Mod Management

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by pitkin, Dec 30, 2011.

  1. pitkin

    pitkin Registered

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    I have a question to do with the online mod and track management. Seeing as it's all going through matchmaker, is it possible for ISI or whoever to block content from appearing for online races?
    For example if someone converted the cars and tracks from Codemaster F1 2011 and was using them in league races, would Codies be able to contact ISI and demand that the content was made unavailable for online use?
    To go further, if someone makes a track from scratch for one sim, someone else converts to RF2 without permission, would the original maker be able to restrict it's use?
     
  2. ethone

    ethone Registered

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    They have said they are not going to look at each mod and "approve" it before release.
    However, they have also said that with the multiplayer subscription they have a handle on misbehaviour.

    I really don't think they should get into the whole mess of trying to decide which mods are okay and which are not, trying to find out who gave permission for what when and then decide on penalties and such. As the developer can only lose if you go down that road.
     
  3. jubuttib

    jubuttib Registered

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    True, but clearly illegal game conversion mods could still be tackled. And from a technical standpoint, there's nothing to stop it since all mods can be identified.
     
  4. pitkin

    pitkin Registered

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    If they're making money from a service which allows the use of illegal (technically pirated) content, it could cause them to lose a lot more IMO, especially if the matchmaker service is automatically donwloading updates for said content.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 30, 2011
  5. ethone

    ethone Registered

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    So we're talking clearly pirated content from other commercially released games right now, correct?

    The matchmaker (or any other part of rF) does not automatically download any mod content. We've been through that discussion in the Mod Packaging threads, and I'm on the side of keeping it that way. As you are implying it opens a can of worms in having to police mods for a number of possible infringements.
     
  6. Petros Mak

    Petros Mak Registered

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    Considering that the taking of assets from one game to place in another without prior consent of the original creators is deemed illegal. If Codemasters went around policing or found out about it, they would have every legal right to request ISI/Matchmaker to disallow the mod from being shown in online servers. With the rF2 system, that (if I am not mistaken) should be easy as ISI or Matchmaker could ban the modID or contentID.

    Don't think that codemasters employs people to sit there and look at every site or moddable game. HOWEVER, the developers of those games are gamers themselves, many of which have been avid rFactor players. Any one of them who'd see a mod containing assets made by the company they have worked for, they may take the time to report it.

    I don't understand the fascination people have with taking assets from other games. If you like that car so much which is not available in rF, then play it in the game its in or politely request if a mod group would consider making it.

    End of the day, Codeys/EA and any other developer would exercise every legal right to have the content removed if they found out. It is illegal so DON'T DO IT!
     
  7. ethone

    ethone Registered

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    A track is available in gM format in a decent quality for one game, but not the one you're playing. Take Oschersleben for example, my "local" track. It's available in the RaceXYZ series in decent quality, but nobody made a decent scratch-built version for rF1. I'm not sure I'd call it a fascination, but surely that's a decent reason why people might look at conversions? I'd sure prefer a scratch-built/community-made version but I can see why people would look for other avenues for content they desire.

    When we're talking about non-commercially made mods, it's incredibly inefficient to have a scratch-built version of a track for every single sim. There is no inherent difference between a rF track and a netkar track. They're both just a big collection of polygons that would be the same in both iterations. The only difference would be specifics like the AI lines for rF or the way organizational features like the skybox or starting lights are handled.

    Cars are a different deal in my opinion as physics can be different between (even closely related) sims, and unlike with tracks the differences wouldn't be in non-crucial specifics like the way starting lights are adressed but in a feature that is incredibly crucial to how the mod feels.

    If I may answer polemically to part of your post, I don't understand why some mod makers are so concerned how people use their mod. I can understand being concerned with re-publication of their edited material, but some modders are expressively prohibiting editing of any of their mod files. What do they care if a league that runs their mod fixes a typo or changes the pit speed limit?
     
  8. Marek Lesniak

    Marek Lesniak Car Team Staff Member

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    Example. Since when rFactor came out, there were almost no mods with road sports cars of VERY GOOD quality. Damn, there is even problem to keep so-so quality not only for physics but also for graphics.
    Now, point out, which modding group will create for me a few models of cars (good quality models!), if I request such :)
     

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