Banjo268
Certified Bonified Idiot
mod z was an option this whole time?! Sure it might not be mod y, but it can called a "spiritual successor" with original sprites and a twist!? THIS OPTION IS PERFECT!!! EDIT: NO, I don't mean "steal their code, swap the sprites, and add 1 thing and its original!". I mean that you make your own code based on the previous code and make something unique.this isn't about your self-perceived fairness of the situation, it's about "not being a prick" by following what the author requested
person X makes mod Y that everyone likes
person X decides to leave the community just before a breaking update
person X explicitly declares "no porting"
you personally go up to person X and ask, and they tell you "still no porting"
(or they don't, because they fell off the edge of the earth. but you see, they already said "no porting")
well, that's it. no more mod Y
either get off lazytown and make mod Z that implements some of the things Y did but with your unique twist to it, or leave it be and move on with your life
bit late, i was writing
I'll take some of my mods as an example
The core reasons for me marking some stuff as non reusable are as follows:
- Modifications are usually unsupported by me.
- I don't want modifications to be associated to what I can do.
- I don't know how other people would use it, or for what.
Let's work on all of them:
Modifications are usually unsupported by me.
Take SRB2Ware as an example.
Because it is not reusable nor an open asset, you can't edit then distribute it without my explicit permission.
I'm not saying "hey, hands off" here, I'm trying to make clear that any possible changes to the mod are straight up not endorsed by me and therefore do not have my technical support; good luck, have fun, don't cry if it breaks.
This is made easier by virtue of the MB disallowing redistribution without permission. There are no edits, therefore people can't mistake it for being mine.
That said, at no point I'm preventing anyone from just giving it an official tweak if they so wanted. You just have to ask me, and I'm most likely going to give you a positive answer and let you release it. Hell, I may even give you some pointers on how the addon works internally so you don't confuse yourself by touching literally everything and breaking it further than it already is
Did you know somebody in the BR community shot me a message, asking me if they could make an edit to SRB2Ware to translate it to portuguese? That's quite literally basic courtesy. I regretfully didn't make translating it any easy, but they were able to do it.
I don't want modifications to be associated to what I can do.
Take Elimination as another example.
I made it, it works, it's fun.
A few months later, a few Kart peeps wanted to extend its functionality, as well as some bonus QoL.
After its release, I had just a few people come to me for help with it until I pointed out the other elimination mod is not particularly mine and to ask the proper author for help. You see, if you search "srb2kart elimination", the first result used to be MY thread.
I don't know what they changed (I lie, I can literally see what the changes are by comparing both files, but it's not my job to troubleshoot things that were not created nor are being supported by me...), so I don't want these changes associated to what I know I can do.
Ports fall under "modification" as you have to, you know, modify it to make it work on a newer version.
People tend to have this mentality of "it just works" that is very often incompatible with what the author wants.
Some people that look for a port of a particular mod are just looking for that: Port a mod to the next version, problems be damned.
But that just makes a port that might perform equally as bad or worse than the previous version.
There are new features, why not make use of them? Or things can be done better than they are, why not do just that?
That's where "courtesy" comes in. At least ask the dude for help, they might point you in the right direction. See the previous point.
Or maybe they won't let you, but usually because... they are already planning for a version with more goodies? Maybe it will perform better than it used to?
Why not wait? No need to be desperate until your next mod fix.
I don't know how other people would use it, or for what.
I've made a few other mods (not released here on the message board, you'll know when you find one) that are extremely fucking weird in functionality.
The default permission is "don't touch it" mostly because it works in such a shitty way that you can probably do better than me instead of touching it and getting a 220v electric shock.
You want to use it? Go nuts.
But if you ask for my blessing, you get free support (as far as my patience goes ).
Maybe some pointers too, if you tell me what your use case is.
Yes, thank you! I believe that the artist should have a say, but I don't think it should be "be all, end all" type of situation. EDIT: I mean that the creator and person asking should be on equal ground.Fantastic post, btw. I think this is a good example of why "simply allow anyone to port and post anything :4head:" is not a simple answer that makes everyone happier. There are legitimate reasons that doing that can cause a huge hassle and waste of time and energy for mod authors.
If we were to allow ports in some way, it would have to work to prevent this from happening. Otherwise it quite literally discourages people from sharing their work because of the potential for how it can blow up on them. Like, one thing for certain, it would have to be explicitly clear who to approach for tech support regarding the port. I've got my mind on the issue.
Because a mod author could say all sorts of insane stuff. "I've posted this mod, but I forbid everyone from loading it alongside Skip. I don't like the author for reasons I'd prefer not to disclose, and I just ask that my mod being used alongside his stuff. Is that so hard to ask for?"
An author might actually say that; that might actually be important to them. But is it a fair thing for them to ask of everyone else? No, emphatically. This is the kind of reason why I -- again -- will reiterate that this issue is not as straightforward as people are acting like it is. Respect for authors doesn't mean "obeying everything the author says and asking no questions." It means applying some empathy and some common sense to identify which things the author said are reasonable requests and can be accommodated for the sake of being neighborly.
I get it, and I understand. No argument against it. I just. agree.the issue people have with portlegs are not the concept, that people are making mods available to be played in modern versions of the game, the problem as I see it is that portlegs are seen as tampering with the original.
If I were to be asked to port a mod I made, I'm not sure I'd say yes because it's essentially a coinflip on whether the finished product will be a faithful, fun, and competent or just a mod that technically ports all aspects if the mod to 2.X while also being incredibly unpolished and not a product I'd be proud of
tl;dr I don't trust strangers
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