Take a First Stroll Around the Tower! (Trailer)

[jastey]

@Arthas Do you mean "Grabmal-Mod"? That will be a different mod for ToB. (Grabmal means tomb in German.)

[Drakensang]

On 12/1/2019 at 3:23 AM, Sam. said:

They stole the idea and resources from this mod, the true and original one which has been in development for over a decade.  The depravity of Roxanne and Within Amnesia knows no bounds...

Huh, those people sound pretty good. Kudos to them!

[jastey]

We had little drawbacks like the BST areas overwriting pvrz files (area graphics) from SoD (because of the way pvrz are created by skipping the second letter of the area name - which is part of the unique prefix, don't ask me why they made the format like that) but we got that sorted. Quest development will still take while, though.

[Vlan]

Just take your time, and make sure that the mod is appropriately integrated into the main quest of BG.

[Angel]

This looks interesting.  If I can help with anything, please don't hesitate to ask.

[jastey]

Thanks for the kind words and interest!

 

@Angel Thank you for the offer. Very dangerous offer.

[Lauriel]

Oh yeah!  Looks incredible!  I think this will be another 'must have' mod for me.  So exciting!!!

[jastey]

Thanks!

[Angel]

3 hours ago, jastey said:

Thank you for the offer. Very dangerous offer.

Heh, well you know what I can do by now.  Besides, I may need someone who can do quests and dialog in the future, best to have some credit.

[jastey]

6 hours ago, Angel said:

Besides, I may need someone who can do quests and dialog in the future, best to have some credit.

Dang, guess I went into the trap!

[Guest Yovaneth]

Arrived here by curiosity to see what Jastey et. al. are up to; after so long it is good to see this mod finally surfacing.

I regret to confirm that the main areas in the 'other' mod are used without consent from either myself or Cuv. Stolen, in other words, as Jastey was the only one to whom I gave permission to use my areas. Ask either of those two 'mod authors' to produce the original area artwork. The response (or more likely, the lack of it) could be interesting.

Keep safe, adventurers.

-Y-

 

[Jarno Mikkola]

1 hour ago, Guest Yovaneth said:

I regret to confirm that the main areas in the 'other' mod are used without consent from either myself or Cuv. Stolen, in other words, as Jastey was the only one to whom I gave permission to use my areas. Ask either of those two 'mod authors' to produce the original area artwork. The response (or more likely, the lack of it) could be interesting.

Then I'll presume you can say with confidence that your area is not using any of the original games assets ? Cause I see the bridge leading up to the place to be of questioning that confidence. Remember, that can be said with confidence to be copyrighted material... while mods do not gain that distinction just cause it's featured. So if you use a copy, you do not can the credit of creation of that and can then deny others from using the same asset.

Just let it go.

Yes, you did a good job, have a pat on your back. -no knife, I swear.

[Brokenkatana]

It’s seems the main point of contention is not wether the other two had a right to make a mod about the Seatower, but if they had a right to use the art created by Cuv and Yovaneth. The answer to that is, they don’t.

Speaking as someone that actually had to study collage law in school, they could claim the work as an original collage piece of art. Since it looks like their was some photoshopping going on.

To take it a step further, Beamdog states on their forum “everything created with Infinity Engine resources is more or less proprietary to the owners of that engine, mods are the property of their respective authors”. They also say “Using someone else’s work in your own work without their permission is stealing” and “Developers follow these same rules; we don’t use a mod or a resource without first obtaining permission from its creator”.

The other two are not using original game assets, they are using the original collage artwork and mod resources of others without permission. Per Beamdog, that is stealing.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/19418/a-quick-note-about-copyright

For the record, I'm really looking forward to this mod. Amazing video BTW.

[Jarno Mikkola]

7 minutes ago, Brokenkatana said:

“everything created with Infinity Engine resources is more or less proprietary to the owners of that engine, mods are the property of their respective authors..

Thing is, these are not originally only Infinity Engine resources, but they are bits and pieces reassembled into another pile of resources. As should you know, Rabain did the at least the original map, in photoshop, based on the BG1 maps from the original game. Or had a BGT with or without the -weidu game and extraced them from there, or Tutu or what have you.

Also, what happened between BG1 and today is, the Blackisle Studio had a bankruptcy, it's assets were sold, and those were reshuffled to the todays Atari, after a lawsuit, also it's not the Atari from years ago that also had a bankrupcy, but a new one. At which point Beamdog licensed the product from Atari, with the Overhaul Games.

Also I have to compliment your cutting of the occurd " The modding community thrives when people collaborate (and we encourage that collaboration)," text from that, as that's the WHOLE point I was making.

The other is that you have no legal point to stand on, so you might as well do what is asked of you, forget bout this. As in "Just let it go."

[Brokenkatana]

I have read the original forum posts on Spellhold (if I’m not mistaken), but I believe we are talking about all the area art being used by the other two. Which I believe was created by Cuv. However if you just want to stick with the Seatower, Rabain’s version is different from what I’ve seen here. Thus I would say this is an original piece of collage art. The maps being used by the other two appear to be directly taken from this version. Thus, not an original piece.

The bankruptcy of Blackisle Studio has little to do with Beamdog’s ability set rules for the modding community, as you point out, they’ve licensed the product.

You sort of defeat your argument by quoting “the modding community thrives when people collaborate”, because collaboration is not theft. Thus why I posted that link. I believe the modders that have worked on this through the years should be allowed to voice their opinion if they feel they’ve been wronged and you should heed your own advice and “just let it go” when they do.