Table Modding (If creator not reachable)

[Gedankekojote97]

Hello everyone,

 

if a creator isnt anymore in this community active, is it okey to mod the table and release it with a hint to the original creator or what do you think guys ?

 

Because i have made a lot of table modifications, but now i saw that a lot of creators were not online for years 🤔

 

Thanks

 

 

[Pintrepid]

Hi, Gendan, 

 

Interesting question. 

 

On the one hand, there's a very old VP 8.1 table I'd love to see converted to VPX, especially v10.7, called "Trigon" created by Shiva. It is, as far as I'm concerned, very state-of-the-art for its day, looking like an actual Williams arcade table from maybe 1980 or so, but is definitely an original table. The appearance and gameplay rival Williams tables of the day, and feels like Williams might have designed it as one of their next tables after Firepower. 

 

However ... 

 

I do take the point "Nubby", from Nub Graphix (American Chopper tv series), made when he was asked to paint over someone else's work. He went and contacted that original artist and asked for permission, even when his customer was already going to pay for him to do so. This was the David Mann Bike episode of American Chopper. Paul Sr. had not given the other artist clear instructions as to how to paint the gas tank, and then was unhappy with the results. I think Nubby showed real class in checking with the old artist before going through with painting it over. 

 

Point being ... 

 

A lot of time and effort goes into VP tables, yes, even back in the days of VP 8.1, and even today, probably more time, with VPX 10.7. And all of that time and effort is just for the joy of the game, free of charge. It may be a pity that the original creators are not around for some truly classic tables. But if you can't get permission to mod their tables, then it might not be cool to publish a mod you made. It might be ok for your own personal table collection, and maybe to share with a few of your close friends. But, tempting though it might be, it might not be cool to publish without permission, even when crediting the original author. Jus' my opinion. 

 

-PCMac

[Gedankekojote97]

Well thats a good point, but i think this could not be said for general.

I mean its a difference if you are doing a makeover, like replacing the graphics, models etc or you are doing some other stuff that will not affect the authors creativity like lightning updates, a sharper playfield image (like the bigus mods) or what i have done and want to share are nFozzy Physics, Fleep Sound and LUT settings.

 

Dont get me wrong, the authors are doing ab awesome job and its their own right for the table…But i think the tables should be enyojable for the community.

It doesnt make sense to let a table (for example) on VP8 when everyone is using VP 10.7 and the people cant play them with the „new standards“…or am i wrong ? 

 

Im doing those upgrades right now for my selfe, but i would like to share them to the community so all people can enjoy the new „standards“ but creators like Nizzu were online a Year ago, so to get a mod permission is impossible 😅

[jwkramer61]

if we don't encourage the next generation of creators/modders to actively participate in this hobby it will cease to exist. It's obvious that developing tables can have a burnout effect - at least it seems so anyway. We should encourage all those with the skills and desire to participate. I have made modifications to quite a few tables for my own use. I am not sure its worth the drama to actively participate in the dev community (at least for me).