Copyright Rules (UPDATED: Jan 12, 2018)

[Teancum]

Below you will find Gametoast's copyright policy. All members MUST adhere to these rules, and the staff's interpretation of them. In other words, if you think you followed the rules and the staff disagrees you will be asked to remove some of your borrowed content.

This topic will remain open always so that you can ask questions of staff.

COPYRIGHT RULES

Premise

The idea behind Gametoast's copyright ruleset is this: Respect the original authors, whether they be professionals or a community member. That being said, the rules below try to give members flexibility, but are to ensure everyone gets the proper credit, and in the case of commercial games, that we don't hinder the ability for a company to sell their game. Punishments for disobeying these rules will vary based on staff consensus.

ALL MEMBERS MUST AGREE TO ABIDE BY THESE RULES. THEY ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE.

General Rules

• ALWAYS credit original authors - And do so in a thankful way. For instance: "Thanks to Lucasarts for the Concussion Rifle sounds. I couldn't make it without their hard work." You'll find kindness will grease a lot more wheels.
• Seek permission for non-professional assets - If you can get permission to use something made by another community, do so. If you don't hear back in two weeks, simply credit the author(s). We would tell you to try and get permission for commercial stuff too, but you're unlikely to get a response.
• Respect the author(s) wishes - Gametoast will always follow the original author(s) wishes. If we are asked to remove a file we will do so immediately, and all members must also follow suit.
• Contact information must be included - We don't care if it's your junk email address that you only check twice a month, if you're borrowing something it's only fair to leave that person(s) a way to contact you, and it has to be a valid email you actually check.
• Assets shouldn't hinder a company's ability to make money - If you can't find a particular sound clip anywhere else, borrowing it for your mod is one thing. But say you want to rip out all of Telos from KotOR II and put it in Battlefront -- that's really overdoing it. The spirit of this rule is that you take as little as possible. For Example: If you need Starkiller's voice there's really only one place to get it. However for this case you only need three clips - one for when he spawns, one for a killing streak, one for when he dies. Ripping more than that is unnecessary, disrespectful, and could possibly make someone say "Well, now I'll just use this mod - I don't need the game".
• Don't lie to us - The staff know all the tricks about stealing assets. We've seen it enough times. If you're borrowing an asset, don't say you made it, say you're using it and all credit goes to the original author. The staff has very little tolerance for this.
• Old mods - We assume good faith regarding older mods. If older mods have copyrighted material, we as staff assume that the author did so with the best of intentions, and used as little as possible. That being said they are "grandfathered in" to this policy, meaning that aside from any updates made to those mods, they're basically exempt to these rules.

Commercial Games (non-Star Wars)

• Leave it be - Basically going forward we're going to lock down our policy on any assets taken from non-Star Wars games. Don't take anything from anything outside Star Wars games and host it in your mod here, don't even talk about it here. As of January 11, 2018, any mods that were released under the old rules regarding this will still be allowed. Any future mods, including ones in progress now, will not be.

Commercial Games (Star Wars)

• Look for alternatives - Older games, such as Jedi Knight or X-Wing Alliance, have community remodel projects where they've built higher-resolution models to replace the old originals. Use stuff like this when you can. Community stuff is always preferred over commercial stuff.
• Copyright MUST be listed in the readme - If you use all or part of an asset from a Star Wars game, you MUST credit LucasArts and the game's developer (if not LucasArts). See the second post for a readme template.

ALLOWED (Disney EULA, Offline MMOs, etc)
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Pinball FX2/Star Wars Pinball - all content variants
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II
Star Wars Rebellion
Star Wars Empire at War
Star Wars Republic Commando
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds Saga
Star Wars Dark Forces
Star Wars Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast
Star Wars X-Wing Alliance
Star Wars Shadows of the Empire
Star Wars Tie Fighter
Star Wars The Force Unleashed
Star Wars The Force Unleashed 2
Star Wars X-Wing vs Tie Fighter
Star Wars Rebel Assault I + II
Star Wars Jedi Knight Mysteries of the Sith
Star Wars Starfighter
Star Wars The Clone Wars Republic Heroes
Star Wars X-Wing
Star Wars Jedi Knight Dark Forces II
Star Wars Force Arena
Star Wars Rogue Squadron I, II and III
Star Wars The Clone Wars
Star Wars Jedi Starfighter
Star Wars Galaxies
Star Wars Uprising
Star Wars Battlefront III (Free Radical -- cancelled)
Star Wars Battlefront Renegade Squadron
Star Wars Battlefront Elite Squadron
Star Wars First Assault (Cancelled game)

FORBIDDEN (EA EULA, Currently online MMOs)
Star Wars Battlefront 2015 (EA)
Star Wars Battlefront II 2017 (EA)
Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes (EA)
Star Wars The Old Republic (Currently Online)

What does this mean for you?
Well, frankly it means you have an incredibly deep well to pull from. Given what you see on the allowed list there is absolutely no reason to ever use one of the forbidden games for content. If you can't find what you need made by the community (preferred) or pulled from one of the permitted games (less preferred) then it doesn't need to be in your mod/map.

We're loosening the chains a bit here given Disney's openness. That means you can take a more than we used to allow, but remember to always look for a community made asset first. If you can't find what you need, or if the community asset isn't up to snuff, move forward with your port. Porting maps, characters, etc -- that's fine, but don't remake the whole game. The exception here would be cancelled games. None of that ever came out, so paying tribute to those games by making maps or mods based on them is the highest compliment we can give.

[Teancum]

Below is an example readme. In this example I made a new Plo Koon model using the existing jedi model, Jedi Academy Kel-Dor head and hands, and three sound clips from the Republic Heroes game.

TITLE: Plo Koon v1.0
AUTHOR: Teancum
CONTACT: teancum@myfakeemail.com
RELEASED: March 19, 2010 (it's a good idea to spell out the month)
RELEASE TYPE: Modding Asset (other types could be map/mod/etc)



NOTES:
-Plo comes in two "flavors", yellow-orange lightsaber and blue lightsaber
-His combo/animations are based from several shipped characters, plus a hex edit of Kit Fisto's animations
-His secondary powers are Electric Judgement and Saber Throw


CREDITS:
-Raven Software for the head and hands
-Krome Studios for Plo's voice, who is voiced by James Arnold Taylor
-Pandemic Studios for the base jedi model


COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
All assets have the minimum possible amount taken from licensed material, and do not impair sales of their respective games, nor do they misrepresent their respective copyright holders.

-Kel-Dor head and hands are copyright Raven Software and Lucasarts
-Plo Koon sounds are copyright Lucas Animation, Krome Studios and Lucasarts
-All other licensed assets are copyright Pandemic Studios and Lucasarts

[Teancum]

*RESERVED*

[Teancum]

*RESERVED*

[Teancum]

**Moved so folks can post in this topic**

[RED51]

I'm not complaining, but is there a reason why these guidelines and rules needs to be reinforced like this? Or did something happen that I missed?

[Valthero]

I'm not complaining, but is there a reason why these guidelines and rules needs to be reinforced like this? Or did something happen that I missed?

^ This, just out of curiosity. It may just be that these rules are being posted as forewarning, such as to "Quell the disease before it spreads" and so on.

[RED51]

Ah, that makes sense.

[Eggman]

I think a lot of it is to clear up any confusion and make sure that there are enforceable guidelines in place. I've seen a few questions pop up around the site lately about copyright policies, so I'm glad to see this topic for clarification.

[Fierfek]

Yes - it's usually good to catch something before it starts.

Hidden/Spoiler:

Quintuple post from an admin!

[501st_commander]

This is a good idea, very good. Let people know they cant take things on the site thats not theirs, like the site rules for example..

[Teancum]

Yep, you guys got it. Basically this answers questions that people have before they need to ask them? Need one sound from another Star Wars game? Well, now you know *if* and *how* you can use it. It's a set of guidelines that covers Gametoast's backside and also lets users know what is safe and what isn't.

[lucasfart]

Thanks for posting this Tean! i was in a bit of doubt myself as to whether or not i could convert models/textures from other games. thanks for clearing all that up!

This topic was made for people like me

[CodaRez]

So i am guessing converting all the JKA weapons into BFII and giving creds to RavenSoft is a greenlight?

[Fingerfood]

Hah. It's funny how you mention Half-Life, as a long time ago I tried converting some models from there into BFII, just for the heck of it.

Thank goodness I never finished.

[Teancum]

So i am guessing converting all the JKA weapons into BFII and giving creds to RavenSoft is a greenlight?

Jedi Outcast/Academy assets - Player models were released to the community at large as teaching tools for proper modeling and UV techniques. That being said you may use them, however all other rules listed here still apply.

Weapon models aren't 100% fair game, so you need to follow the other rules. If you need one weapon, you can use it, but don't just take all of them for the sake of being able to.

[skelltor]

i have a ? i am using the bfx assests for a mod i am making i tried contacting arc commander here and on file front i sent him a message in jan but i have had no replie from him either place he says in the read me
2. If you are planning to make a mod that uses assets from BFX, please contact me on GameToast via PM and ASK MY PERMISSION.
which i did i asume i cant release my mod until i get his permission is that correct?

[Teancum]

Well, let's follow the two week rule. Keep trying to contact him in the meantime. It's all outlined in the first post.

[CodaRez]

Weapon models aren't 100% fair game, so you need to follow the other rules. If you need one weapon, you can use it, but don't just take all of them for the sake of being able to.

*i actually convert for public releases, hardly for personal use in maps, but anyway....*

So ravensoft playermodels can be converted and re-released, maybe with some tweaks?

[skelltor]

this rule??

Seek permission for non-professional assets - If you can get permission to use something made by another community, do so. If you don't hear back in two weeks, simply credit the author(s). We would tell you to try and get permission for commercial stuff too, but you're unlikely to get a response.

i thought it was only for other communitys. I will send another pm and if he dosent responed in two weeks i just credit him in the read me ??