Collections Q&A Session 1 - Transcript

[Pickysaurus]

Following the announcement of our upcoming Collections feature, we gave you the chance to submit questions to be answered during a live Q&A session on Discord. This topic contains the questions and answers from Session 1 which was held on Wednesday 22 September 2021.

 

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Q: Will collections be prominent in the same way hot mods is? i.e on the main page for two weeks? (Submitted by Unoctium)

A: Searching, filtering and "hot" pages are still under development and will start to take shape closer to the full release. However, we do plan to showcase the best collections in a similar way to Hot Mods. Exactly what it will look like will be shaped by feedback from the testers. Everything Collections related will be on Nexus Mods Next before the full release.

 

Q: What, exactly, is the free version of Collections supposed to make easier for newbie mod users? What benefits do free users have from collections compared to manual installation?

A: The difference between Premium and free is that the download queue isn’t automated, but the rest of the process is. So Vortex will still fetch the appropriate download links for you and you won’t have to go from mod page to mod page, scroll to the right file, initiate the download. The other important thing is that free users still benefit from automatic conflict resolution. So the curator will have dealt with that side of things, and the end-user gets the benefit of mod/file conflicts being automatically resolved.

 

Q: Is there going to be a tutorial series about how to use Vortex coming out? Like, for example, how to set up rules for mod conflict resolution?

A: It’s something we’re definitely up for exploring in the future. We hope this short video series on collections was helpful and we’re open to creating more tutorial videos for Vortex or on how to use certain site features, etc.

 

Q: Is the process for setting rules in vortex different for collections than it is for normal mods?

A: No. All rules, conflicts and dependencies are set from the mods tab. The rules you create for your mod setup will form part of the collection metadata.

 

Q: Will there be punishment for curators that purposely upload defective collections?

A: If users are using collections maliciously, we will moderate against them, as we do with any other site feature.

 

Q: Will there be collections that are smaller than the ones that are currently available? I can’t imagine that someone without really expensive gear would have a machine capable of running so many mods at once.

A: As mentioned in the article, collections don't need to be massive 1,000 mod lists that overhaul the entire game (although they can be). We fully expect this feature to be used to create small collections with specific themes or even centred around a single mod.

 

Q: How does this new Collections system fix the problem of mods being improperly packaged?

A: Restructuring mods can be achieved via a Collection in a limited capacity, but we still recommend authors share their mods in a standardised format.

 

Q: Will it be possible for a user to download only certain mods within a collection without making their save file unstable?

A: Vortex will guide you through the process of replicating the setup that the curator had in place. After that, you're free to make changes to customise to your liking.

 

Q: Will mod authors get a cut of the revenue from premium memberships?

A: The existing Donation Points/Mod Rewards programme allows creators to earn points that can be redeemed for game keys, Premium and PayPal payouts. The amount we pay into this fund each month is related to the Premium sales/advertising revenue generated over that period.

 

Q: Will curators be required to undergo any sort of training prior to releasing their first mod collection?

A: We plan to make the system as intuitive as possible, with UI prompts to help you get started. We also hope to release a series of video tutorials and wiki articles for people who prefer to learn that way. All of this will be provided for free.

 

Q: Did you include a way for a curator to know if something isn’t right about their collection in the UI of the collection upload page?

A: When sending your collection from Vortex to the website, you'll be made aware of any errors that may prevent users from being able to use your setup. Such as unavailable mods.

 

Q: Does it matter what order the mods in a collection are installed in?

A: No. One of the great things about Vortex is the installation order for mods doesn't matter. You can set rules on top of those provided with the collection to control both the mod and plugin orders. You can also change your mind about rules that have been set without needing to reinstall your mods.

 

Q: Is there a way to divide up the download of a collection among multiple days?

A: Absolutely. You can pause the process and resume at a later point in time or another day. It’s up to you. There is no requirement to finish downloading or installing a collection within X days.

 

Q: Will there be punishments for people who harass mod authors of mods in a collection because the said collection was faulty?

A: We don't tolerate harassment of any kind in this community, as per our Terms of Service. So this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated. We are also introducing a "Success Rating" attribute with Collections too, so if the list of mods simply doesn't work, we expect the rating to be low - which will prevent it from being used as often.

 

Q: Given that collections so far have consisted of many mods, will there be a way to figure out which mod may be causing an issue without having to deactivate one mod, test the game, then repeat for each mod in a collection?

A: Troubleshooting issues with specific mods will still be a manual process, however, it's quite possible that the curator of the list will have already done the legwork to reduce the need for you to do it yourself. Collections will make things more convenient but they can't solve all the problems that come with modding!

 

Q: Will Mods in a collection count towards the 255 mod limit?

A: The 255 limit applies to mostly the Bethesda games and even then it’s not about mods but plugins. There are of course light plugins for SSE/FO4 (ESLs) that don’t contribute to the limit as well. That being said, the 255 plugin limitation is a game engine limitation. The game does not know whether you installed a plugin manually, with Vortex, or as part of a collection and it does not care about that. All it checks for is whether there are more than 255 active plugins. So, yes, plugins from collection mods will count towards the limits.

 

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If you have further questions, please do send them in. We'll be holding a second session on Wednesday 29 September at 17:00 GMT(+1).