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My Opinion on the Current State of the Skyrim Nexus


StupidDunmer

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I've been an on/off regular on the Nexus for around two years now. I love the site, and I feel that the ability to create and share your own work for a game you love with others with the ability to get positive feedback is absolutely great. There are so many mods out now for Skyrim, and I am losing count of how many mods I have enjoyed over the time I have been modding Skyrim. I just have one thing I need to get out in the open. It is my opinion, and I don't know how people will take it, but here it goes.

 

The community has run dry of ideas.

 

The same mods are being created now with new names and minimal difference. There is scarcely any new ideas, and big projects are quite far away from release. It's as if the modding community is trying to grasp onto something so special they want it to last forever. I'm pretty sure at one point there was a series of mod releases where a few textures were modified (which don't get me wrong, was a great mod), each separately, and almost every single one reached the hot files. The other division is followers. There are so many unique followers (Inigo for example) that it has inspired others. I get it, it's great to have many different characters added to the game. But it's getting old now. I just feel like there aren't going to be any new ideas for a long while. When there is, it jumps right up to the top of the hot files. But right now, it's very inactive.

 

What's the opinion of you guys?

 

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It is what it is. Having been here for over seven years I have seen the modding of many games ebb and flow. There will be times that things are slow then suddenly there will be a flurry of activity. You need only look and see how the Morrowing files ebb and flow.

 

Skyrim is now 3 1/2 years old. It isn't always going to get the attention that maybe it did the first year or so. Things can and do pick up. However, I think perhaps that instead of just saying it is dead you could be more proactive and constructive. Perhaps you have some ideas? Better yet there are numerous and wonderful tools and websites to help someone LEARN how to make mods also. TesAlliance ( http://tesalliance.org/forums/ ) is a great place to look about, for example. If you learn to mod not only can you please yourself but also help with the very issue with which you are concerned.

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There are still new ideas, they just get swamped underneath all the samey stuff.

It would be great if the nexus could let you filter out categories to help cut through the chaff.

For example I would love to see the latest files this month but filter out the abodes, followers and retextures - so that I can see the types of mods that have a spark of greatness in them.

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Hot files isn't the best place to go looking for new ideas anyway.

 

This is the same generic rant about modding we have seen about once a month since I started frequenting this site. It's in the same category as complaining about what's the matter with kids these days and that nobody uses the word "literally" properly anymore.

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Nexus does have a filtering system, but in my exp., it does not work all that well. I can filter out to look for a very specific mod, yet a bunch of other mods that don't have anything to do with what I am looking for show up.

 

This is an older game, great though it is, so you're just not going to see the enthusiasm that existed during the first year or two following release, as thesniperdevil pointed out. Modders create what they are interested in really, not what others are interested in (because it is a hobby to mod and they are not getting paid to produce what gamers want). Also, the Nexus community can be a bit rough on modders when it come to griping about mods that they feel were not what they expected (so some mods never get released--the mod is only for personal use then). Also, most modders work within the confines of what skyrim has to offer to stay lore-friendly so going way out of that bounds to create new things is self-limiting.

 

I started playing skyrim for the first time last Fall. Since then its become a big part of my recreational life since I too started to work on a mod. The demands and expectations for new and more exciting things expected of mods, makes me feel that I'll probably keep my mods to myself unless I become highly skilled and can deliver professional quality mods....so you see why that may contribute to the dry spell you see? The Nexus community want free mods that are professional quality....but don't want to pay for them.

Edited by NexBeth
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i know there are some great people still putting a lot of time and effort into the tools modders have available. from my understanding, only recently have animation tools become much more available to the community. HDT has been around now, and has some promising possibilities. SKSE, SkyProc, Nifskope, ENB and Racemenu are being actively maintained and progressing forward. Generating LoD for large world spaces has become much simpler. There has also been a migration of Steam modders to the Nexus.

 

Right now is a great time for learning, and sharing knowledge. As a mod author, it is a very exciting time. Don't give up on the Nexus yet.

 

Follower mods are probably the most well documented and easiest to create type of mod. They are both a good entry point for new authors and a gateway into learning how Skyrim's quest and race system works. Even experienced modders are able to learn new tricks with the new tools available for npc creation.

 

In short, Hot Files may seem not so hot to you, but the new and updated tools available to modders is truly hot right now.

Edited by nhackett
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There's actually a lot going on. Lots of awesome mods released every week, many get missed - keep an eye on the Latest Files section.

 

Wanted to point out to y'all - Coffee already mods. He's not just a user (mostly directed at Lisnpuppy). TESA is still a great place though.

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