So How Pissed Off Should I Be?

[Shadowhawk827]

I got me Dawnguard Sentries mod finally converted over to SE  last night.  Posted here and on the Nexus too. 

 

I'm still on the fence about rewarding Bethesda with copies of my mods on their site.  That's a discussion for another post however.

 

My issue this time is that no sooner do I get the mod posted than I have another player telling me there's another mod that's "very similar" to mine.  Turns out somebody posted a mod that's superficially similar to mine a month after Dawnguard Sentries originally hit the Nexus.  It's more like a stripped down version of mine with only 3 sentries per hold capital and the author couldn't even figure out how to make them respawn.

 

It's a blatant copy.  There's more than one Monster Mod for example but they don't all put the same monster in the same spot.  This comes pretty close to that.

 

[HighTide]

They say Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so you could be proud that your work drew the attention-but there's a problem in the world of today where stolen intellectual property is causing a lot of small businesses and workers to go unnoticed/unfed, so I'd say overall? You have a huge right to be mad.

I'd be careful about running in guns blazing, maybe it was just that they liked your mod, but if they're just trying to thief it away for donations or popularity then you have every right to rip that crap down.

[foreveraloneguy]

24 minutes ago, Shadowhawk827 said:

superficially similar to mine

 

There's your answer. The other mod may have used your idea, but unless it uses actual assets, there's nothing to be mad about. This is because you can copyright an implementation of an idea, but not the idea itself. Otherwise, we would have gotten exactly one "hero saves the day" story and the rest would be copyright violations. Besides, while your idea may have a degree of originality, it's basically just adding another type of city guard. Did Bethesda throw a hissy fit because you took their idea of having guards in the cities and extended it? No. So.... unwrap yourself from around that axle. You're being extremely petty.

[Shadowhawk827]

I'm on the fence there.  Half of me is pissed, half says let it go.   Guess it would help if I linked the mods for comparison, huh?  LOL

 

 

Dawnguard Sentries Plus (the original since May 2014 on Steam)  https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66126/?

 

Dawnguard Protected Cities (the pretender to the throne)  https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/69012/?

 

 

And yeah, it's all the work I put into that mod.  Anybody that looks at my steam profile will see I have 2600 hours in Skyrim.  Over a third of that was developing, bug chasing and beta testing the mod.  This guy couldn't even be bothered to learn how to check the 'respawn' box on a character in the CK and he's passing the mod off as the same as mine.

[Bazinga]

Can't say that I care about this tbh, these are all just redshirts.

 

This whole idea isn't really that far-fetched to do, so maybe he stole it, maybe he didn't. It's one of the most obvious things you can come up with if the vampire raids annoy you and you don't want to outright mod them out of the game. So I don't think it's that outrageous or worth fighting over.

 

as for that other mod:

He claims to have given them relationships but as far as I can see he just ticked parent and child boxes in the CK. Do these family relationship checkboxes even matter ingame? I don't think so.

 

In any case from these two I would choose your mod. Obviously. I don't even care for that MCM (why make this customizable? just offer 2 versions, one with respawns, one with essential guards) but your mod description tells me that you tried to make this compatible to other mods and the vanilla game's storyline. Can't say the same about the other guy.

[Veladarius]

Let it go, I could point to half a dozen mods here on LL that do the same thing as other mods but after comparing the two mods your looks far better has more content than the other one does. Skyrim modding is at the point that there is little that is original anymore, much of what has come out recently was either inspired by or the idea taken from somewhere else. There have been a number of things that I had mentioned that I was looking to add to Captured Dreams but due to my slow update speed someone else has already done it.

 

Overall, on a scale of 1 - 10 with your mod being a 10 the other is a 3 at best.

[KoolHndLuke]

There is actually another version that I use called Dawnguard Protectors https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/79476/? . I also use dawnguard patrols and part of another mod adds mounted patrols. Unfortunately the idea of placing these sentries is not very original- meaning anyone could have thought this up without ever seeing your mod. I realize it sucks, but unless they used parts of your mod, there is really nothing to do about it. I found another with a simple google search= https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/60568/?

[Nazzzgul666]

I honestly don't get why someone should be mad about that. Especially if you consider yours superior (i didn't check, don't want additional guards), the only possible reason to use his is if there'd be any conflict or something. And from what i get he didn't steal any content like custom armors or something, he just had the same idea (doesn't even matter if he knew your mod) and decided to make a mod. Nothing wrong with that. 

[Rockat]

Maybe a little bit, looking at what the author of Dawnguard Protected pinned-despite your mod's release date being 3 months earlier. :

Quote

This mod is not a rip off of Dawnguard Sentries, contrary to what the immature child, rms827, owner of Dawnguard Sentries, may say.

This mod was made before Dawnguard Sentries was discovered. Yes, you can use both mods with little to no conflicts. Yes, the idea for this mod came to me when I first played Dawnguard. No, I did not rip off rms827's mod. Yes, I encourage users to use both mods if they wish. And no, I do not wish for anyone to attack him. He may be immature, but we can be better than him.

TBH though I wouldn't worry that much since you've clearly put in far more effort, and have far more downloads plus endorsements.