Paid and Lock custom 3D Assets?

[DrJamesWhite]

Is this a good idea? Perhaps if users pay a small amount for the hard work been done for creating different types of building. More designer would be willing to put more time into it. So you can get 100+ different types of building for a particular city in America or europe. Simcity is a good way of showing what can happen when its all free. You will get different types of building but as said not to the amount you need to recreate a realistic city. So having it free shows it just wont work. Cause there is no incentive.

And I think its reasonable that if you want your city to look like Toronto and want all the buildings of that city or most of it then be willing to pay a little price for it. Cause alot of work will have gone into creating 100+ buildings. Texture and all.

There can also be free ones too but paid one will always look better.

And there should also be an option to lock the content so it cant be edited and only used for skyline. Simcity has this. Why would you want your hardwork given away and used for other things? They should also be an option that if the designer want it to be free then they dont need to lock it.

Any other ideas to promote more designer to want to create more individual buildings of realistic cities?

 

[Baro]

lol

 

[Ofaloaf]

What, for mods? That stuff's vile. That model hasn't worked anywhere in years, and it's against most EULAs out there.

 

[DrJamesWhite]

No I mean for creating 3D models Assets . You have the ability to create custom 3D buildings and import them as FBX into the game. So you want that white house you can have it. So not about the mods.

Or else tell me would you spent hundreds of hours recreating 50% of all the building in chicago or your home town? As said will you spend time creating 100+ detail models for the game and just give it out for free? No one has done that not even for simcity and it just wont happen if it was for free. Cause there will be alot of work for it.

And also simcity 2013 has it where their models are lock to their game. They are bat files and you cant use it in 3D max. So that option works. And they dont give out their model files either.

If there is another way perhaps locking it might be better? But I think paid will be a good incentive.

Could you explain about its agaisnt the EULA?

You can sell your 3d models you know legally? So its been done.

There is just no way players will get the realism they want if models are just free for all. So it would concern most of us who like the visualize their home town and like the realism.

 

[SimonJM]

There's loads of model shops on the worldwide interwebs. This really has nothing to do with CSL. If you want to go make and sell assets no one is stopping you.

 

[Ofaloaf]

I was thinking specifically of things already packaged up as mods for the game; most game EULAs state some level of control and tend to prohibit making money out of mods. Sim City 2013's EULA goes so far as to say

Your right to use the Software is limited to the license grant above, and you may not otherwise copy, display, seek to disable, distribute, perform, publish, modify, create works from, or use the Software or any component of it, except as expressly authorized by EA.

while Mojang's Minecraft EULA states

Any tools you write for the Game from scratch belong to you. . Modifications to the Game ("Mods") (including pre-run Mods and in-memory Mods) and plugins for the Game also belong to you and you can do whatever you want with them, as long as you don‘t sell them for money / try to make money from them. We have the final say on what constitutes a tool/mod/plugin and what doesn‘t.

and Sega's general EULA available on their website says

You agree to only use the Game Software, or any part of it, in a manner that is consistent with this Agreement, and you SHALL NOT [...] reverse engineer, derive source code, modify, decompile, disassemble, copy, or create derivative works of the Game Software, in whole or in part (except as the applicable law expressly permits, in which case all and any modifications, adaptations, copies, improvements, etc. shall belong to, vest in and be the exclusive property of Sega and/or its licensors on creation, in any event);

The general theme is that you can't charge money for mods, and some companies just flat claim ownership of any mods created (although the chances of them actually taking advantage of that legal claim are slim). A general 3D model on a third-party site is one thing, but if the asset is explicitly for a game, charging money for it is likely to be verboten.

 

[OlaHaldor]

I see what both sides are saying.

It's not OK to create a mod specifically for CSL, and get paid for it.

It is OK to create a 3D model, to be used in any game. It just so happens to be a building. Then someone can purchase the building asset for use in his or her game regardless of which one it is.

I find it unlikely that people would pay for an asset just to get it in CSL though. And once that model is in the game and shared on the Steam Workshop as a mod... Congrats - you had one sale.

 

[crabby]

As has been said. There are plenty of places out there to try and sell your 3D content.

If you are talking about making money from selling mods for specific games. Good luck. Most game EULAs specifically prohibit this and it is one of the few things many companies will actually come after your butt for violating.

It's possible CS allows it. But I kind of doubt they do.

 

[IVIaarten]

Even if it was allowed.... why would you want to?

The reason why SC4 is still very much alive is due to the modding scene (over 12 years now is it?). It's the community feeling of creating and sharing what you've made. This gives other people ideas and they might expand on that. It's all a labour of love, but wonderful things come from it.

Greed like in the OP will certainly kill of any chance of a good modding community.

 

[Kanimir]

Even if it was allowed.... why would you want to?

The reason why SC4 is still very much alive is due to the modding scene (over 12 years now is it?). It's the community feeling of creating and sharing what you've made. This gives other people ideas and they might expand on that. It's all a labour of love, but wonderful things come from it.

Greed like in the OP will certainly kill of any chance of a good modding community.

But, but... I want to sell my buildings and become a billionaire

 

[kosh22]

Wasn't TSR built around that model. Micropayments for items? I don't see anything wrong with that model.

 

[Ofaloaf]

Wasn't TSR built around that model. Micropayments for items? I don't see anything wrong with that model.

The old TSR model was against the EULA, but God, can you imagine the enormity of the shitfit that would've followed if EA had moved to actually close it down at its height? EA ended up just making a "we ain't touching that shit" statement six years ago and left it at that. As it is, though, TSR moved away from that model anyways, and now you just pay money to make advertisements go away on that site rather than pay for access to the downloads themselves.

Legally TSR didn't really have a leg to stand on if someone had decided to re-host those files for free.

 

[crash6674]

LOL, The whiney man-children are bad now, it would just be cancerous to everyone involved if they were allowed to charge money for their "visions" and would cripple the community. An example of this would be way back when a dude got butt-sore on simtropolis about .exe files and left with soem other spergs. tldr: modders are giant man children, what do you think would happen if money was involved?

 

[DrJamesWhite]

Sorry if I was not clear again...

Its making 3d Models in a 3D modelling software like Autocad and exporting it as an FBX. So yes doing it this way you can sell it.

but as I said I was looking at the simcity series mod sites and they dont really have models for an entire city as it takes too long to make. They have alot I agree but I suppose if they had a site where they can sell your designs for personal use then perhaps its an incentive as said too want to create 50+ buildings for a particular country.

I suppose if someone wanted it done it would be done already but has not for the simcity series.

 

[BStyles]

They do it quite well for free, over at XL Nation. They have replicated hundreds of building models which randomly spawn when certain areas are zoned. It's about patience, not profit.

 

[cRAGGLE]

Money is evil. Do it for the passion.

 

[Bjorn0305]

Not sure if you are permitted to legally sell it. You'll have to see CO/Paradox' EULA; and if forbidden in there, you will need to check your countries laws on if a company from outside your country can "force" this on you.

However, many games permit you to accept donations for your work.

It would also depend on your distribution model. I am not sure if you can get paid through the steam workshop. You may choose not to post your material through steam and post it elsewhere where you can get paid, but you may be limiting your audience and forgoing the "subscription" feature for updates.

 

[Ayce]

Could you use a "donations" model?
Say I build several hundred low/mid/high poly buildings, or other models, for the game, and ask for donations to help keep the work going. If you do a good job, you'll get some, if not, you won't.

I'm not planning on this, just putting it out there.


Just noticed Bjorn0305's post mentioning this.

 

[IVIaarten]

If CO do their job right, there will be tons of players and modders jumping in on this. I'm pretty sure that with some effort they might even be able to use/adapt the models they've made for other games (SC4, Cities (X)XL, SC2013).
Of course if it would be down to one single person creating hundreds upon thousands of models, and there was no other way of getting new models, I would be willing to pay for a large collection. But that's the beauty of a community, it's not just one single person, and there are multiple ways to get models.

 

[Von Graff]

LOL, The whiney man-children are bad now, it would just be cancerous to everyone involved if they were allowed to charge money for their "visions" and would cripple the community. An example of this would be way back when a dude got butt-sore on simtropolis about .exe files and left with soem other spergs. tldr: modders are giant man children, what do you think would happen if money was involved?

Jeez man, why so much hate? Did you have a bad run-in with a modder in the past or something? Wow...