Free, licenseless mods?

[Pxtl]

Spring is opensource, and that's great. It has access to old TA content, and that's great too. The problem is that all the TA content is old TA stuff. For example, I freaking love Absolute Annihilation, but anyone can see that it includes old TA stuff in it.

Now, there are easily enough TA mods and maps out there to make a full, 100% replacement mod. I'm sure if you just crawled through the units in TAUIP, TA:AA, and all those other expansion packs, you could put together enough non-TA units to make at least one full army of free TA units. You'd have to tweak the stats of those units, as their original forms are usually hopelessly poorly balanced, and plus very few people make stuff that fits in well as substitutes for level 1 units. I mean really, you only really need to make one faction (no more need for the Coke/Pepsi Arm Vs. Core decision).

The remaining problem would be to get permission from the myriad artists behind those units to consider their units GPL along with Spring.

But, once that's done, you would have a full, free, Spring.

Still, that's a big task to do. In the interrim, are there any TA mods are both a) full TCs replacing 100% of the TA content and b) not based on existing IP (like Star Wars TA)?

[Gnomre]

I say just get a few of the TA races like rumad and TLL, cut out all the crap and have someone with a sense of balance go through and put them together...

[Tangaroa]

Yeah, would have to replace all the OTA textures and sounds too as well. and it would be best to use the two highest quality third party races (or perhaps three?). TLL is without a doubt one of those, the other could be Rumad or Rhyoss.

[mongus]

In the interrim, are there any TA mods are both a) full TCs replacing 100% of the TA content and b) not based on existing IP (like Star Wars TA)?

i think you mean something like this? (ie only site, tadesigners)

This is a new race, its not a TC.
Ive only played this race like 2 times but think its likely based in the TA logic, i mean commander, lvl1 units, rocketers, misile launchers... tanks, planes...

The guy that did this race, has a disclaimer stating his works is mostly format-compatible with TA, but units, textures (even sounds?), are new material, not based in TA, thus legal trouble free.
maybe someone (GZ?) around here can contact him and ask him to take a look at this forums.

Im not sure about the veracity of those aseverations, but maybe its worth a look.

[Pxtl]

I say just get a few of the TA races like rumad and TLL, cut out all the crap and have someone with a sense of balance go through and put them together...

iirc, rumad and tll have no naval units. Besides, for a base release, I'd go for one, full, feature complete faction instead of 2. That means new modders wanting to just add a new unit don't have to make 2 of everything just to balance things. Arm and Core are pretty much Coke and Pepsi in TA, as are most RTS games with only 2 factions.

[Gnomre]

One race alone doesn't give the kind of motivation two different races gives... it's fun to bring alliances into the game!!

[Torrasque]

tll have no naval units

TLL _has_ naval units. As many as core or Arm. (I've just verified it)
And it's own thexture, wich is good.

[Tim Blokdijk]

Making one faction cuts the time in half!
Don't think act!
No, sorry but it's a great idea as a start to make a licenseless mod that can be included in the Spring download.
(And not violating the atari copyrights)

[Tim Blokdijk]

Are the people @ http://www.estrella.demon.nl/Mynn/mynn.htm Dutch?
I'm Dutch if it's usefull I can probebly just give them a call?

[NOiZE]

Having 2 sides is more fun imo..

TLL looks decent

[Tim Blokdijk]

2 sides is more fun, and 2 times more work.
Spring needs legal content asap I think.
Starting with one side is a great time saver.
Later on it can be expanded in any way people like.
Still I'm not on the Spring team I just think it's a good idea.

[NOiZE]

it's not 2 times more work..

probally the models are already out there

so we might just need todo some balancing.

[Tim Blokdijk]

I actualy have no idea how much work it is.
Go ahead - I think enough people here would like to help you build a mod that is legal - including me. (I'm not joking)

[NOiZE]

it's a pity i don't know how to code anything

i only hav some good thoughts every now and then

[Pxtl]

Are the people @ http://www.estrella.demon.nl/Mynn/mynn.htm Dutch?
I'm Dutch if it's usefull I can probebly just give them a call?

A full replacement of the starting (no CC) unit pack, and it looks pretty balanced. Kinda ugly though. If someone got permission and bundle'd Spring with that, you'd have a full free game....

I just looked up the man behind Mynn, and he made another nicer looking race called the Xect. The Xect look way better, but they've no navy.

Still, either way with all the free TA stuff out there it should be pretty simple for someone experienced in swapping TA units and building packs to put together a full TA replacement mod. Caydr, we love you! We need your help! (huge AA fan here).

[NOiZE]

i think the SY's should give us indication how there are thinking about this..

[SinbadEV]

I have no idea what I'm doing... any ideas how to get a race even tested in this thing?

[Doomweaver]

Guys, two races absolute minum. Otherwise you destroy the aesthetic quality of the game and make it monotonous. Anyway, what's wrong with 3 races? TTL, Rumad, Ryoss. It's not that much effort, just remove the units that don't work for now, and do some basic balancing for the first release. From there we will see where we go.

[Tangaroa]

Yep, probably best to leave rumad out to begin with though and just start with TLL and Rhyoss as they are the most complete and highest quality.

[SinbadEV]

So where do we start? I think figureing out a way to make races a selectable compponent (aka show up in lobby) is the first priority, even before balancing.