I appreciate this discussion.
Grot: My comment to you was mostly to educate and not cause grief. I am glad you chose to protect yourself and others from potential issues.
Quintaxel: As I understand your post, you would be left with only NIVAL BK objects in your illustration. While that may be useful, the issue remains as to which objects might be specific to various releases. Since I cannot speak to objects that may have been introduced in these various releases, as far as new or modified objects, I think there is still an issue for advancing those objects to other players who may have not purchased each of the NIVAL or other Publishers works. While every commercial release of Bliztkrieg is based on NIVAL's Vanilla Release, each Publisher had it's own specific License. So there is the rub.
I have never seen NIVAL go after any player/user or mod artist, for a BK product. That is not within their mandate and intentional purpose for Blitzkreig I. In their own Documentation upon the release of the MapEditor and Resource Editor, they encouraged modding the game to your heart's intent. Having said that, the other Publishers seem to not always follow the NIVAL Mindset.
Brendal originally was very protective of its territory. TC was also chasing shadows for a time. I understand their positions, having had my own issue. But for me, I was not protecting my ability to sell anything, I was protecting the intent of my purpose, and the players who may have been ripped off by paying for something that was free to use. In my particular situation, the violator wisely stayed away from BK, and chose to pursue other game platforms, not thinking he'd be found out. If I did not have relationships with artist and players in those other worlds, he might have gotten away with it for some time. But anytime major works are released in any game platform, people naturally ask, who is this new artist and what is he doing? That was his downfall since one of the people that first thought something was wrong, was the first to obtain my works from him, which he sent on to me for verification. It took me about two minutes looking at the first model to verify my work. He already knew it. The fist contact with the young man was quite funny as he dug his hole deeper and claimed it all as his original work. That confirmed his guilt since when he was confronted by my hired agents in Hong Kong, he could not produce any source material, while I had already supplied my source material from where each was based. Further, he made no attempt to remove my embedded copyright, which would have destroyed the models anyway. Actually he did not know they were clearly there. That is exactly why I urge every artist to put their mark on their work in some method. Not so they can pursue someone sharing their work as intended, but to protect it from pirates.
What people need to understand is anytime you use something that was created by an artist, they need to check the intended terms of use. Is this something that has been released for free use or is the guy holding our feet to the fire if we share it. In most game releases of BK, it is not an issue. But a few quite literally will destroy someone for unauthorized sharing. I don't agree with their positions, but I understand it and must respect it. They are protecting their ability to sell a commercial product. That is the primary purpose of the copyright in the first place. It's all about the money. My purpose is prevent someone from making money on my work when I offer it for free. So my own purpose runs counter as to the intention of the copyright laws. But that is my choice.
Now if we had a tool as you suggest, I fear we'd still miss something. The mention of Stalingrad in particular might be an issue. The publishers are currently quite aligned with NIVAL, but not each of the original artist are within the NIVAL organization. Indenpendantly they hold interest and one might take exception to a model or object being shared. While it has not happened yet, there is that chance. Stalingrad was not released in the large world wide scale as was CDV versions. So the question must be asked and considered: Can I share this Object from Stalingrad, without implied permission or consent, to players who did not purchase Stalingrad?
The answer on the surface is a matter of risk to you if someone objects. Then if you have openly linked the object, how do you know who downloaded the object, and how do you get them back? The first action is always, securing the items you have passed and it is impossible to get them all back, or ensuring that the people that did receive the items did destroy the obejcts as instructed. A single verified illegal object leaves someone exposed. The International Copyright Laws are quite punishing in regard to Intellectual Property.
In the case of the guy that sold my work, it was quite easy determining who he had sold to through the clearing house that handled the money. They quickly made the purchasers whole again and took steps to secure the offenders assets. The court determined his fate upon my request. I did not want to see a 19 year old spend 20 years in prison, just because he wanted to be known as an artist. He made a mistake, I just wanted him to learn from it, not suffer long term effects. We all make mistakes, but if we don't learn from them, we will repeat them or make the issue so huge, we can never turn back and make it right. But when someone sets out to defraud another with dishonest intent with the financial goals in mind, it makes the entire issue much more complex. In most cases, BK players do not have a financial goal as part of their agenda, which is a credit to their integrity. But depriving another of their financial reward is still an issue, and exactly why we must be very careful.
As stated by me at various times over the years, nothing that I state or suggest, should prevent any BK player from enjoying the game. I am not here to judge anyone or attack someone if they go outside of perceived limits. My purpose is to assist the community and do everything possible to make your BK experience the best it can be. I am not the only one that has tried to do this, as there are many that are on that list. That is why this community is strong and has the vitality it has had over the years. This unique aspect sets us apart. We are not afraid to pursue our own interest, and ask questions. It is a great thing that so many in this community share their work so freely with others. All I am trying to suggest or warn (if you wish) others on is be careful what you share. I know that no one here is trying to violate copyrights for their own personal gain. I know that no one has any intent to harm a publisher or artist by causing them financial injury. I know no one here is bent on taking someone's work and claiming it as their own, thus trying to elevate their own importance. Most are only interested in sharing a part of themselves and a work they are proud of. There is no crime is doing this, but we must balance our interests carefully when we do this when objects are used.
So my best advice is to base your work (MOD) on a Specific BK Version. This has been the accepted method in the past. It is possible to relase for RT and BH, but not include for vanilla. If you use RT objects, it may limit vanilla and BH. It gets complicated I know. But not every player has every release, and will never have every release. While some are not out of publication now, many others are still active. NIVAL just recently partnered with STEAM and GOOG and there works are available. I cannot say NIVAL will never pursue someone, but I have never see this before and does not seem to be part of the owner's personality or intent to do so.
I only wish for all of you to make BK the best it can be. We don't have to continue to discuss this issue. I get no pleasure from it. I'm sure many get tired of hearing the message. It is only my hope that we each find our own understanding of where we can do our best work. Much like the chore of creating a massive database that lists every known BK object model and object, the chore would be huge at this late date to pull it together after 10 years. The same exists as to where much of the work derives from. In many cases, the answer may never be known, unless someone pops up and claims it later. Then it becomes a nightmare for someone.
Be safe my friends and keep BK-ing
The Major
. Are they user made or from the Talvisota game?