Re: Fan developers: Modifying MOULa Assets

TheScar(.fr) · **Joined:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:38 pm **Posts:** 317

Chogon wrote:

As we have always felt, we really want MOULa to continue and to have new content. However, in its current form, we can not even begin to entertain the idea of making any updates ourselves.

With that in mind, we want to loosen our grip on MOULa just a little bit which should make it easier for fans to get new content into MOULa. We will allow modification to Cyan MOULa assets to be included in updates to MOULa. We will not be releasing any asset sources (for example 3ds max files). We assume that fans will use 'decompile' tools to convert the 'compiled' assets (such as *.prp files) that are included in the running game data sets into something that can be used to be modified.

By allowing this we are trusting the fans to keep the game in the spirit of the original intent but push a way forward.

--Cyan Worlds Team

Sorry, I don't understand this post (language barrier)...
Can someone explain me what it technicaly means, please?
Does it means that we will be allowed to, for example, modify something in the Nexus or the Relto?

Sirius · **Joined:** Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:41 am **Posts:** 82

TheScar(.fr) wrote:

Does it means that we will be allowed to, for example, modify something in the Nexus or the Relto?

Yes, but only if Cyan likes the changes. It's likely Cyan will refuse a lot of modifications to their own Ages if they don't think it fits with the spirit of the game. They have their own vision of how their own Ages should look like, after all. They will probably agree to small modifications that have no big impact on the game and can correctly blend in (I think that's the most important word here) with the rest of their work. Bugfixes, or adding new links in the Nexus are usually no issue. Creating new Relto pages, for instance, would be more problematic.

In my opinion it's better for fans to make completely new content in a completely new Age, instead of modifying Cyan's own Ages. Cyan is more likely to agree to completely new content that don't risk breaking the lore or the spirit of the original Age. This is the same advice they gave when it comes to creating new Ages in general: make your own lore, avoid messing up with Cyan's own.

From a technical point of view, Cyan can't give the fans the original 3D models for their Ages, because that would be releasing a lot of their hard work into the wild (which could result in "model theft", as in: whole Ages ported to other games, which is not desirable). A few groups of fans like the Intangibles can have access to some of the original files, because they have a written contract with Cyan concerning the use of those files, and are deemed safe people.
However, since Cyan agrees to some modifications of their Ages by other people (=us), they allow us to use reverse engineering tools to

Quote:

convert the 'compiled' assets [...] into something that can be used to be modified

This makes things a bit trickier, but is mostly to deter people from stealing their work.

Oh, and some more technical info about modifying existing Ages... (Some of it is speculation on my part, I haven't read all about the subject - take it with a grain of salt...)

[Reveal] Spoiler:

As you might also notice, the previous quote doesn't specify a limit as to what is acceptable when using the reverse engineering tools. This doesn't say, for instance, if you're allowed to reuse Cyan's models and textures into your own Ages, or only when modifying existing Ages.
Another problem if we go into the technical details, is that modifying PRPs means Cyan can no longer re-generate those from THEIR source files - of course there are workarounds, but PRPs don't lend themselves really well to "modding" in general. I'm not sure if anything official has been said about that, but I guess this will be handled on a case-by-case basis given how rare this situation is.

This might seem like a rather big deal, but it's not as bad as it sounds. Very few people actually know how to modify existing Ages, and I'm fairly confident they can get together should this become an issue. Most of those people I guess are in the Intangible team, so they should have an easier time contacting Cyan if needed.
As for model and texture reuse, the best advice is to avoid it when possible, and use common sense or ask on the forums if in doubt.

It's a bit hard giving a complete explanation without making things a bit complicated, so don't hesitate to ask if I just confused you more

AdamJohnso · **Posted:** Tue Oct 29, 2019 9:32 pm

Recent clarification on the topic:

Chogon wrote:

Along with being able to modify MOULa assets, you can also use MOULa assets (modified or not) in your own Ages (such as textures, sounds, models, etc.)

I would say the key here is that Cyan still wants to be able to use both the released and unreleased source IP in new, monetized products. As far as MOULa goes, keep it in the spirit of the game, and all is well. I would agree that large additions to existing content will probably be a larger hill to climb than a smaller addition. Of course, I'm not the one making the decisions, but that's my view on the topic.

TheScar(.fr) · **Joined:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:38 pm **Posts:** 317

Thank you for your answers.

In fact, my question was mostly to know if:
- the integration of fan ages would be facilitated via the possibility to modify the nexus;
- the possibility of adding Relto pages was going to be given via the possibility to modify the Relto;
- the possibility of creating a new neighborhood (like Kirel, not like the other neighborhoods) would be facilitated via the possibility to use both the Neighborhood and Neighborhood02 assets.

Sirius · **Joined:** Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:41 am **Posts:** 82

TheScar(.fr) wrote:

- the integration of fan ages would be facilitated via the possibility to modify the nexus;

That would be totally ok since it's the whole point of the Nexus, but the consensus is that fan Ages will get their own Nexus for various reasons (looks cooler, allows grouping all fan content in one place, etc). So far there are a few fan Nexuses being worked on, but none have been integrated into MOULa.

TheScar(.fr) wrote:

- the possibility of adding Relto pages was going to be given via the possibility to modify the Relto;

If the content blends in correctly, then this sounds OK according to the paragraph you quoted in the first post. Technically it's a bit challenging so it might be a while before it's possible. For various reasons I guess editing the geometry of the island will be forbidden, but adding new objects should be ok.

TheScar(.fr) wrote:

- the possibility of creating a new neighborhood (like Kirel, not like the other neighborhoods) would be facilitated via the possibility to use both the Neighborhood and Neighborhood02 assets.

Creating new D'ni locations is okay, and the quote from Chogon says reusing models in fan Ages is ok. So that should be no problem.

TheScar(.fr) · **Joined:** Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:38 pm **Posts:** 317

Thank you very much Sirius, it's exactly what I wanted to read!

Sirius wrote:

the consensus is that fan Ages will get their own Nexus for various reasons (looks cooler, allows grouping all fan content in one place, etc). So far there are a few fan Nexuses being worked on, but none have been integrated into MOULa.

So, the Nexus can be modify to add links to fan's city locations and to fan's Nexus (linking there can add a linking book in the Relto library).
The fan's Nexus can also be found in another way, adding a linking book/stone in the city for example; but for city locations I think it's better to add them in the original Nexus (it's only my point of view).

Anyway, thanks for your answers.

Re: Fan developers: Modifying MOULa Assets

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