I would like to download some mods, but ... ?

[Merlin from Amber]

A long time ago FilePlanet was the best place for downloading mods, patches, trailers, updates, etc. for games, but now it is not.

Do you know any other locations (different from FilePlanet) for downloading these mods and if you know would you please share them with me:

1.Tortured Souls
2.Shadows Over Soubar
3.Epic Endeavours
4.The Darkest Day - I have the SoA version, but the patch to ToB is only available from FilePlanet

Thank you.

[andrewas]

Unless the mods homepage lists a different download location, your stuck with fileplanet.

You might want to try kazaa, I have seen teambg mods on there.

[Gnoman]

Aren't all these mods etc. a bit iffy? Yeah, i know, party pooper etc., but they're really only semi-legal aren't they?

[SixOfSpades]

All MODs are "semi-legal," since they're piggy-backed on a BioWare product, and BioWare isn't making a dime off them. Then again, BioWare cetrainly isn't losing money either, and the people who made the MODs never see a cent for their work either. They do it just for the pleasure of fixing, improving, or expanding the game, and BioWare would be foolish to take legal action against the MODders, as all they're doing is giving people that much more reason to play BG2/ToB.

Now, if you saw a version of Throne of Bhall that you could download off the Internet, THAT would be software piracy.

[andrewas]

Since they add immesurably to BG2s replay value, and thus prolong sales life, its hard to see any reason for Bioware to complain. Certainly the license on BG2 means they could order any and all mod teams to stop (I think, anyway), but they have nothing to gain by doing so.

[Olorin]

If anyone out there actually knows the legalities involved, perhaps they could enlighten us?

It was my understanding that since the modders don't profit from their work or from distributing their mods, and there is no financial harm to Bioware; that there really isn't any case. Doesn't piracy require either that the pirate actively profits from it; and/or the company demonstrably loses money as a result?

Obviously, what you do with your copy of BG2 is your business. You can modify it out of recognition--after all you bought your copy. It's only when you distribute your modifications (which are only achieved because of the original coding done at Bioware) that piracy is an issue. And if you don't profit or hurt the company, I'm not sure it qualifies as piracy.

This is a different situation than pirating music over the web--in that case, you get the songs for free, resulting in a loss of potential sales to the company. Here, in order to use the mods, you have to go out and purchase the program from Bioware, so if anything, the effect for them is higher sales.

Certainly for myself, the Ease of Use mod has prolonged my enjoyment of the game, and after not enjoying NWN much, I might not have purchased IWD2 if not for my satisfaction with BG2.

[LennonCook]

Mods are technically 100% illegal, but the same thing that makes them such also makes Throne of Bhaal illegal, and if you want to be *realy* pedantic, it also makes the SOA Official Patch illegal. This thing is the liscencing agreement... in purchasing the software, you agree to use it only in the form that it is installed from the CDs.
Meaning Bioware, BIS and Interplay can press charges at any time the want. But they won't. Piracy (ie, having the base program installed illegally) rarely results in action from the supplier - and the reason that they ever do take action is because they loose potential sales and hence potential profit. Modding a game in such a way that forces you to have the game to start with, and does not actually edit the program, does not cause potential sales loss to the supplier.
This is also why hard-coded things are such a problem for modders and bugfixers - although it would undoubtedly be possible to change the hard-coded values, it would mean tampering with the program, rather than just files that it uses, and as such any mod that does that, or program that allows you to, would be illegal.

The easiest way to resolve problems like this is to take a look at the liscencing agreement of a program - ya know, that bit that you have to agree to to install the software, that noone ever reads - it tells you everything you need to know.

On the argument "you bought the software, you can do what you feel to it" - I'm afraid to say, that isn't strictly true. When you buy a program, all that you own is the CD its on, and the right to install it on one computer. You have not bought a modification liscence unless the agreement specifcally says "you can do what you feel to this bit of software".
The total amount of rights you have automatically after buying a software CD is two:
You have the right to install it on any one computer at a time, but you must uninstall it before putting it on another one.
You have the right to make one copy of the CD/s, and use the copy/ies as if they are the originals.
In short, you can put it on one computer, have two copies, and not edit it.

[ 05-23-2003, 04:30 AM: Message edited by: LennonCook ]

[TaSSaDaR]

~snip~



DSlaytern] Tassadar, you should know better than to talk like this. Consider this a warning.

[ 05-24-2003, 01:01 AM: Message edited by: Dundee Slaytern ]

[vesselle]

[img]smile.gif[/img]
maybe they'd learn about it if, oh say, the person involved bragged about it in writing on a popular internet forum devoted to the game. ya think? *laughs*

anyway, from what i've observed, bioware encourages the modding community:
~ helping kevin dorner as he started working on his first set of bug fixes, even praising and promoting the end product.
~ helping & advising ken/teambg put together the initial tools for them to create the first mod for BG1.
~ and, of course, promoting the large modding community surrounding NWN and it's EPs.

so it seems to me that they don't see any harm in it. prolly quite the opposite. after all, as previously pointed out, most of the mods made have only enhanced the game in various ways. anything that helps keep a product selling years and years after it's initial release is good.


V***V

[Xen]

Good point you got there Vesselle