Hi all,
After the wild ride I've been having trying to position myself between the mod and the coursework, a great big chunk of bad news has come my way. After a revelation by a friend, it has become clear that what I am undertaking here is copyright infringement of multiple companies, and more than a little illegal.
The dangers of copyright infringement include huge fines, imprisonment and sullying reputations. As I want to work in the game/software development at the end of my course, I am putting myself at great risk which I didn't realise before. After consulting many friends, including one with legal knowledge of this exact issue, the unanimous vote was to remove the mod and all content before it gets into GW's hands.
I apologize to all of the people who supported mod, for the promise I made that I would work to make sure this was one of the greatest mods out there. I did not expect this to happen, and it is with the deepest of regret that I am removing the mod from the Page. I will also be removing all photos and videos as a just in case, I do not want to leave anything to chance.
I also want to thank everyone for the support that was given throughout its production. Without you all I would not have kept going with its construction. I have learnt a lot during this brief period, which will probably help me out in the future. And, if I am ever to get legal footing to begin producing this mod, I will be starting it back up again (sadly, I doubt it)
Lastly, I know that many people already have copies of the mod, I must insist that it is not posted anywhere else, and is kept for private use. No one should create anything further for this mod, unless it is completely within copyright bounds (i.e. using completely original models, textures, sounds, so on so forth). This is not only to minimize risk to yourself, but also to minimize risk to me as the original creator.
Thanks again to all,
Charlie
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
******* DAMN
I know the feeling :(
I actually feel legitimately sad...
+1
Have you tried contacting GW in general and seeing what they say?
Another Men of War Warhammer mod bites the dust :(
Will you still be working at it man? Or are you leaving for good?
Anyways, good luck on your future journey and thanks for working on the mod!
I will keep it for personal use, as there is no restriction as such on personal mods. However I doubt I will do any more work on it.
Are you not covered by fair use?
Short answer, no.
Long answer, hell nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Laws are confusing, especially copyright ones.
What?!?!? Mods aren't illegal!!! There wouldn't be so many of them if that was true!
Surely you're covered under fair use due to the fact it's non profit
Non-profit does not mean that it isn't copyright infringement. Due to me using assets from another title, which are not only owned by GW but also by several other companies, it is illegal for me to use them without the permission from all parties, which I do not have. The mod assets I used from FOK and others are classed as "Derivative works" bar the titans, and even with permission from the mod developers I cannot use them. They are covered under different laws because they used official mod tools to create them and are only adding back to that original product, dawn of war.
As far as GW would be concerned, I am drawing attention away from their products to a different product using their assets, and therefore am liable to any harm done to their profits, or what harm they believe I have done, and I therefore I may have to reimburse them for anything they have lost due to my mod, regardless if I made any money off of it or not.
Believe me, I have researched every option I have, and this is the only one that gives me a good chance of not losing everything I have.
*Edit* As stated in the reply I gave above, copyright laws are extremely confusing and downright backwards when it comes to mods.
**** Copyright.
**** the greedy *******.
**** sake.
Seconded. **** copyright and **** greedy companies who have more than enough money already.
Have seen the lord Inquisitor trailer? The guy is using crytek software and gw stuff, no problems. Also there are lots of other fanmade things no one takes care of. And at last gw has probably better things to do than smash little modders.
I'm sure there are plenty of things that GW could pick up on, but they don't have any movies in the works so its not going to steal any profit from them, so they probably won't care. As long as it isn't defacing their brand, that is.
I can't comment on crytek software as I don't know it well enough to say what they're copyright status would be.
Sorry to hear to hear this but I just notice that another 40k mod for operation flashpoint uses ripped models from dawn of war and the fok and other mods and this is project has been around since 2009 and still updating it to this day on modb I would go to them to see how they been able to do the same thing you've been doing and they haven't got into any issues and its a very popular mod
I would say that it is probably due to the fact they don't directly compete with any other games that GW has and they have a very small download compliment. I think this mod directly conflicts with dawn of war 3 and therefore they may attempt to use it as a scape goat if dawn of war 3 flops.
I think the Flashpoint 40k mod authors asked for permission from GW years back and were given a greenlight, but I'm not sure.
If this is the case, fantastic news for them. Unsure if the same thing would happen in this case though, as it does rival DOW 3
have you seen the Call of Warhammer and the Beginning of the End Times mods? They are doing exactly the same units (and then some) as Total War: Warhammer and have been doing so for quite a while now.
GW would usually send out a cease & disist order before taking action.
Edit: Boardgamegeek.com
They did the same thing to Vassal 40k a while back.
The way I see it, if I'm expecting to get a cease and desist, I shouldn't be doing it.
Please, ask GW before doing anything rash. If you are closing down the mod anyway then if they say no there's no harm done, if the say go ahead then keep the good work.
I must point out mods like Call of Warhammer might be considered conflicting with Total Warhammer, and yet they go on without any issue
I want to say how much this saddens me, but honestly I don't even feel it anymore.
Copyright laws are the number one enemy of mod creativity. I've seen far too many amazing projects like this one die because of them.
Good luck in your future projects OP.
So why don't stop making ******* "DOW3" games and start investing in MoW like? ******* Greed Heretic Bastards!
Oh I forget about dawn of war 3
Sorry to hear this cause you put loads of work into this mod thank you for the fun I had it with it and keep my fingers crossed that one day you can countine working on it :)
Oh... Damn... This mod just made me buy MoWAS:2 :( so bad it must be removed, good luck with everything dude
I'm sorry, Thanks for the luck I think ill need it.
This is really sad news, I had a great time playing and following your mod man. Now you shown that you are capable of making a great and cool mod, which is always a good experience for someone who want to work in video games industry: I got myself in a game design school by presenting MoW mods at the entrace exams.
I hope you will succeed in whatever you try and I wish you good luck ! :)
*Cries in a heretical manner
.
Well, ******* ask them. You already removed it, might as well see what they think. I'm pretty sure that whatever lost profit your mod causes them, they gain it back in good publicity, maybe even more so.
Damn, was looking forward to it. IMO, curbing non-profit mods will only serve to restrict the W40K online gaming community. Total BS.
why do you not ask permission for it then?
hang the law & keep making it. the only person that can stop this is you. GW has better time on their hands like making new sphess mahreen models & charge $120 a set than give you a C&D.
This is a Dark day for The Imperium....
It's like someone ripped a new eye of terror right in the middle of my heart...
Time to say goodbye :(
and burn some heretics...
GW are really arses. I was just about to say "just keep on working on the mod and release it, they will not sue you", but I'm not even sure of that.
meh this suck. I had a few hive city and deathworld maps ready to send. Thanks for the good work though, this mod was a wet dream come true.
Hi dude, would you be up to sharing those maps? I don't think that would violate the mod creators wish for his mod not to be shared, as it's your own content.
^^ can comfirm i am fine with sharing any maps you had for the mod as i didnt create any terrain assets.
the city map and facility maps rely heavily on assets from the mod. On the hive city map I used the gothic pieces on almost everything. I could remove some empire assets on a deathworld map but the rest would have to be up to Guardsman1111. (edit) On second thought, I can just send the maps to Guardsman and he can look at them. I can edit some maps and still share.
As i said i never took any terrain assets from anywhere, so any that are in game are easily available online through another mod download. You can use any terrain assets for maps in this mod, jut people who download them without the mod wont be able to use them obviously
You do what you gotta do dude, it's your content and your right.
However, I think it's very unlikely that GW would notice this mod, and even if they did they'd just say "Hey. Take it down.". They'd probably go through ModDB instead of you, even.
This is nooooot something you would ever get sued for, that's not how these companies operate, especially in the case of non-profit mods. Even the highest profile mod removals on ModDB (like the LOTR mod for Oblivion being removed by Warner Bros) simply amounted to "Take your mod down now.".
Hope you reconsider at some point in light of that; you were making easily the coolest 40k content out there. Good luck to you!
The best and only 40k mod for AS2, a sad day indeed.
To be honest, no one is going to sue you over a mod.
guardsman1111 are you ever gona create another mod like this except with no copyright problems