New Readme

[Swiftoak]

In anticipation of the next update, I have written a new PDF readme file to be included with all future releases. It's meant to replace our old text file, now that our project is in the second decade of the 21st century.

More or less it's the same, except I simplified things and condensed a few sections to make it more reader friendly, also adding pictures and stuff. I already shared this with a few of you on IRC, and for the most part I got good feedback and made some revisions. However there seems to be some disagreement concerning our last section with the disclaimer/copyright in regards to using our assets.


This is what I wrote, and a few people seem to agree with me.
[spoiler]All rights to original game assets belong to Bethesda Softworks. Additional assets created for Tamriel Rebuilt are the property of their creators first, and the organization second. Please ask wollibeebee for permission to use the included mountain and ridge assets. All other assets are free-to-use in other modifications provided they retain a dependency on our Data files, and that Tamriel Rebuilt is duly credited. Due to the rather convoluted nature of our assets being made by multiple contributors (some outside of TR), to be on the safe side we politely ask out of courtesy that you do not distribute these assets.[/spoiler]

However, Haplo believes it's better to maintain our old clause about specific TR-unique assets not being used. While I disagree (mostly becasue it seems impractical to bar specific assets from being used), it seems a valid concern (on the grounds of preventing their use outside TR's intended setting) so I thought I'd bring it up here for further discussion to see if there are any others who feel the same way. I personally don't want to because Bethesda doesn't, and neither should we. And also the Skyrender assets are of questionable quality right now, so I don't feel we should claim them to be something super special or something. I think a blanket dependency on TR_Data.esm as well as giving credit where it's due is a fair balance between the two views.

[spoiler]The following creatures are not allowed to be used in any other mod:
- Dres Skyrender and all its variants
The following resources should only be used in mods with a dependency on TR (please do not distribute the resources):
- Molecrab
- Riverstrider
- Telvanni Cephalopod
- Vermai
All other resources can be used and redistributed without needing a dependency on TR_Data.esm, provided the TR team is duly credited for the resources used.[/spoiler]

Note, while the old readme says all resources are freely distributable, the fact is that since TR_Data contains work form many authors, who didn't really specifiy their wishes, I thought it would be safer if we just didn't encourage redistribution of our assets. Some people can be a fickle bunch when it comes to these kinds of things.

[Gnomey]

As I said on IRC, I think a blanket request for mods using TR assets to have a TR_Data dependency is already plenty. I personally see no real reason to restrict the use of TR assets unless a request of the asset creator is involved.

When it comes to the full restriction on the use of the Skyrender, I'm even less convinced that it is a good idea, though I may simply never have heard a good reason for that decision. I personally look forward to seeing what modders end up doing with TR assets, and would not want to discourage their use in any way.

Edit: to illustrate my issue with the line about the Skyrender in particular, the way it is worded appears to technically even restrict people from using the creature when modifying TR; so they could not add a city offering Dres Skyrender travel services, or add a Skyrender hive, or do anything with the creature.
Depending on how important a role Skyrenders will have in the Deshaan, and currently the idea appears to be that they would have a very major role, modders would potentially have to pussyfoot around any modifications to the region.