Rules on Using a Model from Other Sources?

[Pipes_Gripes]

I'm thinking of using a model from War Thunder (videogame) as the basis for a YSFlight project.
What are the rules regarding the release of the result?
Is there a threshold of modifications that I must pass for it to be "legal" on the forum without permission from the original company?

[waspe414]

They have to allow it, either in the license or elsewhere. Have a look through the EULA to start with

[Gordo]

3.2. Prohibitions. Except as otherwise specifically provided for in this Agreement, you may not use, copy, emulate, clone, rent, lease, sell, modify, decompile, disassemble, otherwise reverse engineer, or otherwise reduce any party of the Product to human readable form or transfer the licensed Product, or any subset of the licensed Product, nor permit any third party to do so, except to the extent the foregoing restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law. Notwithstanding the foregoing sentence, decompiling the Software is permitted to the extent the laws of your jurisdiction give you the non-waivable right to do so to obtain information necessary to render the Software interoperable with other software; provided, however, that you must first request such information from the Gaijin and the Gaijin may, in its discretion, either provide such information to you (subject to confidentiality terms) or impose reasonable conditions, including a reasonable fee, on such use of the Software to ensure that the Gaijin's and its suppliers and/or licensors proprietary rights in the Software are protected. You may not modify, or create derivative works based upon the Product in whole or in part.

1.4. No Modification. You agree not to modify or alter the Product in any way. You may not remove or alter any copyright notices or other proprietary notices on any copies of the Product.



(From War Thunder EULA: https://warthunder.com/en/support/eula/)

[Gordo]

I don't know if that answers your question... At least I tried to help.

[Vic Viper]

I'm no lawyer, so this isn't legal advice, but I believe that first paragraph is mostly addressed to software testers and security experts who would decompile the code for testing.

You may not modify, or create derivative works based upon the Product in whole or in part.

There it is right there^^

You're not going to be able to extract a model from a commercial game and release it on here, that would open up our forum to legal action. Do what you wish on your own machine though.

This is really a stretch, but you could try identifying the 3DFX artist that actually created the model for Gaijin. Sometimes they retain their ownership and may grant you use, but most of the time they sign an exclusive use contract with the company they were hired to do work for.

If I were you I'd try finding what you need from public sources like a 3dsmax forum or Sketchup's 3D warehouse. I've had success there contacting artists and getting permission to use their work. Just read their release post carefully for terms of use and try contacting them directly if you need more clarification. Good luck!