Some of you may remember some of the threads about copyrights and what Valve authorized us to do with the sdk...

If you checked recently, the Steam Subscriber Agreement got updated. Whether or not this particular bit was included before, I do not know.

You can read the agreement by going into the "help" menu of Steam.

Here is the excerpt that caught my attention:

Except as otherwise permitted under Section 2(C) with regard to the SDK, you may not, in whole or in part, copy, photocopy, reproduce, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code, modify, disassemble, decompile, create derivative works based on, or remove any proprietary notices or labels from the Steam Software or any software accessed via Steam without the prior consent, in writing, of Valve.

Section 2(C) refers to the SDK license, which allows you to use the tools provided by Valve to make a mod.

So basically what I'm reading in this is:

Unless you're making a complete mod, you can not use any other content than DoD:S original content (or your own custom content) in your DoD:S maps, and you can't decompile maps even to learn their techniques.


Am I reading this right?

I see that after 34 views this leaves people as speechless as I was when finding out about it ;)

maybe you're reading it right, but i cant confirm that completely. i hope not though.

I think its just a fairly blanket legal notice to make sure they have grounds to whoop ass should another comercial entiry steal their content or tech or someone take Source content for use in another non-Source/Steam game.

I think Valve are fairly relaxed when it comes to people using Source content for Source mods and have a sort of "gentlemans agreement" of fair use - i.e they trust us not to do something stupid.

If it worries you that much I'd maybe e-mail Valve or start a discussion on their Wiki to get their feedback. Explain that you find the legalese of the wording makes you confused and reluctant to develop content should it be an issue.

Either way, I think as long as we show respect to Valve and their IP and copyrights, they'll quietly let us get on with it.

that's pretty much where I stand now Jed, it's not gonna stop me as I can't really get the full jist of it. Not to mention the agreement says English is the only language it'll ever be written in, and quite frankly I find very optimistic to expect every steam user on the planet to know English well enough to understand it all.

I did try to email as high up the chain as I could (Gabe Newell) to get some sort of official word, and expectedly it remained unanswered.

i doubt valve would care that much if it was free and noone was making any profit

Nah, like Jed said, they are probably just making this airtight in the event it was stolen for out-of-source projects. Valve seems to let the modding community have free roam to see what the can do with the engine. I don't think we have to worry at all :)