Editing the credits for standalone mod

[Ishmaru]

Hi i was just wondering if There might be a way to edit the credits (for a standalone release mod) to add a section so i can include myself as the creator of a mod that i am making, as well as credit creator of the music in the mod as well. Of course I will still give proper credit to all the people who are already in the credits as they are involved with original Glest. I mean no harm or offense by anything and would make sure everyone who should have credits would have them.  Would editing this be solely done by editing source code only or is there an easier method?

Thanks in advance!

[Omega]

This can only be done by editing the source code, and of course, you cannot remove credits, as Glest's license requires they be credited. However, I would recommend you do NOT do this, as then you would have to recode that part with every new release of GAE in order to keep GAE up-to-date. What I recommend is to simply add your name in some parts of the media or include a credits file, as most people do with their mods. For example, you can edit the logo so that it has the name of your mod and your name. Note that the latter is the least obtrustive method.

[Ishmaru]

Thanks Omega,

Yea I wouldn't remove the credits, just wanted to add to it.

as then you would have to recode that part with every new release of GAE in order to keep GAE up-to-date.

-Good point I didn't think of that...  wouldn't want to fight through code with every release.

Perhaps I will credit by writing names on main model, since i'm using a custom main menu. I can perhaps be creative with it!

You did say GAE does that mean MG would be different? Which reminds me are we NOT allowed to touch the two logos on the bottom of MG menu?

[ElimiNator]

I think you can remove them is you want, Not sure though. 

[ultifd]

Not sure, but Omega said GAE because of his preference.

[softcoder]

Basically removing the two logos at the bottom of MG makes me suspicious. Why would you want to remove references to "free" and "open source" unless you have plans  to make users think your mod is a pay version. None the less this has all been discussed and any changes you make ultimately must abide by the lengthy GPL3 license agreements and retain all copyright notices etc.. including you must bundle the source code (with all of your changes) with your mod.

Thanks

[Ishmaru]

Basically removing the two logos at the bottom of MG makes me suspicious. Why would you want to remove references to "free" and "open source" unless you have plans  to make users think your mod is a pay version.
Thanks

- Just to set things straight, I have no intention of making any sort of profit. The logos simply interfered with the look and feel of the custom menu which I was designing, and I just wanted to know if we were allowed to remove them, as the logos were not used in vanilla Glest, and earlier version of GAE and MegaGlest. You have my apologies if my question made you feel uncomfortable. I just wanted to know what am I allowed to edit or not.

Thanks

must abide by the lengthy GPL3 license agreements and retain all copyright notices etc..

I intend to.

[softcoder]

Sorry for being suspicious, I need to learn to assume the best.

[Ishmaru]

Sorry for being suspicious, I need to learn to assume the best.

Its ok I should have explained my reasoning better.  Btw:

None the less this has all been discussed

- May I ask where just for reference reasons?

Thanks

[titi]

We will try to make it possible to remove those icons. The reason why we once put them in the hard way, were people selling MG on ebay :-D.
We wanted to tell the people that they bought a free game.

[Ishmaru]

We will try to make it possible to remove those icons. The reason why we once put them in the hard way, were people selling MG on ebay :-D.
We wanted to tell the people that they bought a free game.

OMG Really??? No wonder Softcoder got suspicious! I was thinking of leaving them, but maybe being able to move them to lower left or right instead of in center. I kinda don't want to remove them now  ...  Maybe add a way to credit a standalone mod in the about section, and those involved???

Thanks Titi for offering though!

[ultifd]

Well it's there whenever MG does get on ebay...for now it hasn't happen yet, but it probably will.
Just like Glest.

[Ishmaru]

Well it's there whenever MG does get on ebay...for now it hasn't happen yet, but it probably will.
Just like Glest.

Cant believe that.... well then again i should expect that.... There enough scams out there in the world to make anyone go mad...   

[Omega]

I don't think they should be hardcoded. Customization is great, and even keeping the logos in won't necessarily stop people from trying to buy the game (face it, not that many people know what the GPL even is). The icons make the dialogue look a bit crowded, to be honest...

[ultifd]

I don't think they are there so much as to stop people selling them...it's just there for people to know that

that they bought a free game.

Although true, a lot of people don't know what GPL is.

[ElimiNator]

The logo actually says "Free Software" you can't tell them any better than that.

[Omega]

Ah, the fact I didn't know that off the top of my head proves how much attention I pay to those logos... Oh, wait, they aren't there (yes, that's right, I blanked the textures because they simply got too obtrusive, standing out on the menu screen, ruining my rainy day view).

[Conzar]

I personally like the logos.  I think they look good and also show that free software can produce awesome games like glest/mg/gae!

[will]

Actually 'free software' sounds like Free as in freedom.  And actually that's what the GPL means.  GPL has nothing to do with money.

I'd say that the main logo when you start the game ought to say something like:

"This game is a labour of love, developed for free by volunteers!  You don't have to pay money to get your free copy of this game, so introduce as many of your friends as you like!  http://www.megaglest.org"

or something like that, as a subtitle.

Interestingly apparently the box illustration is for illustration purposes only

[Conzar]

Free software in reality is both free as in "you can do whatever you want" and free as in at "no cost' regardless of what the FSF says.  The GPL makes selling software virtually impossible because anyone who distributes a binary compiled from a GPL'd source code, must provide the source code.  So if someone tries to sell a binary, then one can just request the source and then compile themselves.  In fact, this is what the Fedora project does with RedHat's distribution.  Note, Redhat sells licenses to their proprietary support service (which provides software updates and tech support) and since its proprietary (developed in house and not GPL'd) they can sell it.

So I think the term "Free" fits because the software is free in every sense.

[Coldfusionstorm]

Sorry for being suspicious, I need to learn to assume the best.

if its too good to be true it properly is.

[Ishmaru]

The logo actually says "Free Software" you can't tell them any better than that.

I was thinking of shrinking them to about this size to make them less obtrusive yet there to remind people that this is gpl and free. (weather or not they understand it is a different story.

Ah, the fact I didn't know that off the top of my head proves how much attention I pay to those logos... Oh, wait, they aren't there (yes, that's right, I blanked the textures because they simply got too obtrusive, standing out on the menu screen, ruining my rainy day view).

I did that too... But if we can do that then whats stopping people like the sellers from blanking out the images anyway?

I'd say that the main logo when you start the game ought to say something like:

"This game is a labour of love, developed for free by volunteers!  You don't have to pay money to get your free copy of this game, so introduce as many of your friends as you like!  http://www.megaglest.org"

I don't know about that That might be a little much!

[John.d.h]

Frankly, according to the GPL, they have every freedom to sell Megaglest all they want.  It's totally permitted in freedoms #2 and #3.  They just have to include the license and the source, which the majority of users couldn't care less about.  If anything, the average user would assume GPL was the name of the publisher.

Maybe it's bad etiquette, but selling GPL software is really just charging for a service of providing it.  The software itself doesn't cost anything, but the labor, bandwidth, etc., all have a cost.  This is why it costs a few dollars (€, £, or whatever) to have a Linux CD shipped to someone.  In a way, a person selling copies of a free (libre) program is still supporting that program, if only in terms of publicity, so why not allow them to be compensated?

[titi]

Of course its allowed, and its ok for me! The only thing I wanted to make clear is that it is a game that you can have for free too!
For some people without internet connection, such a "service" is a good idea.

For the logos: Very simple solution for the moment, just replace the logos with a transparent logo  Then they are gone ....

[softcoder]

Even more easy.. delete the gpl logos they are optional and the game loads without them. As Titi mentioned our desire was to let people know very clearly that the game is free of charge since we have seen others trying to sell it on EBay in the past (lol).