Question regarding mods with licensed material

what is the licensed material from?
To be on the safe side, don't upload it at all yet.

It sounds like it would depend more on the license holders. Since Stardock and Ironclad have nothing to do with mods themselves, I wouldn't think it's up to them.

I could be wrong though, I'm no lawyer

we could donate to a Modder Fund in case sumbuddy gets sued..

Thanks for the replies guys.

Part of the mod adds Star Wars music into the game and that's what I'd really like to share with the community right now.

The rest of the mod includes many replacements for ship and weapon models but those are far from finished and in their current state do more harm then good to the game (e.g. still many mini-dumps which I'm ironing out).

I'm hoping a community manager could reply to this before LucasArts force chokes the bejesus out of me should I decide to release it.

Star Wars is indeed licensed, and their music is licensed to the extent of the law... Don't release the music.

Hehe ok thanks . Pity though, the music really adds a lot to the game (disregarding the fact that the original musical score is great too!).

You could try an inquiry to LucasArts asking for permission to include their music in a mod. A lot of companies don't mind, it's worth a try.

Just take the music out and release that. Nobody cares about the 10,000 other SW mods - many of which use music.

Thanks for the advice everyone.



Very good idea! I've send them an inquiry later this morning. Am hoping for some positive feedback on the matter .

I might be wrong but i think lucas does not give much attention to Modders borroing their music sounds and images if its not for commercial gain.. its not like China
that copy their DVDs and sell to the masses..

You guys have GOT to be kidding.

LucasArts is second only to Disney in aggressively pursuing copyright infringements.

In simpler terms, they're raving dickheads.

Not that it should necessarily stop you from releasing your mod, because it isn't going to harm a soul, but if you ask, the answer will be a resounding "no".

Hosting it elsewhere and just linking it on the forum, you do at your own risk. We cannot and will not host mods containing directly copied copyrighted materials (soundtracks, movie video clips, etc) on the WC library though, due to the potential issues involved.

Entirely user-created content that is simply based on Star Wars, Star Trek, and similar (ex: EvilleJedi and Major Stress's models) is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Given previous experience do not release music in any way shape or form, the reason is that a different company actually holds the distribution rights for the movie scores. LF/LA is usually pretty good about fan created material (as long it isn't in direct competition with a game under release or isn't objectionable content) and in many cases promotes it. However redistribution/copying of any LF/LA material is pretty much a quick ticket to cease and desist notices.

Also LF/LA will not answer anything ever, don't bother.

George Lucas is one of the greediest beings in the world. He would love to sue people for more money just for thinking about starwars. But still, asking does not hurt. Its luckily not G.Lucas who reads and answers such mails.