I'm reposting the bulk of my reply to that ridiculous thread about why the author of this mod should not be allowed to accept Donation Points, as it's own thread. I'm doing this for a few reasons.
I want the author of this mod to know they did nothing wrong.
Activity in that thread seems to have died down, and I believe the injustice of that thread should be addressed.
I don't want this post to get buried at the bottom of said ridiculous thread that nobody who actually understands the truth of the matter wants to read through.
There are some serious distinctions that need to be understood, such as the difference between what "Sell" and "Donate" mean, as well as what exactly any monetary value involved, in whatever form that takes, is being exchanged for.
Selling something means something, whether it be physical, digital, or otherwise, is exchanged, with the recipient being obligated or required to provide monetary compensation of some sort in return. Donating on the other hand, means something (money, item, information, etc.), is given freely with no obligation or expectation of receiving anything in return.
From here forward I will be using two acronyms regularly, so I will clearly define what each means. DP = Donation Points = Points provided to members by Nexus Mods that can be exchanged for Premium membership or withdrawn for monetary value. UDL = Unique Downloads = The number of unique users have downloaded a file from the mod page.
Here are two links to the Donation Points FAQ explaining why "UDL's" are used as the metric for mod popularity. See the "Why do you use unique downloads as the metric by which you allocate Donation Points?" section. DP FAQ DP FAQ Help Article
Now, what exactly are "DP" being exchanged for? "DP" is provided by Nexus Mods to members based on the number of "UDL's" any given mod has on its main mod page. This is not to say the author is being paid for the software itself. "UDL's" are simply the metric Nexus Mods uses to measure the popularity of a mod, and therefor how much site traffic can be attributed to said mod. Therefor, "DP" is being exchanged for site traffic, not software.
And finally, how does this information apply here. This author is "Donating" their version of the mod, free of charge. The "DP" provided by Nexus is done so to compensate the author for the site traffic that their mod has provided to the site. No monetary value is being exchanged for the mod itself. The author is simply allowing Nexus to reward them for the site traffic their mod is providing. No monetary value that would have been provided to the original creator of BG3SE is being redirected to this mod author. Not only does the original BG3SE author provide no avenue to support them on their GitHub page, even though they legally could and in my opinion should (they made an excellent mod), but even if they did, users who download this version over theirs do so because of the ease-of-use this versions provides by being compatible with Vortex. The author of this mod has given clear credit where it is due to the author of BG3SE. Any donations received by this author are received for the time and work they spent converting said mod to be compatible with Vortex, and donation is not required to be allowed to download the mod. THAT, would be SELLING. THIS, is NOT SELLING.
UPDATE: I have spoken to Norbyte. He does not care for Nexus drama, and our conversation was via private DM, so I won't post his exact reponse. The short answer is he agrees that the authors actions are legal and do not violate any terms of either the license or any terms of service, but he still doesn't approve. In accordance with his wishes, the author has disabled DP. The fact remains that any claims of theft or term violations are entirely false.
Fararagi - Accepting donation points (DP) could be considered a form of receiving compensation or value in exchange for the Software
False. "DP" are not provided in exchange for the software itself. "DP" are awarded to members for the user traffic their mod page provides.
Mazikeensa - Problem is that the author gets money for every download - for something he did not create, under a license that is not valid.
False. It's true the author get's "DP" for the number of "UDL's" they get, but that is simply a metric used by Nexus Mods to measure site traffic, not the software. Therefor the license has no bearing on this.
Mazikeensa - So yeah, you dont have to pay for anything but the uploader here is basically stealing money from the original creator.
False. This is an inflammatory statement with no factual basis. The creator is not receiving any monetary value that would have been provided to the original creator of BG3SE. No theft has occurred. Not only does the original creator of BG3SE not offer any way to donate to them, even though they could, and in my opinion should, but even if they did, anyone who downloads this one over theirs likely does so because of this mods ease of use, which was made possible by the work, however little, this author put in to make it compatible with Vortex.
Mazikeensa - the creator also stated that the license used here is invalid.
EDIT/UPDATE: False. See the above UPDATE. Norbyte never said this, and in fact, they stated the opposite. They simply do not approve.
Fararagi - I've reported this s#*! to nexus anyways with relevant informations and I encourage other people to do the same. They're the ones doing the policing in the end anyway.
I don't encourage anyone to "do the same" for obvious reasons, but I agree you should leave it up to the Nexus. The fact that you have done so yet they have not taken down this page is evidence enough as to who is correct on this matter.
Honestly not sure what the point of posting this was. It wasn't a definitive statement from BG3SE's author, it was just them posting the same legal excerpt already posted here, then a statement that the terms apply to the mod here, which is factually true, but still changes nothing.
Fararagi - 26 September 2023, 3:28PM - (linked post which will take you to the comment I'm quoting on the nexus forum because I don't want to copy/paste the whole long comment)
TLDR - saying the same stuff a different way Still false as the "DP" being provided to the author is provided for site traffic, not the mod itself.
Minor correction for HammerOfDaGods' post: DP is a system where points are used to represent Nexus' donation to authors who provide high-quality/highly-useful files. Unique Downloads are the current metric to measure that but there's a reason Nexus put out that massive global notification to all authors.
Because BG3SE is MIT-licensed, distributing it with DP is allowed by the letter of the law. It's icky but technically legal. That's not to say we haven't preferred non-DP mod pages in the past for MIT-licenses uploads (we have, and that one's another from Norbyte!) but it's not against the law per se.
When I install this, the game won't load any mods. They will still show up in the in-game mod manager, and I can click to apply them, but when I load a save, the mods don't actually make it into the game.
1755 comments
There are some serious distinctions that need to be understood, such as the difference between what "Sell" and "Donate" mean, as well as what exactly any monetary value involved, in whatever form that takes, is being exchanged for.
Selling something means something, whether it be physical, digital, or otherwise, is exchanged, with the recipient being obligated or required to provide monetary compensation of some sort in return. Donating on the other hand, means something (money, item, information, etc.), is given freely with no obligation or expectation of receiving anything in return.
From here forward I will be using two acronyms regularly, so I will clearly define what each means.
DP = Donation Points = Points provided to members by Nexus Mods that can be exchanged for Premium membership or withdrawn for monetary value.
UDL = Unique Downloads = The number of unique users have downloaded a file from the mod page.
Here are two links to the Donation Points FAQ explaining why "UDL's" are used as the metric for mod popularity. See the "Why do you use unique downloads as the metric by which you allocate Donation Points?" section.
DP FAQ
DP FAQ Help Article
Now, what exactly are "DP" being exchanged for? "DP" is provided by Nexus Mods to members based on the number of "UDL's" any given mod has on its main mod page. This is not to say the author is being paid for the software itself. "UDL's" are simply the metric Nexus Mods uses to measure the popularity of a mod, and therefor how much site traffic can be attributed to said mod. Therefor, "DP" is being exchanged for site traffic, not software.
And finally, how does this information apply here. This author is "Donating" their version of the mod, free of charge. The "DP" provided by Nexus is done so to compensate the author for the site traffic that their mod has provided to the site. No monetary value is being exchanged for the mod itself. The author is simply allowing Nexus to reward them for the site traffic their mod is providing. No monetary value that would have been provided to the original creator of BG3SE is being redirected to this mod author. Not only does the original BG3SE author provide no avenue to support them on their GitHub page, even though they legally could and in my opinion should (they made an excellent mod), but even if they did, users who download this version over theirs do so because of the ease-of-use this versions provides by being compatible with Vortex. The author of this mod has given clear credit where it is due to the author of BG3SE. Any donations received by this author are received for the time and work they spent converting said mod to be compatible with Vortex, and donation is not required to be allowed to download the mod. THAT, would be SELLING. THIS, is NOT SELLING.
UPDATE: I have spoken to Norbyte. He does not care for Nexus drama, and our conversation was via private DM, so I won't post his exact reponse. The short answer is he agrees that the authors actions are legal and do not violate any terms of either the license or any terms of service, but he still doesn't approve. In accordance with his wishes, the author has disabled DP. The fact remains that any claims of theft or term violations are entirely false.
False. "DP" are not provided in exchange for the software itself. "DP" are awarded to members for the user traffic their mod page provides.
False. It's true the author get's "DP" for the number of "UDL's" they get, but that is simply a metric used by Nexus Mods to measure site traffic, not the software. Therefor the license has no bearing on this.
False. This is an inflammatory statement with no factual basis. The creator is not receiving any monetary value that would have been provided to the original creator of BG3SE. No theft has occurred. Not only does the original creator of BG3SE not offer any way to donate to them, even though they could, and in my opinion should, but even if they did, anyone who downloads this one over theirs likely does so because of this mods ease of use, which was made possible by the work, however little, this author put in to make it compatible with Vortex.
EDIT/UPDATE: False. See the above UPDATE. Norbyte never said this, and in fact, they stated the opposite. They simply do not approve.
False for reasons already stated.
I don't encourage anyone to "do the same" for obvious reasons, but I agree you should leave it up to the Nexus. The fact that you have done so yet they have not taken down this page is evidence enough as to who is correct on this matter.
Honestly not sure what the point of posting this was. It wasn't a definitive statement from BG3SE's author, it was just them posting the same legal excerpt already posted here, then a statement that the terms apply to the mod here, which is factually true, but still changes nothing.
TLDR - saying the same stuff a different way
Still false as the "DP" being provided to the author is provided for site traffic, not the mod itself.
DP is a system where points are used to represent Nexus' donation to authors who provide high-quality/highly-useful files. Unique Downloads are the current metric to measure that but there's a reason Nexus put out that massive global notification to all authors.
Because BG3SE is MIT-licensed, distributing it with DP is allowed by the letter of the law. It's icky but technically legal.
That's not to say we haven't preferred non-DP mod pages in the past for MIT-licenses uploads (we have, and that one's another from Norbyte!) but it's not against the law per se.
BG3Ext v24 built on Apr 30 2025 19:46:13
Game version v4.68.48.561 OK
ScriptExtender::Initialize: Starting
folders.
Mine is still v22 even if my game is updated, it refuses to download the version 24.