Is it illegal to patch a PC game, with a patch made by fans? I'm talking about patches that do things like alter and enhance the graphics and music.
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Is it illegal to patch a PC game, with a patch made by fans? I'm talking about patches that do things like alter and enhance the graphics and music.
Vampire The Masquerade and Gothic3 are prime examples of this...... both amazing games once they got patched up by the community.. but on relase they both had tons of issues.
Nothign illegal with downloading community patches for Gothic3, Stalker or Vampire.
There's one user-made patch that basically saved the game: Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. If that's a crime, then the developers should be punished excessively for abandoning their game in a broken state. :PElann2008
They were forced to. You know, with Activision as their publisher.
It's not illegal. Against the terms of service maybe, but not illegal unless proven in a court. Most games come with terms that say you aren't allowed to modify the game files in any way except official patches. However, I have never heard of anyone sued or convicted for doing it unless it disrupts multiplayer (bots, hacks, etc).
You mean it's OK as long as no one finds out?? O.OIt's not illegal. Against the terms of service maybe, but not illegal unless proven in a court.
James00715
[QUOTE="James00715"]You mean it's OK as long as no one finds out?? O.O I think it falls under: No it's not but if you screw something up it's not the companies fault and they dont have to help you. In other words, dont worry about it, and follow the instructionsIt's not illegal. Against the terms of service maybe, but not illegal unless proven in a court.
hydralisk86
considering that fan patches often gets help from devs or ex devs, I doubt you should ocnsider it illegal :P
The cases where a fan patch is not allowed by devs are really rare, and If I weret o point fingers at likely publishers who would consider it illegal I would say Activision and Ubisoft.
Generally tho,most publishers and devs allow it, shows that the community cares, and you can find alot of talent there.
You could say that it is a gray area, what could make it illegal, is that it falls under the same juridical place as hacks, and security bypasses.
It can be. You have to read the TOU for the specific game to be sure. Some specifically say that you can't modify the game files.
Realistically though, even if you get caught they'll probably not care. How likely is it that they will find out? Not very.
[QUOTE="James00715"]You mean it's OK as long as no one finds out?? O.O Pretty much, same deal with people who pirate stuff. And even if authorities did for what ever reason find out, they're not going to care, not when they have more important stuff to worry about.It's not illegal. Against the terms of service maybe, but not illegal unless proven in a court.
hydralisk86
Vampire The Masquerade and Gothic3 are prime examples of this...... both amazing games once they got patched up by the community.. but on relase they both had tons of issues.
Nothign illegal with downloading community patches for Gothic3, Stalker or Vampire.
kozzy1234
Gothic 3 is a nightmare without the user patch, Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines... not really, I've played it like 5-6 hours and I hadn't found a single bug, but the performance is atrocious.
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