Are Mods Legal?

[Artist]

<p>I am sorry for possibly dumb question. However, I came from Diablo II online community, where all kinds of game modification are strongly forbidden. </p><p>Is it legal to install any modification to Everquest II? Are there any restrictions?</p><p>Different people may have different opinion. It would be better to see any official statements. EULA says that we are not allowed to use any programs that change game. </p>

[aardda]

<p>UI mods are all legal, and even encouraged. (see <a href="http://www.eq2interface.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.eq2interface.com</a>)</p><p>Any mods that affect gameplay directly such as bot programs, packet sniffers etc are all illegal.</p>

[Artist]

<p>Anyone can claim his legality. I am still looking for an OFFICIAL statement that UI mods are legal.</p>

[poseidon9]

UI are legal and most people use them as well they do NOT affect game play in anyway to give you a strong advantage, i use many UI on my account. check them out some are really nice cheers

[Norrsken]

<cite>Artist wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Anyone can claim his legality. I am still looking for an OFFICIAL statement that UI mods are legal.</p></blockquote>Im fairly certain there is a dev post saying UIs are legal if you dig deep enough. Heck, they even ship the game with UI editing tools. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Lortet]

eq2map is the other widely accepted mod.

[Rattfa]

UI mods are perfectly legal. Every update, if you check the patch notes, they include a list of updated UI files, for custom UI writers to update their installers. UI mods do not give any advantage to gameplay, other than the ability to customise your screen in a way that looks good, and is easy to use. The standard UI is somewhat limited. It's to SOEs advantage to allow the comunity to create custom UIs. Things that arent legal would be 3rd party programs that allow unattended gameplay etc

[Finora]

<cite>Artist wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Anyone can claim his legality. I am still looking for an OFFICIAL statement that UI mods are legal.</p></blockquote><p> As SOE included a UIbuilder with the game (check in your EQ2 folder for the zip file), complete with instructions on how to modify the UI, I'm pretty darn certain that they are a-okay with UI mods hehe.</p><p>Like someone else said, bot programs and other things of that ilk are not allowed. </p><p>EQ2 devs even said at Fan Faire that they were making sure that the new map system they are working on would work with EQ2 maps (a UI mod).</p>

[JeremyLT]

<p>I'd love an 'official' response, as well... just for 100% percent surety.  The EQ2Maps link that refers to an eq2 forum entry saying it's okay is a dead link... I think the forum moved since then.  <a href="http://maps.eq2interface.com/index.php?action=faq#eula" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://maps.eq2interface.com/index....action=faq#eula</a> was the site I was looking at.  I'll let them know it's dead, too, if I get around to it <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Further support to the idea that it's okay... a reference in station.com's own support area regarding custom UI's... <a href="http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bin/soe.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=15539&p_created=1112179415&p_sid=_ReeZKKi&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=15402&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PWRmbHQmcF9ncmlkc29yd D0mcF9yb3dfY250PTIwMiZwX3Byb2RzPTIwJnBfY2F0cz0gJnB fcHY9MS4yMCZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc 2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9dWkgbW9 k&p_li=&p_topview=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://help.station.sony.com/cgi-bi...li=&p_topview=1</a></p><p>You can find it yourself without the link by going to station's support area and searching for 15539.  That's the answer ID.</p><p>While it doesn't say 'it's okay to use them' they're obviously rendering support for the practice in general, if not for specific third party UI's.</p>

[Calthine]

There were dev statements to that effect, but they were lost when we transitioned to the new forums.  UI Mods are legal.  At Fan Faire, when asked if the currently-in-development map changes would work with EQ2Maps a dev (I think it was Gallenite) said something to the effect of "We hope so, we love EQ2Maps."The only thing against the EULA are 3rd party programs which play the game for you, like crafting 'bots.  <span class="postbody"><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eq2interface.com/" target="_blank">www.eq2interface.com</a> is easily *the* source for UI mods, go for it!</span>(PS - it's the weekend.  While it's not unheard of, it's unlikely you'll get a dev response until Tuesday, as Monday is a holiday in the States)

[Seagoat]

<p>UI mods are very legal and often encouraged.  SOE had a blurb in the launchpad a while back that asked players to check out <a href="http://maps.eq2interface.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">EQ2Maps</a>; it's easily the most used (and most useful) UI mod out there.</p><p>To emphasize, <a href="http://eq2interface.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">EQ2 Interface</a> is <i>the</i> place to go for UI mods.  You can find full UIs as well as individual UI pieces that you can combine to create your ideal UI setup.  UI devs sometimes give the modding community a heads-up when a big change is coming on EQ2 Interfaces "<a href="http://www.eq2interface.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=11" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dev Shack</a>" board.  If that's not saying it's ok to use UI mods, I don't know what is.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>The tools are provided to us (UI Builder, which, as someone already mentioned, is included with the core game files), and the XML and image files are open and available for modification to anyone who wants to take a crack at it.  It's a great way for both the devs and the players to enhance the game experience; everybody wins.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[ashen1973]

<p>Although I can't find anactual, official statement that say's 'Its OK to use UI mods, go for it' <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /> I did find this in the patch notes for GU35</p><p>*** <b>Interface ***</b></p><ul><li><span style="color: #ff0066;">Custom UI's that change the quest journal should no longer crash when looking at group members' quests. </span></li><li>The LFG window has received new functionality to help adventurers pool their resources and face the challenges of Norrath. Click the LFG button on your group window or use the /lfg command to open the LFG window. </li><li>The interface for creating a guild has been improved. </li><li><span style="color: #ff3399;">Custom Options file names are now limited to 50 characters</span>. </li><li>Since the world has seen the addition of multiple cities, chat channels will now use a good and evil naming convention. </li><li><span style="color: #ff3366;">The client will now load the target ring textures from the ui/images folder allowing users to customize target rings</span></li></ul><p><span style="color: #ffffff;">you can find these notes here > </span><a rel="nofollow" href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=363374" target="_blank">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=363374</a></p><p> I would say by adding information on UI mods to official patch notes, that pretty much proves that SOE are 100% behind modding (as long as it doesnt effect gameplay, i.e botting, packet sniffing or speed hacking.)</p>