It seems the basic fundamental rights of Humanity always seem to get trampled and silenced where there is coin involved!! It's a shame!! Joining the 604th!!
Illegal mods, steer clear of them. Simracing604, we stand with you too.
- Thread starter Steve Worrell
- Start date
I doubt it's really "team" of people - looks like the guy behind it has been selling these stolen mods for 10+ years now, before his store has been named DreamRide, where he sold mods for rFactor1. You can easily find what appears to be his name under his early "works", too.
I wonder if his location serves him as a loophole, that legal actions need to be coordinated with Moldavian court to take real action, and obviously the court in there won't be interested in investigating this.
I wonder if his location serves him as a loophole, that legal actions need to be coordinated with Moldavian court to take real action, and obviously the court in there won't be interested in investigating this.
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This guy called them out in January and seemed to come out unscathed. His channel hasn't been shut down and he's still uploading content. I wouldn't be surprised if Sim Dream is scouring YouTube for anyone who's bad mouthed them...
The amount of work doesn't make it legal and if there is free stuff, some people will grab it and sell it. That's the nature of the biest or two sides of a coinYes, 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..
. Are those laserscanned track-rips from AC for rF2 okay or not okay? Where to put the line (which seems very blurry anyway)? If you play free mods in AC or rF2, you don't play properly licensed stuff which is lowering the player-counts and revenues of titles like AMS2, Raceroom even rF2 and so hurting the genre. That's why I think it's absurd if modders demanding copyright-protection.
The fan managed re-release of Street Legal Racing: Redline on Steam. It's still on there despite being reported to Codemasters. I picked it up for my "Every PC Rally Game" YouTube playlist, but soon realised it was ripped content, so got a refund.
I just checked: their 4th video on YouTube shows a bunch of (likely unlicensed) tracks, many ripped from ToCA Race Driver 3!
The likelihood are with that project though, was that a bunch of fan patches were gradually made over the years, featuring ripped content, and the rerelease on Steam used the fan version as a base, without checking where content came from. I doubt it's quite as nefarious as mod stealing.
Note: Project Torque (another ex-Invictus title, like Street Legal Racing) was also fan-reissued on Steam, but they've done it right, by reauthoring/changing licensed cars so they're no longer infringing any copyrights.
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The amount of work doesn't make it legal and if there is free stuff, some people will grab it and sell it. That's the nature of the biest or two sides of a coin
It's not okay when someone's put in the work and provided it gratis for someone else to profit off of it. That's the overall issue here.
Being a photographer on the side, I've run into folks grabbing my pictures and using them without giving credit to me taking it. Granted they're not making money off of it, but the credit where credit is due is certainly the least that can be done. I'm not in the position of making money off of my work either, just give me the credit for it.
Sim Dream is crediting someone else's work as their own and blatantly attempting to make a profit from it, nor giving credit or compensation from folks who've put their time and effort into making said content.
Simple question: is it possible to get a list of vehicles, models, tracks stolen from premium games (f1, forza, etc.), repurposed and sold on their website?
The only way to get them stopped is to get the big guys involved.
I’m working with the big guys on a daily basis and I’d be happy to pass them the info.
The only way to get them stopped is to get the big guys involved.
I’m working with the big guys on a daily basis and I’d be happy to pass them the info.
What Sim Dream is doing is not okay at all, but better don't ask companies like EA/Codemasters/Turn10 for legal action, because if they start shooting, there will be collateral damage. You have all legal copyrights for your own photos and can sue people infringing those rights, but not modders who made an F1-mod with all the proper names and liveries for example. It's naive BS to think that those companies will fight for the right of honest hard working modders giving away free content that those companies want to sell. It's a dark-grey area, so better don't put it into a spotlight.
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The amount of work doesn't make it legal and if there is free stuff, some people will grab it and sell it. That's the nature of the biest or two sides of a coin
I think you'd find most developers that post free mods are actually pretty happy for people to download, modify and re-upload their mods for free. Sometimes one person can't perfectly do what another could, and sometimes one person can perfect a near-perfect mod if it exists as opposed to doing it from scratch.
BUT! If you're the type of person that takes a complete mod that was provided for free and slaps a price on it and then proceeds to strike/dmca the original author of the content, you're no less than the worst kind of scum on the planet, and regardless of whether it's copyright or not, you just shouldn't do this.
Edit: They don't even credit the original authors either, it's like adding insult to injury.
If you defend this kind of practice, you're just as bad as the person doing it and should be outed for it too, which in all honesty, it kinda sounds like you're borderline supporting SDD for stealing content they played absolutely no role in creating and have zero right to slap a price on it whatsoever.
Have nice day.
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Sim Dream's F1 2000 mod is literally the models ripped straight from the F1 99-02 game and then given ripped steering wheels from some other mod. Thats almost a 20 year old 3D mesh they are trying to pass off.
@BigMike8 (Simracing604): I'd like to say thank you, for bringing the subject up.
It takes courage to speak the truth on touchy subjects sometimes, but I'm sure you felt it was worth being done, risks be damned. Huge respect for that!
On the dirty subject itself... Oh my... unfortunately, this is not something new, nor isolated.
And sadly it needs to involve money and, it seems, popular media/channels (and silly copyright strikes!) to have the "ripped content in games and mods" subject getting attention from users.
There have been many "Sim Dreams" over the years. Some more underground and private, others not really so.
There used to be people that would rip original content, be it from modders or from commercial game titles, be it "straight conversions" to other platforms, or mixxed mongrels deliberately made with parts of different origins/sources.
Sometimes shared between people in closed places behind a user register access. Sometimes openly in the bigger websites (I recall a few in the defunt BHMS).
Sometimes even having such mods being sold "à la carte", i.e, after someone privately expressing what is desired (and willing to pay for it), such content would be built, as requested, with stuff from different origins/sources.
There are even stories of bits of mods ending up in commercial games, devs who bought them as assets (from "dirty artists") and not having the slightest clue about the true sources....
Very rare, but that's how deep the rabit hole can go, and why this stuff of "ripped mods" crosses the line of what is "presumably inocent", at times becoming really nasty.
It's all disgusting just the same, but the story here is different now - it's pretty much there in-your-face for everyone to see.
Some of us spend years on projects, then see bits of them spreaded around and turned into utter cack (clearly mishandled) in such processes.
Not a hint of permissions request, nor credits. Nothing.
Someone making a name (sometimes money) on your own work. And so many times unknowingly making a butchered mess with what one carefully took time and passion (meant to be shared in trade of nothing, only respect to that work being asked).
People question why modder X and mod-team Y are no longer around, unseen for years... well, plenty have had such stories. You see, we're all humans, we all have limits.
At a certain point it's so disheartening, and you get the feeling that it'll happen again and again, that it's no longer inspiring and fun.
I'm not expecting this particular story (as per the topic title) to change anything. Frankly, I really doubt it.
But I do hope it makes enough noise to make people more aware. Especially, I hope that the truth comes out, strong enough that real justice is made, to the just and to the unjust.
It takes courage to speak the truth on touchy subjects sometimes, but I'm sure you felt it was worth being done, risks be damned. Huge respect for that!
On the dirty subject itself... Oh my... unfortunately, this is not something new, nor isolated.
And sadly it needs to involve money and, it seems, popular media/channels (and silly copyright strikes!) to have the "ripped content in games and mods" subject getting attention from users.
There have been many "Sim Dreams" over the years.
Some more underground and private, others not really so.There used to be people that would rip original content, be it from modders or from commercial game titles, be it "straight conversions" to other platforms, or mixxed mongrels deliberately made with parts of different origins/sources.
Sometimes shared between people in closed places behind a user register access. Sometimes openly in the bigger websites (I recall a few in the defunt BHMS).
Sometimes even having such mods being sold "à la carte", i.e, after someone privately expressing what is desired (and willing to pay for it), such content would be built, as requested, with stuff from different origins/sources.
There are even stories of bits of mods ending up in commercial games, devs who bought them as assets (from "dirty artists") and not having the slightest clue about the true sources....Very rare, but that's how deep the rabit hole can go, and why this stuff of "ripped mods" crosses the line of what is "presumably inocent", at times becoming really nasty.
It's all disgusting just the same, but the story here is different now - it's pretty much there in-your-face for everyone to see.
Some of us spend years on projects, then see bits of them spreaded around and turned into utter cack (clearly mishandled) in such processes.
Not a hint of permissions request, nor credits. Nothing.
Someone making a name (sometimes money) on your own work. And so many times unknowingly making a butchered mess with what one carefully took time and passion (meant to be shared in trade of nothing, only respect to that work being asked).
People question why modder X and mod-team Y are no longer around, unseen for years... well, plenty have had such stories. You see, we're all humans, we all have limits.
At a certain point it's so disheartening, and you get the feeling that it'll happen again and again, that it's no longer inspiring and fun.
I'm not expecting this particular story (as per the topic title) to change anything. Frankly, I really doubt it.
But I do hope it makes enough noise to make people more aware. Especially, I hope that the truth comes out, strong enough that real justice is made, to the just and to the unjust.
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You can have your moral outrage and calling them names. I don't care for this childish idea of protecting your perfect little modding world where every modder is building any aspect of a car from scratch. Which planet is that? Anyway, if you like playing mods, better don't ask for legal action from big companies. Maybe URD and Race Sim Studio are safe with their 'fantasy'-mods (?), but I see a lot of stuff that isn't and will be taken down immediately if some lawyer-muscles are asking for it. I also heard Aris opinion about the AC-modding scene and he didn't sound amused. There are no corporate interests for the mods anymore since selling DLCs is the main revenue today. If Kunos could shut the mods down with a button and no consequences, they probably would do it, so better don't cry too loud.
I'm not sure if it would help with this specific situation, but I really would like to see mod makers adopt some practices for the open source community:
- Use the Creative Commons license to specify what you want done or not done with your creation. For instance you can say "modifications permitted, no commercial use" as one of a wide range of choices.
- Use versioning.
- Make use of checksums and digital signatures so you and your users know whether the mod has been modified.
Interesting, from the contact page on the SDD web site:
Also interesting, SDD's domain, "https://www.********************" is, according to hostingchecker.com, hosted by https://www.a2hosting.com/.
I wish I had a mod that was being sold by SDD so I could inform A2 Hosting that one of their customers is scamming people.
Also interesting, SDD's domain, "https://www.********************" is, according to hostingchecker.com, hosted by https://www.a2hosting.com/.
I wish I had a mod that was being sold by SDD so I could inform A2 Hosting that one of their customers is scamming people.
Just bad sim nightmares all night about Sim Dreams being a part of Motorsport Games, closing down free legit modding and converting the entire planets PC simgames into a Pong arcade console game, emptying my sim NAS-server over night.
Sorry, Motorsport Games, but with all the bad news, things apparently grew out of proportions in my head. At least I hope so, here at 5 A.M. with ldss than 1 hour sleep all night this nightmare still feels like real stuff
So for the coming night I insist on only good sim dreams about no Sim Dreams and the entire planets consile arcade sims converted into enthusiast open source PC sim engine games and a universe of enthusiast modders, solely with good intentions
Sorry, Motorsport Games, but with all the bad news, things apparently grew out of proportions in my head. At least I hope so, here at 5 A.M. with ldss than 1 hour sleep all night this nightmare still feels like real stuff
So for the coming night I insist on only good sim dreams about no Sim Dreams and the entire planets consile arcade sims converted into enthusiast open source PC sim engine games and a universe of enthusiast modders, solely with good intentions
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MOST OF THE ARCHIVES ARE HERE. OPEN IT AND USE THESE FOR EVIDENCE IN CASE THEY TRY TO DENY THEM EVER HAVING THESE MODS
Evidence? As in your taking legal actions? WHAHAHA that's hilarious. As I mentioned in posts in this thread: what is illegal here? As far as I know the SimDream mods are unwanted. Not illegal. I challenge you to take actions
Evidence is for your Excel file on your OneDrive, not for usage in any court.Be very aware of what some people already said in this thread: Please don't take actions and wake up the companies behind the sims. If you want to take legal actions, make sure the modders pay taxes AND have registrered their property first. And that Kunos is involved as well. But in the end you ALWAYS risk that modding stops to excist for everybody.
Please, stop the illegal/legal bullshit guys. Suck it up, don't buy their mods and just avoid them. But for the sake of the modding community as a whole, watch out what you're saying!! He who wakes up a grey area, can eventually get a black&white slap in the face back.
My advice to RD would be to edit the thread title and remove the word 'illegal'. Stay neutral.
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Copyright infringement is illegal. The mods are using intellectual property and that intellectual property is being *sold* without the express, legal, consent of the companies that hold the copyright.
Evidence? As in your taking legal actions? WHAHAHA that's hilarious. As I mentioned in posts in this thread: what is illegal here? As far as I know the SimDream mods are unwanted. Not illegal. I challenge you to take actions
Be very aware of what some people already said in this thread: Please don't take actions and wake up the companies behind the sims. If you want to take legal actions, make sure the modders pay taxes AND have registrered their property first. And that Kunos is involved as well. But in the end you ALWAYS risk that modding stops to excist for everybody.
Please, stop the illegal/legal bullshit guys. Suck it up, don't buy their mods and just avoid them. But for the sake of the modding community as a whole, watch out what you're saying!! He who wakes up a grey area, can eventually get a black&white slap in the face back.
My advice to RD would be to edit the thread title and remove the word 'illegal'. Stay neutral.
You do realize that simdream are currently deleting their mods from their page as we speak? It used to have 11 pages, now there are 8. We need this so that they can't escape saying that they don't have any mods
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