Fallout 3: Van Buren (Spoilers!)

Here's the direct quote:

"Sadly, we do not grant permission to reverse engineer or utilize our engine for other projects."
 
Did they bought Fallout rights just to troll the fans ?

Let's hope for an unnoficial patch that would allow new fo1&2 to work with already existing wonderful mods.

(Will this mod remain single player/turn based ?)
 
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Yes, the mod remains single player and turn based but you will be able to switch gameplay to real time in the options if you want to.
 
Thanks for those news Hexer.

It seems that the Fallout future will become darker, as if Fo3 wasn't enough...

(On the bright side, it would provide reasons for more illegal distribution of old fallouts and cut them from parts of their benefits)
 
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well, time to put the gog installers for the classic fallouts on my safety drive, who knows what kind of draconian drm bethsoft is going to wrap it in given time.
 
Could you please post the whole conversation with Bethesda hexer (or pm it to me)? It's pretty hard for me to believe as a long term mod developer for FO3 and NV which also had direct conversations with their staff about mod making topics on several occasions.

To my knowledge is Bethesdas policy that mods have to be distributed freely (so no commercial interest in any way), aren't allowed to use assets from any other games (even if they are from Bethesda itself) except it is explicity allowed (Stalker is such a case) and reverse engineering is tolerated but not officially supported (so you will never get a positive answer here, because of the legal situation in the USA, but Bethesda won't do anything and ignore it).

I don't think these rules will be changed for the classics but I also asked for clarification on this topic on the Bethesda forum.
 
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I would like to get this as well if you may.

I also ask you the authorization to talk about it in one other forum. (as the message you received may be private)
 
I was specifically told not to tamper with Fallout 2.exe. They said they can't guarantee that I wouldn't receive a cease and desist sometimes in the future.
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hexer said:
Just to clarify one more thing, even if you don't tamper with Fallout2.exe they're not cool with us using the engine inside the exe to run mods.
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Thanks for the clarification Hexer.

Well, if the rule has to change it would be nice of Beth to issue an official statement about what kind of modding project they will allow to be done with the Fallout2 engine.
And I hope the answer won't be "none".
 
Ah well, if you asked them yourself, then it is obvious that they will say no. They simply cannot allow people to do with their files whatever they want, because they have to protect their property. Same counts for other firms, such as Games Workshop and their Warhammer.

Rule of thumb: Don't ask them, because they will always say no. If they have a serious problem with your stuff, they will contact you by themself.
 
Reading through the conversation for me it gave the impression about a overly carefull support staff who doesn't know anything about modding the classics and automatically assumed the worst case (commercial and reverse engineering).

I am pretty sure that the policy for mod developers won't get in a dfferent direction then Morrowind/Oblivion/FO3/NV & Skyrim for the classics. It was always the same with Bethesda. Sure it's a bit more strict then Interplay (which btw. wrote the same answer as this Bethesda stuff member at one occasion :) ) which simply didn't care at all in the end.

But actually my opinion is it wouldn't influence any active project for the classics at all.
 
hexer said:
naossano said:
I would like to get this as well if you may.

I also ask you the authorization to talk about it in one other forum. (as the message you received may be private)
Click to expand...

PM sent. Where do you want to talk about it?
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Fallout Generation, the french counterpart of no mutant allowed.

PS: After reading that message, it seems the concern is real, but nothing seems confirmed yet. That person even seems open-minded. But we'll still have to be careful in the future.
 
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Well, after reading that conversation, I would say that:
- you had the most standard answer possible. It doesn't mean anything particular.
- they of course won't give you their blessing, but they didn't threat you either at all.

I wouldn't worry too much really. There is absolutely no sign to interpret here.

Thanks for sharing it Hexer.
 
Update! Greg A. from Zenimax replied and he said:

"
I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be a problem, as the modding scene is absolutely massive and I haven't seen any problems myself. My only caveat is that I can't give you actual permission in case your mod happens to be the first one that gets a cease and desist or something like that. Generally we don't mind fan content as long as it's created with a legit copy of the game, is in good taste, and is not be used for profit.
I hope I didn't send the wrong message to you! It's absolutely awesome that you want to use our engine, we just don't give specific permission to modders to use engines for our older titles.
When you guys get your project finished, please feel free to send it our way! We always love seeing what our fans are up to!
I wish you the best of luck with all of your development endeavors!

"
 
That's good about the update. I would imagine that if you're modding Fallout for fun and not selling anything, like any other mod that's been here, then I don't know why they'd have an issue with anything. It seems that there never was an issue in the past several years or otherwise this forum would probably never even exist to begin with.
 
Basicaly, is a " we will be watching" message. Send a copy of the mod, maybe they learn something.
 
hexer said:
naossano said:
Fallout Generation, the french counterpart of no mutant allowed.
Click to expand...

I'll see if I can register over there tomorrow although I do not speak French. If it's urgent, please contact me here in PM.
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Don't worry. when you first mentionned your concern about a possible Bethesda policy agains't mod, it thought it would interested them.
When you mentioned an copy of the whole mail, i thought it could interest them too. But i wouldn't put the mail on this site without your consent, as it is your private mail.
Now that i a read all those mails, i feel a bit relieved. Maybe there will be changes in the fallout engine that would require a fan-made patch to make old mods works but i don't think there is be more threats to mods. We should be cautious, there is no need to worry and warm all modders.

If you still want to register in fallout generation and advertize your work, here is the link :
http://www.fallout-generation.com/forums/

But there also are people from Fallout Generation logged in no mutant allowed, checking from news about the project, that could report progress in the french forum.
 
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