Does this violate the EULA?

[Jono99]

I am currently working on an RPG Maker VX Ace project that is using modified code (not editing the executable or dlls or anything, just editing the RGSS3 code) to use custom formats for maps, tilesets, events, etc. Does this project violate the RPG Maker VX Ace EULA? I really would like to know before I continue working on it. If it is in violation of the EULA, I will stop working on it immediately. Also, sorry if I am posting this in the wrong section of the forum. Thank you.

UPDATE: I did look over the EULA before creating the thread and didn't see anything that made it look like my project was is violation, but I very well may have missed something.

 

[mjshi]

No, it's not. I'm pretty sure it only violates the EULA if you're modifying the EXE or the dlls. Though you might want to get official word on it, there are tons of scripts out there that add extra animations or change tile sizes. It's probably fine.

 

[Jono99]

@mjshi I'll do that. Also, I'm not referring to mere modifications here. I'm talking about using completely new formats from the ground up. Part of the intent is to make a project that is theoretically able to be edited without the use of RPG Maker (due to my laptop dying, I currently don't have access to the software). I do also plan to distribute the project once I'm done (if I'm allowed to of course).

 

[Shaz]

Modifying the scripts is fine, and there is no limit to how much modification you do.

However, modifying them so you don't need to use RPG Maker to make your project could be an issue - you have the right to use the resources that come with RPG Maker if you are making a game with RPG Maker. If you are going out of your way to NOT use RPG Maker to make your game, you are risking losing that right, and would have to use all custom resources.

For more of a discussion on this, see the "What does Made with RMMV mean?" thread, where people have been asking about doing exactly this. Because they're talking about MV, they have more flexibility to leave the editor behind than you might do with Ace, but without knowing exactly what kind of changes you're talking about, when you say "a project is able to be edited without the use of RPG Maker", I can't be sure.

 

[Jono99]

@Shaz What I am referring to is an RPG Maker VX Ace project that can interpret custom map and class formats that I have made myself, which are made in a custom editor outside of RPG Maker. I guess the best way to describe this is with an example. I have written a custom file format to replace* the scripts.rvdata2 file in the project and I intend to do something similar to the rest of the files in the Data folder. The executable and dlls of the original project are left intact and unedited.
*The scripts.rvdata2 file will just contain code to serve as an interpreter for my actual scripts file (which will still be written in RGSS3). I hope that made sense, but just to be safe, here's a demonstration: The Scripts.rvdata2 file contains a single script:

class Script
  attr_reader :name
  attr_reader :code
  def initialize(raw)
    raw = raw.split('>')
    until raw.size == 2
      raw[1] += '>' + raw[2]
      raw.remove_at(2)
    end
    @name = raw[0].split('<script ')[1]
    @code = raw[1]
  end
end

# Read the scripts file and break it down into individual files
file = open('Scripts shift-jis.txt', 'r')
scripts = file.read.encode('Shift-JIS').split('</script>')
file.close
counter = 0
while counter < scripts.size
  scripts[counter] = Script.new(scripts[counter])
  counter += 1
end

# Run the scripts
scripts.each do |script|
  begin
    load script.code
  rescue Exception => e
    msgbox(e.backtrace)
  end
end

The scripts file it refers to is formatted like so:

<script script_name>
code
</script>
<script script_name>
code
</script>

I hope that helps it make sense. Again, I will cease development and/or not distribute my work on this project if this violates the EULA.

UPDATE: I have since looked over the thread you pointed me to and have concluded that although I have needed RPG Maker VX Ace to construct the script files, I only used it to edit the script file in order to create my project and nothing else, therefore, I can't entirely call it an RPG Maker VX Ace project. I will still develop it, but I am on the fence on whether or not I will release my work (I'm doing it more as a proof of concept rather than to make a proper game), but if I do, I will state that people are not allowed to use the RTP assets or any RPG Maker dlc with similar restrictions with the project as projects made using the project as a base cannot be consider as having been made in RPG Maker VX Ace.

 

[Andar]

Ace and MV have several differences and that includes that their EULA's handle some things differently due to the technical differences.

The key question is another one:
Do you want to use the RTP resources?
Because that is where that "made with Ace/MV" comes to the point.

Adding your own resources or formats to any engine is never a problem - that is how several common formats like Holder's battlers came into existance, they wrote add-on scripts that handle different pictures.
The only problem appears if you try to find a way to use the RTP outside of the RM, because that is forbidden by the licence.

In Ace, the difference is much easier to handle than in MV: do you still need an unmodified game.exe to run your game?
If yes, it is usually considered "made with Ace", no matter what else you add into the engine (in MV, you could use any browser - the questions arise there because there is no exlusive game.exe for MV).

However, there is one additional problem and you didn't give enough information to decide on that point:
The display-API of Ace is closed source, and there is no legal documentation of it available.

If your mapping script uses simple pictures to work, then that can be legal (similiar to scripts that enable parallax mapping and the like).
If you found some illegal documentation on the API and your script uses that to connect to the display-API, then your work breaks the EULA, because reverse-engineering the API and the game.exe is forbidden (and it doesn't matter if you did that reverse-engineering yourself or someone else did it).

 

[Jono99]

If your mapping script uses simple pictures to work, then that can be legal (similiar to scripts that enable parallax mapping and the like).
If you found some illegal documentation on the API and your script uses that to connect to the display-API, then your work breaks the EULA, because reverse-engineering the API and the game.exe is forbidden (and it doesn't matter if you did that reverse-engineering yourself or someone else did it).

@Andar I did not reverse engineer the API/game.exe nor have I looked into such efforts done by other people and I have/had no plan to. What I was planning to do (for the maps specifically) is write my own classes for tiles, maps and tilesets and find a way to have it display those as it does with the file formats used in VXA by default. I would look at the ruby scripting in the project to see how to do this. The windows I would keep the same as they are 100% handled in scripting. I hope that helps.

 

[Andar]

theoretically this would be legal - if you can pull it off.
It depends on how far you want to change the classes for the tiles, because the display portions of those classes are not documented as they are part of the windows-API.
It will be (in my opinion) extremely difficult to do that without reverse engineering if the changes you plan go beyond minimalistic ones, but that depends on what exactly you want to change.

Good Luck on the try.

 

[Jono99]

@Andar Well, I'm up for the challenge! But first, I need to get the scripts working correctly. I'll potentially ask about that on a new thread at a later date, but I'll see what I can do myself first.

 

[Kes]

[closed]IgnoreMe[/closed]