Everything needs modifications and tweaks to fit specific projects.
There’s many reasons why Unreal ships with code access; I ask the opposite, why NOT provide source code??
Once you have a blackbox in your project, the risks double.
- When you a buy marketplace good (bp or plugin), make sure have source code if it is a code plugin.
- Bp is okay, it is highlevel enough that you should be able to tweak in case anything break when you upgrade version.
- Marketplace creator is understandably silent (you may not agree, which is also understandable lol) especially if the sale is low.
So now the big no-no which is a very high risk is if the plugin doesn’t come with source code. Some libraries can integrate with many game engines such as Unity or custom Engine but their integration source code with UE4 must be released to buyers. In this case, normally they also have their own engine-agostic DLL/LIB which normally doesn’t come with source code as they are proprietary.
[MENTION=434] [/MENTION]
Btw, is there way to not provide a source code in your Marketplace plugin or BP assets? What is you don’t want to reveal your rare math algorithm or something?
[=Two-faced;689865]
[MENTION=434] [/MENTION]
Btw, is there way to not provide a source code in your Marketplace plugin or BP assets? What is you don’t want to reveal your rare math algorithm or something?
[/]
Then don’t sell it, as simple as that.
There are plugins with a closed source code but normally they are for the products which go beyond plugin itself, like Substance or SpeedTree. I wouldn’t risk buying a plugin, without source code, from non-established software company without a reputation and being on a market for a few years.
[=;689886]
There are plugins with a closed source code
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How is it working tho? You can browse any plugin you have and use some tricks from there especially if plugin isn’t working as you thought. So technically you create your own code using someone else’s algorithm which is should be his intellectual property.
Do you think, guys, this is correct situation?
[=Two-faced;689955]
How is it working tho? You can browse any plugin you have and use some tricks from there especially if plugin isn’t working as you thought. So technically you create your own code using someone else’s algorithm which is should be his intellectual property.
Do you think, guys, this is correct situation?
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When you submit a plugin to marketplace, it’s submitted under royalty free license. So yes, people can use your plugin to create their games and sell them. There are specific cases when you can’t share your code because it includes 3rd party code which you agree to not disclose. Like for example if you make a plugin which allows to import Maya content directly into UE4. You can have other reasons not to do it. But, the point is that we advice customers not to buy such plugins as in case of creator disappearance or bug he can’t fix you as a customer still have some means to correct the issue in the source code.
So if you think that your code contains some secret know-how which you don’t want to share - its your right to negotiate such terms with Epic. Wherever this will be accepted by your clients is a different question.
Our fair size team of developers have come across the issue of non-working blueprints and have had discussions over worst case possibilities.
At the moment the situation of orphaned blueprints is more of an annoyance but what would happen if something critical to a projects functionality failed to work as advertised, like Allegorithmic’s substance plug in, where removal from the market place was not an option?
Until there is a proper ways and means of ensuring that blueprints and plug-ins will continue to function as purchased we have decided to limit the use of over the counter blueprint and plug-in products.
As an opinion if a critical product is determined to have become orphaned by agreement Epic should be able to take over the product, make the necessary updates, and take a much larger percentage of the sales profit in return.
[=;690108]
As an opinion if a critical product is determined to have become orphaned by agreement Epic should be able to take over the product, make the necessary updates, and take a much larger percentage of the sales profit in return.
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And… nobody in Epic would have time for fixing somebody’s plugins 
[=kjustynski;690116]
And… nobody in Epic would have time for fixing somebody’s plugins
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Time is moot as at some point something will have to be done.
A farmer that has no time to weed his crop will one day have a field full of weeds.
[=kjustynski;690116]
And… nobody in Epic would have time for fixing somebody’s plugins
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You are kinda wrong there; Epic’s engineers gave me quite a fair lecture on all the wrong things I used to do.
And coming from Unity background, when stepping into the C++ plugin environment I did a lot of wrong stuff
That experience served to show me how much of ‘true’ programmers some of them really are, they really know their stuff and I’ve learned a lot while trying to pass Epic’s QA for the first time.
They won’t fix your code, but be sure they will point out everything wrong you are doing with it and won’t let you publish your plugin until you reach a fair level of programming quality; was pretty awesome experience, really.
Guys, you turn this conversation to the wrong way. There was an old archive topic about it too. I’m not referring to any licence or game-made-of royalty. All I wanna know, is there a simple way to keep some of your code or BP away from user curious eye? Sure, you must fix all your bugs in terms of agreement with EG. And possibly if you bought bad bug-infested plugin an author is who must take all job with it.
Such statements as “I bought this for tweak and hang around with it” explain to me why there are so many extremely poor content on MP now. I’m already see messages in my mailbox like: “Dude wtf were you coding there? I didn’t get it, my coder had shot himself up after he tried to tweak your ****!”. Do I have to answer this?)
You can publish closed source plugins, but Epic still gonna have your source code for analysis.
but, a lot of people email me asking if there’s source included on my packs, if there’s no source then they won’t buy what I’m selling.
And if there’s no source I bet you’ll receive some angry emails from time to time…
[=Two-faced;690243]
All I wanna know, is there a simple way to keep some of your code or BP away from user curious eye?
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As far as BP is concerned, there answer is no: BP cannot be hidden. And unless if your source code contains highly proprietary and intelligent code, you should release all your source code too. The is almost no-one want to steal your code this way. Most users want the assurance that had the author suddenly disappear (die in freak accident for an example), they can still use the plugin/etc for at least the life of the games they are developing.
[= ;690341]
You can publish closed source plugins, but Epic still gonna have your source code for analysis.
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Could you link me a method, please?
[]
And if there’s no source I bet you’ll receive some angry emails from time to time…
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I bet there is always be angry dudes)
[=;690367]
As far as BP is concerned, there answer is no: BP cannot be hidden.
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But everyday I see a lot of nodes which is hidden. For example:
There is the possibility to hide seller’s blueprints at this point.
To submit closed source, you explicitly tell Marketplace team that you don’t want the source code shared when they make the Marketplace target packaging…
Or you build the binaries yourself, but include the source code in a file outside of the shipping folder and tell them the source isn’t meant to be shared; Epic have the right to refuse selling your plugin though, as they see fit. They have refused closed source submissions before, I’ve seen in these forums.
[MENTION=434] [/MENTION]
Thanks man! At least we have an option)
[= ;690503]
To submit closed source, you explicitly tell Marketplace team that you don’t want the source code shared when they make the Marketplace target packaging…
Or you build the binaries yourself, but include the source code in a file outside of the shipping folder and tell them the source isn’t meant to be shared; Epic have the right to refuse selling your plugin though, as they see fit. They have refused closed source submissions before, I’ve seen in these forums.
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I agree with [MENTION=434] [/MENTION]. I hope Epic continue refusing black boxes, especially to avoid cases like happened to @, in a more extreme situation for e.g.: Imagine the plugin author did not want to or could to answer in any hypothesis or for some misfortune has disappeared from the map for ever, abducted by E.T.s. Without the source code is impossible for the marketplace buyer, i.e. the developer, to compile the plugin for new engine versions.
So in this way it means that both the plugin/plugin author as well as the investment will disappear from the project and Earth as well, for ever.
[=Two-faced;690494]
But everyday I see a lot of nodes which is hidden. For example:
&stc=1
There is the possibility to hide seller’s blueprints at this point.
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Well that is not 100% BP asset. It is using BP to tap into C++ function which in this case, I assumed is a closed source.
[=Two-faced;690494]
But everyday I see a lot of nodes which is hidden. For example:
There is the possibility to hide seller’s blueprints at this point.
[/]
These nodes are not hidden, they are implemented in c++ and you can check their implementation in UE4 source code. Just need to install visual and include source code in UE4 installation.