The Source Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Could this be why KotOR 3 is on a hiatus? I was going through BioWare's forums, and I found this interesting conversation: http://jade.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=480778&forum=108&sp=0 Most KotOR modding was actively hunted down by Lucasarts. They maintain a very strict control of their IP. Derek French - BioWare's Technical Producer I put a hault on all of my KotOR modding. I am now wondering if modding is causing Lucas Arts to put KotOR 3 on hiatus. Until I get a clear answer, I am out of KotOR modding. I can't take that risk. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHawke Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I think you are causing unneccisary drama for yourself again Mac... seriously. That post has nothing to do with us, it was likely directed at some of the mod projects that 'ported' themes or materials, nothing more. LA is well aware of our existance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I think you didn't finish reading the thread. You will note that our very own Darth333 voiced her concern with Mr. French's post. Quote: Posted 05/19/06 03:28:55 (GMT) by Darth333 This answer somewhat surprises me. LucasFiles which is a 3rd party site but officially LA endorsed has a Kotor modding section. LucasArts has also posted a screenshot of the starwarsknights.com website announcing some kotor mods on their official Kotor 2 website (it's small but it's still there)... Obsidian entertainment also doesn't seem to have any problems with KotOR mods... Posted: Friday, 19 May 2006 04:28AM by Derek FrenchQuote: Posted 05/18/06 20:08:08 (GMT) by Derek French Most KotOR modding was actively hunted down by Lucasarts. They maintain a very strict control of their IP. I bolded the party that was responsible for the hunting again, as you seemed to have missed it. I made no statement whatsoever about what BioWare felt in the situation, nor will I speak on behalf of other companies. Nor did I say which mods were on the receiving end. I was specifically referring to mods that brought in other IPs into the game. I don't think anyone really cares if of add or edit a cloth texture color into a game or something equally benign. The key point being LucasArts went after mods that introduced other IP's into KotOR. You know that LucasFiles won't allow mods that use files from non-KotOR games in KotOR mods, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Source Posted July 7, 2006 Author Share Posted July 7, 2006 You guys have a point, but I think there is something to this. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arátoeldar Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I think you are causing unnecessary drama for yourself again Mac... seriously. That post has nothing to do with us, it was likely directed at some of the mod projects that 'ported' themes or materials, nothing more. LA is well aware of our existence. Agreed LA would have shut down places like LF, TSLRP, M4-78 RP, and PCGameMods in a heart beat. If LA was actually as heavy handed as the post makes them out to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Source Posted July 7, 2006 Author Share Posted July 7, 2006 To be on the safe side, I am going to do some extensive research. I want to know exactly where Lucas Arts stands on modding. Even though it looks like they cracked down on illeagal stuff, I want to be on the safe side. I will share what I find with this forums. Maybe, there is a Lucas Arts representitive visiting this site who can shead some light on the subject. I will start by looking at the games leagal agreement, and then search Lucas Arts.com for it. I will comb the beaches, the trenches, and the rivers. I will find the answer, and allow people to draw their own conclusions. I swear, we shall never go mod hungery again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Please forgive me if I can't help but 3+ years of KotOR modding going on in these forums, none of our community's modders have reported being contacted with "cease and desist" orders from LEC during that time period, and you think there is something to this? You are so far out there sometimes, MacLeodCorp... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedHawke Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 You are so far out there sometimes, MacLeodCorp... Q.F.E. Mac, this is really 'Much Ado About Nothing'... seriously. Still funny though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Mac, you have a lot of mods out there. If they haven't bugged you about it already, they're not going to, unless you put something out there really and I don't see you being unwise enough to do something dumb like that. The guys (and gals) who work at LA are probably geekier than us, so there's no way they could miss all the modding. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them have made their own mods, too. I think we would have heard a lot sooner if people were being told to shut down their modding. I think there'd be an uproar on the forums if that happened, and it's just not. If I were LA, I'd crack down on any mods that involved sex/nudity/porn/other illegal activities, because that does damage LA's image, but leave the people just having good clean fun alone. As long as we're not doing anything that violates the EULA, then we're fine. There are no laws that I know of that say mods are illegal (something like child porn excepted, of course). If LA tried to sue you, they'd have to prove that you did something wrong and that you caused them harm in some way. Otherwise, the case gets thrown out and you could countersue for a frivolous suit. Since your and other modders' mods encourage people to actually go out and buy the game so they can play with some cool mods, LA would be hard pressed to prove you did any kind of damage. And quite frankly, most of us don't make enough money or have enough assets where it would be worth it for LA to sue us in the first place. They'd end up losing more in lawyers' fees. This is not something I'd lose sleep over. If I'd thought you were doing something illegal or that LA would slap your wrists for, I wouldn't have contributed to your latest mod, after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkkender Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Also for note from the get go Bioware has taken a "No Modding discussions" stance for Kotor since it's early days. Beacause modding was not officially supported for the game. The above statements by Derek French which I've read that thread myself infact I've been keeping tabs on that forum. but thats besides the point. Anyways his statements are directly reflective of the stance that Bioware has had to take since Kotor 1's release. Had modding truly been an issue you wouldn't be able to find a representative from Obsidian trying to recruit modders to work on TSL back when they first got the project. I had come across the thread sometime back. It's funny at that time Our moderators had locked the thread and scolded the Obsidian Rep for trying to direct people away from the forums or some such thing. If modding had truly been an issue with LA I'm certain Obsidian would not have tried to recruit modders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewayne26 Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 honestly i thought modding is illegal mostly that why i never used them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkkender Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 If it was illegal we wouldn't be making them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dewayne26 Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 If it was illegal we wouldn't be making them. true........i don't why i thought that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ztalker Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Hmm...i didn't know they were actually monitoring the mods.... Like the guy said, it doesn't matter to him if you make new reskins, colors etc. Imo, that means he isn't hunting the Lucasforums at all. Half of the mods here mod robes, lightsabers, and use the original Kotor2 files. I think they are just hunting down the people who are importing/exporting files from kotor 1 (possibly even Jade Empire) into Kotor 2 and vice versa. I can imagine that would create...legal matters, since they are created by different dev's. As long as the modders don't replace Bao-Dur with Mission or Jolee, everything will be cool, imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Windu Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 As far as I know, Lucasarts' stance on modding is ambivalence when it comes to changing things within their games. However, if you port foreign material from another game into a LA game through a mod, that is effectively piracy and will be shut down by LA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Lucasarts just worries about IP issues and the like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Source Posted July 7, 2006 Author Share Posted July 7, 2006 I forgot about this:: http://www.lucasarts.com/press/releases/61.html What drove my drama, as it is now called, was that I have seen this on a few websites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkkender Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 See even LA says they support us. Man such a drama king you are mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoiuyWired Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Well, LA is smart supporting modding. Its a win-win situation, both entending the lifespan of the games(look at JK series) and as an indicator of what people generally likes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Lion54 Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Too me, there are a few possible reasons why K3 hasn't been made yet: 1) LA is busy with other projects. At the moment K3 is simply not a priority. 2) For whatever reason, they don't think K3 will make alot of money. I.E. they have no plans to make it. 3) They feel the "Action RPG" that is in the works would compete with K3 and don't want them both out at the same time. Simular to why they won't make another MMO until Galaxies is dead. (Despite what most people think of the game, its making quite a bit of money still.) Possibly other good reasons, but thats how I see it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjpb3 Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 ^^^ Or: 4. They are keeping their traps shut so that whatever company makes (is making) K3 can do so without the fanfare that K2 received and can actually make a decent game this time (pleaseohpleaseohplease let this be the reason!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperor Devon Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 The fan community is incredibly important to LucasArts Bah! Laughable! (Right now, that is) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ztalker Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 I don't know... What about LA releasing the High-end resolution patch for Kotor 1? And of course the (late) release of the 'better movies' stuff for kotor 2? It isn't a huge improvement, but they do finish their job properly. They have never purposely left some bugs in, but fixed them. And George didn't attack this site with his lightsaber....i think he actually likes the way the EU is 'written' by modders. In short terms: Although it isn't that obvious, LA does like us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Char Ell Posted July 8, 2006 Share Posted July 8, 2006 Bah! Laughable! I think it's also interesting to note that the LEC press release MacLeodCorp linked to is dated 2002 December 11. Simon Jeffery was sacked as president of LucasArts and replaced by Jim Ward in May 2004. Not that I think LEC has changed its policy on the modding of its games since Jim Ward took over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Source Posted July 8, 2006 Author Share Posted July 8, 2006 I thought they changed policy. ***Bow Head In Shame*** I changed my tag line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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