Hey everyone, its me again with news about the legal issues regarding Warhammer 40k and using its assets in Star Wars Battlefront...

After months of requesting for the legal rights to use assets from the 40k universe, I have uncovered that there is nothing illegal about using assets from this company IF there isnt a price tag on the assets themselves... which means if I dont charge others to use it, its all good and legal...

I'll be working nonstop from here on out to finish this project, updates of maps/ characters will be posted later in the WIP section of the forums...

Battleffront_Conquer wrote:Hey everyone, its me again with news about the legal issues regarding Warhammer 40k and using its assets in Star Wars Battlefront...

After months of requesting for the legal rights to use assets from the 40k universe, I have uncovered that there is nothing illegal about using assets from this company IF there isnt a price tag on the assets themselves... which means if I dont charge others to use it, its all good and legal...

I'll be working nonstop from here on out to finish this project, updates of maps/ characters will be posted later in the WIP section of the forums...

I'm pretty sure it doesn't quite work like that....but I'll let an admin clear it up.

Battleffront_Conquer wrote:I have uncovered that there is nothing illegal about using assets from this company IF there isnt a price tag on the assets themselves...

You prove it and we're okay with it.

ok ok, so maybe this isnt 100% true, but here's the thing, does anyone honestly believe a big company like Warhammer is going to do anything about a mod for a completely different game?

they have their assets released for a reason, and I have had nothing more than an email suggesting I ask the legal department of warhammer/ relic/ thq... if they had any desire to halt this action they would have requested that I stop what I am doing and further more, even IF they were so inclined to do so, they would just ask that I not do this and then nothing more, no legal battle, nothing... just a simple cease and desist letter... nothing harmful with that

If the admins truly need a license agreement from warhammer stating I can/ cannot do so then I guess I have no choice but to comply

Battleffront_Conquer wrote:ok ok, so maybe this isnt 100% true, but here's the thing, does anyone honestly believe a big company like Warhammer is going to do anything about a mod for a completely different game?

they have their assets released for a reason, and I have had nothing more than an email suggesting I ask the legal department of warhammer/ relic/ thq... if they had any desire to halt this action they would have requested that I stop what I am doing and further more, even IF they were so inclined to do so, they would just ask that I not do this and then nothing more, no legal battle, nothing... just a simple cease and desist letter... nothing harmful with that

If the admins truly need a license agreement from warhammer stating I can/ cannot do so then I guess I have no choice but to comply

I believe there is a topic of similar discussion with Fred and Tean disussing something like this, if I remember it ended with the definition of "Its illegal, but the companies don't care" and with Fred leaving GT because he didnt want to be associated ith us doing something illegal. I may have that wrong though, but thats what I remember reading from a few months back.

Battleffront_Conquer wrote:ok ok, so maybe this isnt 100% true, but here's the thing, does anyone honestly believe a big company like Warhammer is going to do anything about a mod for a completely different game?

It's not about the mod - you are anonymous and shutting down the mod is no issue. If we host/tacitly support something a company has a problem with, then we are liable.

But yes, your documentation of permission does need to be something more substantial than what you honestly believe.

I believe there is a topic of similar discussion with Fred and Tean disussing something like this, if I remember it ended with the definition of "Its illegal, but the companies don't care" and with Fred leaving GT because he didnt want to be associated ith us doing something illegal. I may have that wrong though, but thats what I remember reading from a few months back.

Unrelated topic.

I am currently forwarding a message to the legal departments over at gamesworkshop I did however find that if I can get clearance from them I can post the mod on any site, but for now I can create the mod but not distribute it through a network service or website, so until then I'll just have to leave a progress statement as I go, and because I cant post anything related to the works of the game, I'll just have to leave long-winded text to describe the progress(if anyone is even interested)

Battleffront_Conquer wrote:I'll just have to leave long-winded text to describe the progress(if anyone is even interested)

You can't do that here with a WIP topic - remember, WIP topics must have pictures. If you want to post progress, it would be best to simply wait until you find out if you can get permission.

yeah I guess, well I suppose if anyone would like to know more about its progress then, just eamil me or PM me...

If all goes well maybe I can help out there, I play the 40k Board Game and so have the fluff(40k talk for canon) down pretty well, and can give you some advice, maybe even skin and map a little.

like I said if anyone wants to help work on this needs to email or PM me, the moderators and admins dont like it when I discuss this project on the forums so PLEASE if you want any part of this mod or would even like to be updated on its progress message me, and yes I already have quite a bit of progress done so far.

Also Does anyone know if it is legal to post on the internet? so far I know I can work on it legally but not post it... any help will be appreciated

I also play(ed) the 40k tabletop game, along with 3 of its PC incarnations, but as I can't skin and my modelling is confined to sketchup, I'm not sure if there's anything I could do. I could, however, provide some form of reference material by taking photos of my tabletop models.

destructo_bot wrote:I also play(ed) the 40k tabletop game, along with 3 of its PC incarnations, but as I can't skin and my modelling is confined to sketchup, I'm not sure if there's anything I could do. I could, however, provide some form of reference material by taking photos of my tabletop models.

this would be great... also getting all of the characters statistics laid down so they are easy to decipher, IE bolters are actually large jet propelled bullets, and do so and so damage... that kind of stuff, or just copy down the A/W/D/ (whatever) all of this is VERY helpful and very necessary... (PM your response)

My question.....

Why not just use their assets as a reference and make your own? Its simple to take a look at a model, then reverse engineer it, that's how I did my E-11. That way all of the work is 100% yours, and you can just give credit to the original company for the reference.

DarthRogueKnight wrote:My question.....

Why not just use their assets as a reference and make your own? Its simple to take a look at a model, then reverse engineer it, that's how I did my E-11. That way all of the work is 100% yours, and you can just give credit to the original company for the reference.

I can EASILY create the characters from scratch... its just the materials are the biggest problem... I can get the character very close to the models (possibly better) but its that simple fact that if I were to try and create a skin for the character it would look like pure garbage... if you can point me in the right direction to someone who CAN skin, or help at all that would be very much appreciated

Battleffront_Conquer wrote:

DarthRogueKnight wrote:My question.....

Why not just use their assets as a reference and make your own? Its simple to take a look at a model, then reverse engineer it, that's how I did my E-11. That way all of the work is 100% yours, and you can just give credit to the original company for the reference.

I can EASILY create the characters from scratch... its just the materials are the biggest problem... I can get the character very close to the models (possibly better) but its that simple fact that if I were to try and create a skin for the character it would look like pure garbage... if you can point me in the right direction to someone who CAN skin, or help at all that would be very much appreciated

If you need weapons done, I'm not half bad at those, and there are a bunch of websites out there with freelancers that are looking for work, a lot of them will do it for free.

Try polycount.org if you need character textures done, and if you need any weapons work done, PM me.

After taking a look at blenders UV unwrap ability I have found an easy way to start working on my own character models... The first one will be posted later either tomorrow or the day after (if I get the clear from Mav)