case of Maldora, again, I do not think it's stolen from a game, but rather a piece of fan-art from another fantasy world, and since we got the artist's permission long ago, there's no moral quandary at all, but only a break in consistency sourced in the accidental spanning of genres.

Your right. Watching epic work done by moders go to waste is just torture eh? Take Kingdom's Collide for example. Recently it died and trust me, it was epic when people were playing it. To bad its Source tho, cant port source models to HL...can you?

 

[jon50559]

Of course you can. People have made 'illegal' rips of HL2 guns to replace the old HL1 models.

 

[Marisa]

I'm not sure if it was in there, but it might have been in the WH40k Half-life mod. I played it once a few years ago, lucky enough to have jumped into a group that was playing while checking servers. Same way with Mechmod for Halflife, also unfortunately fairly dead.
On that note, the shader glow on their beam swords looked really nice, and so did the reflective water.

Also more off topic, someone made really nice wh40 eldar guns for quake 3 last decade.