3D Model Extraction from Elite

[Norko]

Evening Cmdr´s,

I was wondering if anybody has tried to extract the shipmodels to some 3D software usable format recently as I discovered this video from last year today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPLxCm3SyPU

If this method still works with 2.1 I would like to give it a try tomorrow. Just came to my mind today that it would be nice to make some wallpapers with it in Cinema4d/Vray if I can get my hands on the shipmodels (especially the Icourier and the Conda).

If somebody likes to share any models they extracted successfully that would be much appreciated.

[Agony_Aunt]

You might want to check the T&Cs of the game before sharing any models. In theory you are not meant to tamper with the game files. Extracting for your own use, i think gets a pass, as long as you don't try and make money from them in some way, but sharing... i think that's a no-no.

We can ask Brett C for clarification though if you want.

[Norko]

If this actually works it will be for personal (fan art) use only of course. If sharing is not allowed I'll keep the source files for myself then.

[76561198221176552]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

You might want to check the T&Cs of the game before sharing any models. In theory you are not meant to tamper with the game files. Extracting for your own use, i think gets a pass, as long as you don't try and make money from them in some way, but sharing... i think that's a no-no.

We can ask Brett C for clarification though if you want.

Yes, this is Brett C.

If you're going to dig around in the files, it'd be best to not even announce such a thing. It's generally a grey-area on this. :)

[Norko]

Originally posted by BrettC_Frontier:

Yes, this is Brett C.

If you're going to dig around in the files, it'd be best to not even announce such a thing. It's generally a grey-area on this. :)

Sure thing, I was a bit sceptic already cause there isn´t much fanart to be seen ;)
.. hence I felt the need to reach out a bit and get some input.

Maybe I just model my own impression from the icourier concept art then ;)
thx for the clarification

[funkynutz]

You'll be able to use the oolite models as it's open source...

They won't be as detailed, but there's more to choose from and at least some of them are still identifiable as Eltie ships (such as the cobra3). Plus depending on the software you're using to render them you should be able to use them as a base to tweak and make them look sweet as...

[raymazoida]

Originally posted by Floyd:

Originally posted by BrettC_Frontier:

Yes, this is Brett C.

If you're going to dig around in the files, it'd be best to not even announce such a thing. It's generally a grey-area on this. :)

Sure thing, I was a bit sceptic already cause there isn´t much fanart to be seen ;)
.. hence I felt the need to reach out a bit and get some input.

Maybe I just model my own impression from the icourier concept art then ;)
thx for the clarification

Generally its "grey" because if you are doing it for personal use and not making any morey a company wouldn't ususally do anything, and if they did a court may dismiss the t&cs as draconian. Country depending of course.

But the moment money gets involved it isn't grey any more.

[Wolf]

I highly suggest that anything you do "extract" and "create" you should never share.
if you would like to legaly use any of fd's property for anything you want to share. I would certainly contact fd 1st via the support portal, with all of the proposed content, for formal permission. or risk losing your account and possable prositcution

[the Machine]

Floyd, did you have any luck with this? I tried following the tutorial but got hung up on even being able to start Renderdoc. There's no installer or exe file that I can find. Feel stupid.

[druidarena]

Originally posted by BrettC Frontier:

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

You might want to check the T&Cs of the game before sharing any models. In theory you are not meant to tamper with the game files. Extracting for your own use, i think gets a pass, as long as you don't try and make money from them in some way, but sharing... i think that's a no-no.

We can ask Brett C for clarification though if you want.

Yes, this is Brett C.

If you're going to dig around in the files, it'd be best to not even announce such a thing. It's generally a grey-area on this. :)

Hey Brett C! I know this is an old discussion, but how does Frontier feel about using game files to crete "fan videos" much in the way they are done using game footage? Unfortunately, we don't have near enough camera control (esp in-ship), and being a non-offline game doesn't help with that. We currently can't pull off the same cinematic shots that your ads get to unless someone animates them outside of game.

[ZombieHunter]

Viewing the source, assets or anything else for this game on another application except for the application it was designed for is against the EULA. It is that simple. It does not matter if you make a profit off of said assets or keep them to yourself. Extraction, viewing, etc. is all prohibited by most software EULAs except for some open source MIT's, etc.

So if someone extracts / decrypts the assets and load them into 3DS it is against the EULA. If they decompile the code and view the assembly in an assembler it is against the EULA. If they decompile the C# launcher with ILSpy and view it within MS C# it is against the EULA.

The assets are worked on by artists at their studio and are proprietary assets. When you see an ED sidewinder you know it comes from ED. Using that brand recognition in another video that is not representing FD's interests and/or is not approved by FD is simply not fair to FD and in my country is illegal. FD has the right to represent their brand how they choose and has full control of said representation.

You can post videos of ED gameplay under fair use but YouTube was having issues with people flagging content of any type...which is also illegal since fair use states you may use portions, audio clips, etc. of game play and music as long as you give credit / reference to the authors of the content and do not play the entirety of the work.

Twitch is treading on extremely thin ground by allowing hours and hours of gameplay to be streamed. However, my guess is game studios don't mind b/c it is free publicity and advertising and they often work with streamers to get their games out there. Some streamers are associated with game studios to stream content and some games on Steam actively encourage this. It is when the studio does not agree to it where the issues can arise.

But know that any IP owner has full rights to their property. They may temporarily grant exclusions, partnerships, etc. but at any time they can, and have, retained full rights of their property and can, and have, issue(d) cease and desists.

The full 3D mockup of the Enterprise starship available online was issued a cease and desist and the entire project had to be scrapped. No profits were made off of the project, no false representations were made and the project was done in good faith but eventually the IP owner shut them down. R* games has shut down various private instances of their games in the past and so on.

I would also advise against posting videos about methods to extract models from games on the Steam forums but I leave that to the Steam moderators to sort out. While you may be acting in good faith and simply be a fan others may not.