So, I want to import some Half-Life 2 Textures into Roblox, these are not exactly completely okay & free to use textures… I think
MAIN ISSUE
I’ve been contemplating uploading these textures or not, because I don’t want my account to get moderated. Now here is something else, you may have already heard about it, but there is a game called Half-Blox 2 that uses these textures already.
All they did was credit Valve simply, would I be okay doing the same?
Yes, if you don’t intend on monetizing the game. Also, I’m pretty sure Half-Blox 2 didn’t really use their textures per se, but made textures similar to the game’s textures.
You’ll need their permission if you want to use their assets for profit.
Also to note is this article, in which one guy got permission:
Alright thanks for the reassurance. I have done some of my own searching and your point is backed up by the Source SDK License. I will be manning up and uploading them, I don’t plan on making revenue (by my own will, premium payouts exist automatically.)
Copyright and IP ownership isn’t always protected by whether or not you make money. You can and very likely will get a strike unless you have explicit permission from the IP owner. Even close replications can be reasonably argued for by the IP holder.
Also, just because someone else is doing it, doesn’t mean you can.
This is basic stuff. Us devs need to understand that using IP, any IP, without consent is not proper, not professional, and in many cases, not legal.
Hey, you’ve made really great points all around, but I do have one question.
You are probably not a lawyer, but what do you think about this? I own the Source SDK aswell.
Apologies, I do not know how to show a specific line in DevForum posts.
But if you look at line 20, the license says:
Part of the License
Any distribution of the SDK or a substantial portion of the SDK must include the above
copyright notice and the following:
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. THE SOURCE SDK AND ANY
OTHER MATERIAL DOWNLOADED BY LICENSEE IS PROVIDED
“AS IS”. VALVE AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ALL
WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE SDK, EITHER EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT,
TITLE AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT SHALL VALVE OR
ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,
INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
(INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF
BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF
BUSINESS INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS)
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE
ENGINE AND/OR THE SDK, EVEN IF VALVE HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
Specifically the “substantial portion of the SDK” part points out to me, do you think if I include that license for my decals or whatever, that would work?
Or do you think I should just drop the entire idea to avoid any more trouble?
I personally think the first option will probably not work, and I should drop the idea, but I want to know your opinion.
PART ABOUT IP & CONSENT
Your last point in your reply is a good thing to go by, yes indeed, it’s not okay to use IP without consent. I was not trying to do something someone else did (half-blox 2). My act for doing that rose out of the part that why would Valve respond to an email I send them about explicit permission?
Maybe they would, maybe they would not. I do apologize for my quick response to upload them, but as you can see I have not uploaded the decals yet because I was thinking about legality of uploading Valve’s textures.
ENDING
If I WERE to upload them with a copyright notice or other stuff, would Roblox even allow this? I have seen several topics about IP messes on the DevForum, but I just want to know is this enough to protect myself? The Source SDK License seems to be fairly lenient about using their stuff, but they say to contact them IF you’re using this for a commercial purpose, which I am not.
But considering the fact that this is Roblox and not an independent game studio or whatever, it seems likely that it would be forced to make money, (premium payouts & other forms of monetization).
I want to have this publicly in the thread by the way, as a learning resource for other people having the same question, which is why I am not DM’ing you about this matter.
I will say that I’m not a lawyer, obviously, (if I were I wouldn’t be here haha). I went to college for marketing which covered a bit of copyright law, which was only enough for me to know that I don’t know enough about it to be a good resource for this. It’s precisely why I typically play it safe and tell people not to use assets they don’t have permission to use
You didn’t say this in your first post. Had you included it, I would have changed my initial reply
If you include some kind of thing saying “I got this asset as part of Valve’s open distribution blah blah blah” in the asset’s description, as well as keep that form handy if any issues come up, then you’re probably fine (again, not a lawyer, and see below). I do this with any CC0 license asset I get online that requires credit, since that’s the best I can do given the limitations of crediting assets.
If they don’t, you can always appeal moderation actions. As I said, keep that info handy if any issues come up.
This is the biggest issue, because there’s technically no way to not make money. Does that mean Valve is going to send a DMCA takedown request for it? Probably not? Could they? Technically yes.
That’s the nuance that I want users here to understand. The risk is always technically there, which for me, someone who uses Roblox to pay bills, is detrimental.
No offense to those people, but those posts are typically filled with really shit advice. For instance, many younger devs think that exact asset recreations are ok so long as you don’t take the assets, which is not true for the majority of situations.
Thank you for all of your replies and well-formed statements. Your point about there is no way to not make money is the biggest downside to all of this, I do plan to use Roblox as a form of income one of these days, and I do NOT want a DMCA takedown on my records, imagine the DevEx??
At this point, you’ve convinced me enough to just be safe. Thank you alot
SOLUTION CREDITS
@Macawmangrovve12, as your post has been argued by Aotrou, I will not use your advice, I am sorry. But thank you for being the first one to post.
@Aotrou, thank you for posting alot of points and answers to my questions, you’ve proved enough that uploading these is just not worth the risk.
