Realtexture Game Packs

[Renzatic]

This is an interesting find

 

It almost seems to good to be true, sets and sets of high quality hires textures that are already gameready and have their own normalmaps...all for $59 a pop (or $149 for vols. 1-3). I'm deeply considering buying it, the only thing that's stopping me is the lack of a terms of use page for me to check out.

 

So what do you think? If we're able to use em I think they'd be a worthy investment and save us alot of time.

[oDDity]

I can't see how they would allow you do redistribute them for free in a mod.

[Renzatic]

Neither can I, but I don't see anything on the site that says otherwise...

 

On a similar note...didn't Blackcat buy a set of pro textures? I think I remember that being the main reason why they couldn't swap assets with us.

 

You also have to assume the fact that since they're listed as game textures they obviously intend for them to be used in games. Considering what we're making here, if we were to only distribute the ones we use and forbid anyone from repackaging them outside of the mod we can probably use them.

 

It's basically like we're making a retail game here, only we're giving it away for free.

[oDDity]

I don't know, I never spend any time there. If it doesn't say on the ste you can't use them for this purpose, then they have no legal basis for telling us to stop if we do it.

[Renzatic]

True, but I'm gonna send em an regardless. I'll post the reply here when I get it.

[sparhawk]

Usually such texture services have a license that allows you to use them roality free in your models, applications, animations, etc. but don't allow you to redistribute them as textures. Since this is basically what we are doing I doubt that it would make sense. After all, it would mean that you pay once the price and afterwards everybody can use them since we are giving them away for free in our mod. Have some doubts that they will allow this? Think again.

[Renzatic]

Right, but why would they be selling packages of textures game ready right out of the box?

 

If you look on there you'll see a couple of games, both professional (Serious Sam 2) and amateur (that tank game) are allowed usage. The only difference between they and us is the fact that they're commercial and we're not.

[oDDity]

I'm sure you'd at least get your money back if you found out later you werne't allowed to distribute them with a game, since that's the only reason you're buying them.

[Renzatic]

This is the other game using their textures...

 

As you can see, it's being sold for just 4 bucks USD. I'd say the chances of us being allowed to use their set is pretty damn good as long as we include an EULA for their stuff in the mod.

[sparhawk]

Right, but why would they be selling packages of textures game ready right out of the box?

Because you can use it for your models and maps and everything. But not for giving the textures away as textures.

[sparhawk]

Using the textures in a game is ok. Giving the textures away as a set will be not. I'm sure that the licence will cover this, so that you can use the textures in your game and give it away as part of the game, but not as textures on it's own. The problem is with editors, because if you have an editor in a game you might be able to retrieve the textures as seperate entities, which might not be allowed, depending on how tightly they are integrated.

[Fingernail]

Yes, but by using textures in a map you are actually just distributing them. Especially in D3 terms, if a map uses the textures, then any user can open the pk4 and get hold of the textures. So it's not really any different.

[sparhawk]

In most games you can extract the textures somehow. But this doesn't matter because this can not be avoided. The point is the intent of the distribution. If it is for a map it is ok. If it is as a texture it is not.

[Fingernail]

But, if you look closely, the FM authors won't have to redistribute the textures even if they use them in a map. Once the players have the mod and all the textures, they don't have to get them again.

 

We're not handing them out with the intention of people handing them out again. We're handing them out so people can use them. Which is the same as any game - people use them when playing the game. It's just that now, people use them when 'playing' Radiant, and release a map. The map doesn't CONTAIN the textures again, it just references them so someone else is using them on their own PC.

[Fingernail]

Hello.

 

Thank you for your interest in our products. To answer your question, yes,  it is legal to use our textures for such projects if the content which is  accessible by others is modified and if the content is used for the  project (not only a directory full of textures which aren't used  somewhere).

Since I am a fan of FPS games and I am enjoying Doom3 as well I would like  to make you an offer. I know that non commercial projects are low on  budget (often) so I offer you the texture collections for free. Beside  this, your project looks pretty nice. Just tell me what you need and your  postal address and I will send you the package. Btw, I am a 3D modeller  and I was involved in some projects like TC's for Quake3 (unfortunately  never finished). So if you need any help feel free to ask. If you like,  just check www.dbki.de for some examples.

 

greetings

daniel aka duke

 

w00t, but also

 

if the content is used for the  project (not only a directory full of textures which aren't used  somewhere).

 

So we'd have to use their textures in a distributed map to get around that, I guess.

 

But w00t for freeness!

[Fingernail]

Also, Renz, do you want to take delivery?

[Fingernail]

Or perhaps BT should, this guy seems to be in Germany.

[New Horizon]

Wow...that's quite the nice offer.

[sparhawk]

This is really good news. We have to make sure though that we get a written permission as well just to be on the safe side.

[Springheel]

Wow, that's fantastic! How many of these can we get? This is going to launch our mapping division forward several month's worth of work!

[BlackThief]

sounds great

 

Or perhaps BT should, this guy seems to be in Germany.

 

yeah, when everything about the "license" is cleared you can give him my adress.

[New Horizon]

This dude will have to get a healthy mention in our credits for this.

[SneaksieDave]

Booyah, that's bigtime! Great work finding this and sealing it. I imagine if he also was able to contribute, it would seal the deal even more.

 

Free?! Imagine that. Seems like a tres cool individual.

[oDDity]

This guy can model as well, check out his site. He offered to do some modeling, and another one would never hurt.

[Renzatic]

Wow, that I was not expecting...

 

I wouldn't mind having my own copy on a disc, but BT would get them a helluva lot faster and it'd be cheaper for the guy to send.

 

And yeah, we should consider making the guy a part of the team. We already know he can texture like a mofo, but he can draw and model as well. It'd be dumb for us not to.