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EA/Bioware's stance on modding Dragon Age

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Use of Dragon Age Assets (all game versions) in Mods

In response to communication from the Nexus Staff, the Dragon Age development team provided their perspective on this issue.

Their basic position is:

BioWare will allow relatively free use of its in-game resources (models and textures) from Dragon Age (all games) by modders who wish to create new content for use in the Dragon Age series. BioWare requires three things:

1. Mod must be totally non-commercial. There can be no payment specifically for the creation, use, or distribution of any mod using BioWare’s assets.

2. Mod author must have a legitimate copy of the source game/DLC from which the assets were obtained.

3. Mod cannot recreate any DLC adventure itself. In other words, a modder can use a DLC asset in a new work, but can't simply remake the whole thing.

This is not blanket authorization to take anything and everything from Dragon Age and use it in any way one wishes. As always, modders need to respect the copyrights / IP rights of others, including other modders, and observe the terms of the EULAs associated with any hardware or software. When in doubt, ask permission!

We here at the Nexus want to thank the BioWare team for their very liberal policy. This welcomed stance in support of the modding Community is very much appreciated.

18 comments

  1. sendo75
    sendo75
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    Thanks for clarifying, DADT it is!
  2. Thandal
    Thandal
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    @sendo75;

    I had the same thoughts. I presented the exact case you outlined above to my contacts at BioWare, and got the response you've already seen.
    Bottom line: I've adopted a DADT attitude. whistling.gif
  3. sendo75
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    Perhaps I can get some clarification here. Even though BW allows the modification of its DLC assets, are we allowed to extract significant modular portions and include it in a mod release. Case in point, taking an entire iconic armor set from an Item pack or adventure DLC (meshes, textures, properties), therefore making it available for users who don't own the DLC. Or even using an entire zone from a DLC perhaps.

    I know this is not allowed before and logical common sense tells me that BW would not like it but their recent stance can be vague regarding how much asset can be included.
  4. moonlightwolf
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    I think part of the competition is a simple minded Mods Vs DLC attitude. Some companies (Bethesda for example) favour modding because they believe it vastly increases a games replayability and extends sales over a long period of time. Some companies though see mods as competing against their DLC packs for example if you can simply mod a load of cool weapons into your game why buy the $10 weapons pack they're flogging. What they should do is be spurred to make better DLC but instead they start seeing modders as encroaching on their profit margins. I just hope that when they finish their run of mediocre DLC followed by the inevitable Game of the year edition bundle they'll decide that they might catch a few resales if they release a toolset to us poor jaded players.

    I would just state however that this attitude seems to stem from publishers rather the dev studios and its great to see Bioware taking a fairly liberal attitude to modders even if they aren't releasing a toolset to us.
  5. Thandal
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    So does this mean we'll finally be able to get a proper Sten/Qunari mod using the badass DA2 qunari models?

    That's up to you. Take a whack at modding the DA2 Quanari mesh/texture and (the) Sten's DA:O .mor! <img class=">
  6. gogadantes
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    So does this mean we'll finally be able to get a proper Sten/Qunari mod using the badass DA2 qunari models?
  7. sendo75
    sendo75
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    I think perhaps competition in terms of mods hosting. BSN hosts some project files but most come to Nexus for their modding needs.
  8. setiweb
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    If you think we'd have any influence on their decision to release a toolset for DA2 then think again. Last I heard they consider the Nexus competition.

    I forgot all these games you release really cut into their own sales.
  9. Sunnie
    Sunnie
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    This is fantastic! It's about time they actually made a decision and actually said what it is. This is pretty much the answer I received on the 3rd of August (weeks ago) when I specifically ask for clarification on the legality of using paid-for DLC assets. There was other details in the response but they are irrelevant at this point.

    As far as a toolset update is concerned, I recently inquired again about the possibility, and the answer I got this time was a rather short "I can't discuss that" (previously answers were of the "we still don't know yet" nature). Take that at face value, YMMV. One thing I do know is that the toolset updates that were made to handle DA2 have 3rd party licensed technology, which means that BioWare would need to pay for addition licensing in order to release the TS update to the public. I don't know about anyone else, but from a business perspective, that's a waste of money in a tight budget project since the ROI will definitely be negative at this point. Still, there is hope.
  10. tmptmp
    tmptmp
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    Use of Dragon Age Assets (all game versions) in Mods

    Their basic position is:

    (snip)

    Great; thank you for posting that.