New Modder, Requesting guidance on proper etiquette

[dragginmaster]

Hey guys.

As I said I am a fair green horn at modding and I have a few ideas I'd like to see come to life but I don't want to get myself into any trouble either.

When modding a pre existing mod, do you keep the original authors name in the files and add yourself? not add yourself as a contributor at all or remove the original author, add yourself and give credit to the original author in a different way?

If I combine elements of 2 mods that pre exist, who gets the credit? like adding a new function to an existing vehicle/object/tool that you have taken from a different mod that doesn't exist elsewhere.

how much would have to be different before it becomes your own?

thanks in advance and if there are any other things related that I have not asked please feel free to volunteer any information / advice.

~Dragginmaster

[Bersson]

First of all, Kudos to you for asking those questions. If all modders just did the same…

If you’re the only one that’s going to use the mod, you really don’t have to bother crediting others or ask for permissions.

If you plan to share your modded mod with others, on the other hand, the proper etiquette is to ask the original modder(s) for permission to mod and share their work first, even if you’re going to share it with just one person. This might be tricky because many modders are hard to reach.

Note that you don’t have to ask Giants for permission to mod their original models.

With regards to credits, everyone who has worked on the mod(s) should be named.

how much would have to be different before it becomes your own?

Imo everything, meaning you should build a mod from scratch yourself before you can call it 100 % yours. Even if you just use one bolt, or one line of code, made by another modder, asking and crediting is the recommended path.

[dragginmaster]

Thanks, so, assuming all permissions are granted, is giving credit considered not only mentioning them in any description of the mod but also keeping their name in the author section of the xml or is it more of a case by case basis?

I would assume my name would need to be listed as an/the author if i were to publish something so anyone would know who to hunt down to complain to