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This morning I received this letter from Crytek PR:

To be honest, I'm completely baffled why they made this move, as the photomode mods contain only my own code and nothing else: nothing of theirs, no digital assets of any kind from them. 

So I asked how I could possibly violate their EULA to begin with. I received a reply which comes down to:

The main issue with the software is that it is monetised, therefore we request that you remove the paywall. I hope you understand that we do sincerely appreciate all the support of our community, but have to balance this with protecting our copyright, and technically any mod of a Crysis Remastered game is a breach of the EULA, hence my message this morning.

As I don't have the time nor the energy to fight them over this, plus having the tools up would only benefit them as people would post shots of their game on social media and other sites, I've decided to pull the tools and not make them public again. 

I know it hurts for the people who would like to use the tools in Crysis 2 and Crysis 3 remastered. To them, I'm sorry. I worked more than a week on these tools and I'd love to keep them up but it's only benefiting Crytek if I do, and therefore they're gone. 

Thank you for all the support in this, it really warms my heart. 

Comments

Cosmic71

Maybe the top manager who wrote you even filing a civil lawsuit (oh by the way I helped pay his salary by buying their original non-pirated games) believes that you do all this for money and not for passion. Perhaps he thinks that with PATREON you have already bought a Ferrari and a Lamborghini, don't you? LOL I bought the remastered trilogy only because I knew you created this mod for these games of theirs. Sometimes mods help make a video game better. I am speechless you have all my support.

Lukas Mundo

I've never really been into the Crysis games much, but this is just a dumb move by them, in order to even use the mod you have to own their game(aka Give them money to own it!) there's a series of games you can bet I won't be buying

Anonymous

Sorry to hear that Frans. We really appreciate all the hard work you do!

Hammer

His follow up response says the main issue is monetization, and that he suggests removing the ‘paywall’. IANAL but it seems to me that giving them away for free would meet the requirements of his response. Also at that time, you can stop developing them.

Otis_Inf

It's 100% my code, they have no right to tell me what to do with what I wrote from scratch. Besides giving away my hard work so they benefit and I don't? No way. I worked a full week on these tools.

Anonymous

I already have these files downloaded, so does this mean I now have to delete them?

Anonymous

I believe you can ignore his BS. Your tool is in no way modifying the game files unlike any random pro text/hex editor or IDE that is able to make changes ie MODify any of the game's files including third party libraries. Claiming your tool breaches their EULA is fallacious. I don't see them whining about NVIDIA's Ansel which requires a premium Nvidia GPU.

Anonymous

I don't know much about this stuff, but considering the contradiction of his statements there, I have the impression that they may not be informed about what these tools are and how they work. He described the photomode like a "game mod" initially, then the issue switched to the monetary thing and basically sounds like making it available for free would be okay to them? Meh. Tbh I always considered this free advertisement for game companies as I personally discovered a bunch of nice titles via Flickr thanks to the shot people took with your tools. You did the right thing, though... arguing about this with them is not worth it.

Terry

This absolutely sux. It seems God-awful petty. What galls me - is that the photo tools are *adding* to the value of their game. It is *well* known that games that support modding have longevity far beyond those that don't. Skyrim is *years* old - yet is *still* popular due to the modding aspect. Just unheard of really. So called 'paid mods' do dance on a very fine line - mod authors are perceived to be making money off the intellectual property of game companies - is the argument. This is why he mentions licensing - and the lack of it for mods etc. Yet - the likes of Bethesda have profited Majorly from modding as said. They absolutely know this - and it's why their games continue to be far more mod friendly than most. Even if they don't outwardly acknowledge it. They aren't stupid. Capcom - with Resident Evil - is another company enjoying the huge benefits of modding. CDPR with Cyberpunk I'd also argue. The topic has been discussed in many forums etc over the years. Photomodes in games are just Pathetic compared to what Frans does. Absolutely Pathetic. Screenshotting is an aspect of gaming that's just begging for a revolution - and I wouldn't be surprised to see Frans-like photomodes begin to appear in games. Fallout from this is very simple - Crysis is now a whole lot *less* interesting to me. In fact - it's blackbanned for me now. Appreciate all your hard work Frans - and please keep doing what you do. Man is your work Awesome! I'd really love to fill all the Crysis screenshot pages with awesome shots watermarked with "Made possible by Frans Brouma" - in response to this. EDIT: I guess.... you could put it out there for free while it remains working. Add in a watermark for advertising. Use it as a lead-in to your other work. A demo, or example of what people can get. At least get *some* benefit from the work you did. Even put some info / ads in the UI all leading back to the Patreon page. Seems a shame for that work to simply go up in smoke, when you've got it and it's working. Put it to work for you in another way. But...it's your work, and I'd respect whatever you decide :-).

Nicholas Rush

If I interpreted their message correctly, they explicitly asked you to remove the paywall, so would it not be prudent to make it a free download instead of removing it altogether? Or would this be problematic? I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate it. Thanks for the awesome work.

Otis_Inf

I'll not give them what they want. Their games are dead to me. Every shot made with my tools is marketing for their games.

Nicholas Rush

You are absolutely correct, but you are at least being compensated by the community with your other projects. Legalities are supposed to be black and white unless "someone" with authority makes an exception. It's often a grey area when a modder locks content behind a paywall... and there are compelling arguments both side of the table. Personally, I was quite happy to pitch in $6 for the work you have produced. I wish you every success, but bare in mind that this might not be the last time a legal team contacts you, especially if your mods gain further publicity. Try not to let it affect you emotionally, after all, you're not doing it for them, you're doing it for us :) Thank you!

Otis_Inf

They have no right to claim anything about my work, but I didn't want to drag it further. It's purely about what attention their stuff gets thruogh the shots made with the tools, as that helps *them*. Of course they want to have the mods out there, it'll help with free marketing for their games. But at the same time they don't want the people who worked hard to build these mods (I'm not the only one btw they harassed with their threats) to get any kind of compensation. I'm not going to play that game. If another publisher comes knocking I'll deal with it then. 10 to 1 they're using my tools internally anyway, so I doubt it.

Phil Meraska

I'm even more baffled that you chose not to give it to people for free. Crysis is my favorite shooter and would love to have this to use when the remasters release on Steam November 17th. I hope someday you find it in your heart to allow us to use only the Crysis versions for free.

Otis_Inf

Giving it away for free will give them free publicity through the shots, exactly what they wanted. Make no mistake, getting an email that you're likely being sued by a big company is no joke and I had a hard time dealing with it, especially since it's 100% my own work.