Hey, this became quite a burst of activity so please excuse the multi quoting, I am going to reply to each post stating what is up and why I say and think these things.
Is there a reason you're singling out this mod? Nearly every portrait mod clashes with vanilla and consists of stolen art, but you never made these hostile comments in those threads. I don't see how your content is harmed by an optional portrait mod either. In the end, including all the faction files saves time none of us want to waste on this minor ***.
Spoiler
Also, your content won't be in the game until 1.0 is out anyway.
I am not singling out this mod, I also asked Helmut to make his portrait mod not modify my factions and no others do as far as I know except for these two. I never made these "hostile" (factual) comments in this / those threads because I didn't even realize this mod and Helmut's added to my mods until I made the post here.
And since all the portrait pack mods steal art that makes it OK to do more is that what you are saying? No it doesn't, it hurts folks, it hurts content creators, and it hurts their income. I have seen sites taken down because a copyrighted image being posted on their forum. Now, just imagine some dude, sees their art, on my faction, and not realizing it was a *different* mod that put it there. That is a scenario I don't even want to be *possible* to occur and that is just my own "self defense" angle. It isn't even getting into how this is devaluing their art, while also spreading it "for free" that others will re-purpose recursively forever and ever. So yes, it hurts me, it hurts other modders, it hurts Starsector, it hurts Alex, it hurts the reputation of the people who make mods like this, and it hurts the folks who make the art.
And no, including all factions is very much *not* minor. Folks are free to do whatever they want, but your dreams will NEVER step on mine. So either play by the same rules as everyone else, or stay in your own yard (private-use mods only). I have various methods to enforce this but God forbid I ask first since that is the right thing to do
Speaking of the right thing to do, the real right thing to do would be for this mod to vanish forever for all the previous reasons stated. But at the very least? It cannot drag mine and other modder's work into the potential problems and certain hurt it causes without at a minimum permission being given.
Look like this one using Helmut's portrait pack as a template since both having the same faction file. Also, both portrait mod has been existed for like a year or two. Why all the sudden it jive your jam, Meso?
I never looked closely at the guts of portrait pack mods until now.
I believe the issue at hand is that it injects these assets into MesoTroniK's mods, stolen or not, that wouldn't be his problem if the creator of this portrait pack did not apply the new portraits to said mods.
Regardless of a mods particular Creative Commons attribution, making changes to someone's work and then redistributing it without asking the original creators is known by us in the business as a "*** move"
And If i'm not mistaken, Meso's Creative Commons attributions don't even allow for this to begin with.
moreover, do not mistake being caught with a sudden change of heart, he might have simply not known that the Degenerate portrait pack was doing this until just now, I know I didn't.
Yes, Gwyvern states this well and every point of his is bullet proof.
I see. At least the portrait pack is quite harmless and you know what you'll get right off the bat since the portrait style is crashing with one another. Still, from both Meso, and Gwyvern standpoint, it should only add to vanilla faction with an optional file as an add-on for other mod faction would be better?
No, it isn't harmless for all the reasons stated previously by me. And just because it clashes doesn't mean folks will not assume I added the art when they see it in game, I mean the average player isn't even capable of reporting a bug to the correct mod thread let alone random folks who do not play SS but see it in various places do you think they will able to place what mod adds what?
Yes, it should only add to vanilla. No wait, it shouldn't exist at all! But if it must, it only adding to vanilla, then having optional file add-ins for other mods and said optional files only are made after consulting with said mod authors first would be the next best thing.
The correct answer is to ask each mod author if they are okay with your content affecting their mods, and if they say no, don't do it -at all- Not even as an optional file.
Or if you are really that desperate for Tiandong Waifus, don't distribute it. It's nobodies business but your own if you are keeping it to yourself.
Yep, ask fist is *always* the best policy unless the license of the mod is explicitly fully open and do-as-you-will which mine are not for many reasons which I can elaborate on if you wish. And yea, private-use mod? Do whatever you want but when you distribute try to be more thoughtful of actions and their consequences.
Anyways, I hope that clears things up a bit said replies to each post but I want to add a little more to it as a standalone.
I know a mod like this is for fun, the creator likes it, the players that use it like it etc etc. But most actual content creators, and no stealing and cropping a bunch of art and throwing them into simple .json files is not really creating content... *Actual* content creators are typically never going to appreciate things like this. Let's steal art, then lets add it to mods made by others who do no such things. Who could possibly get offended by that? I don't know, probably folks who have spent tens of thousands of hours modding, drawing, coding, making sounds, creating music, making various things all as a mix of passion projects for free and paid work.
So try to think about all that, and maybe have a little more respect for others? You never know who they might be, and what their journey throughout life has been.