‘Uploaded with permission’: how mod rights work, what the common licence phrases mean, and how ModsDrop handles reuploads

24 Oct 2026 · 4 min read · ModsDrop

Pictured: BMW M3 G80 Twin Turbo, from the ModsDrop library.

“Uploaded with permission.” “Do not reupload.” “Free to share, credit me.” “Conversion, original by X.” Mod pages are full of licence language, most of it informal, and most of the arguments in modding communities are about what it means. Here is how mod rights actually work, what the common phrases oblige you to, and how ModsDrop handles permission, credit and the reuploads that ignore both.

Who owns a mod

The person who made it. A mod is a creative work: models, textures, code and tuning are protected by copyright from the moment they exist, with no registration needed. That is true whether the mod is free or paid, whether it is on a big site or a Discord server, and whether or not the author wrote a licence. The game’s developer has rights over the game; the modder has rights over the mod. (A mod that is itself a conversion of someone else’s model, from another game or from a 3D asset store, carries that third party’s rights too, which is the problem with most car conversions and most “ripped” content.)

What the common phrases mean

No statement at all: all rights reserved. You may download and use the mod. You may not redistribute it. Silence is not permission.
“Do not reupload” / “do not redistribute”: exactly that. Linking to the author’s page is fine; hosting the file elsewhere is not.
“Free to share, keep the credits”: redistribution allowed, with the author’s name and usually the original link. Removing credits or claiming authorship breaks the condition.
“Uploaded with permission”: the uploader asked the author and was told yes. It should be true; when the author says it is not, it is a reupload with a false label, and it comes down.
“Open” / “do what you want” / “public domain”: rare, and valuable. Still credit the author; it costs nothing.
Paid mods: sold on Patreon, Boosty, Gumroad, Ko-fi or a shop. Sharing them for free is the clearest violation there is, and the one most reported. “I paid for it” does not make it yours to share.

Conversions and derivatives

Converting a mod to another game or another version, re-skinning it, or building a config pack that includes its files produces a derivative work. The original author’s rights carry into it. A conversion needs the original author’s permission; a config pack that contains only your own .pc files and no files from the mod is yours. The FS22-to-FS25 wave made this a daily question; the answer did not change.

What ModsDrop asks of uploaders

The Terms are explicit: by uploading you confirm that the mod is your own work, or that its author has allowed it to be shared here, and paid mods may not be uploaded at all. That confirmation is the basis on which the file is hosted. If an author later reports that no permission existed, the file is taken down, its fingerprint blocked against re-upload, and the uploader’s account carries the consequence under the policy of crashmods.com, our partner site, where repeated warnings end in a ban. The three-day trash protects against mistaken removals; it does not protect a reuploader.

Credit

Credit is the minimum, and it is cheap: the author’s name, the original link, the version. On ModsDrop the author field is on the file page. Credit does not substitute for permission (“original by X” above a file X asked you not to share is still a reupload), but a correctly credited file with permission is exactly what the site is for.

Why it matters beyond manners

Modding scenes die when authors stop releasing because their work gets taken and resold, or shared with their name removed. The 70% share here exists so that hosting an author’s file benefits the author; a reupload by someone else diverts that to the wrong person. Takedown handling exists so that authors can trust the host; a host that ignored reports would lose the authors first and the downloaders after.

If you are an author

Write a one-line licence in your readme and on your page. It settles most arguments before they start.
Put your name in the files: JBeam information blocks, info.json, modDesc.xml, manifest headers. It is how a reupload is proven in minutes.
Report reuploads through the file page here; the review is described in the reporting guide.
Consider uploading your own file here yourself. The share is paid to the account that uploads, and the page links back to wherever you publish.

If you are a downloader

Use what you download, share the page address rather than the file, credit the author when you show their work, and do not pay for a free mod or share a paid one. The whole system runs on that much.