Clarification on the MLOD release issue.

[Placebo]

Obviously since the community released MLOD thread was closed there's been a consensus of opinion about exactly what it all means, so hopefully we can clarify things a little here.


Firstly it's important that people respect copyright. Generally, if someone wants to release or modify someone else's creations they should get permission first. To get more information in the specifics of copyright there's a good wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright content permissions also ties into what we've been discussing in this thread here. Part of the MLOD issue was simply about copyright and permissions, there was no permission to "rip" open all of the officially released ArmA mods and then lay them bare for anyone to download from a public server for any use they like, we try to ensure that we make the appropriate things available as necessary so that the community can create addons and mods.


There has been a bit of concern since the events happened that we somehow want to stifle the addon/modding community that creates such amazing things to keep on adding to the lifespan of our games, that certainly is not the case and we would not want to in any way dampen the enthusiasm, passion and talent that you guys (and gals! ) exhibit on a daily basis, we know how important the community content creators are to our games and our community and we will certainly continue to support you now and in the future.



If it's unclear what is and what isn't allowed to do, it's always best to ask directly the creator of the original work (in this case BIS).


Finally we're looking into the released MLOD issue with the intention of protecting the best interests of the valuable gaming community. We will investigate the possible release of further MLODs officially, to counteract this unfortunate situation where BIS' copyrighted work was already released to the community and is apparently being further used to create custom content. The first ArmA MLOD sample models that were officially released can be found here

[[APS]Gnat]

Ok, good. Thanks. Certainly better than the earlier position the BIS team seemed to be taking.
.... there will be questions ..... when I think this through properly
Looking forward to the support.

[granQ]

it still make the question.. is it ok with:

Releasing a vehicle based on the hmmwv, like a rework with added detail, maybe a gunner of some sort..

Using the sample hmmwv but only make winter/desert/woodland textures...

Change the textures for a non-sample model, lets say the BMP.

Extract the bmp.p3d, fit it with new weapon. Correct it and release it.

any official word on this?

I just released a soldier based on the sample soldier, should I remove it or email bis somehow to ask the premission?

[RN Malboeuf]

ODOLExplorer for ofp exists for years. it's in the download list on every ofp site - why you didn't mind that time ? ***

Quote[/b] ]we try to ensure that we make the appropriate things available as necessary so that the community can create addons and mods.

it's over a year after arma release, but examples given are pretty incomplete (for ex. there's still no tracked model.cfg in the examples provided ). As far as BIS do not provide good documentation for its engine (yeh, there's biki but it's filled mostly by community not bis) - the only way to make smth is studing standart stuff. And now if you to take back this chance - Why ? To make addonmakers life harder ?
Released public tools are truncated, docs ***inadequate, any attempts to improve current state of affairs called "illegal reverse ingeneering". I really wonder if BIS are interested in community addon development at all

Quote[/b] ]BIS' copyrighted work was already released to the community and is apparently being further used to create custom content

What content ? ***Do you mean community arma addons ? Yeh, there're lots of reskins/rework created with those mlods, but how can it harm bis ? All arma addons are using standart bis content anyway.

Anyway... everyone who cares already has these examples thus...all this just doesn't matter ))

[Panda[PL]]

When can we expect full default ArmA config to be released?
It is not among the sample files.
Some object types are not represented among the sample files aswell so how can we know what selections are needed?

We need a resource to learn addonmaking. Not everyone is skilled enougth to decipher the ArmA default files on their own.

As for copyrighted material: I am looking forward to see admins locking threads and forcing people to either get permissions or rework their addons.
Because in my oppinion the only way to get rid of copyright violation on this site is to fight it. ODOL exporting is only a small % of such violations. Getting rid of it does not solve the problem.

[Maddmatt]

Many released addons have used these 'reverse engineered' models, yet they recieved no complaints from BIS from what I see.

There are also mod projects being worked on that would suffer a lot or have to be canceled if using those models is banned. That would be a great loss if they couldn't use those models.

How else are people suppose to make changes to them to make them better and create more variations and features? Make entirely new stuff and throw the BIS stuff away? That would be a waste

Quote[/b] ]We will investigate the possible release of further MLODs officially, to counteract this unfortunate situation where BIS' copyrighted work was already released to the community and is apparently being further used to create custom content.

Please could BIS also release the source (commented) configs, including the main config and BIS addon configs?
So we don't have to rely on unbinirised configs. It would be helpful. Stuff like this helps the modders and reduces the need for 'reverse engineering', which is never as good as having the source files.


The source for the main config was released for OFP.

In fact, any source files would be appreciated. Maybe those shdc (shader) files? Understandable if this one gets a no, but it would be great if it happened.

[T_D]

unbinarized configs can be found in binarize folder

[Maddmatt]

unbinarized configs can be found in binarize folder

Thanks, I see them. But they are not from the latest version of ArmA. And do not include the stuff from the addons folder

I don't even see a version number that can be used to tell how old they are

The complete, latest ArmA configs would be appreciated

[Tomislav]

another thing is that ofp was for about 5-6 years on his own out there, now ArmA is out, the stuff from BIS e.g. sample models, but also tools came a bit late if you take in consideration, that ArmA 2 is going to be released this year (yes, one never knows as history shows), but in fact things came really late from bis, and you can read the rest from earlier posts here, with which i agree.
it's not that i wanna tell you wait with arma 2, but make things at least compatible, and this time for sure, not that it ends like ofp and arma, than better tell that before.

[Kegetys]

there was no permission to "rip" open all of the officially released ArmA mods...

The whole idea behind 'modding' is that you can use & extend existing game content and engine to do your own addons/mods instead of having to do the whole game yourself, and I personally find this sudden change in policy a bit odd - If BIS content used without explicit permission is now not allowed then that would mean most of the addons & mods I have made for example would now be illegal. Especially everything made in the early days of OFP were based almost entirely on "reverse-engineered" data & information, since there was no official material and very little documentation about anything.

The general feeling before has been that for BIS material pretty much anything goes - After all what modders are doing is extending the game from which only they get profit from and as such I would have thought it would be in BIS' interests to allow it to be done (Not necessarily by explicitly permitting "everything" but by not forbidding it either as is being done now). Having to worry about wether BIS will "ban" some addon/mod because of some modified ArmA files included is going to be a big headache to everyone if thats where this is going...