Hi Wube! Would it be okay to use game screenshots on my server hosting website?

[primefactor]

Dear Wube Software Team,

First of all, thank you for all your terrific work on Factorio. This game has been very enjoyable for myself and my friends during these times of global lockdown.

I'm trying to make it easier for players to host their own Factorio servers, since my friends and I faced many struggles along the way. Before going forward, I'd like to ask if it is okay to use graphics from the Factorio source files on my website. You can view screenshots below, or view the full website at https://primefactorio.com. The platform is still a work in progress, so please don't be alarmed if not all the links are functional.

With due respect to your intellectual property, I understand that the source files of Factorio are property of Wube Software, and I will take down the images if you want me to. However, I personally think the in-game art adds to the overall aesthetic and can help attract more players to try online multiplayer Factorio. I'm open to hearing your thoughts.

[dyce]

just a tip: factorio requires minimum of 4GB ram (as said on steam store page), so I don't think it's wise to offer someone a server with 512MB of memory

[khalismur]

Well the server software probably doesn't have the same hardware requirements as the client, which as you mentioned is 4GB of ram. But I also think 512MB could be too low for a modest base.

[Jap2.0]

Yeah, with a proper headless server you take away all of the static graphics memory requirements so it should scale slightly better with the size of the factory. Still not sure if 512MB is enough, but I'm assuming they've tested this.

[primefactor]

just a tip: factorio requires minimum of 4GB ram (as said on steam store page), so I don't think it's wise to offer someone a server with 512MB of memory

Well the server software probably doesn't have the same hardware requirements as the client, which as you mentioned is 4GB of ram. But I also think 512MB could be too low for a modest base.

Yeah, with a proper headless server you take away all of the static graphics memory requirements so it should scale slightly better with the size of the factory. Still not sure if 512MB is enough, but I'm assuming they've tested this.

khalismur and Jap2.0 are correct. we were able to run a vanilla map with a small base on a headless server of 512MB of memory.

ideally we would want to provide some numbers for how big of a factory can be run. we considered the SPM of a map save, but this can also vary depending on how efficient the base is.

[distortions864]

A new map will use nearly that much.

I have servers that use as much as 5-6GB of virtual, and 4gb resident memory on Linux.
That is only after 3 days game time, with no mods.

A brand-new map is about 150m resident and about 600mb virtual.
I wouldn't even attempt to play on a server with 512mb ram.

I have a Ryzen 7 server, with 32GB ram, on gigabit fiber for around $77/mo.
I'm running 7-8 factorio servers, two minecraft servers and and a gmod server... and a few others.
The server doesn't strain at all.

[primefactor]

I have servers that use as much as 5-6GB of virtual, and 4gb resident memory on Linux.
That is only after 3 days game time, with no mods.

A brand-new map is about 150m resident and about 600mb virtual.
I wouldn't even attempt to play on a server with 512mb ram.

That's a good point. whats the most players you've had connected on your factorio servers?

I can try to run more experiments to see how base sizes affect memory usage. thanks for the warning btw

[distortions864]

I think our most players ever was around 40.
5 to 15 is what we commonly see.

20-25 across a few factorio servers is common for us.

[Durentis]

<snip>Before going forward, I'd like to ask if it is okay to use graphics from the Factorio source files on my website. You can <snip> view the full website at <snip>.
With due respect to your intellectual property, I understand that the source files of Factorio are property of Wube Software, and I will take down the images if you want me to. However, I personally think the in-game art adds to the overall aesthetic <snip>

I'm a bit confused by this post and what followed for what appears to be an ad for a personal business venture, regardless of your irrelevant claims of helping the Factorio community.

• You're asking permission for commercial use of their IP, addressing the company, in a public forum instead of contacting them directly and privately.
• You say "before going forward" but already have a public-facing site with their IP all over it. I'm not going to visit the link, but did you even bother to add appropriate Wube copyright lines and links among those that do work?
• You say you understand that the source files are their property but question their artwork, found inside them, on the grounds that you think it would help draw more personal business for you?
• You didn't, from the outset, do your homework on the server requirements, despite being a rather fundamental component of what you're working on.

It seems to me as though you believe their intellectual property is due zero respect.
And I'm given the impression that any server you might set up can't be trusted to be well administered.
I would seriously consider turfing this before you get in any further over your head.

[primefactor]

• You're asking permission for commercial use of their IP, addressing the company, in a public forum instead of contacting them directly and privately.

I admit it was forward of me to ask openly on the public forum, and I'm sorry that this does not belong here.

My original intent was to allow the response from Wube to be public so that others who may be thinking of doing something similar would have this to reference. This was wrong. Alternatively, I will try private methods.

• You say "before going forward" but already have a public-facing site with their IP all over it. I'm not going to visit the link, but did you even bother to add appropriate Wube copyright lines and links among those that do work?

I'm sorry to have already used Wube's IP on the landing page. It didn't take that much time to setup, and it only serves as a proof of concept.

None of the links work, except for a button "Try Factorio" that links to the official factorio website, and a link to my discord server so I can chat with player who are interested in my venture. You can't even sign-up yet. If you visited the site, it looks nice and pretty but I'm still working on getting a basic signup functional. My friends and I are no coding pros but we've learned a lot already.

I didn't think it would do much harm to setup a skeleton landing page, but I was wrong here also.

• You say you understand that the source files are their property but question their artwork, found inside them, on the grounds that you think it would help draw more personal business for you?

This is the reason that I asked for permission. The website is non-functional except to load the landing page. I am willing to take it down when if get a negative response from Wube.

• You didn't, from the outset, do your homework on the server requirements, despite being a rather fundamental component of what you're working on.

There's a lot of development to be done. I've learned a lot about setting up Linux servers from the wonderful guides on this forum and the Factorio wiki. It's a slow process, but I'm hopeful I can find a viable solution soon. :DDDD

[primefactor]

I think our most players ever was around 40.
5 to 15 is what we commonly see.

20-25 across a few factorio servers is common for us.

my friend group has only ever tried 5 ppl max, so its hard to load test at this time. ive never seen a map with up to 40, but thats exciting to see

[coppercoil]

Public answers are also interesting for me, despite I have no plans about servers. It still would help to understand the policy regarding Wube IP. Can I make a T-shirt with some screenshot for myself? Can I share that screenshot for free to other players to be printed on their t-shirts? If I can, are there some mandatory requirements for the content? Can I print a poster and share it for free? Can I share it for a cost price?

[Koub]

@OP : Maybe you should try to get in touch with Wube via the general contact on this page :
https://www.factorio.com/contact

[primefactor]

@OP : Maybe you should try to get in touch with Wube via the general contact on this page :
https://www.factorio.com/contact

ty for the pointer. email already sent!

[Oktokolo]

my friend group has only ever tried 5 ppl max, so its hard to load test at this time. ive never seen a map with up to 40, but thats exciting to see

You might look at this game with 500 players exposing a somewhat unconventional playstyle.

P.S.: It constantly saddens me, that humanity still has not managed to create a society, where the need of the individual to find something they can extract money from, has not disappeared. Hopefully, in the future no one will be desperate enough to try selling managed virtual Factorio servers having only 512 MiB RAM (yes, i know that that price tier's only reason of existance is to get people hooked and that you expect them to make them gradually upgrade to the next tier every time their base outgrows the RAM constraint - just like in every other drug market).

[tamanous]

By looking at your pricing screen I immediately remembered a change in the EU commercial law in the beginning of 2020.
Take a look at 2019/2161. If you don't want to read all of it, search for "30" and read related stuff.

TL;DR: in the EU, when offering a discount, you have to display the average price of the last 30 days next to the new discounted price. Fake discounts are not allowed.