The Blue Sun Mod

[Ninja2dan]

Originally Posted by R@S

Still haven't heard back, but will prolly know by tomorrow

About Reloaded, I think it's 1C that owns the publishing right, so you could try contacting them. I recommend sending a PM to Nike-it, a very helpful character that can point you in the right direction and should know who would be the best person to ask.

I've been playing this game for more than 2 years, and modding it for 1, and I still find new thing that blows my mind. The latest was discovered when I was playing around with the player skills. Even if the whole system is still a secret, from what I can tell it's a very complex and dynamic one. As I always say, the more you play this game, the more you realize what a great game it is

Once the new skill system has been tested and approved, I'll release a new version of the mod, including all the fixes as well. I've had some time to play it and found that some of the weapon attachments should appear earlier in the game, and I seem to have forgotten to add the new EOTech to the shops.

As you suggested, I sent a PM to Nike-it from 1C. His reply is below:

Hi Jason,
1C is currently not working with the developer of 7,62 - Aperion Games. So from our side we can't give you the permission ot use content form 7,62 Reload. The right for the game belongs to Buka if not mistaken. Try to reach them: http://buka.ru/cgi-bin/show_more.pl?...=Show_contacts
Most likely you will need this mail: cooperation@buka.ru
Good luck and Best Regards.
Nike-it

So it appears that 1C is no longer in direct business with Aperion anymore, and the Aperion web site links all come up with a dead site. So at this time, I have no clue on how to contact Aperion or any of the active staff associated with 7.62 now.

And as for 7.62 Reloaded, he stated that Buka owns the rights and not 1C, which is odd because the Buka site news post dated July 2008 stated that 1C had acquired ownership of Buka. I'll ask Nike-it in another PM specifically about that, hoping that I'm not just chasing ghosts.

If somewhere along the line I can acquire permission from the rightful owners of the Reloaded version to use some of the content with community mods created for the original version, then we'll see what happens. It won't be a permanent solution but at least it might provide a little more playability from the game while we wait for the next release.

[R@S]

OK, I talked with my Russian friends and they'll try to find some contact info for you. I'll send you a PM once I get it. However, while talking to them they gave me some pretty good arguments why I should include the maps from Reloaded in my mod, and I'll dot it! Yes, you read it right, I'm going to include most of the maps from Reloaded in the next version of BSM After all, I'm not making any money off their product and it might even increase their sales if there's an active modding community.


But I still recommend contacting Buka, they're the ones that published Apeiron's latest SPM game and might be convinced that the concept is worth saving and keep developing.

[Ninja2dan]

I went ahead and sent a message via email to Buka, using the address provided by Nike-it. If I'm lucky, I'll get some kind of contact information for the dev team from Aperion. If not, at least I might be able to convince someone to look into releasing the Reloaded expansion outside of the Russian Federation.


And yes, you are correct. In theory, I don't see any problem "borrowing" certain features from the Reloaded expansion to be used in a public community mod for the original 7.62 game. Some might argue about ownership rights issues, but as a developer myself I would have to disagree.

If the Reloaded expansion had been released to additional markets, then it could be considered a problem because using features from that expansion in a mod for the original game might mean people purchase less copies of the expansion in order to use the mods. But in this case, where the expansion is not available to most of the gaming market, using features from that expansion will have zero negative effects on sales.

In fact, once gamers try out some of the features in such a mod, their interest in the expansion might be increased even further. This means that if/when the expansion is finally released to the US/UK market, the number of prospective buyers will have increased therefore increasing their profit potential. It's a Win-Win for everyone.


I had read a post somewhere else on the internet that some of the community over at the Strategy First forums were already doing a public community translation of the Reloaded expansion, and were 2/3 done with it at the time of that post. But I can't seem to access the Strategy First forums, so it's impossible to find any further information out on that subject.


If you follow through with adding the maps from the Reloaded expansion into your mod, it could go one of two ways. Either nobody will say anything about it and you'll be free to continue using those features until someone says otherwise, or you'll be contacted by someone with ownership rights asking you to cease using their content.

If the second option does happen, at least you'll then have direct contact with someone immediately associated with the ownership rights and will therefore be able to request direct permission to use the content.

The only reason I can see anyone denying permission is if they do in fact plan to release a US/UK version of the expansion.


Good luck, hopefully my computer will be up and running again in time to see the additions myself. I'm looking forward to it, keep up the great work.

[R@S]

Yeah, your computer should be up and running by the time the next version is realeased. I think it'll take a month or two before it's ready. I only have one vacation week this month, but if I use my time wisely I'll get a lot done that week.

I already have 5 maps from Reloaded ready to be implemented, I was playing around with them a while back and now I only have to add them to the global map, create some character places and script the missions to go along. I think that Tang and the Blue Sun faction will be the quest giver for most of those mission. I might also re-arrange some of the Bobling missions, the book of Koans and the 12 pages will prolly moved to another character and will not be campaign sensetive. Those were my first ones and not very fun, if moved they won't be important and it'll make it less boring.