Policy Question: Dead modding projects

Okay, this might seem like a silly question, but here goes: What is the gaslamp games community/forum's policy on someone picking up a dead mod (or several), where the modder hasn't posted to the forum in a year or more, and continuing/fixing it?

There are two mods I've been working on fixing (xml errors, ohboy), and adding items (weapons mostly) to for my own personal enjoyment, and I'd like to be able to share (though for anyone not doing GRPD, and even for people who are, the higher-end weapons would be very OP...but also nearly impossible to craft in a single playthrough without some seriously dedicated effort on the part of the one trying to achieve them.).

Anyway, my main question is: if I picked up two mods, based around the same content (MSPA), and compiled them into one mod along with the items I've made (and give due credit to the original modders, of course) is it okay? The mods haven't been posted to by the original modders since november 2012 (for the most recent) and I do so want to share my lovely pogohammer...(and the 89 other items I've coded into the mod in the last week).

^^

 

Okay so by default you can't just change and redistribute other people's work even if they didn't explicitly say you're allowed to, but if the mod is published on Steam Workshop, unless Gaslamp Games submitted application specific terms, if I am reading this correctly, you have full rights to make derivative works and publish it on steam workshop because, by submitting the thing to steam workshop, the subscriber accepted the steam subscriber agreement and allows subscribers to have all the same rights to the content they've already downloaded as the original uploader did.

You could always just put up your derivative mod and see if the original author actually complains, and if so, take it down then. You could also post the patched versions of the mods in the original threads and ask Daynab to edit the abandoned post to link the fixed files instead.

 

I was thinking of just posting the patched mod to (one of) the original thread, but it'd be necroposting something over a year old, so i wasn't sure that was the right thing to do. I believe RionKatt did post a version of her mod to steam workshop (or planned to)....If its okay, I'll probably just post mine to her thread and if/when she comes back to continue, she can ask me to take it down or use what I've done when she continues her mod...whatever she ends up doing. >.<

I'll end up using the modifications I made in my game in any case, I just wanted to share.

Edit: I noticed that her last login date was actually may of last year. Maybe the mod isn't as dead as I feared.

 

I don't know if there is an 'official' policy. But it's just good manners to ask permission of the original author before you do anything with that person's work (other than private use). I know from my days modding for Oblivion and Fallout 3, that there were several incidents where permission was not asked, and people would get very angry about that for a variety of reasons EVEN when credit was given to the original author. I personally allowed almost anyone to use my own work -- if it was a very minor mod, I wouldn't even require permission, and I stated as such in my documentation. Anything else, I simply requested that I'd received credit for my part and that my original documentation should be included verbatim within the mod itself. In some cases, the original author may not approve of the changes, in which case permission would not be granted. But I never had that problem myself.

 

I was wondering what happened to Rionkatt's version of the Homestuck Mod. I really wanted to play that mod sooo bad, but I didn't find it on Steam Workshop.