• New Horizons on Maelstrom
    Maelstrom New Horizons


    Visit our website www.piratehorizons.com to quickly find download links for the newest versions of our New Horizons mods Beyond New Horizons and Maelstrom New Horizons!

VCO ships in PoTC

Merciless Mark

Merciless Mark

Build mod - Master Gunner
Storm Modder
I'd like to discuss the subject of the Voyage Century Online ships being added to the game.

I find it somewhat troubling, adding AoP ships to PoTC is one thing, because they are both Akella's games. But VCO is not and like it or not they own the copyrights to their own models.
If they found out were just taking them, they could potentially shut down Pirates Ahoy if they wanted to be really mean.

So the way i see it we have two options.
1.) We delete all VCO content from the build mod, and work on creating our own new ships from scratch, now that we have the tools to start doing so properly.
2.) We contact the VCO staff and ask for their permission to use their models in the build mod(and work on creating new additional ships from scratch as well).


Thoughts mateys?
 
As far as VCO ships are concerned, we've got the Batavia, Endeavour, Dauntless, GalleonC3 and Sirius. On all of those ships, major work has been done by forum members (Razor, Thomas the Terror and yo ho ho), including re-texturing, re-rigging and adding additional parts, such as steering wheels, cannons and anchors. Therefore I don't really want to remove them from our mod, because a lot of effort has already gone into them.

However, I do agree with Merciless Mark that adding stuff from other games, especially from non-Akella games, does constitute a copyright infringement and is therefore problematic. What I would suggest in any case is to stop adding models from other games, especially VCO, now that we have the modding tools to make our own ships properly. Instead we should focus on figuring out how to use those new tools and get to work on making completely new ships of our own.
 
It would be interesting to know who actually owns the copywright for all the VCO stuff. AFAIK Akella sold the right to use the engine and models to Snail Games and IGG in turn licensed it from them.

I think the worst case scenario would be a cease and desist for the build mod, so if we really want to be on the safe side, we´d have to remove all the 3rd party models/textures we don´t have a permission to use for (that includes AoP, but thankfully Akella isn´t Games Workshop ).

But it would be a <i>real</i> shame not to have all the beautifull stuff and the best way (imo) would be not to include them in the "official" build releases, but provide them as an unofficial addon on a seperate download location (e.g. filefront)

Regards,
Bava
 
so that would mean another dauntless would have to be made from scratch, if the current version would be removed. still, it would be better to remove them now than wait until we've used to models so much that it would be a shame to remove them.
 
Well the models belong to whoever created them, and the question is did akella create the models in the first place?
 
Argh!

Merciless mark is Right!!

we cant just steal other's ship.


// well the first thing we must start with is make some scetches of the ship, i can see waht i can do, and the i send it to Bava so he can edit it <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> OK??

or some thing like that :S :S
 
Its not stealing, its ... err, borrowing and improving them <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="xD:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />


<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->well the first thing we must start with is make some scetches of the ship, i can see waht i can do, and the i send it to Bava so he can edit it smile.gif<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Be patient, young padawan.^^ Its not like the Build Mod is in desperate need of ships atm.

Regards,
Bava
 
I'm having 157 unique ships in my game now, with several more waiting to be added.
 
I don't think we're in any IMMEDIATE danger. But we do need to consider this issue.
 
I'm not sure if I'm looking at the issue correctly, but when we put in game ships, maybe form "other sources", but reskined and improved, wouldn't be that acceptable? At least, the final version differs and there <i>were</i> some work made on the ship... However, in capitalistic reality, that's still "stolen property"...

In light of fact that we obtained some new tools recently (as Merciless Mark and Pieter Boelen have stated earlier) some of PA! forum member, who have abilities and required experience, would in fact try to implement ships from scratch.

pirate_kk
 
Then you dont steal the texture but you <u>steal</u> the model!

As I said, if you realy want that ship, get some paper and a pen and make some scetch's and upload them (top front side and behind) then i can see what i can do!!
 
I agree with you Merciless Mark. But I also want to add this to it, these are low quality models. In some aspects very ugly. We cannot put everything that floats into this game. before we know it, we will have aircraft carriers and spaceships. I do like the new interest in aop and potc. but it can also lead to ruining what we love. Some of us have worked on bringing quality ships to these games We have Bava's Frigate to look forward too , and I have some surprises also. but when something big happens in this game people won't forget. Releasing substandard models, just takes away from the work and research some of us spent to bring new ships to life. I just spent a obscene amount of money on a rare book by Howard I Chapelle this past weekend, just to have some fresh unknown draught plans, that will be used to create new models for AOP and POTC. It takes me many months to model a new ship, correctly and accurately. And I am passing this knowledge on to other talented artists. and I want us to maintain a level of quality,and inspire a love for these ship of a lost era. I think you now understand my feelings on this.
 
I think that at the moment, its a shame to remove these models (the first rate in particular) but I also think that we should strive to eventually replace them with our own models.
I would suggest that we ask permission from the VCO boys to use their models as temporary vessels until we've built our own vessels, which won't be that bad now as we've suddenly aquired a whole yard's worth of shipwrights...
 
i´m not a lawyer.
theft is only if I somewhat does not pay.

you can download the VCO software(1.1Gig) for free and than you have the models. is that theft?
i dont know but i think no.
 
<i>Playing </i> the game is free, but I´d really surprised if they haven´t prohibited the re-use of models and textures in the EULA, Akella made those, after all.
 
Correct, just because the product is free does not mean that you can use its assets as you please. Beleive me, as i run my own site and create my own mods for games i know a thing or two about legalities. In the Star Trek gaming community modding scene we are extremely cautious about legalities.
 
yeah.. and no just that, the game is free. They have spend much time to make the game, the models islands quests, EVERTYTHING!! and they will not have any money for the greate online game.. SO SHOW THEM SOM RESPECT!
 
They get money from something far worse, AN ITEM MALL!!!!!!!!!! AWWWWWWWWW. Forcing people to buy something so you can get better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top