Illegal mods, steer clear of them. Simracing604, we stand with you too.

[OllieC]

I modelled some cars some years ago for Rfactor, I didn't / dont really care where they ended up, but the more people squawk about this the less chance mods of real cars (free or otherwise) will exist.

 

[LeSunTzu]

Yeah, leave me out of your "old principles", thanks.

And don't lecture me on law, please

 

[mantasisg]

I modelled some cars some years ago for Rfactor, I didn't / dont really care where they ended up, but the more people squawk about this the less chance mods of real cars (free or otherwise) will exist.

It is hard to understand what you mean.

Do you mean that escalating this issue is bad ?

Don't you think that the issue is bad ?

Would you agree that even bigger issue than ripped content existing is issue of it being accepted ?

Do you assume that now as attention has been given to this thieve, even though negative, cucks and beta males will rush to buy more from there ?

 

[RJ Bandsma]

I've known about Sim Dream for a long time, ever since they started taking the converted cars that were made for the Shift Street mod for rFactor and selling them off as their own. Scum they are. Did you know they tried killing F1Classic for simply hosting the original free mods (That's where they got them to resell on their own site).

 

[finlaywade]

yeah the f1 2020 mod of theirs are the cars from the f1 2020 official video game

 

[Aiden237]

I modelled some cars some years ago for Rfactor, I didn't / dont really care where they ended up, but the more people squawk about this the less chance mods of real cars (free or otherwise) will exist.

Huh? So you are saying what is going on with stealing cars is fine?

 

[Leynad777]

yeah the f1 2020 mod of theirs are the cars from the f1 2020 official video game

Doesn't sound like a novelty with mod-content and when people asking for companies like EA/Codemasters to intervene, they might open the Pandora's box. Legally it makes no difference to them if for example F1-mods and liveries are distributed by Sim Dream or RD. The free stuff is even hurting their business model more, so better not waking up the giants. The business model of Sim Dream is now destroyed anyway and when I hear about modders stealing mods I just think: Oh, Robin Hood got robbed. Sneaky little bastar*s, but better don't call the cops

 

[Mekonrider]

I think we should get on Codemasters' Twitter and tell them there's some guys selling unlicensed F1 mods. They don't care what we do but someone like Codemasters could end them.

 

[Jason Mullin]

Definitely think simdream is one of the main offenders, but this conversation in a serious fashion about ripping mods has been coming for a long time. We've all seen the occasional reddit or forum posts, but when we have respected youtubers such as Mike posting videos and headline attention on Racedepartment, it's time for some form of action to take place.

At the very least, developers you need to protect your investment and mod creators need to protect their time and effort through encryption. Sim racers do your homework, research mods before purchasing. Give the community time and those that recognize rips to chime in. Do not buy day one. The only thing WE can do is spread the word and not buy.
Remove the dollars, remove the temptation.

 

[Stereo]

Curious, does anyone know if modders pay taxes for their income?

Small donations can add up and as far as I know, at some point our (the dutch) government wants to know.

Obviously I can't speak for every modder but I did report my income from the P13C mod on my income taxes. I haven't yet had enough donations across any mod I included a donation link, for it to meet the threshold of reporting in Canada (iirc ~200 per year)

 

[Salvatore Sirignano]

Doesn't sound like a novelty with mod-content and when people asking for companies like EA/Codemasters to intervene, they might open the Pandora's box. Legally it makes no difference to them if for example F1-mods and liveries are distributed by Sim Dream or RD. The free stuff is even hurting their business model more, so better not waking up the giants. The business model of Sim Dream is now destroyed anyway and when I hear about modders stealing mods I just think: Oh, Robin Hood got robbed. Sneaky little bastar*s, but better don't call the cops

Yes, Robin Hood getting robbed, because all mods are stolen in the first place!
Tell that to people who have spend hundreds of hours scratch building stuff to give to the community, pushing through all the tedium of it, and then they have it stolen by some tool who decides to sell it and make a copyright claim against the original author.
What a ludicrous statement..

 

[Nitro McClean]

Doesn't sound like a novelty with mod-content and when people asking for companies like EA/Codemasters to intervene, they might open the Pandora's box. Legally it makes no difference to them if for example F1-mods and liveries are distributed by Sim Dream or RD. The free stuff is even hurting their business model more, so better not waking up the giants. The business model of Sim Dream is now destroyed anyway and when I hear about modders stealing mods I just think: Oh, Robin Hood got robbed. Sneaky little bastar*s, but better don't call the cops

" so better not waking up the giants " ???

Isn't it a bit naive to think that they don't know that there is a modding world where, for example, Formula 1 cars are built and shared for free on the internet? Codemasters Formula 1 is a great racing game (not a simulator) for a very large target group. That target group is not interested in installing cars and circuits themselves and adjusting everything to the simulator in order to be able to drive it properly. Those people want a plug and play solution in which they can get in and drive away. I think Codemasters knows that and therefore makes it happen. But that's not the same as there are bandits who steal their property, say they made it themselves, and sell it for money.

 

[Nick Hill]

This is all very new to me, so my apologies if this has already been addressed, but do we know who these "Sim Dream" people are or where they are located? Their site seems conspicuously devoid of any names or addresses - that's very odd even in The Internet Age. Most places in the world, if you are running some kind of money-making venture, there is an expectation to have done the requisite paperwork and tax filings. I see they are listing prices in Euro by default, can we assume they are physically located in the EU? If that were the case, are they appropriately collecting/reporting VAT, for example?

This could end up unraveling and going very, very badly for whoever is on the other side of that web store.

 

[Raging Beard]

Flag their videos for promoting fraud etc on YouTube. Their channel is "Assetto Corsa Mods" and in their video descriptions they have a link to ********************, which is "*********************" when you go to it.

 

[Defender]

As a sim racer and a musician, it is just disgraceful how YouTube runs their business. I've seen guitarists play a progression (that sounds like probably 1000 songs) and get a DMCA strike against them from some recording company pretending like they own that chord progression. I once saw a youtuber that talked about getting a DMCA strike for playing a song that he owned!! So, none of this is surprising to me. It's really going to take someone to create an actual competitor to this crap YouTube channel to get anything changed. It's way to damn easy to report a DMCA strike and it's extremely hard to fight one and that's just wrong!!

 

[kevinsupergtx]

Take actions against RTM and aspec7878 too while we are at purging the filth from the ac community.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

I've not heard about this drama before, but it's no surprise; I bought a game on Steam recently that had content from ToCA Race Driver 3 in it!

Curious. What game?

Anyway, they seem to sell a lot of F1 content, surely F1/Codemasters/now EA would be unhappy about that?

I mean, Ferrari went after Batracer, the text-based fantasy game where you managed yourself as a driver. Due to Batracer using the name "Ferrari" and miniature pictures of Ferrari F1 cars and took donations for the site.

 

[racer68]

I'm happy to read this - good RD for expressing an opinion. Mike @BigMike8 does need the support from everyone for speaking a 'wrong'. As mentioned by many of you on Mike's Discord channel, we the community have to find a way to get BIg Guns that would have had their property stollen (FOM, EA/Codie F1 2020, Kunos, Microsoft & others......) to go after these guys/crooks, they have the power, sue these guys, suck the blood out of these individuals . Do a Gulliany on them !!! & thank you Random Callsing @randomcallsing

 

[Nick Hill]

I mean, Ferrari went after Batracer, the text-based fantasy game where you managed yourself as a driver. Due to Batracer using the name "Ferrari" and miniature pictures of Ferrari F1 cars and took donations for the site.

Yeah, that's exactly the kind of stuff I was alluding to in another post. Pushing around modders who do this as a passion project and rely on people respecting the honor system? Disgusting but, yeah, sorry to say I think you could get away with it pretty easy. Running afoul of corporate legal staffs? Now you've got problems. Dozens of lawyers either as full time employees or on permanent retainer. That's called "economies of scale". In practical terms, when they don't have a full case load to deal with, they will gladly go after small fish as a matter of principle.

I have seen it over here in the 'States with stick and ball sports - pro and big name collegiate teams going after high school teams for using their logos, etc. "This is ours, you didn't ask permission, and now you're going to stop. Like, now."

 

[BillGuy]

I have seen it over here in the 'States with stick and ball sports - pro and big name collegiate teams going after high school teams for using their logos, etc. "This is ours, you didn't ask permission, and now you're going to stop. Like, now."

That particular example I have no problems with. High Schools and Colleges almost certainly have expectations that their students and teachers respect intellectual property in their academic work. I see no reason why the decision makers and administration of athletic programs for those schools shouldn’t be held to the same standards and bear the consequences if they don’t abide by them.