Allowed to use models from CM Afghanistan to CMBN?

[Soldat-Hans]

I was thinking about making an eastern front mod with CMA, Weapons and russian soldier models could be used instead of the us weapons and soldier models! Am I allowed to do that an public it?

[YankeeDog]

You can't swap any of the actual 3D models, nor can you change the weapons characteristics.

You can mod the skins that cover the 3D models. So with time and effort, you might be able to get an American GI to mostly look like a Russian soldier. But it would be more difficult to get a Thompson to look anything like a PPsH, and regardless, it would still behave mechanically like a Thompson, no matter how you re-skinned it.

[Soldat-Hans]

Wasnt there someone, who was able to put the M1a1 Abrahams into the CMBN Demo? Can remember, that someone did this! So I thought it shouldnt be so hard to put in the new models.

[Soldat-Hans]

Just wanted to say:" Have the PPSH ingame instead of the thompson! Just without textures but I am working on it!

[Mord]

It could probably be done...not sure. I know Muj models were swapped into CMSF. However, even that mod could not be distributed publicly because not everyone owns CMA and CMSF (or in this case CMA and CMBN)...and it would be ethically and legally wrong to allow someone who did not purchase both games the benefit of getting to use those models.

As far as personal use and showing off what you create in screen shots, there shouldn't be a problem with that.

Mord.

[YankeeDog]

Messing with the actual 3D models and weapons data files is definitely against the EULA.

This said, I'm sure those with the proper programming knowledge could do so. With enough time and effort, any code created by one human can be cracked and modified by another. Just be aware it's "against the rules".

[Sergei]

Switching the 3d models isn't that difficult, all it involves is renaming some files. Switching between eg. Garand and Kar.98 models shouldn't be any more against EULA than swapping their textures. However, taking models from CM Afghanistan and adding them to CMBN might be more of a problem, and not the least because they are by Snowball, not BFC themselves.

[Soldat-Hans]

My Problem at the moment is, that the PPSH is just black without texture, when I put in the normal mds, it has textures, but when you were near a soldier, he has a thompson again. The problem is definately the "m1a1 thompson.mdr" have to open the file! Is there a programm you can use?

[YankeeDog]

Switching the 3d models isn't that difficult, all it involves is renaming some files. Switching between eg. Garand and Kar.98 models shouldn't be any more against EULA than swapping their textures. However, taking models from CM Afghanistan and adding them to CMBN might be more of a problem, and not the least because they are by Snowball, not BFC themselves.

Whether or not it's against the EULA has absolutely nothing to do with how possible or difficult something is, but rather what the EULA specifically says the user is and is not allowed to do with the code. BFC could prohibit all modding, including skinning, if they so chose.

This said, I just re-read the EULA, and my previous statement is incorrect -- the EULA is actually ambiguous in this area. While on the one hand it says, "You shall not modify, enhance, decode or reverse engineer the software," it also says, "User created scenarios and other materials like graphics or other mods may be distributed free of charge..."

So it all comes down to what the term "Materials like graphics and other mods" legally incorporates. If a court were to rule that this term is reasonably construed to include aspects of the game such as 3D models and weapons data, then it's legal to distribute mods of these things, as long as you don't charge money.

BFC might see it differently and argue otherwise. As to what the outcome would be in the very unlikely event that there were some kind of legal action around this issue, I have no idea, and unless you are a software intellectual property lawyer, you probably don't either. It's a very complex area of law, and one that has been developing and changing rapidly in recent years.

[M1A1TC]

Is it possible to use buildings from CMSF in CMBN?

[Pak40]

All of this is really pointless since you can't actually change the weapon characteristics and unit formations. You might actually be able to change graphics to look Russian but they're still going to have the characteristics of U.S. units and weapons.

[BletchleyGeek]

Whether or not it's against the EULA has absolutely nothing to do with how possible or difficult something is, but rather what the EULA specifically says the user is and is not allowed to do with the code. BFC could prohibit all modding, including skinning, if they so chose.

This said, I just re-read the EULA, and my previous statement is incorrect -- the EULA is actually ambiguous in this area. While on the one hand it says, "You shall not modify, enhance, decode or reverse engineer the software," it also says, "User created scenarios and other materials like graphics or other mods may be distributed free of charge..."

So it all comes down to what the term "Materials like graphics and other mods" legally incorporates. If a court were to rule that this term is reasonably construed to include aspects of the game such as 3D models and weapons data, then it's legal to distribute mods of these things, as long as you don't charge money.

BFC might see it differently and argue otherwise. As to what the outcome would be in the very unlikely event that there were some kind of legal action around this issue, I have no idea, and unless you are a software intellectual property lawyer, you probably don't either. It's a very complex area of law, and one that has been developing and changing rapidly in recent years.

Yankee, software = code. Whatever isn't in the code, is data, and therefore, "fair game". I would be surprised that a claim to the contrary has EVER been upheld in a court, in the US or Europe or the Republic of Saturn (if it ever exists in 500 years time).

So, "patching" the binary to get over the 2Gb boundary is against EULA. Replacing MkIV texture by Aris' reskinning, is not. Getting CMA models into CM:BN... probably infringing on Snowball's IP, as Mord pointed out.

As for the point of it... well, it's a bit pointless to be honest. But I would dare anyone to tell the difference in the game between US troops with Thompsons and that of reskinned US troops to look as Sovs with PPsh (modding sounds as well, of course). On a superficial look, such a mod would really look as "good enough".

[YankeeDog]

I won't comment on the legal distinctions between software and code (if any) because I work in an entirely different area of law and wouldn't pretend to know much about it.

With creative skinning and use of transparent textures to make parts of the 3D model invisible, I can see how you could get the Thompson 3D model to look somewhat like a PPsH, as long as you didn't put the camera view too close and did the PPsH with a stick mag, rather than a drum (though AIUI the Sovs more often carried drums). Some others, such as getting a BAR to look much like a DP1928, would be much harder.