Remaking of a freeware route?

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Remaking of a freeware route?

Postby RobertM » Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:13 pm

So I have been wrestling with the idea of making a certain preserved railway in TSxx for a while now but I shelved the idea due to the amount of custom scenery needed such as stations ect.

Time has passed and I have done other things in TS, but then the route in question was released, and yes I did like the route but I thought that there were some very rough bits that nagged at me. But after having a play in the editor to try & 'fix' these bits I have come to the conclusion it would be easier to start the route afresh from the ground up.

So here is the question, from a moral prospective is it right of me to take someones route, in which people have contributed custom assets and then build my own version of the route with these assets and then release it via a different site (the original route being freeware and my version would also being freeware (from UKTS like all my other work)). I personally cant see a problem with it, my version would still require the original version for the assets needed, but on the other hand it does feel like I might be insulting someone who has put alot of effort into their original work.

Peoples thoughts?

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Re: Remaking of a freeware route?

Postby AndiS » Sun Oct 22, 2017 6:54 pm

Of course, I would first talk to the other route builder. Given the amount of routes to model and the amount of route builders available, any kind of route builder war cannot be a good idea. At the same time, with the maturity of the platform, there will be a growing number of routes that are overlapping or duplicating each other. Handling that without hard feelings would be a great aim, in particular for the freeware scene.

After the route builder, I would talk to the (main) contributors of the assets you are going to reuse. What do they say a) emotionally, b) legally.

Like you said, users of your route will have to download the assets for the original route. If it is not on the same server, there is some risk of the original version becoming unavailable. Without individual, explicit permission, you cannot upload assets to UKTS. Given the amount of work you put in your version of the route, you may count with the sorry at some later point. That is why TSD has this "promise not to withdraw" option.

Myself, I always pull out of anything where I am not sure that the amount of people who love me for doing it is a big multiple of the people who hate me for doing it. Even more so in spare time. And I would never start a route project where I am not 100% sure of the availability of all assets forever.
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Re: Remaking of a freeware route?

Postby BigVern » Thu Nov 02, 2017 10:08 pm

I have come to this arrangement in Trainz with a couple of routes. My two West Highland portions were given an extensive re-work by another builder as was my Dalmunzie narrow gauge route. Then not forgetting the community update to my original Blackpool Tramway route for MSTS.

However in all those instances I was fully consulted, kept updated as to progress and that I was happy with the end result before it was released for public distribution. I would not have been so happy had that not been the case and the route(s) just re-worked without so much as a by-your-leave. Most important, the "bones" were still my original route.

Possibly this situation is slightly different if the route is being rebuilt from scratch and, if unable to make your own custom duty, you have to be very careful to avoid the impression of, "Your route sucks mate, but I still need your 3D assets to build my own version." Murky waters I would say given there are 1000's of miles of unbuilt route for the UK and the wider world to choose from.
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