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Recently there where some responses on Orbsydia concerning my Mul2bmp utility that will take a mul file and generate a UO Landscaper BMP for the terrain and altitude (thread has been deleted). Bottom line, people objected as people could easily steal their maps. Orbsydia choose not to pursue this utility, for that same reason (which by itself, one can choose to build or not anything).
This is my thought on the subject that I ended the thread with on Orbsydia:
The following is my perspective and opinon. I do not plan or hope to sway anyone with this, but I felt I wanted to give my thoughts
(one can always hit the next button if one doesn't care, has no desire, or just about anything else which by definition will vastly more significant then what follows
here). I find it ironic and hyproctical that a community that depends so heavily on leveraging off others work, is not so concerned that their own work will be equally leveraged from.
It seems like a safe assumption that many here use RunUO as their emulator of choice. Does it bother anyone that the primary developer has disassemblied the client to learn its inner secrets?
The entire emulator scene benifits form the format, packet definition, and all other egineering to define those type things (good or bad). Yet this community wouldn't exist if that leverage had never occurred.
When it comes to custom maps, gumps, and other items, is anyone bothered that again, it leverages off others existing artwork? Unless one totally replaces all data (so one is then just leveraging off all the engineering) one is utilizing the "effort" of others. Maps that are based on OSI's, or even those like in Middle Earth are leveraging off others work (such as basing it off another story).
Apparently the concern seems to reach critical mass when it is this community work that might be leveraged. Personally I find that hypocritical and ironic.
But then it goes one step further. Those that have the ability to do so, decide for others what they should or should not be able to do. I am sure some may argue UOL allows one to easily exploit leveraging off the artwork that exists, in making custom maps. Yet as that served some interest, it was deemed a great advantage.
For me, I am fundementally opposed to groups deciding what tools should be available to others. It creates a "have and have not" situation. I generally support having a multitude of options, that others don't decide for me. And as with any tool (car, gun, credit card, etc), it can be abused. Specifically in this case, I have to wonder what the abuse is, and how it is different then the community at large in terms of abusing others work. I also question , again specifically in this case, why anyone feels, since the data resides on the client machine, they can prevent (by not providing tools) to leverage that data. Clearly that was not successful for OSI, as look at the tools that have all ready sprung up by Orbysida itself.
I do not challenge anyones opinon, they can hold what they want. But I find it both ironic and hyprocritical as I stated at the beginning, from my perspective.
But regardless of anyone's opinon, on this or other ones, the tool exists, and is available. This discussion of opinons wont change that fact.
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) with STIC (when did you start calling it that? I think your tools have a different name everytime you mention them 
) is drawing the images is way too complicated for most people. UOL works along the same premise and the altitude map had to be dumbed down so you could make heads or tails of what you were editing. Don't remember why I never wrote scripts for it. Can it handle 3-way trans?