Author Topic: I need a copy of the EULA from FF7 PC (Read 10979 times)

halkun · « **on:** 2004-12-21 01:09:42 »

As I run linux and can't run the application myself, I was wondering if you guys could post a copy of the End User Licence Agreement that you click through when you install FF7 on a PC.

That would be great, thanks ^_^

J* H***** · « **Reply #1 on:** 2004-12-21 01:47:24 »

Message.

Aaron · « **Reply #2 on:** 2004-12-21 01:48:36 »

I just ran the install and no EULA came up.

I dug through the documentation on the CD a bit and couldn't find anything there either.

[Edit] Gah! Jari beat me.

sfx1999 · « **Reply #3 on:** 2004-12-21 01:50:03 »

The installer didn't have one, and I can't find it in the manual or on the CD.

[edit]

I just got beat by two people.

I ended up reinstalling and now I have to patch everything again.

J* H***** · « **Reply #4 on:** 2004-12-21 01:55:07 »

Message.

EmperorSteele · « **Reply #5 on:** 2004-12-21 02:17:53 »

holyshit, i coulda sworn it had one...

but, it seems as though it does not.

Wow o_o

halkun · « **Reply #6 on:** 2004-12-21 03:18:59 »

Really? Nothing?
Wow, that really is something.

It's kinda sad that we are all shocked that a program simply says it's copyrighted. No wonder GPL gives people heart attacks.

James Pond · « **Reply #7 on:** 2004-12-21 08:19:22 »

o_O Woah...it doesnt and all....Thats spinny.

Almighty_gir · « **Reply #8 on:** 2004-12-21 13:38:26 »

Quote from: halkun

Really? Nothing?
Wow, that really is something.

It's kinda sad that we are all shocked that a program simply says it's copyrighted. No wonder GPL gives people heart attacks.

whats GPL?

L. Spiro · « **Reply #9 on:** 2004-12-21 16:08:12 »

Maybe itâ€™s on the box.

I donâ€™t have the box or manual.
I checked the web sites listed in the readme files that come with the game but could not find any EULA.

If the one posted above is the only one there is, then my project falls entirely inside the legal domain.

L. Spiro

sfx1999 · « **Reply #10 on:** 2004-12-21 20:08:27 »

The GPL is the GNU General Public Liscense. The terms of the liscense are basically that if you modify the code and redistribute a binary, you must distrubute your modified code also. Another restriction is that your liscense must be GPL compatible.

For example, you can't use a GPL library in your program unless your code is GPL compatible. Let's say your program uses the X Consortium License. This is OK, because if a commercial vendor wanted to incorporate your code, they would have to keep it open source or they would be violating the library's liscense.

Almighty_gir · « **Reply #11 on:** 2004-12-22 04:59:24 »

thanks for that, its cleared up a few q's

L. Spiro · « **Reply #12 on:** 2004-12-22 10:00:23 »

So is the official verdict on this that there is no EULA?
Just a copyright?

Maybe it is in one of the links in one of the files that comes with the game, although the ones I checked were either down or did not have it.

But really the EULA must appear before the game is installed or else the court has no way to prove you AGREED to the terms of use.

Maybe I will write some software that will circumvent such EULA agreements and install the game, even though I â€œDo not Agreeâ€.
When they try to prove in court that I violated their EULA, I will just say, â€œI did not agree to the terms of your EULA, but your software allowed me to install it anyway. Because I did not agree to the terms, I am not bound by them.â€

L. Spiro

halkun · « **Reply #13 on:** 2004-12-22 10:55:33 »

....which alters the program which constitutes copyright infringement. Already been tried

Almighty_gir · « **Reply #14 on:** 2004-12-23 10:26:28 »

but if he does not plan to sell or otherwise distribute his product for profit, there is no problem right?

Aaron · « **Reply #15 on:** 2004-12-23 13:14:51 »

When you buy software, you're usually just buying a license from the company. You're allowed to use your license as long as you comply with the EULA; if you break it (or avoid it), then you're using the software illegally.

ficedula · « **Reply #16 on:** 2004-12-23 13:23:08 »

If you make a product that's based on Square's game, your product is a derived work and you'd need Square's explicit permission to distribute it, whether or not you were doing it for profit. Doing it for profit just means you get sued for more money...

Of course, it depends exactly what you're doing, whether or not it's a derived work. Converting the graphics/models into another format definitely is. Just providing viewers/editors etc probably isn't so long as you don't give out any game data with them (this second category is the sort of thing copyright generally doesn't prevent but EULA's might).

L. Spiro · « **Reply #17 on:** 2004-12-23 16:23:28 »

Well my idea about hacking my way around the agreement to the EULA was just for fun.

The reason I do want to know about the EULA stipulations is because of my own personal project.

I am making Final FantasyÂ® VII Online.
In my project, I am not editing any of their content nor am I distributing any of their files.
I know for a fact I am in no way possibly violating copyright.
I am not even naming the items, but instead using their files to get the names, which means I reproduced nothing.

That is how it works. It loads the battle models, textures, animations, text, data, etc., directly out of the files that you have when you install the game.
My project requires that Final FantasyÂ® VII be installed (or at least the proper files need to be in the proper places) in order to play.

In this manner, it is only a mod.
I also understand that the original game was very limiting on what information about items, monsters, and equipment it gave you, and as such my project only reveals the same amount of information.

There is really nothing here that should piss off Square Enix Co., Ltd., considering I keep all the same secrets they wanted to be kept, I do not reproduce or distribute any of their work, and their game must be installed to play.
In the end it just brings more popularity back to their dead game. People will be buying Final FantasyÂ® VII again just to play.

L. Spiro

Qhimm · « **Reply #18 on:** 2004-12-23 17:10:34 »

Except you would be diluting their game concept, and steal profit from their own attempts to milk the FF7 brand (maybe not effectively, but in lawyer theory). Thinking that having your project require the original game to run will save you from angry copyright owners is about as naive as making a nocd crack and think it will only be used by legal owners of the game.

Making a mod for a high-profile game like FF7 will attract attention and you'll end up with a C&D note, at the very least. And in the end, it won't matter if you have the letter of the law on your side, you won't be able to stand up for it anyway.

It's a nice thought and a satisfying hobby project, but you'll most likely never be able to release it.

L. Spiro · « **Reply #19 on:** 2004-12-24 04:45:15 »

Iâ€™m not as naive as I seem.
Before I hit the Post button I thought about changing my wording to include the things that would make them upset, those being the fact that they would have to compete with their own product, which is being given to people free of charge at that.
They would not only have to compete with the quality of my work, but also the price.

Since it is their own product anyway, that would not make them very happy.
If they planned to make anything like this in the future, it wouldnâ€™t sell well as long as people can already get something better at no cost.

It still does not violate copyright, but I know it is not as clean as I said.
I just didnâ€™t feel like posting all that rant, so I left my post in disorder.

Note that I am not being so careless about my project.

It remains under wraps until it is done.
There is no website for it and very few people know about it.
And since it is entirely possible that Square Enix Co., Ltd. looks in on this forum every once-in-a-while (I am sure they know of its existence but I really doubt they check in on it more than once per year) I do not post much about it here either.

I only posted what I have posted so far because I am sure they do not check here very often at all (but I admit that posting about it AT ALL is careless).
Quite frankly, Chrono Trigger: Resurrectionâ€™s only mistake was letting people know it was being made.

I do have a lawyer advising me on what I can and can not do and I have been trying over the last few days to contact him regarding this apparent lack of EULA.

Sigh, for some reason lately I have just not had the energy to post what I want to post.
Here again I have more things to say and things I want to edit to what I have already posted but I just donâ€™t care anymore. For some reason I would rather write a long rant about not having energy and wanting to change my words rather than just go back and change them.

Christmas has me severely depressed I would say.

L. Spiro

halkun · « **Reply #20 on:** 2004-12-24 18:53:35 »

Quote from: L. Spiro

I am making Final FantasyÂ® VII Online.

The answer to this from Square-Enix will be "No, you are not"

It's amusing you placed a trademark symbol in there. I'm trying to figure out where to start on this one.....

1) You don't own that trademark. By placing the (R) next to "Final Fantasy", you are basically admitting that "Final Fantasy is a registered tradmark of Square-Enix." Unless you are trying to say that you own the trademark, which I'm sure Square will disagree with you.

2) As you don't have rights to the trademark, are are not allowed to use it yourself for you own personal benifit. Unlike copyrights, if a trademark is used widely enough in a generic sense Square-Enix can actually *lose* the trademark. They will land you in court faster than a copyright infringement case. The law says Square must be "dilligent" in thier trademark protection or lose it. If they feel they have been "harmed" they can get you for damages too.

Here's an idea, have you ever considered asking Square what they think about the project? What do you think they are going to say?

Quote from: L. Spiro

There is really nothing here that should piss off Square Enix Co., Ltd.,...

Except that you are using thier trademark for personal gain. Please keep in mind that copying data drom a CD-ROM to a hard drive or even from a hard drive to memory is a copyright infringment.

I want to remind you that there was a a bunch of guys making "Chono Trigger Resurrection" Not only were they *NOT* using any of the original data and were making thier own content, Square shut them down because it was too close to thier game. Never mind it was 3D with new soundtracks and effects. It was still Chono Trigger and not thiers to mess with.

Quote from: L. Spiro

In the end it just brings more popularity back to their dead game. People will be buying Final FantasyÂ® VII again just to play.

Square is making a multi-million dollar movie based of Final Fantasy VII. I would hardly call it a "Dead game".

Neo Bahamut · « **Reply #21 on:** 2004-12-24 21:33:50 »

Won't it depend on what type of program it is halkun?

I'm not too sure about the specifics of this program, but it could just be some sort of modification to the actual game, if he's just minipulating the game to do different things, I don't see where the problem lies.

In all honesty, I don't know very much about copyright law at all so please, feel free to tell me off here. The main thing I've seen that he could get in trouble for is the EULA...... but there isn't one.......... but this is all while no knowing what type of program he is making.....

Qhimm · « **Reply #22 on:** 2004-12-24 21:48:46 »

Quote from: Neo Bahamut

I'm not too sure about the specifics of this program, but it could just be some sort of modification to the actual game, if he's just minipulating the game to do different things, I don't see where the problem lies.

The "problem", as we might refer to it from now on, is the same reason why we don't see Mickey Mouse with a mustache being distributed by individual artists. "The game", the executables and data files, is just the medium for the greater intellectual property that is the story, the characters etc. By altering the game to do different things, we are in fact messing with that intellectual property instead (even if we are every so careful not to use code from the original .exe, only use the original data files and portrait things exactly as we feel fits the game spirit). That alone is grounds enough for legal action, no matter what other reasons Square-Enix would have to shut the project down.

Neo Bahamut · « **Reply #23 on:** 2004-12-24 21:52:26 »

Wow..... sometimes I just hate the legal system...... wait...... most of the time I hate the legal system

Aaron · « **Reply #24 on:** 2004-12-24 21:53:49 »

Well, if you were in the position of Square-Enix, wouldn't you like to have some way to protect your intellectual property?

Author Topic: I need a copy of the EULA from FF7 PC (Read 10979 times)

J*** H*******

J*** H*******

J* H*****

J* H*****