Fall of the rising sun! "Copyrights"

[CaptainNemo]

Hi folks! As some of you know we released our mod pack "Fall of the rising sun!" in germany some weeks ago.

Now a german pc games magazine asked if they could release this modpack on a cd which is part of their magazine. They asked for copyrights. So my question is:

Is there anybody who is listed in the readme who does not want to release his mod which is part of "FOTRS" on a german pc game magazine? (www.pcgames.de)

We and they do not earn money with our and your work. It just a free gift for their readers.

Please tell us if one of you does not want to give his permission.

Here you will get the readme.

[Carotio]

I see my seafloor mod is part of the mod, which is okay.

But I'm a little twisted about this "deal". By this, I mean: let's say they don't raise the usual price of the magazine just because of this "free gift".
But will they gain more readers this month (meaning selling more issues) because of it? Because then they will sell more magazines and thus earning more money.

Then again, how about the price for our consent is a free copy of the magazine sent to all mod contributors? Just an idea. For me, it ain't a problem with the language, but I suppose others would have their linguistic difficulties...

Though, it's still nice that they ask in advance and just don't take it and publish it anyway like others did in the past...

[AOTD_MadMax]

Originally Posted by Carotio

I see my seafloor mod is part of the mod, which is okay.

But I'm a little twisted about this "deal". By this, I mean: let's say they don't raise the usual price of the magazine just because of this "free gift".
But will they gain more readers this month (meaning selling more issues) because of it? Because then they will sell more magazines and thus earning more money.

Then again, how about the price for our consent is a free copy of the magazine sent to all mod contributors? Just an idea. For me, it ain't a problem with the language, but I suppose others would have their linguistic difficulties...

Though, it's still nice that they ask in advance and just don't take it and publish it anyway like others did in the past...

Hi Carotio,

i dont think that they will sell more magazines when they include FOTRS on her big DVD.
They always put an freewaremod on her DVD, sometimes some mods for C&C, Battlefield, COD4 and so on. Most mods they supported are mods for mainstream-games.

Dont worry, the deal is not done in this moment and we from AOTD will not earn any money for this. This deal only can bring us a little bit publicity.
The Idea with the free copy for all mod contributors is an nice one !
We will talk about that with the magazine-people.

Greets

Maddy

[sergbuto]

Is Corsair going to be included in the version on DVD? I see from screenshorts that rockets/racks from my Air Attacks mod are used for it but I do not find that credited in the credits section of Readme.

[Nisgeis]

Here comes a potential can of worms. The last line of that credits file says:

“Fall of the rising sun” is open source freeware, made by the SH3/SH4 modding community.

That's a bit confusing, as 'Open Source' may be interpretted as the Open Source Licence, which allows commercial use, re-sale and also charging a fee for redistrubution, as many of the authors of the mods used in FOTRS explicitly restrict commercial use of their mods, the open source licence cannot be used and may lead to confusion. Open Source is also not compatible with the definition of Freeware.

It may also be a good idea to add in after saying it's freeware that FOTRS may be distributed free of charge and may not be sold commercially, just to make it clear, unless you have already included a non-commercial freeware license elsewhere in the ditribution.

I'm happy for my little mod to be used, as long as the original readme is included in the distribution.

[Sailor Steve]

I've been reading this with a little bit of worry. I'm no lawyer, and I could very well be wrong, but it is my understanding that if you sign the "Copyrights" over to them, they now own it, lock stock and barrel, period, done deal. That means that if they decide they want to turn around and make money off of it you no longer have any say in the matter at all. It is now theirs to give away or sell to whomever they please. That's what "Copyright" means.

But that's just as I understand it; I don't know that for sure.

[kriller2]

I have looked at this to and it looks like some of my work is included in the mod, some of the terrain textures and allso Jaketoox's water shader from ROW / PE is included. However my name or Jaketooxs is not mentioned anywhere, LeoVampire is credited which is great, but me and Leo and JakeToox and Is4htl worked very close together to make ROW.

Anyway good luck with the deal if they are not making any money out of it, except selling more magazines, then fine, but if your mod suddenly end up on a CD called something with X.... (don't mention it! someone says to me ) then we have the same issue all over again.

EDIT: here is the original credits list from ROW if you want to use it:

Credit's:

Kriller2: for all his work in creating new textures for ton's of objects in the game
from Docks to crains to light houses and ground textures and tree's and sky
and reflection work and more.

Redwine: for torpedo explosions and underwater depth charge explosions

l3th4l : for his ground breaking work on the Oil Slik textures and new Fire textures.

Jaketoox: For his work on the stars to get them to show up better in game and brighter
And his work with the sun halo moon halo the base for all the new sky color's
in the sun set's and rises. Also new sea foam work as well that is much smoother
for all PC's to run.

Kapitain_zur_see: For his work on the lightning DDS file's

Captain Cox: Work on the lightning / muzzle flash / less water limber holes / Bow and conning foam

Sober: For his new mountain texture's that Kriller2 smoothed into the ROW work for better effect.

i would strongly advise not allowing this magazine to have Copyright on the material. There is absolutely no need for them to have it. Many gaming magazines provide freeware on their included discs but do not own the copyright, simply go out and buy a copy of PC Gamer and you will see.

SO the fact that they are asking for copyright should worry you a great deal. You will effectively be signing over the interllectual property rights of your work and they will be free to do as they wish with it.

[AOTD_MadMax]

Originally Posted by sergbuto

Is Corsair going to be included in the version on DVD? I see from screenshorts that rockets/racks from my Air Attacks mod are used for it but I do not find that credited in the credits section of Readme.

Hi Sergbuto,

the rockets are not an content of the released german version of FOTRS.
They should be an content of the english version and for an german upgrade.
The credits for this new mods we used will be given in the upgrade or in the english version.
At this time iam starting an "permission-journey".
Ju 88 give me his permission for using the B17.
The Corsair is an selfmade one just like the Nakajima Ki 44.
A already asked the publisher of the ASW-Airlayermod for permission to use 3 of the ASW-Planes and the ASW Bombs-Air but 3 weeks are gone with no answer.
Sometimes it is very hard to find and contact the builder of some Mods, much harder as to build the same thing by your own.
So now i have to ask you for permission to use your racks which i have found in the spanish 24 Flottilla mod.


Back to Topic.

The magazine dont want the copyrights for all mods which are included in FOTRS.
They say that they need the permissions of all modders for including FOTRS on the Freeware DVD.
But in this case it is better to talk with Captain Nemo.
He got more informations of this cause he is the one who stays in contact with the magazine.
The Magazine got FOTRS from the german UBI-Forum where they have downloaded it for free.

Greets

Maddy