Simple suggestion for the consideration of prospective modders and mod-consumers

[ILoveMods]

First off:- Hi, I'll make this brief and relatively informal.

(To the moderators: I'm not in anyway advertising, I'm simply citing examples and by no means am I nor do I wish to impersonate you:)

[i am not an admin/mod, just so we're clear, do not mistake my phrasing for my being one]

 

I got the thinking just today, wouldn't it be a good idea to start development on launcher packs for respective games and their mods?

 

The problem with the Nexus thus far IMHO is that simplicity is neglected (or at least this can be observed but far be it from me to judge)

 

I have in mind a simple idea for supporting the mod community and "consumers" further if there were customizable launcher packs for games like Skyrim, Fallout, Oblivion and so on equal to that of Minecraft's relatively recent semi-unofficial mod support - see Feed The Beast and Technic Pack Launchers...if you're unfamiliar with these, here are the links:

 

http://www.technicpack.net/download

 

and

 

http://www.feed-the-beast.com/

 

What I had in mind was full consumer support for installing mods, it's understandable that a fair number of us on here can follow simple directions, but where this works for us 6/10 times, the 4/10 coming down to unprecedented events, incompatibility, poor pc specs, miscommunication on the part of a given author or a failure to understand the specifics on the part of fresh post-vanilla mod community members or where translations are an issue and so on, and while it continues that the mod community as a whole has to "make-do" with the circumstances and resources, it seems like a fair idea to allow whatever sized margins of *ahem* "consumers" that are not currently using mods perhaps due to comprehension issues regarding the nature of mods or the knowledge of their existence and so on to participate in these communities with this more simplified support.

 

By no means am I a market analyst or wish to perpetrate anything or impose, however, as it stands, it seems the Nexus only stands to gain from this, more support for consumers means more consumers means more support for authors means more donations etc.

 

Now, perhaps we've all experienced some degree of patronizing details or discussions on the site from time to time, while this is inevitable and a circumstantial inconvenience, it isn't in the best interests of anyone, though my being able to speak on behalf of the site owner and the mods and admins and the community remains to be seen, it can safely be said this is detrimental to the site's future progress.

 

However, at the end of the day, we community members know that the authors, mods, admins etc. do this for our leisure and I'm sure they wish to keep it that way, so simple things such as a fully guided or simplified launcher for mod packs is a good way to open up new doors for the community's resources...

 

If this doesn't suit anyone's particular tastes, it may at least be wise to come to an agreement or understanding with other communities of other games (since the Nexus is unofficial, from what I can tell it is not bound to competition, co-operation and corporate laws in the same way as Bethesda are, so at least talking to other mod communities for teamwork isn't totally out of the question)

 

Lastly, sorry for the weird, harsh, flammable topic, not inciting trouble or anything so don't give me a hard time.

[JobVanDam]

Jeez you seem really smart.

 

Can someone give me a summary of what this dude said?

[Jeir]

Jeez you seem really smart.

 

Can someone give me a summary of what this dude said?

TL:DR version: He wants a launcher with mod packs people can pick from.

[chanchan05]

How feasible is this really? People have been asking for mod packs for sometime now that modding has become popular (as PCs and games became cheaper), but from my experience this isn't a very good idea unless the mod packs are made of small, no performance hit mods. Unlike Minecraft where it's AFAIK not difficult to find a PC or laptop that can run it modded, a modded Skyrim game can pretty much get eff'd up if not carefully built to your PC's specifications. I'd think unless your PC components are exactly the same, there is no way to tell how some other guy's setup will run on your PC, even if your rig is better, that's no real guarantee AFAIK.

 

Plus what's the difference from just getting recommendations from people, downloading them and then launching the game?

[DrNewcenstein]

Well, for one, for those of us who are anti-social and not apt to change (leopards and spots), there's no one I trust for mod recommendations. My brother tells me about this mod and that mod he downloaded, and what he thought of it, but when I see it running, it's not all that impressive to me. We have different tastes. He's all about the whole Vampire schtick and player homes and whatnot, and I'm not. He likes the concept behind the porcelain skin vampires mod, whereas I do not. Even though our PCs are identical, we run different ENBs and we're happy with our results. As well, he runs the Unofficial Patches, and I avoid them since they meddled with harmless exploits (resto loop, etc) which was outside their authority.

 

Additionally, he runs various immersion mods (wet and cold, etc) which I do not because things like reduced visibility and climate effects are not implemented on NPCs (if I can't see the Bandit in peanut butter fog, I don't expect the Bandit to see me).

 

So we have different likes and dislikes, and we're related. That increases exponentially when you throw strangers on the interweb into it. Who are you, that I should trust your mod recommendation? Who am I, that you should trust mine?

 

However, with the modding "community" expanding so rapidly, what with over-zealous newbs posting "placeholders" every minute of every day (which I do wish Nexus would eliminate - finished mods only, please, no WIPs, no Review Copies, no "I spent a whole hour on this, but have no clue as to what I've done, hope you like it"), we do need some sort of filtration system. An installer like the OP mentions could incorporate limited BOSS and Tes5Edit-type functionality - checks the file for whatever problems, but alerts you and disables it rather than trying to clean it. You then report the matter to the author who either cleans it or removes it from the site, or for those few mods that "need" dirty edits, you handle those manually.

 

However, it's my understanding that NMM acts as a central processing station - otherwise known as a package installer. You download mods through it, set options (where applicable) and other such functions.

 

At least the last version I had did all that. Haven't seen the new one.

[chanchan05]

^Well put.

 

It does seem though your brother and me have similar tastes. :D

 

On your issues with immersion mods: with Frostfall, you can set it so that if you are blinded in a snow storm/rain storm, the bandits/enemies are as well. You can also set them to react correctly to dark (won't see you in a completely unlighted place or shadowed spot with Immersive NPC in the Dark. Some mods are meant to complement other mods.

 

On the issue on WIPs, I won't mind if it's a WIP as long as it's working and the mod author is working on it with the help of the community. Sometimes you have to do an alpha or beta release for further testing.

[gulogulo]

@ DrNewcenstein

 

Check ot this mod: Immersive NPC in the dark

and my mod: Nature of the beast 2 if you want immersion for both player and NPCs in terms of senses. Just dont get discouraged by my green bane if it can see you in the dark or even if you are invisible. It has more senses than a mere human and it is difficult to deceive them all (but its possible I assure you)

 

As for the WIPs I think chanchan05 is right. There are many WIP mods that are playable. My mod is a WIP for almost 2 years and its because I constanctly add something. I think this way is better since otherwise I would have never released it. To be frank I dont think I will ever finish it though Im trying hard :)

[EnaiSiaion]

You want to eliminate bad mods, but what you will achieve is a short list of accepted mods and every mod that is not in a package is dead.

 

And six months later you released 14 newer versions but everyone still has the old version because it's in the package.