map conversions

(Northerner) #1

i have had a few maps converted over from RTCW and have always had permission from the original map maker.

but i have a few maps i would like to see converted but i am not able to contact the original mapper, i have searched several sites and the email addresses listed are no longer valid.

what is the proper thing to do?
convert the map and give credit for the original map to that mapper?
are maps public domain if the mapper is no longer available for contact?

it would be a huge shame to see so many great maps from rtcw not get converted for play on enemy territory!

let me know what ya think?

(]UBC[ McNite) #2

are maps public domain if the mapper is no longer available for contact?

I don’t think so. That d be like… hey nobody s been living in that house for 2 years now, so i can live in it…

(mortis) #3

Quote:
are maps public domain if the mapper is no longer available for contact?

I don’t think so. That d be like… hey nobody s been living in that house for 2 years now, so i can live in it…

In the US, that might be legal if you paid the property taxes and the property was otherwise abandoned…

I would be careful about making conversions without explicit permission from the author.

Of course, in most cases, if you acknowledge the original authors, and its not for profit and its abandonware, you’d probably be safe anyway. I’m not a lawyer though, so keep that in mind.

A relevant thread: http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&t=12817&highlight=

–Mortis

(SCDS_reyalP) #4

Absolutely not. Although copyrights theoretically expire, various big business interests keep getting them extended. The laws vary depending on jurisdiction, and the exact circumstances of the creation of the work, but nothing expires on the kind of timescale you are talking about.

See also
http://www.ivanhoffman.com/expiration.html
http://eldred.cc/eldredvashcroft.html

(]UBC[ McNite) #5

Hm maybe I can add my story.

My clan was desperate for an ET remake of TheRiver by TC (Tanya Cheex). So when ET came out, I posted on the Tramdesign forums and pm’ed her. I got no answer. I was thinking about remapping it myself, but wasn’t able to figure out how the damn radiant was working :cool: so I quit it. That was june/july 2003. Some time later I got in contact with DACrow who was searching for her as well. He actually had talked to her a lot about TheRiver and an improved version, and even had got the source file of TheRiver for RtCW from her.
TCs last post on Tramdesign was made Dec. 2002 and several ppl said she had left the scene which she had been very active in.

DACrow and me eventually decided to start mapping on the map for ET, but broke up not too far in the project and I finished it by myself. The River II for ET was released in November 2004.

The 2 huge differences of this story are:
A) DACrow had talked to TC about remapping.
B) And even though we have the source file (i still have it), The River II for ET was remapped from scratch. No decompile, no pieces from the original source used in the new map. Terrain totally new done in EasyGen, all buildings new. Only thing I actually made after the old map is the script part and entities of the bridge and bridge controls (cuz i suck at scripting)
:bump: