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Downloaded some content by denis90 & a few things looked familiar
Opened the config on about 6 items and all had different Authors in the config
I think we may have some more illegal copies or am I mistaken
While this sort of copying and distribution is to be regretted, and must be dealt with properly, the unfortunate fact is that Trainz users who want to use the multiplayer facility are forced to do it because of the erratic way in which assets that ought to have a single common source on the DLS now have multiple sources as built-in and payware, and therefore are not available to all players. Converting the asset to a single DLS source is the only practical solution. I no longer refer to multi-player as a feature of the sim because of the amount of negative feedback.Be on the lookout for another Russian multi-player route on the DLS. I noticed a correlation between lots of snagged assets uploaded and the release of multiplayer routes.
Multi-player requires a single common source for assets. If some users have the asset as payware, some have it as built-in and some have it as DLS download then multi-player will not run. And it's not just payware, but built-in that varies across versions of Trainz that ought to be compatible. If none of your assets are affected then that simply demonstrates how the copying easily spreads beyond what the multi-player users see as necessary in order to play their game, and that reinforces the importance of eliminating the most important driver of this activity.I don’t see how multi-player forces any user to make unauthorised reskins of freely available assets.
That's the point. When N3V changes the asset from freeware on the DLS to built-in or payware they add things like translations and the permissions container. That causes it to be seen as modified and unusable in multiplayer. Of course one fix is for the original creator of the route to upload a new version of the route that uses the new version of the asset, but typically the original creator is either long gone or has lost interest.So long as the asset is not modified, it can be installed from any of the suitable sources (built-in, DLC pack, or DLS) and will function in multiplayer. There is no requirement for all players to have the asset installed from the same source, just that it be from a suitable source and be unmodified.
That's the point. When N3V changes the asset from freeware on the DLS to built-in or payware they add things like translations and the permissions container. That causes it to be seen as modified and unusable in multiplayer. Of course one fix is for the original creator of the route to upload a new version of the route that uses the new version of the asset, but typically the original creator is either long gone or has lost interest...
Unfortunately, for built-in content, it has previously been a requirement of regional publishers that all content include regional translations. Without this, the regional publishers simply would not publish Trainz in local languages because it has incomplete translations. I faced this with several of my assets, which needed to use newer tags in their cab views to support translations when TANE was in development....or is still active and objects to language and privileges tags being added. Perhaps I'm the only one feeling like this.
At the current time this is not a simple or straightforward thing to enforce. We have looked at this previously, and the technology was not reliable enough to avoid rejecting legitimate names repeatedly. This may be looked at again in the future, but I cannot say when or if this may happen.IMO, until the English-only status of the main username tag starts being enforced, I don't think N3V should be inserting non-English language tags. And the privileges tag should not be in there if the original didn't have one.
N3V also sometimes increments a kuid's version number without asking or even informing the original creator. If it happens to an asset that only goes into an edition of Trainz that the original creator doesn't buy, the change remains unknown to the creator who wrongly assumes he/she has the latest version of every asset they created.
I just received word from Helpdesk that several Denis90 assets (author ID 114219) have been removed from the DLS, these being unauthorised re-skins of my assets (author ID 68213) as per the following list;
Other creators please note - in contested cases such as this, it may not be enough to simply show that configs have obviously been derived from yours, or that thumbnail images and file names are identical to your originals. In order to completely establish the identity and ownership of the meshes, I needed to supply N3V with copies of my original .gmax files.
The lesson is that if you want to help N3V protect your copyright, it is a very good idea to keep copies of your original 3D source files.
I thank Zec Murphy for doing such an in-depth investigation, which included contact with the re-skinner to get their side of the story, all within 3 business days.
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Regarding the deleted Denis90 knock-offs, they're still listed as "Available for Download" but an attempt to actually download them is met with "Asset removed due to a terms of service violation..". Do they stay listed forever or do the assets eventually get removed from the list? I'm just trying to understand the process.