Question about Payware Aircraft Repaints

[Isra]

Hi!
I made a Set of Repaints of a Payware Aircraft. I checked some Repaints at Flightsim.com of the same Aircraft. They all include all Base-Textures aswell, but basically they are copyrighted by the Company.....right???

So, what's the Business now about those Base-Textures, can I put them also into my File or do I have to ask the Company for permission?

I am sure that many of the Repainters at Flightsim.com did not ask for permission...

Thanks for any Inputs!

Regards Isra

 

[fsafranek]

You mean group your changes along with all the untouched textures into a single zip file for distribution? I've always avoided it with payware titles for a couple reasons. 1) they are from a payware product and your are now redistributing them as freeware -- that's borderline illegal, and 2) its lazy and makes for unnecessarily large downloads.

Unless there was some specific thing on another texture that needed changing to further individualize your repaint, sending out only the textures included in the paint kit provided by the developer should be sufficient. Granted it's easier in FSX through the use of the "texture.cfg" file but if people can make modifications to other parts of the aircraft/panel they should be able to set up a new texture folder using the new repainted parts combined with the original parts.

If you want a copy of the instructions I always use for doing this check out any of my repaints or just ask and I'll post them in this thread -- they've been reused by others (word for word) many times.
:ernae:

 

[fsafranek]

From one of my Alphasim F-106 repaints that only included the changed textures (easier to read if you paste it into notepad, weird word wrapping going on here)...

Installation (FS2004 -- scroll down for FSX) 
--------------------------------------------
This zip file contains only the textures that are unique to this scheme. You will also need the original "ALPHA F-106 Delta Dart FS9" files. The intended method for installation is as an optional set of markings.

1) *Purchase* and install AlphaSim's "ALPHA F-106 Delta Dart FS9" aircraft package.

2A) In Windows Explorer (Right-click on the Start button and select "Explore"),
2B) Work your way to "Local Disk C:", then "Program Files", then "Microsoft Games", then "Flight Simulator 9", and finally "Aircraft".
2C) Scroll down the list until you find a folder named "ALPHA F-106A Delta Dart"
2D) Within that folder find a texture folder named "texture.48thFIS".
2E) Right-click on the folder icon for "texture.48thFIS" and select "Copy"
2F) Right-click again in the same area and select "Paste". You should end up with a new folder named "Copy of texture.48thFIS"
2G) Right-click on that new "Copy of texture.48thFIS" folder name and select "Rename". Change it to read "texture.49thFIS".

3) Copy the texture files (*.bmp) from the "FS9" folder of this zip file to the new "texture.49thFIS" folder. Go ahead and overwrite when prompted.

4) Edit the aircraft.cfg file using Notepad to add the new [fltsim.xx] section that reads as follows: (change "xx" to be the next number in sequence -- don't duplicate or skip or it will not work) 

[fltsim.xx]
title=ALPHA F-106A Delta Dart 49th FIS
sim=Alpha F-106
model=A
panel=
sound=
texture=49thFIS
kb_checklists=f106_check
atc_id=90074
ui_manufacturer=ALPHA
ui_type=F-106 Delta Dart
ui_variation=F-106A 49th FIS, Griffiss AFB, 1972
description=© AlphaSim 2008\n\nConvair's superb F-106 Delta Dart ... destroyed in 1998.
atc_parking_types=MIL_COMBAT
atc_heavy=0
visual_damage=1
atc_airline=AIR FORCE
atc_flight_number=74

5) That's it. You will now have another F-106A Delta Dart available when you go to Select Aircraft.

Hope this helps.
:ernae:

 

[Isra]

Frank, thank you !
This is actually the right way to do it! But I was thinking of a .exe File for fast installation.
I guess I should not support anymore all lazy Guys who want to install something in a minute,
....but doing it your way :salute:

Thanks man!

 

[Desert Rat]

my guess is that if the payware dev allows repaints, (and why wouldn't they? They increase interest and potential sales and also the longevity of those sales if the paints keep coming.) that they are resigned to and fully allow the base textures to be included.

I agree about the lazy thing, but you also have to take into account the **** factor of some folks, they don't read and thus you may be open to more users than normal contacting you complaining stuff don't work right (missing textures, etc.)

just my tupence,
Jamie

 

[Wing_Z]

Frank, thank you !
This is actually the right way to do it! But I was thinking of a .exe File for fast installation.
I guess I should not support anymore all lazy Guys who want to install something in a minute,
....but doing it your way :salute: Thanks man!

Frank is quite a meticulous person, and certainly would not offend any Prima Donna developer with that approach.
But speaking as a lazy guy who's finished **** for things as simple as repaints (=perhaps 90% of the simming community ) I'll go with Jamie's sentiment.

I get irritated by part textures, and having to find and copy over the correct ones from elsewhere.
It is implicit in allowing repaints, that the untouched textures be used - the paint would not work without them.
And, the entire texture set presumably would only work on the intended model anyway, so copyright is essentially protected.
Bandwidth is no longer an issue for most, so a few extra texture MB's won't break the bank either.

And please, not an executable file!
I won't run these unless they come with a personal bank guarantee backed by a driver's licence.

Just a nice texture folder with everything inside, and a txt file with the config information, thanks!

 

[AndyG43]

Just a nice texture folder with everything inside, and a txt file with the config information, thanks!

Not always practicable though. I understand the reluctance to ****, sometimes it can be over the top; but also providing that nice texture folder has it's drawbacks. Hopefully Matt & I will shortly be in a position to release our TSR.2 repaints (if he stops getting sidetracked & I find the time to do the repaints for the weapons); now I have 28 repaints, each texture folder is currently 52 MB unzipped & that may go up slightly when I sort the weapons - and then Matt's files would be on top of that. Zipped, the files come down to about 8 meg, so if I just uploaded my files as a package that woud be about 230 MB; but roughly two-thirds of that would be duplicated common textures, so logic says to me that the sensible approach is to have the texture folders with just the revised textures in, the config.txt file and a common textures folder which would need to be copied over, which should come out to 80-85 MB.

Genuinely interested in people's views on this.

 

[huub vink]

Normally I try to provide a complete texture folder, with all general textures (original publisher) included as well. Perhaps I'm braching copyright by this. In most cases I have already done that, as I used often have used company logos, fonts, brand names etc. without asking permission.

You could also discuss whether the person who is using a repaint made available without the general textures and who copies the himslef is breaching copyrights. He has purchased the textures to be used with the software (model) provided by the publisher and now he is making copies of these textures, although in most cases the publisher allows to make copies for back-up purposes only.......

This doesn't say you can or should ask permission to include general textures. In most cases I don't think the publisher will refuse to issue permission as in most cases more repaints make a model more interesting.

When I don't include general textures this is often caused by the file size form these textures. Several publishers provide all textures in 32-bits format, which will result in huge file sizes.

Cheers,
Huub