*Read First* Threads about Hacking Cave Story for WiiWare

It has come to my attention that several threads and discussions have opened up in the Cave Story Hacking/Mods sections regarding hacking into the WiiWare version of the game and releasing pirated content for use on the PC.

I do not condone of these actions in the least as not only is it a subject of piracy and distribution of commercial intellectual property, but in general it is highly disrespectful of Pixel-san. Posts and threads of any kind of this nature of distributing or hacking the Cave Story WiiWare content should be removed immediately or the following will happen:

1. Threads will be permanently deleted
2. Members who start and/or heavily contribute to discussions regarding this subject will be banned.
*3. If this is not controlled, there will be no Cave Story modding/hacking sections any more. I don't want to pick on the modders and hackers out there, but ultimately it is this very hacking/modding scene left unchecked that has led to this very issue.

I'm not kidding folks, this is wrong to do and many of you already know this. I'm quite ashamed to see a site that was started as a tribute site to Pixel-san and Cave Story, used as a method of distributing pirated content that not only hurts Pixel-san himself, but any future commercial endeavors he may pursue one day.

Again, if this cannot be controlled, then this forum will only have a section open for the discussion about the game without mods or hacks being a part of it.

Cave Story for PC and various Emus are freeware and are okay to distribute, but anything belonging within Cave Story for WiiWare is a commercial property. There is a difference between the two and everyone needs to understand that.

That's all I've got to say about that.

-SkyeWelse

 

Does this include the distribution of the redone .pbms from cswii? I mean, screenshots of a videogame are ok to distribute, is this any different?

 

.pbms are graphic files ripped from the game. They are different from taking your own screenshot.

So screenshots would be fine, just as they would be from any other website reviewing the game.

However, graphics ripped from the game are files that are the intellectual property in question and should not be distributed.

-SkyeWelse

 

Does it matter that I still question the fact that Cave Story is (c) Pixel and Cave Story Wii is (c) Nicalis?

 

I'm not kidding folks, this is wrong to do and many of you already know this. I'm quite ashamed to see a site that was started as a tribute site to Pixel-san and Cave Story, used as a method of distributing pirated content that not only hurts Pixel-san himself, but any future commercial endeavors he may pursue one day.

To be fair, no-one has actually used this board to distribute hacked versions of Cave Story Wii; the closest people have come is putting up Wii graphics sheets, as far as I'm aware.

If you simply prohibit a) linking to content from the Wii version and b) discussion of how to transfer between Wii and PC, I think that would be sufficient. I could also understand prohibiting discussion of Wii assembly hacking (which hasn't shown up yet, but that's beside the point).


EDIT: Okay, so I had not noticed that someone actually did link to JTE's rip of the Wii content, such as graphics. I agree that that probably doesn't really belong here.

 

Does it matter that I still question the fact that Cave Story is (c) Pixel and Cave Story Wii is (c) Nicalis?

What is there to question? Pixel-san worked closely with Nicalis to license the game and create new graphical content for the WiiWare version. Pirated content from Nicalis is the very same as pirated content from Pixel-san. The only thing that is considered "freeware" is what Pixel-san originally released for PC. That's it! That's all he gave permission for people to distribute freely. It should be common sense not to distribute something that is commercially sold.

To be fair, no-one has actually used this board to distribute hacked versions of Cave Story Wii; the closest people have come is putting up Wii graphics sheets, as far as I'm aware.

Which is why I've closed it before it gets to that point. There was an intended project in the works that would utilize that content to distribute it to the PC version of Cave Story. This is surely something a bit more than the harmless spreading of sprite sheets.

If you simply prohibit a) linking to content from the Wii version and b) discussion of how to transfer between Wii and PC, I think that would be sufficient. I could also understand prohibiting discussion of Wii assembly hacking (which hasn't shown up yet, but that's beside the point).

This is what this post is about. Anything having to do with hacking the WiiWare version of Cave Story, be it sprite sheets, code, transfering data to and from the Wii to the PC, whatever the case may be, it fall within the realm of piracy and will not be allowed here at this forum.

Again I must stress, hacking/modding for the PC version of Cave Story is fine.

Hacking Modding for the commercial WiiWare version is not fine. At all. And never will be.

As long as we have an understanding with that, there are no problems.

-SkyeWelse

 

Which is why I've closed it before it gets to that point. There was an intended project in the works that would utilize that content to distribute it to the PC version of Cave Story. This is surely something a bit more than the harmless spreading of sprite sheets.

Indeed. There are plenty of other places to get this sort of thing if anyone is desperate enough. <_< (And no, I don't know where.)

This is what this post is about. Anything having to do with hacking the WiiWare version of Cave Story, be it sprite sheets, code, transfering data to and from the Wii to the PC, whatever the case may be, it fall within the realm of piracy and will not be allowed here at this forum.

Sounds fair to me, though discussion of Wii assembly code would technically fall into a grey area, I think... the same legal grey area that NES or N64 hackers utilize.

As long as you don't ban for the mere mention of Wii hacking, which can easily be shot down by something like "this is not the place to discuss such matters". But I don't really think you'd do that. <_<

 

I agree 100%. Any attempt of "pirating" in such a way that people don't bother to pay for the Wiiware version (thus not helping Pixel) is simply not right.

Fortunately, now is just the beginning stages, where people are more interested in seeing "what do all the sprites look like?" rather than "I'm gonna illegally distribute software".

I'm sure all of the active forum goers have absolutely ZERO intention of hurting Pixel's livelihood in any way, shape, or form. Such "thoughts of piracy" can easily be stopped at this point, as long as people are in agreement and it is carried out in a calm and reasonable manner.

 

<DoubleThink> Whatever
<DoubleThink> CS Wii hacking is dumb anyway

I'm kind of hesitant to touch anything so would you prefer to take care of the errant threads yourself or...? (Welcome back by the way. Maybe they should release CS Wii every month >_>)

 

IIRC, doesn't the entirety of Quest for Catalia revolve around emulators and hacking lttp? That's shareware, not freeware, and they're advocating illegal downloads on this forum (not that it really matters, no one uses that part of the forum anyway)

 

What about the retranslated script? when is that okay, and how?

 

Which is why I've closed it before it gets to that point. There was an intended project in the works that would utilize that content to distribute it to the PC version of Cave Story. This is surely something a bit more than the harmless spreading of sprite sheets.

Actually said project was never intended for the distribution of the new graphics, but rather to allow modders more freedom with modding (since 640x480 resolution can be a bit better to work with than 320x240).

And since it's a hack, if it was released without the new graphics well then it should fall under your category of what's allowed, if I'm not mistaken. The only issue there is releasing the hack just by itself opens the door, makes it VERY easy to port the new graphics to PC. That I believe would be the best reason not to release said project.

 

But by that logic Noxid would never be able to release his mod, since it contains said hack, and would thus be a door to cs wii on pc.

 

Um, no, he's simply hacked the PC version to increase the resolution and he is remaking the sprites to fit too it. He's not using anything from the Wii version, far as I can tell.

(In other words, he's increased the resolution to match that of the Wii one while still using the PC version.)

 

Someone can mod Noxid's mod into a fully working CS Wii -> PC port. That's the problem.

Of course, using high res in a mod is not breaking any rules. It's the *potential* that someone else will use the hack for malicious purposes (i.e. putting in Wii sprites).

 

Wait, what? What do you mean?

Noxid isn't doing anything wrong. He's just improved the resolution. I don't see anything wrong with that. He's not using anything from the wii version.

 

Hey guys.
All those words above are probably true.
it kinda makes me sad.

The big deal is the fact that somebody could steal what I've done see...
and use it malicious-ly.

 

I know Noxid hasn't done anything wrong. His mod is just fine with 640x480 res.

However, it would not be very hard for SOME OTHER PERSON (NOT Noxid) to mess with Noxid's mod and create "Cavestory Wii for PC".

EDIT: The fact that Noxid and GIR worked very hard on higher resolution CS is not lost on me. I'm pretty disappointed too by the recent turn of events.

 

But that does not mean you should stop work on your mod!

Heck, anyone could do it given the time and patience.

Simply because the possibility exists does not mean one should stop all their work. Heck, even if you got rid of the mod, I gaurantee someone else is going to to come along and hack the PC version and increase the resolution. There's nothing you can do to stop that.

However, I understand what you're saying, but, Noxid, you aren't in the wrong.You've done nothing wrong.

And this holds about as much as if someone would say to stop making cars because they could explode. It's a possibility, but nothing more. It's not a gaurantee that it will happen. Sure, given a proper situation, it will happen, but not every time.

 

Noxid's mod should obviously not be abandoned. Surely, he has a backup of the mod that is without the higher res capability. If not, maybe it's possible to reverse the hack. Again, I'm not sure.

Maybe nicalis will allow people to use high-res mods. Modders will probably be respectful of not putting CS wii sprites in there (even if they aren't, they'll just get flamed on the forums if they try to create CS Wii for PC and release it).