Super Mario Sunshine UHD Texture Pack

[Admentus]

I understand you are upset Razius, and you have every right to be so when you do not approve if other users make use of your artistic work. You created your textures, you set the rules for them, like every author should and may. I really don't want to get mixed and involved in this situation, but I think most of around the forums would hate to lose having your around due a dispute. You are indeed one of the more talented artists around here. I mean, I am just a porter when regarding textures. My work on textures would be nothing if the talented artists where not here to begin with.

I really would like to see this situation solved in a proper way, since getting banned or receiving warnings will benefit no one (I doubt that swinging the banhammer is as fun as the advertise for joining the league of admins implies, you admins should really consider to press an invitation to Thor if a real banhammer is needed). In the end, we should abide by the laws of the forums (in fact, all laws) even if we don't agree to them. There should not be any reason for having disputes as it only complicates the whole matter.

Would it not have been better for all of us if a GM would have been informed which would close this thread until the copyright issues have been dealt with? I am sure a GM would do that if you sent them a PM. Of course, the thread should be reopend when it has these issues solved. I am just on the side of user here. Every available texture pack is a great addition, and it is a waste if they get closed or the author no longer decides to update it because of issues within the community. So where would this benefit the user?

I am not sure, but from the looks of it it does not seem qashto was out on ruining your artistic reputation. It just seems like a misunderstanding that he did not check if his project would cause a conflict. He just seemed to start his project and to hopefully make users glad with it. Of course that does not change the fact that qashto was wrong regarding using your work (as said, you preserve the right on your work).

In the end, all I am trying to say is that there should have been a way to file your issue to an admin and having the download links taken down temporary whilst avoiding conflicts, warnings and bans.

[qashto]

(01-04-2017, 12:15 AM)razius Wrote: (TLDR excerpts from razius)
0 WARNING: this post makes use of metaphors (something you learn in gradeschool) 

1 Apparently no one's gonna slap this disruptive element with a ban or at least a warning.

2 You seem more and more like a moscow propagandist, one of those trolls who spams the forums pretending to be an intolerant American or a native uk/french/easter european citizen hating the western depravity of tolerating and embracing other people's diversity such as ideas, tastes (in music, art, games, movies), skin color, looks, etc.

3 Secondly, you're simply not qualified to criticize me: not morally (your ethical values and common sense should be clear to everyone by now), [color=#ff3333]not professionally[/color] (more info [color=#33cc33]in the 2nd part of this post, same green color[/color]) and definitely not artistically (i think the SPM work i've done proves i can do cartoony).

4 So you didn't understand a single thing from that latin phrase, did you? I don't feel the need to have my tastes in music and art validated by someone else. That would mean i have no tastes and i just want someone to tell me what is right and wrong to like.

5 So you're some judge i should justify myself to? I havent updated my profile but some things have remained unchanged: my fav game of all time is Super Mario 64. [color=#3399ff]SM64's menu had woody textures.

For me, the whole childhood nostlagia is about sm64[/color] not smss, so i tried to retexture SMSS in order to remind me of sm64 (mainly my SM64 retexture project), since i like sm64 way more than smss.

6 I dont like really old movies as well: the acting is so fake (mainly due to the technology, the actors had to yell at the mikes), the sound is horrible and unless it's something special about them (let's say Hitchcock's story) i simply can't watch them. We simply have different views of the world.

7 I'm think you're a bit emotionally underdeveloped, you still have that teenage need to contest authority and others in order to get validated.
I actually do have a life, doing stuff i love and i'm good at,

8 This sure doesn't look like tolerance and celebration of diversity American style. Yes it's my fault i consider US the greatest country in the world regarding civil rights and freedom and holding every American to the same standard. I'm not shocked, but disappointed, to have my freedom of creative expression challenger by an American. Basically, all those people who created 10 retextures of SM64 or Ocarina of time or those creating covers, when only one cover of the original song should exist in the world... are perpetrators? Should they (starting with me) be gassed? I like your call to arms against all those "so called artists" who dare transform art by passing it through their own filter and create 999999 covers? Burn down Disney for revamping fairy tales from centuries ago. Am i getting another warning for pointing out his intolerant behavior?

9 I never understood why star wars ep 1-3 are the most disliked by the us audience, those being the only star wars movies with a real story (how a democracy is turned into a totalitarian regime that decides what you should eat, like, wear, work, think and ultimately do with your life), same for season 2 of house of cards: it's the most hated in the US because it seemed surreal, yet here, in romania, we go through those drifts from democracy quite often.

10 Color coded the quotes and the answers for the mod that warned me, maybe i'm paranoid or i have brain damage and can't connect ideas like a normal ADULT human being.

[color=#333333]11 When i released my pack, back in 2012, the UHD wasn't an approved standard for mass produced TVs so the actual UHD was never a factor in my decision. I simply wanted the game to be playable 20 years in the future when Dolphin games would be run at 8x or 16x IR.

12 Seriously, not sure what world you live in, but i'd appreciate it if you were actually a professional in the audio/digital artists industry and actually had an idea as to why size/quantity matters.

13 It's pretty much same reason 1950s black-white movies recorded on tape are still enjoyable but them damn 1980s TV movies with washed out colors and blurry image recorded on film (with crappy lenses) are unwatchable for some people.
[/color]
14 not mindlessly try to reach a certain result at all cost: result being getting the [color=#33cc33]highest possible quality (sharpness)[/color] at the lowest price (price being in this case: staying close to Nintendo's textures).
Not sure what sharpness means in qashto's case

15 The main issue here was that[color=#33ffff][color=#993333] the op repacked my files without even bothering to contact me through a PM[/color][/color] (and i gave examples of how i had no issues letting someone take over my SMG project or how lots of people in this forum contribute to PMTTYD)[color=#333333].[/color]

16 I think i've never in my life used the word Orwellian so many times in a such a short spawn of time.
[color=#cc99ff]Apparently as long as someone implies but doesn't state something directly then he's in the safe[/color]... since apparently human beings are not allowed to understand subtext... Seriously you're a mod with a judge like power and you pretend (or actually) you don't understand subtext? Did you know that LSAT have logical reasoning questions to make sure that you, as a future lawyer, prosecutor or judge, are able to understand subtext even if the reality of it comes against each and everyone of your core moreal values/biases. Yet you, as a mod, try to impose your own set of values (and bias) over me instead of being objective. Or is stating this truth also flaming?[color=#ff3333] [color=#ff3333]I'm sure he's expressing anger there and not attacking me[color=#333333] (yet i don't see him referring[/color][/color][/color] to himself in th[color=#ff3333][color=#ff3333][color=#333333]at phrase)[/color][/color][/color].

17 Im being trashed by a dude who keeps insisting i didn't provide any proof to defend myself against his unprovoked attacks (im being absurdly accused of wanting to create a pack that would look sharp at 8x Internal resolution), despite the contrary (this post i even provided links that explain what SHARP means and color coded his absurdities) and i don't even wanna think about his behavior towards people who can't support their ideas with proper arguments and links.

In response to 2, everyone's a critic.  In response to 14, sharp can mean technical high quality and high resolution in terms of the size of the file, but read the subtext, I'm saying the style of art in your pack is sharp (compared to the original textures).  I should've given a few examples.

(edited to fit the 500kb attachment size limit, click on each to see detail)
   
   
   
   
   
   

This is how these textures ought to look at a higher resolution (sharper technical quality), yet retain the smooth art style of the original game.








When I said your textures did not respect the look of the original game and were too sharp those weren't insults, they're facts you even admit to in 5.  Your save block textures add in wood grain that isn't there in the originals.  The colors of your A, B, C  blocks and most of your text don't respect the original gradients.  The location name texts, I pulled up "Bianco Hills" as an example, do not respect the original style and do not have the same color scheme representing the prominent colors of the location.  You justify changing the save blocks so drastically because you like "woody textures".  The wood grain texture used in that Super Mario 64 screenshot are cartoony, they do not look like real wood, just as the secret level's wood textures in SMS do not look like real wood.

In response to 11, trying to future proof your pack for 4K UHD in 2012 is reasonable, trying to future proof it for 8K UHD in 2012 is not.  8K or 16K are still far away from being consumer realities in 2016 and may never become popular consumer formats at all.  The watermelon texture is the perfect example of something that needs to be much bigger than the original game's texture, but many of your other textures (text, numbers, HUD elements, etc) are just wastefully big for 4K UHD.  I get that you want to release and work on your textures at a high quality, just as producers work on music at high quality even if they'll just be releasing mp3s, but that comparison is not valid here.  When people use half size versions of your pack, because many of the files are unnecessarily large, the watermelon texture, which is of a proper size, gets squished to half size too.  It's much better in my opinion to have a specific target resolution and make the best possible texture pack for that target (4K UHD).

In response to 16, a mod is supposed to be upset with me for subtext anger that I don't act on by making personal attacks?  That's called restraint and isn't a ban-able offense but I lost my cool in my last reply and I did get a warning.  You should not have repeatedly assumed that I didn't and insulted the moderator by color coding (10).  I think you should be temporarily banned from the Dolphin forums for 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 14, and 17.  I say temporarily because I know razius has done and continues to do excellent work on other games.  However, I would like him to be permanently banned from this replying to my forum and from PMing me.

In response to 6, 7, and 9 the original Star Wars trilogy is vastly superior to the prequels, but I can see why you don't prefer the story of Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance.

[Admentus]

(01-04-2017, 06:57 AM)qashto Wrote: I think you should be temporarily banned from the Dolphin forums for 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 14, and 17.  I say temporarily because I know razius has done and continues to do excellent work on other games.  However, I would like him to be permanently banned from this replying to my forum and from PMing me.

You really want someone banned? That's pretty low I must say. You know there is an Buddy/Ignore List feature within the PM system, right? Please don't be like Bob. Bob also wanted someone banned. These days, no one likes Bob anymore. Just remove Razius textures, ask for an apology (you should since you did use his textures after all, even if you do not agree with his vision and language), wish him the best and reboot your project and this whole issue would be solved. At least, you did your part as you should. If Razius is still angry at you (I wouldn't see why anymore if the matter is solved) then you at least did it properly.

Could an Admin please solve this dispute? As I said, no one will get wiser from this ongoing dispute.

Ok... Hopefully I could have made some sense with my posts. I really have the best of interests for both of you guys. I am out of here, this thread is getting pretty hot beneath our feet.

(01-04-2017, 06:57 AM)qashto Wrote: In response to 6, 7, and 9 the original Star Wars trilogy is vastly superior to the prequels, but I can see why you don't prefer the story of Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance.

Obviously, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens is the best. The original trilogy episodes 4, 5 and 6 are way overrated these days. Episode 3 was pretty great too. Of course, nothing can beat the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[qashto]

(01-04-2017, 07:06 AM)Admentus Wrote: ...

I don't want razius banned but I think they might permanently ban him, I'm just saying it should only be temporary.

I am sorry I used razius' textures, even though I did give him credit, I had no idea it would start such a firestorm and that he made up rules buried deep in his forum restricting their use.  I just assumed he'd be more friendly about it.  I still don't know why he cares so much since he says he doesn't intend to upscale/retexture the whole game, or spend much time on it in the future.  At this point I'd just be using less than 30 of his textures in my pack if he would let me.

I'm a huge Star Wars fan.  I thought episode 7 was amazing as well.  My best to worst order is 5, 4, 7, Rogue One, 6, 3, 2, 1.  You should check out Harmy's Despecialized editions of the original trilogy!

https://youtu.be/QXifjbxZDAM?t=38s

[MayImilae]

Admentus: The forum team is very aware of this thread, and Shonumi, the lead admin, has posted to it. We got this!

qashto, please stop responding to Razius. Please let the moderation team handle it.

-

Razius, I don't care how angry you are. We have been attempting to resolve this dispute, yet your outbursts have grown even louder. No more. We will not tolerate attacking other members. This is your final warning.

Now, on with the issues at hand. You wanted qashto to remove your textures from his pack. He has done so. I requested that you confirm that he did remove them, but apparently you didn't even bother! What do you really care about, your textures, or attacking qashto? If you truly care about your textures, please, check his github page, confirm whether or not the textures have been removed to your satisfaction, and let's try to resolve this dispute!

Furthermore, I asked you to explain what has made you so angry with qashto, and well, I read a ton of your words, and you didn't actually respond to that question. Outside of him using your textures, which has been addressed, there is no apparent reason at all for your behavior! So please, explain yourself, concisely, linking to any times he may have slandered you.

Also, I noticed you have made subtle edits to the wording of quotes. Razius, this is very shady, and I'm going to be paying close attention to the accuracy of your quotations from now on.

[qashto]

(01-04-2017, 09:28 AM)MayImilae Wrote: ...

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

Would the moderators allow it if I upload a small portion of razius' pack on my GitHub for the purpose of critique and commentary, (legally valid under fair use US copyright law).  I would upload razius' textures that I included in my last reply and a few textures I like, the map, Mario, and Fludd textures for the purpose of commenting on them on the comparison page of the GitHub project wiki.  I realize now that I should've done so when I made the original post to clarify the purpose of this pack.  Razius was right, I did not have evidence to back what I said in the original post, which he called "slanderous", this update would fix that by showing side by side comparisons.

[MayImilae]

qashto, stop posting for a bit please. Let us handle this.

And no, do not use Razius textures.

[qashto]

(01-04-2017, 11:19 AM)MayImilae Wrote: qashto, stop posting for a bit please. Let us handle this.

And no, do not use Razius textures.

Okay I will wait until the situation is resolved before I make an update.  I'm going to reiterate though, I have a legal right to use some of razius' textures for the purpose of commentary and criticism under US fair use copyright law.

[MayImilae]

Ugh, qashto. You do not have a "legal right" to use Razius' textures. Including Razius' textures in your pack is not "commentary and criticism". Regardless, we will discuss legal rights stuff later. Your insistence on bringing this up NOW and insisting on posting here after I asked you repeatedly to stop posting is not a good thing! You're making things worse!

So I'm not asking anymore. Do not reply to this thread until Razius responds, or 7 days from this moment (whichever comes first). If you do, I'm giving you a time out.

[Shonumi]

razius Wrote:Apparently no one's gonna slap this disruptive element with a ban or at least a warning. Seems like the staff is tolerant of different opinions, especially when they're about intolerance, yet i get slapped with a warning for pointing them out!

razius Wrote:yet it is i who gets warned by a mod who either IMPLIES i'm lying or deluded OR she warned me without reading any of my previous posts in this thread

I think there is some misunderstanding of what rules were broken. You were given a warning because you verbally insulted qashto, which violates our restrictions on "flaming". Specifically something like this...

razius Wrote:Oh, master of post truth, are you a liar or a simpleton?

... is a loaded question, essentially calling them one (a liar) or the other (a simpleton). Furthermore, effectively implying that someone lives in a "dump of intolerance" isn't the kind of talk permissible here.

For what it's worth, both you and qashto have received warnings for your actions here; some of qashto's actions constitute harassment due to the mocking tone/nature of the responses (hence also violating our rules against flaming). Both sides have been reprimanded, albeit, via some of the smallest corrective actions available (20% warnings for 1 infraction). The way this thread is developing, however, we're not opposed to taking stronger measures, against both of you if that turns out to be necessary.

I'll just reiterate MayImilae and ask that you show us explicitly (and concisely) where you feel qashto may have violated any forum rules by using personal attacks. He's already been punished for his responses regarding the negative and mocking tone he took towards your initial post here.

qashto Wrote:http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/

I just want to be very clear that you should not use other people's work without their permission. Even if you feel you have a legal right to redistribute someone's work, as it concerns the Dolphin Forums, our policy here is that you have to ask to use it before including it in your texture pack. Forum Staff have been building up guidelines for the Custom Texture Forum since ~2 months ago, and this is one of the rules we've settled on. While at the moment, this policy is not set up in its own thread, we've had this in mind for quite a while, so consider it official. Do not use textures you do not have permission to copy, share, or edit.

Having said that, allow me to address the issue of fair use. As I've said before, I am not a lawyer, but I do know IP laws can be especially thorny. In theory, according to established US IP law, you should have fair use rights to reproduce razius' textures for commentary or criticism, however, this would not extend to copying all of his work onto GitHub (and certainly not into the texture pack itself). A simple side-by-side comparison in the project description/wiki of some select textures would be fine (like how you compare textures now on your GitHub repo, original vs. yours) but wholesale copying would in all likelihood fail to be fair use.

However, for our purposes here, all of that is irrelevant. Razius has explicitly denied you permission. As far as I can tell, he doesn't want them associated with your project either (correct me if I'm wrong, razius). So as far as the Dolphin Forums are concerned, we had better not see them anywhere around this texture pack. Legally you may be allowed to use his stuff under fair use, and in reality you could do whatever you wanted to on GitHub, but we'd be forced to take action here on the Dolphin Forums.