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UPDATED 14/06/18 - *** Rules for User Made Mods and Edits of PDS games ***

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  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
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Rule 10 seems a bit harsh in my opinion, and I don't see why it is needed...
 
Castellon said:
This is the discussion thread for the User Modding rules of PDS Games.

First, We at Paradox love User modding and mods for our games and want to encourage you to do so, we see benefits for everyone involved.
In the past there has been some confusion about the rules concerning user mods, in an effort to provide a clear understanding, the rules are formalized here.
These may be updated as needs and circumstances arise and through exchanges and dialog with you, our valued modders.

Below are the rules you must follow if you want to Mention/Discuss/Plan or otherwise Market your User mod on our forums and or list it in the steam Workshop.

1) The User Mod may not have an external public forum, they can have one for their internal development use but not disclosed to the general membership here, nor allowing them to join.
2) User Mod files should be hosted on a file share site designed for use by the public (if they know the specific address) and or Steam Workshop.
3) The User Mod will not distribute the EXE file.
4) The User Mod may not claim ANY kind of license or copyright of any kind (You can still have Credits).
5) The User Mod should respect the work of other modders and not include any work without the consent of that modder.
6) The User Mod should not include 3rd party copyright material, without permission of the copyright holder.
7) No material from one Paradox IP(Game or DLC, includes any content in them) may be used in a user mod, unless that user mod can assure only people with that other Paradox IP installed can use it. If doing that is beyond the technical ability of the particular mod maker or it is impossible then they cannot be used.
8) You may not charge to buy the mod or charge fees of any kind.
9) You may not solicit directly or indirectly donation in any form.
10) The Mod should be exclusive to the members of this forum and or Steam workshop.

Violations: If you feel that a user mod is violating one of these rules, please alert a Moderator and never bring it up publicly, leave that to the staff. Starting an argument or confronting the mod creator directly can result in unfriendly behavior and may result in both parties being warned or infracted, we do not want members getting into arguments about it Especially for Rule 5.

Once your User Mod has grown to the point where you feel you need more than one thread to discuss it, you can ask a Moderator that your main thread be stuck to the top of the forum and can use the first post of that thread to act as an index to the other related threads of your Mod.
Once you feel You have too many threads and posts to manage in that way, you can ask a Moderator to sponsor your mod and they can apply to an Administrator for your own sub forum.

It is important to note that we support modders and want you to succeed, follow the rules as outlined above and we will support you as fully as we are able.
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Be aware that most of these rules are easily fought in court in many countries. For instance, if you want to enforce this in the Netherlands you have to let your users sign an official paper before they buy the game. Just a ULA does not cover it. Also in point 4, own created art has always copyright you can not just deny that right. Also, point 5 implies some form of copyright anyway. :) So some of tthese rules are just for the sake of Paradox and not enforceable (except 7/8/9 because they involve paradox IP ). Paradox can control access to their forums and steam workshop but their rights do not extend towards the whole internet.

They can not block any outside source. Nor tell people not to do things with their own copies. So most rules are more like guidelines to create a happy and creative modding environment while protecting Paradox from being sued for sexual/nazi/hate/copyrighted content.

I for sure do not want my favorite Publisher/Developement studio to get into trouble because of some @#$$@@!$ people. :)
 
In the past, I sent a PM concerning this to Castellon that received no answer, but it might be better to discuss it openly in this thread if anyone else knows the answer: what are the rules concerning modifications of which the author is no longer on the forums/has not been on the forum for many months. That author, @hooni had explicitly, multiple times stated that his mod should not be modified or used by any other modifications. Is it OK to update it and then use it if the modder is not on the forums? Some people talked about a period after which the mod could be used freely, but I have seen no such official guideline.
 
loup99 said:
In the past, I sent a PM concerning this to Castellon that received no answer, but it might be better to discuss it openly in this thread if anyone else knows the answer: what are the rules concerning modifications of which the author is no longer on the forums/has not been on the forum for many months. That author, @hooni had explicitly, multiple times stated that his mod should not be modified or used by any other modifications. Is it OK to update it and then use it if the modder is not on the forums? Some people talked about a period after which the mod could be used freely, but I have seen no such official guideline.
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Speaking here as a normal user and not a demi-mod, my answer is in no way official;
I think it's really a case-by-case situation that depends on how the original author interacted with the community and the terms they set for their mod when they were around. Take for example Lux Invicta; Shaytana was very open about the development of that modification and didn't have a problem with other people using parts of it for their own works so I don't think he personally would have any issue with his work being continued by successors. On the other hand in this situation you say the author was very closed and clear in his wishes that the content should not be modified or used by other mods so in this situation I think the answer is likely to be that unless the original author comes forward and states clearly that the modification can be used by others you won't be allowed to use his content. This is just the way I'm interpreting based on past experience though, my answer might be wrong.
 
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Korbah said:
I think it's really a case-by-case situation that depends on how the original author interacted with the community and the terms they set for their mod when they were around. Take for example Lux Invicta; Shaytana was very open about the development of that modification and didn't have a problem with other people using parts of it for their own works so I don't think he personally would have any issue with his work being continued by successors. On the other hand in this situation you say the author was very closed and clear in his wishes that the content should not be modified or used by other mods so in this situation I think the answer is likely to be that unless the original author comes forward and states clearly that the modification can be used by others you won't be allowed to use his content. This is just the way I'm interpreting based on past experience though, my answer might be wrong.
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Yes, that was my interpretation too, but I did not want to start a big argumentation/conflict over that in the concerned thread, so I decided to PM Castellon, who did not answer. I guess this is more a personal thing to judge.
 
loup99 said:
Yes, that was my interpretation too, but I did not want to start a big argumentation/conflict over that in the concerned thread, so I decided to PM Castellon, who did not answer. I guess this is more a personal thing to judge.
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I think Castellon might be on holiday.
 
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I've been looking for an answer to my question about advertising my mod, and it appears that I can so long as the download links are only available on the forum or Steam Workshop. But is it okay to ask for help from outside artists, even if they don't have the game, so long as they agree to let my mod use their work and to the rules listed here?
 
Tirenedon said:
I've been looking for an answer to my question about advertising my mod, and it appears that I can so long as the download links are only available on the forum or Steam Workshop. But is it okay to ask for help from outside artists, even if they don't have the game, so long as they agree to let my mod use their work and to the rules listed here?
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As far as I know, yes. Elder Kings has permission from various artists to use their work and it hasn't caused any issues here.
 
loup99 said:
Yes, that was my interpretation too, but I did not want to start a big argumentation/conflict over that in the concerned thread, so I decided to PM Castellon, who did not answer. I guess this is more a personal thing to judge.
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If you consider it worth the effort, use his mod as inspiration and develop your own mod that accomplishes much the same thing. Nobody owns the *ideas*.
 
Gwayne said:
Be aware that most of these rules are easily fought in court in many countries.
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The rules are not about 'if you want to mod our games, you must follow rules one to ten', they are about '[...] if you want to Mention/Discuss/Plan or otherwise Market [...] on our forums and [...] the steam Workshop'.

The first one would be invalid in most western jurisdictions (including Sweden), why the latter is perfectly fine.
 
To clear up a few things, I am not worried about whether you feel the rules can be enforced in Court since These are the rules if you want to post your Mod on our forums or workshop. If you break them we can simply remove the mod from the workshop and/or the forum, no need for a court of law.

You can advertise your mod where ever you like, so long as the Download link is only available from the modding sub-forum, to be clear you cannot have a manual download link on the workshop, only the automatic one included in the workshop functionality.

Taking over abandoned mods would be a case by case basis as mentioned.
 
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That's how it should be :) Thanks for making that clear Castellon.

I really enjoy the modding culture around paradox games and I am happy with the enforcement of some rules to prevent people from spoiling it.
 
@Castellon @Captain Gars

I am currently working on an EU IV sub-mod and would like to get a definite answer whether it is allowed to use public GitHub Repositories for mods that are accessible on the Steam Workshops/the Paradox Forums.

Why do I bring this up?

There seems to be no clear answer to this topic. There are a number of CK II and EU IV mods that use public GitHub Repositories and then other mods, like VeF, claim that using such a public GitHub Repository violates the rules. Therefore, what would help is a definite answer on whether using a public GitHub Repository violates the Rules for User Made Mods or not.

If the use of public GitHub Repositories is really not allowed as claimed by the VeF team then I really wonder why a growing number of EU IV and CK II mods is using them without Paradox doing anything about it because some of these mods even link to their public GitHub Repository in the OP.
 
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delpiero1234 said:
@Castellon @Captain Gars

I am currently working on an EU IV sub-mod and would like to get a definite answer whether it is allowed to use public GitHub Repositories for mods that are accessible on the Steam Workshops/the Paradox Forums.

Why do I bring this up?

There seems to be no clear answer to this topic. There are a number of CK II and EU IV mods that use public GitHub Repositories and then other mods, like VeF, claim that using such a public GitHub Repository violates the rules. Therefore, what would help is a definite answer on whether using a public GitHub Repository violates the Rules for User Made Mods or not.

If the use of public GitHub Repositories is really not allowed as claimed by the VeF team then I really wonder why a growing number of EU IV and CK II mods is using them without Paradox doing anything about it because some of these mods even link to their public GitHub Repository in the OP.
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I'd appreciate a response on that, too.
 
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delpiero1234 said:
@Castellon @Captain Gars

I am currently working on an EU IV sub-mod and would like to get a definite answer whether it is allowed to use public GitHub Repositories for mods that are accessible on the Steam Workshops/the Paradox Forums.

Why do I bring this up?

There seems to be no clear answer to this topic. There are a number of CK II and EU IV mods that use public GitHub Repositories and then other mods, like VeF, claim that using such a public GitHub Repository violates the rules. Therefore, what would help is a definite answer on whether using a public GitHub Repository violates the Rules for User Made Mods or not.

If the use of public GitHub Repositories is really not allowed as claimed by the VeF team then I really wonder why a growing number of EU IV and CK II mods is using them without Paradox doing anything about it because some of these mods even link to their public GitHub Repository in the OP.
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myzael said:
I'd appreciate a response on that, too.
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Me too please.
 
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delpiero1234 said:
I am glad to see that this topic is of interest to more than just myself. Therefore, I hope that @Castellon and @Captain Gars will take the time to answer this question so that there remains no doubt on whether using a public GitHub Repository is allowed or not.
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And a public response at that, I may add. No PM's with selective spread of information.
 
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