Malfador Patches, Additions, and Player Mods

[ckotchey]

Sorry, bad choice of words on my part (i.e. "ad-hoc") in trying to simply state that they are not part of the "base game" that everyone has. I do realize that a lot of effort is put into these mods, in both developing and balancing them.
I'm actually trying to imply the opposite - obviously the TDM mods of the MM-written AI's are praised by everyone. Since they're simply mods to the original races, it should be obvious to everyone that they are indeed better than the stock races, and therefore should be "adopted" once and for all by Malfador.
The question I'm posing, is that if the DID adopt them, would the modders be flattered by such a move, or upset that their work was being stolen (and thus, would such a possibility be what hinders such adoptions).

[DavidG]

If MM 'stole' their work I would think they would be upset. If on the other hand they asked the modder for permission to use their stuff and gave due credit I would think they would be flatterd. I would certainly be flattered if my modding program was included on an SE4 CD.

[dogscoff]

I would certainly be flattered if my modding program was included on an SE4 CD.

Of course, there won't *be* any more SE4 CDs - When Gold came out we were definitively told that there would be no subsequent platinum Version or anything else Version. Maybe when SEV comes out and SE4 goes budget...

However, a cool idea would be a mods & extras CD. Every 6 months or so, all the major mods, races, support programs, patches, weblinks, documents, fiction and choice shrapnel threads could be bundled up onto a CD and distributed to subscribing members of the community. No SEIV Version on the disc, just a load of "peripherals". It would save a lot of download time for those of us on dialup, and make life much easier when a re-install was necessary. (also, I wouldn't have to back all that stuff up all the time.)

Given that most or all of the content would be freeware, it would be a little odd for whoever to charge more than cost for it, but I suppose you could charge for the effort of compiling all that stuff in the first place. It sounds like a lot of work for little return though, so I doubt it would happen, but it's a nice idea=-)

[gregebowman]

I like that idea. I wouldn't mind paying a low fee for a disk full of extras like that. Maybe quarterly?

[Pax]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Modders that raise a stink don't have a leg to stand on, I think.

Indeed.

A little-known landmine called "derivative copyright" ... basically, the MOD files are (AFAIK) already *owned* by MM in terms of copyright, if they wanted to be bastards about it.

Anything based on a copyrighted work, in a derivative form (i.e. fanfics, etc) is copyright by the author of the original source, barrign specific contractual arrangements.

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by oleg:
Actually, I think MM is in fact too shy about incorporating fan's mods. For example, I do not see the reason why TDM AI is not part of "official" SEIV

A long time ago, MM DID implement a person's mod into the official game. Someone, I think either Baron Munchausen or geoschmo, wrote a more balanced Version of the Anti Proton Beam (how much damage and at what range per level), and it was made part of a patch. With credit where it was due.

I think I'll mod the mines, it seems to be a remaining sore issue. I'll remove their inherant (sp?) cloaking ability, add a cloaking component (someone else's mod has already done this, I think) then add an anti mine sweeper component. Maybe that can mimic a % chance of mine sweepers failing, while the mines become weaker too if there's limited room for components.

I'll tweak it a bit, then run it up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.

[ August 16, 2002, 14:28: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[Mephisto]

Patch 1.24:
18. Changed - Increased the damage for the Anti-Proton Beam family (thanks to Daynarr).