Mod for German censored version

[destroyer008]

Hello everyone,

I am not sure if there is such a thread already, but nevertheless I pick up that idea now.
I am German and so I see myself in the situation of me having to accept the censoring that is going on in my country. Not only is the censoring in my opinion nonsense, but also will have an impact on my emersive experience when playing the game.

This goes to all modders and those who want to help out me and so many others in my situation:

PLEASE create a mod which uncensores things like the protraits, flags, etc.!!

Unfortunatly I am not a programmer myself, so I have no other way than asking for help in the community.

Please help me out.

 

[Daddl]

Thats no problem. Changing the portraits doesn't affect checksum.

So much rage about this slightly shadowed guy, totally unnecessary at all. He even looks better that way.

 

[goliard20]

Dark Hitler looks mightier then normal Hitler.
He's on the dark side
Ich hab damit auf jedenfall kein Problem

 

[geogus]

Im brazilian, i know that germany has some strict laws about material refering to Nazism, but i not aware about how severe it is.

But im curious to know.

Is it forbiden to game such as HoiIV to have Adolf Hitler indicated as head of state or to show the nazi flag or even the expressions "Nazism" or "national socialism"?

If so, would be according to law to mod a game to include these features?

Dont think bad of me, im a student of law and im curious about this issue.

Sorry if this question is not according forum rules. In this case, disregard my mensage.

 

[Daddl]

Is it forbiden to game such as HoiIV to have Adolf Hitler indicated as head of state or to show the nazi flag or even the words "Nazism" or "national socialism"?

Swastikas and portraits of Hitler together with other stuff are banned material if used for propaganda purposes (for example, if you would demonstrate with a nazi flag, you will get some trouble). Its totally allowed to use them for purposes of education, information, art etc.

Its not forbidden to mention he was head of state or describe what he did, its exactly the opposite.
If you deny history and the nazi crimes you yourself do a crime. Its no problem to talk about what happened historically.

The thing is video games are not mentioned, and its not entirely clear whether they count as education or art, as german laws are not really the fastest to adapt to something like that.

Modding this in would be similar to the gray zone of law that streaming is - the ones who download it have no issues, the one who created and distributed it very very theoretically could get problems for that if that is seen as "nazi propaganda". But I'm sure it won't.

So Paradox choose the overly safe approach of not showing Hitler at all. Not necessary in my opinion, but thats how they decided to do it.

 

[amalric de g.]

Im brazilian, i know that germany has some strict laws about material refering to Nazism, but i not aware about how severe it is.

But im curious to know.

Is it forbiden to game such as HoiIV to have Adolf Hitler indicated as head of state or to show the nazi flag or even the expressions "Nazism" or "national socialism"?

If so, would be according to law to mod a game to include these features?

Dont think bad of me, im a student of law and im curious about this issue.

Sorry if this question is not according forum rules. In this case, disregard my mensage.

The picture of Adolf is not forbidden. The Naziflagg and other symbols as the SS Runes in a game are forbidden. The only exceptions are art (films, documentations, history books) or in schools in the history ours and even there are nearly no nazi symbols in the school books.

The german law is harsh in this matters, if you run around with the real Naziflagg, you go some years into the prison.
If you have Nazi stuff on your PC and the police knocks on your door, you are in trouble.

To show the nazi flagg in Hoi IV, or other games, it´s enough to paint a forbidden cross through the swastika, the BGH (Highest court in Germany) has released a judgment in 2007 about it.

 

[erkkijuusto]

The forum rules state that posts with a link to a mod that includes swastikas will be removed, so keep that in mind when making mods.
I guess you can make a mod which includes swastikas for your own use, but not distribute it on the forums. I don't know if you can release one in Steam Workshop or Mod db after the game is released. Pdx will most likely specify that in the future.

Also, darking out Hitler's portrait is odd, but what can you do, Paradox as a company decides these things, not the community.

 

[Maizel]

Thats no problem. Changing the portraits doesn't affect checksum.

So much rage about this slightly shadowed guy, totally unnecessary at all. He even looks better that way.

Totally unnecessary to force studios shadow him at all. German censors are crazy.

 

[Fipse]

If you have Nazi stuff on your PC and the police knocks on your door, you are in trouble.

Depends on the stuff. Simple pictures wont get you in trouble. It is mostly just forbidden to spread 'nazi propaganda' but you are allowed to own it.

 

[Daddl]

Totally unnecessary to force studios shadow him at all. German censors are crazy.

Have I to say it again?
Its not german censors being crazy. Its not like there is a censoring agency in Germany. Who says that clearly doesn't know anything about this topic.

No one forces Paradox to shadow his face. They do it voluntarily. If they didn't , I'm sure they would get no problems at all.
But they decided to do it like that, and thats understandable from the sales point. They want no hassle that could delay the game in Germany, even if the chance to get one is ever so slightly.

 

[Maizel]

Have I to say it again?
Its not german censors being crazy. Its not like there is a censoring agency in Germany. Who says that clearly doesn't know anything about this topic.

No one forces Paradox to shadow his face. They do it voluntarily. If they didn't , I'm sure they would get no problems at all.
But they decided to do it like that, and thats understandable from the sales point. They want no hassle with that, even if the chance to get one is ever so slightly.

I know Paradox wants no hassle. In any case, I find it weird that anyone would be offended by a portrait of hitler, and not by a slightly shadowed one. Some people just wait for reasons to get upset,

 

[UP-Cedric]

German law is a very strange in this aspect what can lead to very paradox scenarios.

An example:

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

The movie is a fictional adventure that is no documentary or educational movie in any aspect. It is aimed to amuse people and generate income.
But German law says basically that a movie is art and therefore it´s ok to have Swastikas and Hitler there. (unless it is blatant pro-Nazi propaganda)

The Lucasfilmgames adventure game based on the movie had to be censored. All swastikas had to be removed, the word "Nazi" was removed as much as possible and the book "Mein Kampf" was removed from a library. But Hitler is still there uncensored for some unexplained reason.

The main issue is that the german law doesn`t recognise games as "art protected under the law" and treads them very different to movies that are protected.

 

[amalric de g.]

Depends on the stuff. Simple pictures wont get you in trouble. It is mostly just forbidden to spread 'nazi propaganda' but you are allowed to own it.

Sure some pictures on your PC are not forbidden, but if you distribute the pictures on the internet, or making a mod with swastikas and distributing it, thats two pair of shoes.

You can collect stuff from WW2, even in germany you can collect this, but it´s for home use only, example you buy a german military uniform with a swastika, you can run circels at home with it, but if you go out and the police finds you, thats game over.

 

[Amaror]

I know Paradox wants no hassle. In any case, I find it weird that anyone would be offended by a portrait of hitler, and not by a slightly shadowed one. Some people just wait for reasons to get upset,

I don't think anybody would be offended. Nobody gets offended when he gets depicted in movies or books. This is mostly Paradox being a bit paranoid.

 

[UP-Cedric]

I don't think anybody would be offended. Nobody gets offended when he gets depicted in movies or books. This is mostly Paradox being a bit paranoid.

In 1996 the german police confiscated all copies of Corel Draw because in the clip art was a picture of historical persons including Hitler.

Better "a bit paranoid" than suffer a huge financial loss.

 

[Nicolas I]

To OP, print pictures of Hitler and Swastikas, put glue on the reverse, stick them on your computer screen, that's done...

Not a big fan of censorship, but never understood the "perverse pleasure" of using actual nazi symbols. I can enjoy playing Germany without them.

 

[panzerzombie]

I don't think anybody would be offended. Nobody gets offended when he gets depicted in movies or books. This is mostly Paradox being a bit paranoid.

They are not paranoid, they are ..... reasonable. They want to sell their game with the least hassle as possible.

Would you sell a book which has a cover consisting of pig leather to an islamic state. No ? .....reasonable.

BTW I´m german, find this law rather peculiar and despite that still am happy not to have to look at Assdolf Shitlers ugly mug.

 

[Amaror]

They are not paranoid, they are ..... reasonable. They want to sell their game with the least hassle as possible.
Would you sell a book which has a cover consisting of pig leather to an islamic state. No ? .....reasonable.
BTW I´m german, find this law rather peculiar and despite that still am happy not to have to look at Assdolf Shitlers ugly mug.

I am also german and I don't think they are reasonable. I can understand that they want to sell their game without much hassle.
But I don't think "peculiar" cencorship like this is going to help them a lot.
From my perspective at least many german gamers dislike cencorship a lot. Through the cencorship-heavy gaming era of the past were most violence and other things got cencored in german games, I, and all of my gaming friends, have grown to hate cencorship. Personally I have not bought or ever will buy a cencored game.
But maybe I am wrong and some german gamers actually like cencorship. We'll see.
I don't think this is a very smart choice by Paradox.

And for the Islamic State analogy. I would most likely not. But islamic states have a history of disliking things made out of pigs. Germans don't really have that much of a history disliking images of Hitler.
Nobody complained about Inglorious Basterds depicting Hitler, nobody complained about Iron Sky. One of the bestsold books in germany is called "Er ist wieder da" and it's literally about Hitler returning to modern day germany. And it's been made into a movie just last year. But, sure, the german public must absolutly hate everything with Hitler in it.

Not a big fan of censorship, but never understood the Schadenfreude of using actual nazi symbols. I can enjoy playing Germany without them.

What do you think that Schadenfreude means? I don't think you are using it right.

In 1996 the german police confiscated all copies of Corel Draw because in the clip art was a picture of historical persons including Hitler.

Better "a bit paranoid" than suffer a huge financial loss.

Yeah, looked that one up. Turned out that the reason it was confiscated was because the picture showed a Swastika, not because it showed a depiction of Hitler.
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meld...-wegen-Hitlerkarikatur-in-CorelDraw-8692.html
And, btw., it's not 1996 anymore. That's 20 freaking years. You don't have to tell me that german cencorship used to be somewhat crazy at times, but even the time were our USK went crazy cencoring Violent videogames was after that year and is pretty much over by now.

 

[safe-keeper]

So much rage about this slightly shadowed guy, totally unnecessary at all. He even looks better that way.

He arguably does. Can't disagree with that.

 

[Botox]

I am also german and I don't think they are reasonable. I can understand that they want to sell their game without much hassle.
But I don't think "peculiar" cencorship like this is going to help them a lot.
From my perspective at least many german gamers dislike cencorship a lot. Through the cencorship-heavy gaming era of the past were most violence and other things got cencored in german games, I, and all of my gaming friends, have grown to hate cencorship. Personally I have not bought or ever will buy a cencored game.
But maybe I am wrong and some german gamers actually like cencorship. We'll see.
I don't think this is a very smart choice by Paradox.

It doesnt has to do anything with censorship. Symbols of the national socialist party and state are forbidden to use outside of certain areas, such as art or education (and there is no mention of films, movies, just art). Pretty simple, if someone doesnt understand why, he/she should take an additional history lesson or two.

While I can understand the "hate for censorship" as you call it, I think its sometimes a bit off. I dont know why some people think it makes a game worse if instead of a swastika you have an iron cross on the white circle to bypass those laws. After all you could always go to court and ask a judge if this game is art or not. Naturally no publisher would try his luck and wait two to three years for a judgement whilst you cant sell this game in germany.

Perhaps in some years time, when a new generation is sitting on the judge's seat, there will be an announcement that computer games are seen as art aswell. Until then, you will have to arrange yourself with it.