Worried about community modding/level creation

Community Community & Industry Discussion
1

Hi all

Really excited about UE4 but I have one major worry.

If I release a UE4 game will the people who buy it be able to create their own maps and/or mods for it WITHOUT paying for a UE4 subscription?

Say the game costs $10, I don’t think hardly any modders would want to pay (at least) $20 to make custom maps or mods for the game.

I can’t believe Epic would heavily reduce (if not virtually eliminate) community custom content for a whole generation of games (I’m expecting UE4 to utterly dominate the market) when they used to even package the level designer with their games.

I’m really hoping there will be some kind of cut down version (maybe level editor only) that can be packaged with UE4 games. Community content is key to the longevity of so many games.

2

I’m no expert on this, but it was kind of my impression that since the full source for both the engine binaries and editor are available, then that opens up the possibility of recompiling and packaging the editor alongside a given game.
There may be some legal clause on Epic’s part regarding this kind of thing, I’m honestly not sure, but from a technical standpoint it would be absolutely possible.

3

I can give you a game that recently did this very thing. Ravaged. They sold their game via steam. Its been about a year maybe since release or less. Then just a week or so ago they released modding tools. Ravaged was created with UE3 engine.

4

[=Scudmire;1598]
Hi all

Really excited about UE4 but I have one major worry.

If I release a UE4 game will the people who buy it be able to create their own maps and/or mods for it WITHOUT paying for a UE4 subscription?

Say the game costs $10, I don’t think hardly any modders would want to pay (at least) $20 to make custom maps or mods for the game.

I can’t believe Epic would heavily reduce (if not virtually eliminate) community custom content for a whole generation of games (I’m expecting UE4 to utterly dominate the market) when they used to even package the level designer with their games.

I’m really hoping there will be some kind of cut down version (maybe level editor only) that can be packaged with UE4 games. Community content is key to the longevity of so many games.
[/]

I am sure you will be able to talk to them about it :slight_smile: That is a great question, maybe give them the version the game only uses nothing else just for modding yea. But if I am correct you will be building it all on release of a game should see if you get the editor when building a release package.

5

[=Beaucephal;1654]
I’m no expert on this, but it was kind of my impression that since the full source for both the engine binaries and editor are available, then that opens up the possibility of recompiling and packaging the editor alongside a given game.
There may be some legal clause on Epic’s part regarding this kind of thing, I’m honestly not sure, but from a technical standpoint it would be absolutely possible.
[/]

Well that is encouraging. Would really like to hear from Epic on the subject.

6

I think its up to you if you want to release mod tools or not, you probably cant release the full C++ for your game but I dont see why there would be issues with the editor tools especially when we have access to things like SteamWorks. I certainly havent read the legals top to bottom but it seems extremely premature to be discussing this let alone making the assumption, even if it were true that we cannot include the tools or it somehow means people need to get in on the subscription I dont see that as a bad thing. Quite commonly in the mod community people will host files, sites, just a number of different things you may or may not have to sink money into, I wouldnt assume that every modder doesnt have any money or doesnt want any money. If someone is just twiddling around in their basement there is alot of tools available if they dont want to pay and for games I can see why mod content might help keep the game fresh but I wouldnt base a business model around it, if you want a F2P or DLC model I suggest you follow those paths instead rather than relying on the community to provide you with free content. It may happen dont get me wrong but the number of people who want to be paid for modding is only increasing now they actually see their work is worth money.

7

Hi ,
Here is a relevant portion of the EULA for clarification on modification:

You may not Distribute any Licensed Technology except as follows:

a. Distribution to end users - You may Distribute Engine Code licensed to you under this Agreement (including as modified by you under the License) incorporated in object code format as an inseparable part of a Product to end users who are subject to an end user license agreement which explicitly disclaims any representations, warranties, conditions, and liabilities related to the Licensed Technology. However, the Product may not consist of or contain any Engine Tools nor provide functionality allowing the creation of standalone products utilizing the Licensed Technology; and

b. Distribution to other licensees - You may Distribute Engine Code licensed to you under this Agreement (including as modified by you under the License) in Source Code or object code format, or any Asset provided to you without additional charge by Epic, to an Engine Licensee who has rights under its license to the same Version of the Engine Code or Asset that you are Distributing.

You may not sublicense any Licensed Technology in Source Code format. You may not sublicense any Licensed Technology in object code format except to grant end users the ability to use, or to permit your publishers and distributors to market and Distribute, a Product that you Distribute as permitted in Section 1(a) above.

When you Distribute a Product to end users, you must provide Epic with advance notification at Richtlinien für die Veröffentlichung und Lizenzgebührennachverfolgung - Unreal Engine, as early as reasonably possible, including the name of the Product, the format of distribution, unique Product id (where applicable), and the distribution channel(s).

You may not combine, Distribute, or otherwise use the Licensed Technology with any code or other content which is covered by a license that would directly or indirectly require that all or part of the Licensed Technology be governed under any terms other than those of this Agreement. Code or content under the following licenses, for example, are prohibited: GNU General Public License (GPL), Lesser GPL (LGPL) (unless you are merely dynamically linking a shared library), or Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Code or content under the following licenses, for example, are allowed: BSD License, MIT License, Microsoft Public License, or Apache License.

You can go here https://www.unrealengine.com/eula for more information. Thank you and have a great day!