Official VAR Licenses

[meshedvr]

There has been quite a lot of confusion and repeated violation of source licenses in (mostly paid) resources posted here on the Hub.

Most resources posted on the Hub are using the CC (Creative Commons) licensing scheme. Here are some of the CC descriptors and their definitions:

• BY - must give credit to original creator
• ND - no derivatives
• NC - no commercial use
• SA - share alike - any derivative content must use the same license as the source

Here are some simple rules to follow:

• If you have created a VAR file that references another VAR file, or your VAR file modifies and/or repacks content from another VAR file, you must give credit if that original VAR file has the BY descriptor. Almost every resource has this descriptor, so just give credit every time! It is the right thing to do to keep the community healthy and happy. To give credit, you must list the creator and what you used on your resource description page. Just pointing to the dependencies tab or including the depend.txt file is not enough. Take time to give proper credit and thanks.
• If you have created a VAR file that only references another VAR file and the referenced VAR file uses ND or SA descriptors, those do not apply in this case because that VAR file is just referenced. No changes to the original content were made.
• If you have created a VAR file that modifies and/or repacks content from another VAR file, then the ND and SA descriptors come into play. If ND is present, you cannot modify or repack that content. If SA is present, your VAR file must include the same license as the other VAR.
• If you have created a VAR file that you are posting in the paid area, you cannot reference, modify, or repack any content from another VAR file that has the NC descriptor (please see https://hub.virtamate.com/threads/new-non-commercial-nc-license-policy-enforcement.11860/ for more info)

Not sure what your VAR file references or what the source licenses are on those references? Just open the <varfile>.depend.txt file that gets created alongside your VAR file. This clearly shows the other VAR files you reference and their license types. You can also look at the dependencies section of the meta.json file that is inside the VAR file that gets created. You can open VAR files with a zip manager like 7-Zip or WinRAR to browse the contents. The depend.txt and meta.json files don't tell you about content you may have modified and packed in to your var. Only you know that. You must keep track of what you are using and the source licenses and make sure you are compliant. Opening your var file in a zip manager can also help you see what was included. Make sure everything in your var file is your original content or has followed the original asset licenses. Our recommendation is to only pack content into your VAR file that you created yourself.

Violation of asset licenses can result in a ban. It is your job to make sure you are following the rules, and we take reports of violation of license terms seriously.

Please also see this CC chart in the wiki for some more info and clarity:

What is Creative Commons License?

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