"ModPack" - Plugins Akallan

[Akallan]

Hello everyone,

Today I would like to talk about my Plugins folder. My Plugins folder is special, all items have been translated into French. It contains approximately 3.21 GB of plugins and I would share it with the Francophone community ... The problem is my Plugins folder contains mods designed by different authors. I ask if it is possible to share it with the francophone community so they can enjoy my folder.

I do not speak English very well, I have a "Read Me" in French my Plugins folder, which explains the design of the  folder.

You can also check these two pages there (maybe it will help you):

TSC - Partage du dossier Plugins
TSC - Organisation of folder
PDF File - Lis-moi (Read Me)

To be simple, my question is whether I have the right to publish my Plugins folder (ModPack) for the entire Francophone community (or other)? My Plugins folder contains files from many different authors make a whole list is impossible, but all bigger modders are affected by this Plugins folder:

- SimGoober
- C.P.
- Girafe
- Andreas
- NAM
- xaneppan
- MGB204
- BSC
- deadwoods

Etc... There are hundreds of different authors.

I want to share my Plugins folder to allow players to return to the game. Some are demotivated having to install everything themselves. There are many good reasons to publish the ModPack to me. It's complicated with copyright.

[_Michael]

Um..
I'm not a copyright/intellectual property lawyer, but I don't think distributing your plugins folder is a good idea. It is essentially redistributing others' files without their consent, which is, as far as I'm aware against the rules of any exchange, and possibly against the law.
You also have the issue of bundling 3.21GB and distributing it in an orderly manner. Plus, I bet there will be conflicts and issues with just porting over a new plugins folder for the recipients.
Nice idea, but I don't think it will work, legally or logistically.

[Tarkus]

Distributing one's entire plugins folder as a "modpack" is a violation of Site Rule #10:

10.  Downloadable content from the forums and the exchange, including (but not limited to) mods, plugins, prop packs, etc. may not be redistributed without the permission of the original author.  Any user found to be redistributing content without permission (including through torrents or other file-sharing systems) will be subject to termination of all membership privileges and site access. People work hard, for free, to make this stuff. Don't steal it from them.

While the motivation behind this may be well-intentioned, it would result in membership termination if carried out.

-Tarkus
SC4D Admin

[Akallan]

Distributing one's entire plugins folder as a "modpack" is a violation of Site Rule #10:

10.  Downloadable content from the forums and the exchange, including (but not limited to) mods, plugins, prop packs, etc. may not be redistributed without the permission of the original author.  Any user found to be redistributing content without permission (including through torrents or other file-sharing systems) will be subject to termination of all membership privileges and site access. People work hard, for free, to make this stuff. Don't steal it from them.

While the motivation behind this may be well-intentioned, it would result in membership termination if carried out.

-Tarkus
SC4D Admin

Yes, I know this rule. This is why I come to request here... I'm not trying to make money or steal the creations of authors, for whom I have enormous respect for their work. I just want to share my plugins to make their lives easier other. I do not steal...

[matias93]

I'm not sure, but can the LTEXT strings be overridden with an extra file, thus allowing for a translation pack that doesn't imply to redistribute third parties' mods?

[APSMS]

I'm not sure, but can the LTEXT strings be overridden with an extra file, thus allowing for a translation pack that doesn't imply to redistribute third parties' mods?

This would be worth looking into.

[Tarkus]

Yes, I know this rule. This is why I come to request here... I'm not trying to make money or steal the creations of authors, for whom I have enormous respect for their work. I just want to share my plugins to make their lives easier other. I do not steal...

Most of the people who try this sort of thing don't even have that thought cross their minds, so that fact has earned you more credit in my book than the normal fly-by-night plugin folder uploader. 

I also am in agreement with you that there are still some real barriers in terms of content accessibility, which have become more pronounced in this era of the game.  There's so much content out there, and both newer and returning players want to get up and running quickly.  It's a topic that's definitely on the minds of the SC4D Staff, and many of the other key stakeholders who are around now.  I do believe--quite strongly--that there does need to be a comprehensive solution, to ensure that future players can still enjoy and avail themselves of the truly massive array of great content that has been made for this game.

That said, I don't feel that dismissing the general prohibition on full plugin folder uploads is the solution--even for ones as meticulously organized as your own.  There's still a number of highly problematic aspects of the practice beyond the permission issue, including file maintenance, technical support, and personal preference.  Take the NAM, for instance--it's still getting updates (the first alpha build of NAM 35 went out for testing today), old versions are ineligible for technical support, and it's already a large, monolithic package with an installer.  Including it creates huge, completely unnecessary issues.  Also, we begin to build up a culture of tolerance to the fly-by-nights, and if everyone is just picking up full folders from nameless, faceless individuals off file sharing services, it pushes the community underground, into dangerous territory. 

As far as a solution to the big accessibility and availability questions we are currently facing, I believe it's going to take the involvement of the sites and creators to reach workable solutions.  We already have some of the groundwork here with the improvements that Casper has made to our LEX software, with the Dependency Tracker and Custom Group features, along with an available API.  There have been some proposals about repackaging dependencies to get even more mileage out of the Dependency Tracker.  If done right, we can actually set it up with these features, such that a user could actually pick up most of a curated plugins folder in a surprisingly low number of clicks, without running into any permission issues.  The biggest caveat right now is that these features are limited to just the LEX's holdings, as unfortunately, no other site has anything similar, let alone anything interoperable with what we offer.

With respect to the French translation, we have been lacking as a community in translation efforts of late, and to add to what matias93 pointed out, it is possible to distribute modified, translated LTEXTs as either overrides, or by using language-specific IDs, without having to include the full, original plugin.  You would run into absolutely zero objection (in fact, you'd have a ton of support) for a translation mod that covers a wide swath of custom content.

In short, I agree that something does need to be done to make all this content more accessible.  That's a vital discussion for us to have as a community.  However, uploading a full plugins folder is not the way to do it, and unless all the necessary permissions are obtained, it remains against the Site Rules.

-Alex

[kbieniu7]

I'm in a bus going to work so unfortunately I'm short of time, only to skim the topic for the moment.

It's great, that this discussion has been started by Akallan. Although there are many concerns, his idea to facilitate the access for newcomers and old returners is something, that is problematic in todays community and is one of the reasons why it has shrinked so far. I've met with "I'd like to come back to game but downloading all the stuff... " many times.

So, some packs or automatized downloading would do a huge job there (to be honest I've never used depency tracker at lex and I don't know it's background and how does it work, I need to read more about it). However we still need to stay fair with copyrights.

Maybe we could publish an open letter for all the active and past content creators, ask them to make a statement or change the license in their files, if they allow to republish their work in few major and trusted websites (sc4devotion, St, Toutsimcities, Simcitykurier, SimCityPolska or part of them )? 

I've never uploaded to Lex, as many of other polish batters. I plan to do so in next weeks however.

Anyway, I think some pack like Starter Packs would be one of the way to go. I think about doing it with polish stuff. My Bats and the ones of the other players, we could pack it and prepare some polish starters (blocks, farms, small tenements made by members of Polish Bat Team), however without including mods and depencies inside. Of course with all copyright provided. As an one of administrators of SimCityPolska, I could provide support in contacting the creators and help uploading the best our plugins at lex - single files or packs. Most of creators I know in real life anyway.

To sum up - something needs to be done. And done in English, by the way.

[Andreas]

Well, basically, you were doing what I was doing many years ago; translating SC4 files into German for my personal plugin folder at first, and later reaching out to the authors, obtaining permission to publish a German version at the former SimsZone, now SimCityKurier. Like you, I was translating any in-game text string, the readme file, and I packaged them with a German installer, like all our SFBT releases.

Unfortunately, many SC4 custom content creators retired over the past few years, and it might be a bit difficult to obtain a similar permission from them now. As said above, releasing the contents of your plugins folder would be against the rules of this site, apart from that, I think such a massive file might be a bit difficult to handle anyway.

Depending on how you translated the files, the best way would be to extract any translated content (LTEXT files etc.) and publish those, but since there are several methods to store text within an SC4 file, you'd have to export lots of exemplar files, UI files and probably reward scripts as well, which would cause problems if a user doesn't have the original download installed.

SC4 itself is using LTEXT files whereever possible, so it's a fully multilingual game, but with the BAT, they took shortcuts in shape of "Item Name" and "Item Description" properties in the Exemplar files, and while the newer creations that were made with PIM-X usually have them converted as LTEXT files, many of the old releases don't support this method, so for me, a complete re-release was the only feasible method as well.

But even if you obtain permission to do so, the task is rather daunting, and eventually, I gave up on this, because it was simply too much work to create proper German releases with readme file, installers and all. I continued to translate the in-game text strings for myself, so I have hundreds, if not thousands of those that are unreleased as well, but I don't know how to publish them due to the aforementioned quirks...

[mgb204]

For starters, with regards to my mods (posted under MGB204 / RSC204 STEX), I've always been pretty open/free about redistribution. In the case of my mods with installers, those rights ONLY extend to distribution of the install package. Since much like with the NAM, if you distribute the extracted contents, then the choices the installer was designed to provide are removed from the end user. For mods that don't include installers, I'm a little more flexible, but the caveat still exists that if you are re-distributing them, users should be able to choose from any options that the original package offered. Straight away this provides a road-bump where there is a problem with releasing a single set of ready to go files. Assuming you could get similar permission from other creators, this quickly becomes a big problem. Sure you may think for example the Sudden Valley version of TGN is the one to use. But I have 4 versions of that mod, precisely so users can choose a compatible version for more than simply one terrain mod.

If anyone wants to see localised or translated text for my mods, I'm happy to work with them to increase the available options. LTexts are a great way to localise content, but not everyone uses them. In theory, you can include many languages without any modifications to the base content. The game just knows which language to pick up based on your installation settings (SC4). If the matching LText exists, it will display localised text for the end user.



Whilst a discussion which gets into some of these rights issues was instigated over on ST recently (by myself). That quickly became unfocussed and has still yet to be commented upon by any of the moderators or people with authority there. I've taken that to mean that the issue isn't one that's worth spending many hours arguing over. Ultimately, without the will for change, there is only so much that can be realistically achieved. If we can't even get those in charge there involved in the debate, it simply won't get off the ground.

But I do agree that something needs to be done in principle, to make it easier for the community to better manage it's greatest asset, content. Part of that to my mind, is allowing the community to contribute fixes/improvements to existing content. Where necessary, I feel we need to be empowered to do this without the consent of the author. Provided any such modifications are not simply based on personal preferences. So for example, allowing translations to be added as part of an existing download strikes me as one of those situations where it should be allowed. It's all good and well having links to 5 languages that were not originally an option. But done this way, all we've succeeded in doing is making it even more tedious and complicated for an end user, to get hold of that content with the localised files. For starters, how would the average user even know these optional files were available? But, if we can make such improvements, whilst keeping things as simple as possible. Not only is it more likely users will take advantage of them. It's also going to improve the flexibility of the content we can offer. I simply can't understand how a creator could be upset or annoyed, because someone added some translations to their work? No one is going to claim that work as their own, nor would they be re-distributing it. They've simply added something the creator either had not enough time, skills or inclination to do themselves. Seriously, where is the harm in that? If we continually focus on the ludicrous concept of copyright, we'll never make things better. Copyright doesn't apply here, when you upload the files to the LEX, you do NOT retain full rights. The rights for distribution are being handed to those running the site, as such, we can choose the terms and conditions under which we manage such content.

Obviously we can't just have any one running around modifying the files upon the exchanges. This process would need to be managed and curated by a group of people, based on a strict set of rules for what can/cannot be modified. But it also requires one fundamental change to the principles behind the uploaders rights for content. That when you upload your work to the community, you must allow the community rights to manage that content for the betterment of all. Despite some complaints, I believe this can be retro-actively applied, after all, terms and conditions change all the time. With a sufficient notice period, dissenters could always choose to opt-out (withdraw their content/works). To my mind, it's this fundamental hurdle that we need to first overcome before any such improvements can be considered. Is it right for the community to modify a creators works? To add translations, fix things that are broken, improve documentation or smooth the process of installation for the user? I'm absolutely not talking about modifying peoples lots, changing textures, moving props or fundamentally altering their works. Simply that we can improve and optimise content for all where it makes sense to do so. Expanding from that, the manner in which works can be distributed would also provide big gains. If we sit on our hands forever, because no one is around to gain explicit permission from, we can't evolve. That said, I think the approach Alex (Tarkus) suggests is a very positive step in the right direction. But I fear that such improvements will only remain possible within the domain of SC4D and the LEX though.

For me this belief we should change is guided by the fact that as we move to being an ever-smaller, or shrinking community. If we don't make it easier for new players to get going, we are harming the potential future growth of the community. People need to be able to come along and get going with a minimum of fuss/hassle. Those users who come along, see some of the MDs/images full of inspiration to emulate such wonders. How many of those users ultimately end up despondent having realised the amount of work it takes to make something even half-way close? Not work making the cities themselves, no one expects that to be easy. But the sheer amount of work to put together the assets needed to even begin thinking about such an undertaking.

Whilst I don't think distributing ready-to-use plugins folders is the solution, I do think somewhere we can make huge improvements in this area. If we do, then that will be a huge plus for keeping the community growing and bringing new, motivated players on-board. Content drives the community, but if we don't manage to retain new players, we won't have new creators either. It's all one big eco-system and the more new players we can keep on-board, the better off the community will be in the future for it. If that means some big changes, or the possibility of upsetting a few/creators, I could live with that personally.

[Silur]

If You want French text - do text file, but don't distribute other people's work !
You can make links or more, but not a direct distribution...
Today one, tomorrow second - this will lead to the end ...
BLam, SG, Jeronij and others - live with your own objects !    :

[Akallan]

Tarkus:
I understand this point of view, but my file is sorted and organized well enough to be playable even with the updates to the NAM. I do not think my record might be a source of problem, only if it is misused. My PDF file "Lis-moi" (Read me) explains exactly is to do to handle it properly. If there are problems, is that it was not handled in the right way. Details of how to handle my folder are in the PDF under the "Sécurité" (Security) chapter. It is in French, so here is the original text and the translated text of the chapter on safety:

Sécurité

Avant de débuter quoi que se soit et de manipuler le dossier «Plugins Akallan», je   vous   prie   de   lire   les   recommandations   suivantes   pour   garantir   le   bon fonctionnement de SimCity 4:

1. Sélectionnez le dossier «SimCity 4», celui qui contient les régions ainsi que le dossier Plugins. Il doit se trouver dans vos documents.

2. Copiez le dossier SimCity 4, collez le dossier sur un disque dur externe (clé USB par exemple, ou a quelque part sur votre ordinateur. Il faut que vous pussiez le retrouver sans encombres).

3. Renommez votre dossier SimCity 4 que vous avez collé par quelque chose comme «SimCity 4 à moi» ou autre. Pour que vous sachez quel est votre dossier d'origine.

4. Maintenant, en cas de problème avec le dossier plugins téléchargé, vous avez toujours votre ancien dossier SimCity 4 contenant toutes vos régions et plugins d'origine qui eux n'ont pas de bugs et qui est conçu pour fonctionner en harmonie avec vos ancien jeu.

5. Gardez le bien en sécurité, sans jamais modifier ce dossier!

Maintenant que vous avez fait une des parties les plus importantes, il est temps d'apprendre à utiliser le nouveau dossier plugins correctement. Selon l'usage que vous allez en faire, vous ne pourrez pas le manipuler à souhait. Revenez au dossier SimCity 4 qui se trouve dans «Mes documents» (donc pas le dossier que vous venez de sauvegarder sur un disque dur externe).

– Si vous souhaitez garder le dossier «Plugins Akallan» complet: supprimez votre dossier Plugins à l'intérieur du dossier «SimCity 4», et ne jouez en aucun cas sur une tuile où vous avez déjà démarré une partie.

– Si   vous   souhaitez   mélangé   le   dossier   «Plugins   Akallan»   et   le   votre: déconseillé! A la limite, vous pouvez importer des lots de votre dossier au «Plugins   Akallan».   Mais   n'importez   pas   des   mods   qui   modifient   le gameplay, des textures, etc... Seulement des bâtiments. Sinon c'est à votre risque. Vous pouvez tenter de jouer sur une tuile sur laquelle vous jouez, mais au moindre problème, quitter la ville sans sauvegarder et n'y jouer plus dedans tant que le dossier plugins reste comme tel.

– Si vous souhaitez garder votre dossier Plugins et le mélanger au «Plugins Akallan»: vous le pouvez sans autres, pour autant que vous n'importez dans votre dossier Plugins que des lots et pas des mods. Vous pouvez importer aussi les dépendances qui se trouve dans le «Plugins Akallan» (sous dossier «5.1. Autres – Dépendances»).Vous   pouvez   jouer   sans   aucun  problème  sur   vos   tuiles.   Mais   si   vous rencontriez   un   problème   durant   une   partie,   c'est   que   vous   avez   dû importer un mod sans faire exprès qui rentre en conflit avec votre dossier Plugins.   Fouillez   un   peu   votre   dossier   Plugins,   peut   être   que   vous retrouverez le fichier qui crée le conflit.

Télécharger ce dossier peut créer un risque pour votre jeu, pour la meilleure expérience possible, je ne peux que vous encourager à respecter les points de 1 à 5 concernant la sauvegarde du jeu. Il faut qu'en cas de problème, vous puissiez revenir en arrière sur votre jeu d'origine. Si vous avez ce dossier d'origine bien au chaud en sécurité, vous pouvez tentez des expériences entre votre dossier Plugins et le «Plugins Akallan» pour voir quels mods peuvent fonctionner entre eux, quels mods font quoi, etc...

Si vous avez des questions ou suggestions à me faire, vous pouvez me contacter par message privé sur TSC, SC4 Devotion ou Simtropolis.

Je vous souhaite à tous, beaucoup de plaisir, et une bonne promenade dans le dossier!

Security

Before starting anything at and manipulate the folder "Plugins Akallan", please read the following recommendations to ensure the proper functioning of SimCity 4:

1. Select the folder "SimCity 4", the one with the regions and the Plugins folder. It must be in your documents.

2. Copy the file SimCity 4, paste the folder to an external hard drive (USB stick for example, or somewhere on your computer. You have to find the pussiez smoothly).

3. Rename your SimCity 4 folder you stuck with something like "SimCity 4 me" or other. So you know what your original folder.

4. Now, in case of problems with the download plugins folder, you still have your old SimCity 4 folder containing all your parts and original plugins that they have no bugs and is designed to work in harmony with your former thu.

5. Keep safe though, never change this folder!

Now that you have made one of the most important parts, it's time to learn to use the new plugins folder correctly. Depending on the use you are going to do, you can not manipulate at will. Return to SimCity 4 folder located in "My Documents" (so not the file you just saved on an external hard drive).

- If you want to keep the "Plugins Akallan" folder full: Delete your Plugins folder inside the folder "SimCity 4" and not play in any case on a tile where you have already started a game.

- If you want to mix the record "Akallan Plugins" and your: not recommended! Ultimately, you can import items from your file to the "Plugins Akallan". But do not import mods that change the gameplay, textures, etc ... Only buildings. If it's your risk. You can try to play a tile on which you play, but at the slightest problem, leaving the city without saving and are more in play as the plugins folder remains as such.

- If you want to keep your Plugins folder and mix the "Plugins Akallan" you can not further, provided that you import into your Plugins folder and not as lots of mods. You can also import dependencies found in the "Plugins Akallan" (file under "5.1. Other - Dependencies"). You can play without any problems on your tiles. But if you encounter a problem during a game is that you have to import a mod without express that conflict with your Plugins folder. Dig a little your Plugins folder, maybe you find the file that creates the conflict.

Download this file may create a risk for your game, for the best experience, I can only encourage you to comply with points from 1 to 5 regarding the safeguarding of the game. We need that in case of problem, you can go back on your original stake. If you have the original folder well safe hot, you can try experiments between your Plugins folder and the "Plugins Akallan" to see what mods can operate them, what mods are what, etc ...

If you have questions or suggestions to make, you can contact me via private message on TSC, SC4 Devotion or simtropolis.

I wish you all a lot of fun, and a good walk in the folder!

I'm willing to bet that my file has no risk as long as it is well used, Tarkus. I'm not saying you're wrong, you probably know better than me modding, and maybe you're right. But knowing by heart my Plugins folder, I think it is not a source of problems as far as the points on safety are respected.

kbieniu7 and I share the same region, and therefore we share our Plugins folder to create a uniform atmosphere between our cities, and there are no problems. He shared his Plugins folder, and I play with plugins kbieniu7 + my plugins without problems. I do not know what the folder kbieniu7 I shared my plugins folder him recently so we can together create a shared folder to play on the region. My Plugins folder is massive, certainly, I repeat ... As long as it is used, there is no risk!

Now there is the problem of copyright. I totally understand that everyone wants his name on its creation, this is normal. But file contains no modification of the building itself, the changes are only on LOTS: the title, the descritpion and the icon. mgb204 has put the words where did not know how to write, thank you. If the authors publish their BAT, how could they be offended by a ModPack as long as it remains official and clean?

The game almost 15 years, and his community is today, thanks to mods. If there would have been no mods, it would be forgotten long as SC4. The community gets smaller every day, can we still talk about copyright when trying to make a living community? Which authors today would prohibit the publication of their BATS by other people? Especially, my file contains no major changes on the LOTS.

There is one week back, I did not know the term "ModPack" and I did not know the rules related to the copyrights. There is a week I'm doing a survey of TSC to determine who would enjoy my Plugins folder, and I think many people would have wanted to download. But one player told me that what I was doing, was called the "ModPack" and that it is forbidden to SC4D and simtropolis. At first I thought to myself, "That's okay, we're on TSC ...". So I put my download folder on TSC, I admit, it's true, but not a bad conscience. Later, the words the other player told me made me think, this disturbed me. So I decided to come and talk to you about SC4 Devotion and stop the download of "ModPack" pending ...

kbieniu7 is right, people do not want to play SC4 for lack of desire to download any plugins. What is more important: having a living community or mods with copyright? I can understand both points of view, and I don't judge people on their way of thinking, but I think we should do everything to keep our active community. I'm a big fan of the game, I play the SC4 series since childhood and never I stopped, and being here is important to me, it's a passion. I love exchanging discussions with other players and I do not want the community to SC4 disappears.

I'd added something about my Plugins folder: in the PDF file, I don't recommend to other players to keep the full Plugins folder, for me the purpose of sharing is only to help players get the most dependencies some lots and possibly mods.

Thank you for reading and sorry for my bad english.

[Silur]

We have to go with the rules. Everything else - forget it!!!
This is SC4 Devotion site and You must work with SC4 Devotion rules

[Akallan]

We have to go with the rules. Everything else - forget it!!!
This is SC4 Devotion site and You must work with SC4 Devotion rules

Calm down ... I've never claimed to break the rules. And know that in the stories of world, personalities did not respect the rules, and this has been beneficial for humanity!

[Silur]

If You have permission from the Author - no problem. If not - You're a hacker
And do not about humanity ...

[art128]

Okay Silur, calm down. No one is a hacker here. And it's not even the definition of the word "hacker".

[Silur]

I agree. Sorry

[Alan_Waters]

Countryman, Akallan trying to improve the content, it is not intended malice. I think that you need to look for an opportunity to optimize the game for players from different countries. I would be very glad if the plugins were in Russian.

[Tyberius06]

Well, I haven't even read through all the comments because everything is stucking when the sake of copyrights getting into words. (ok I do not know if the end of my sentence has even any meaning. Sorry very complex thoughts in english are not my main skills) I usually try to keep myself far away from these kind of legal and SC4 custom content copyright issues arguments, because I have a straight point of view, which is against the common rules. I think the whole thing is overrated.
I agree with Akallan and his effort to share his folder with the community/or just a few specific people, whatever. He could write a very long list of plugins about his plugin folder with attached links, of course if those links even work, because there are a lot of site out there which went offline and their contents not available any more. I think the still existing sites and the rest of the commity responsibility to keep the community and these contents alive. If a site goes down, and/or a creator is very inactive (talking about years and not responding - like Gobias), I think the community has the right to reshare these contents, of course let the creator know about the action and these reshared files could go onto a google drive or dropbox or something like this account and there would be a list about the contents.
Here is an example: kazuki's http://klex.blog85.fc2.com/blog-category-1.html site is still working but the most of the download links which are pointing a onedrive account doesn't work anymore. There are some nice conents which I could use, but I can't download. I'm sure there are still active player who has these files somewhere on the harddrives. So why these files couldn't be reuploaded again to somewhere. Why the community let these files are getting lost? (not particulary these files)
I think it's not a copyright issue anymore. When we are talking about inactive creators' or sites' contents...
But I went off topic.
On topic.
I think the rules should be revisited, things change.
If the community could look forward to the copyright rules and see the interest of the community, things should be changed.
But it's my opinion and I know it's radical...

[Tarkus]

I'm willing to bet that my file has no risk as long as it is well used, Tarkus. I'm not saying you're wrong, you probably know better than me modding, and maybe you're right. But knowing by heart my Plugins folder, I think it is not a source of problems as far as the points on safety are respected.

kbieniu7 and I share the same region, and therefore we share our Plugins folder to create a uniform atmosphere between our cities, and there are no problems. He shared his Plugins folder, and I play with plugins kbieniu7 + my plugins without problems. I do not know what the folder kbieniu7 I shared my plugins folder him recently so we can together create a shared folder to play on the region. My Plugins folder is massive, certainly, I repeat ... As long as it is used, there is no risk!

My point with the earlier comments was not intended as a slight on the safety of your plugins. You've clearly put substantial effort into organizing and documenting it--far, far more than those who usually do this sort of thing--and I have no reason to doubt you on that point.

The real problem, however, is that if we were to okay any sort of open, public distribution of full plugins folders as "modpacks", we'd also appear to be legitimizing similar actions by the random fly-by-night individuals, who aren't even 1% as careful as you are.  Those folks don't give a second thought to the original creators, and have badly-organized, broken plugins folders that create technical support issues.  For instance, a few years back, some insufficiently intelligent individual created a really bad modpack, which included the infamous NAM 31.0 release, stuck it on a file sharing service, and promoted it all over another site.  Those of you who remember NAM 31.0 remember that it had some real issues with CTDs, so this guy did way more harm than good.

Now, if you're working on a collaborative project and sharing a folder privately, that's a different story, as it has generally been allowed. 

kbieniu7 is right, people do not want to play SC4 for lack of desire to download any plugins. What is more important: having a living community or mods with copyright? I can understand both points of view, and I don't judge people on their way of thinking, but I think we should do everything to keep our active community. I'm a big fan of the game, I play the SC4 series since childhood and never I stopped, and being here is important to me, it's a passion. I love exchanging discussions with other players and I do not want the community to SC4 disappears.

I am in total agreement with you here, and if nothing else, this is a very productive discussion to have.

Despite some complaints, I believe this can be retro-actively applied, after all, terms and conditions change all the time. With a sufficient notice period, dissenters could always choose to opt-out (withdraw their content/works). To my mind, it's this fundamental hurdle that we need to first overcome before any such improvements can be considered. Is it right for the community to modify a creators works? To add translations, fix things that are broken, improve documentation or smooth the process of installation for the user? I'm absolutely not talking about modifying peoples lots, changing textures, moving props or fundamentally altering their works. Simply that we can improve and optimise content for all where it makes sense to do so. Expanding from that, the manner in which works can be distributed would also provide big gains. If we sit on our hands forever, because no one is around to gain explicit permission from, we can't evolve.

I think this first point here is a good step in the right direction.  If this community is going to continue to thrive, we can't fall into what a lot of RL people in my field call "museum culture".  We have a bunch of great content created by people who haven't been active for many years.  I think some sort of waiting/notice period, as you've proposed, would probably the most fair way to go about this.

But I fear that such improvements will only remain possible within the domain of SC4D and the LEX though.

This is one of my main concerns as well.  We are either going to have to rally to get other sites to implement the sorts of quality-of-life improvements that our LEX has, or get the okay to repackage content from elsewhere or upload here.  Both are tricky propositions.

-Alex