Using sound clips & graphics from the internet?

[Bizobinator]

What's the policy on using various graphics, pictures, & sound clips from the internet in mods? For example, using a sound-blip from a YouTube video as a sound effect, or a googled picture? Does that violate some intellectual property bit? Do I need to cite the source?

[DaveMcW]

Anything you copy from the internet violates someone's intellectual property.

Workarounds:
1. Find stuff that explicitly has a free license to reuse it.
2. Get the author's permission. Note that if the "author" stole it from someone else, this doesn't work.
3. Don't care, who is going to send a copyright lawyer after a small modder anyway?

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.

[bobingabout]

Most of the photo based icons in my mod are technically "Stolen" from Google image search. It is something I'm working on, slowly replacing them with newer graphics over time.

The chemical symbols though (Hydrogen, Oxygen etc) are either from a person who posted them on Wikipedia with the "Free to use" licence (Two of them are actually in factorio base game. Petroleum Gas and Sulfuric acid) or created myself in the same piece of software. Tungstic acid for example is one I put together myself.

Others were either recolours or edits of base game items, which, is fine, Factorio has stated that all assets in the base game are free to use and modify in mods, as long as they don't leave the factorio environment.

And the last batch are hand drawn, like modules (Which are technically edits of the base game modules) and electronics (though the current version has been touched up by someone to make them less obvious pixel art)

[Bizobinator]

Oye vey :/, this sounds tricky.

One of the mods I'm working on is adding a handful of turrets. First of all, I'm making them as "Spiritual Successors" to the super-long-range turrets from the original Total Annihilation (I just dated myself, didn't I? ). Since that game is so old, is that likely safe?

I was also planning on using one of the Star Wars laser sound effects. Is that probably too risky? Would that probably not be tolerated by the devs?

[Arch666Angel]

Oye vey :/, this sounds tricky.

One of the mods I'm working on is adding a handful of turrets. First of all, I'm making them as "Spiritual Successors" to the super-long-range turrets from the original Total Annihilation (I just dated myself, didn't I? ). Since that game is so old, is that likely safe?

I was also planning on using one of the Star Wars laser sound effects. Is that probably too risky? Would that probably not be tolerated by the devs?

You should do a search for that, but as far as I remember the original total annihilation became free to use or something similar, but dont quote me on that.