Copyrighted textures... Created 20 years ago2003-11-13 07:12:28 UTC by Clownfish

How freely can I use wads from CS, TFC etc? And from HL of course. Is it ok as long as I don't wanna SELL the map, but only distribute it for free? What about other mappers textures? Need to ask them and giv'em som credits? Some general rules here?

Yes. Always give the creators credit for their work. You may use their textures as long as you don't charge any money. Even better, e-mail and tell them that you want to use their textures. I'm sure most will give you permission. Most want you to use their textures, you see.
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At least I would.

Yeah, definitely credit people!

Most texture artists give freely of their product and only ask that you credit them in the readme. It is a good idea to try to e-mail them and ask if you can use their work, but sometimes their e-mails don't exist anymore.
Standard textures that have been released with Retail games (CS, TFC, HL ++) are understood by the community to be used as the mapper see's fit, but it shows good form to credit the original author... if you know who that is, or at least mention that the textures used are not yours and thank whoever made them.
I was surprised by a recent e-mail asking if someone could use some sprites I produced in 1998... I had forgotten that I had developed them, but it was great to get the e-mail and even better to say... Sure, feel free.
If you don't get a reply, just use the stuff and credit the author... it is pretty well an accepted way of doing things in the mapping community.

Thanx guys, that's some good and reasonable advice!