Make the A-4 officially recognised.

What that says ^, it's easily as good as certain official third party modules, and plenty of people use it, it really should be granted the status of an official module.

When did Mcdonnell Douglas remove licensing requirements?

Dagger, I'm not suggesting it be charged for, if that's what you're getting at, I'm suggesting it get added officially, so that it doesn't trigger IC failures.

Dagger' date=' I'm not suggesting it be charged for, if that's what you're getting at, I'm suggesting it get added officially, so that it doesn't trigger IC failures.[/quote']

 

 

I don’t think they legally can.

What? not have it trigger an IC failure?

What? not have it trigger an IC failure?

It would require adding it to the base program right? I dont think they legally can without specific licensing agreement

Two mod modules (unfortunately not compatible with each other) deserve to become official: the A-4 and the italian mb-339 (with PFM!). Nevertheless, I believe it's up to their devs to choose whether to become official or not, as this would mean to open a company business, with all its pros and cons. Moreover, if you become official you gain access to the development kit, and for sure you should change something in your module, well done as it may be.

It would require adding it to the base program right? I dont think they legally can without specific licensing agreement

who would they need the agreement from?

Dagger' date=' I'm not suggesting it be charged for, if that's what you're getting at, I'm suggesting it get added officially, so that it doesn't trigger IC failures.[/quote']

 

I'd love to see it as in the free package with the Su-25T I asked their discord chat

They said that they don't want to because of licence costs and because they would need to become a third party which is extremely time and money consuming.

What I would suggest is, that ED adds the 3d models of an AI mb-339 and a-4, because if the mod is named the same as the AI version, you can have them on servers and people who want to fly them need to download them, the others not. This works, we tested it with an old AWACS mod.

Yeah, lets give scooter some lovin.

I'm not a lawyer (nor do I play one on TV), but here's my understanding:

Using a likeness of the A-4 in DCS is not a legal issue, as this falls under "art." Otherwise, all of the old sims (e.g. MicroProse) would have required licensing from the different manufacturers for using any aircraft's likeness in their games.

"But what about IL-2 Pacific Fighters and Northrop-Grumman?" you may ask. The problem wasnt the use of the likeness in the game, but rather the description of the included bomber as the "Grumman TBF Avenger" rather than just "TBF Avenger." This implied cooperation and approval by NG, which was not the case. They could have just avoided the whole issue if Ubi's lawyers just removed "Grumman" from the description. Additionally, far from being "patent trolls" or "money grubbing bad guys," NG had to do this to protect their name. Legal precedent says that intellectual property whose rights are not aggresively enforced is implied to be abandoned.

The reason we're seeing the requirements for licensing agreements in DCS modules is that we're going from using the likeness of an aircraft (art) with an abstraction of systems and capabilities (again, art) to the digital replication of intellectual property in the form of systems modeling (e.g. hydraulics, electrical signal flow, system logic). It's this fidelity that goes beyond "art" and why there's the grey area.

Bottom line: including an animated 3D object with skin textures should fall squarely into the "art" category, as AI modeling doesn't require the level of systems modeling we expect for a full module. I too would like to see the A-4 added to the CoreMods, because right now the only way to allow the A-4 in multiplayer is to have the server enable the mod and require everybody to have it enabled.

Its a mod to have it a full module the whole code would have to be re written with SDK from the ground up, Then theres contract from aircraft manufacture through there office, Then negotiate contract with ED.

Hopefully another third party or ED themselves eventually make a real A-4 module. As it stands, as much as I respect the modders who made the A-4 mod, it most certainly is not a full module in terms of systems fidelity and never really will. It is a shame that RAZBAM feels that a official module would have to compete because (to be blunt) it really wouldn't be much of a competition. The A-4 mod is great as far as mods go but it isn't a module and can't really replace the experience one would get from a full A-4 module release.

Good Day Pilots!

The Thread is about recognizing the A-4E-C as an Official Module, or at the very least adding the Aircraft as an "Core Mod" for use as an AI and/or so other players can see it in MP without having to install the Mod.

The politics surrounding previous failed Modules, Modules developed for other platforms, ethic of artists or team members of previous projects and 3rd parties (current or no longer developing) is not on the table for discussion.

Issues with License Fees from Boeing/McDonnell Douglas has already been established, any further details into those projects and team members will be considered OT.

Well I'll throw in my 2 cents, sense we're probably never getting an A-4 module I'd love to see it added in a way that it didn't break multiplayer IC.

Well I'll throw in my 2 cents, sense we're probably never getting an A-4 module I'd love to see it added in a way that it didn't break multiplayer IC.

I think the way forward with this is possibly some sort of "community mod pack" that doesn't break IC and is server supported too. In my lil world it would include a variety of mod enhancements (farp mods, mig23, A4 etc). Of course it would probably have to be maintained and updated weekly so it didn't break the game etc. And you would have to cat-herd all the modders to work on it etc. So I'm not super optimistic on that happening even if ED somehow enabled it.

What ED should consider is taking the model and bring it into the game as an official

AI. Be able to fly it via mod will be up to user and server admins to allow.

Without going off topic I do hope to see more community content being absorbed into DCS World with supervision by ED staff and community managers. There are some really talented people among us that could add a lot of value (AI, objects, liveries etc.) to DCS. But obviously it has to be managed in a legal and controlled way.

please, don't integrate anything into the core game, that is not developed to the generally high standard of dcs modules.

quality management already is a bit of a problem with the expanding dcs world universe, so no need to open the flood gates.

and for the devs i hope they do not take mod planes into consideration when deciding on their next projects. those are simply not comparable. imagine you care for quality and depth and have to learn, that your all time favorite plane will not get developed because of a mod version already in existence; the horror!

What ED should consider is taking the model and bring it into the game as an official

AI. Be able to fly it via mod will be up to user and server admins to allow.

 

Without going off topic I do hope to see more community content being absorbed into DCS World with supervision by ED staff and community managers. There are some really talented people among us that could add a lot of value (AI, objects, liveries etc.) to DCS. But obviously it has to be managed in a legal and controlled way.

I bet thats the harder part.