RomanKalik

Up to a point, DrakeTheDragon. I might be misread the issue (and if so, I apologize), but I think Dark0ne has stability as the first priority before the Nexus team starts on the more long-term vision that would open up the network altogether. And implementing that vision may take a long time either way. Whereas the Shadowrun modding scene is picking up at an amazing pace right about now. People have already gone well beyond the limits of the current toolset, working on creating custom gear and abilities, providing these as an extended baseline for people working on creating their own adventures. And yet, Steam remains a barrier, rather than a true boon. The only decent service it provides seems to be auto-updating, which fails rather miserably whenever it refuses to let the mod author post an update for no apparent reason, forcing him to post it as a new entry. And while some mod authors do provide a non-Steam way of getting mods (Dropbox and GDrive being common), others don't. And even if they do, at the moment it's up to each mod author to find both where to host and where to publish - essentially, the Shadowrun Returns section on Shadowrun.com now doubles as a modding forum, and links in the project threads are the only way to get a mod build other than Steam. And Steam is not a decent way to find mods. I wish it was. But it isn't. If it's too much of a hassle right now, especially compared to other priorities, then I understand. But the need for a Shadowrun Returns Nexus site is very much there, is what I'm saying.

Hopefully, Dark0ne will at least consider the issue again.

I don't post much here, if at all... but I do use the Nexus regularly for most Elder Scrolls game I own. Much like in Skyrim, Shadowrun Returns might use Steamworks DRM for the game itself, but it does not have any limitations whatsoever on modded content. If you publish on Steam Workshop, then sure - Steam's your way of downloading the content, be it assets or adventure modules. But you can just as easily download the mods via a third party, and extract them into the relevant directory, which is something people are doing when Steam Workshop doesn't quite finalize the mod installation, for example - http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/discussions/-1/864974880458065281/?appid=234650 http://shadowrun-returns.wikispaces.com/Content+Sharing A content pack is little more than a glorified Zip file. You can just as easily use Publish Locally or Publish To, and the modder has access to the files in a manner that is later accessible to a user, without involving Steam in the process. Which is why The Lost Lamb, one of the earliest mods from the early-access Kickstarter supporters? Available from Dropbox. And there are a couple of mods on ModDB already: http://www.moddb.com/games/shadowrun-returns/addons The modding is not DRM-ified. The toolset, one can argue, is DRM-ified, as is the game itself. But the mods? Steam Workshop is a bit of a mess when it comes to organizing content and discussing development, nor does it have the Nexus' amazing modding community. Dark0ne, I realize you have a big change coming up for the site right now, and you're more focused on that than Shadowrun Returns... but this can be a big one. As big as NWN1 was, back in the day. And I honestly believe all will benefit if the Nexus is part of that from the beginning.

This game looks more and more like Neverwinter Nights, especially . Appeal is definitely rising for me.

Definitely excited about this one.

Um, what image? Sorry, but I might be missing something here. Did you add an attachment or a link somewhere? If so, I'd be happy to see it, though I can't find it at the moment - please clarify. Also, note that there's a huge difference between reading file data than doing, say, a recursive search in a set of starting directories to locate specific application info - it's grossly inefficient, mind, but it's also fairly common in code like this. Process Explorer will still show the files as accessed regardless, mind, regardless of what's actually *done* with them - it doesn't, say, show if they're actually read or not. Or if the information collected from it is stored in some log file and/or transmitted to some remote set of servers. I've seen no oddly bloating files under "C:\ProgramData\Origin", and I didn't see any suspicious location the program wrote into over time (Process Explorer is not unfamiliar to me, either), nor have I seen it upload anything suspiciously large over time, unless it hides it in very small messages (Wireshark is not unfamiliar to me, either, and nor is raw network data)... I did check up on this, albeit over an hour or so and little more, when I first read about EA's eyebrow-raising ToS for Origin. http://eacom.s3.amazonaws.com/EULA_Origin_8.24.11.pdf I think it's fairly clear and up front now. What you quoted isn't the Origin EULA, man. It's the EA Privacy Policy from their website, which they might have included in its entirety in the EULA at some point as a point of reference: http://www.ea.com/1/privacy-policy Except it isn't tailored for Origin. It covers everything that every single EA service did, does, and might do. Including web servers (IP, number of clicks, cookies and the like), mobile applications, a few dozen games, and game multiplayer services. Basically, you're mixing apples and oranges here. Anything from achievement tracking to a bug report to a crash log is collected data for something, man. So, again, EA are rather up-front and clear about this stuff... at least now.

I have, as a matter of fact, seen what it actually does. The most "nefarious" activity to date, in all of its functionality, had been its scanning feature - the part where it scans your PC for existing installations of games enabled on Origin, specifically by checking the registry and the ProgramData path. The same is done by Impulse (now GameStop Digital or somesuch) since forever, at least for any game that utilized Stardock's Goo DRM (which didn't really live long), GameSpy Comrade, and to some extent, Steam - though a great deal of effort is already saved for it since it rigidly manages both the games associated with your account and their install location on the PC itself, saving a great deal of (hah) wear on tear on ye olde CPU. Of course, it could be that Origin collects information to send back home... only I've yet to see any evidence that it actually does that. It appears to collect even less information than the stuff collects on you by definition (as in, your computer hardware and operating system information, and every Steam game you play, ever, down to specific play times and in-game data on what you did - difference is, they just market that as a service, and most people like achievements, apparently). If you have evidence to offer on what nefarious deeds Origin goes about, by all means, share it. It's not exactly on-topic with the original intent of this thread, but I guess it's close enough and does warrant some debate. Because as things stand, Origin doesn't seem to collect or monitor in any manner that I didn't knowingly consent to, nor does it embed itself secretly in my operating system - thus, I wouldn't go as far as to call it spyware.

I'm not too concerned about the Origin client, honestly. They've been revising the ToS (which, legally, are as meaningless as they get if Origin does actually breach any privacy-related legislation) as fast as people notice any and every opening reserved in it for whatever the client might do in the future. Basically, the starting point for EA here would be that they'd want to cover all possible future functionality, regardless of what the client does now, or even what it's going to do in any roadmap they might have, and this is because their lawyers are telling them to do that avoid legal trouble in the future. To do this, their legal team would say, they must get you, the end user, to do something that has no meaning whatsoever (hitting I Agree is not a signature on a binding agreement in any shape or form) but looks nice on paper. This merely continues a long-standing tradition in the gaming industry, wherein company profits are moved along the chain into the pockets of people running legal firms, thus keeping the economy going and creating much-needed jobs for everyone. It's a lawyer-based economic structure, and the only one profiting in any way from it is the lawyer. If and when they form their own small cartel and found lobbyist groups to push forward laws that actually give any of this stuff meaning, I'll be concerned. Here and now, it just allows the lawyers on the side of the big publishers and the lawyers on the side of the class actions against them to profit handsomely, and has the added bonus of making some headlines. Anyhow, back to the game itself... I'm still not entirely sure I'm excited about it. Some of the vids about have somewhat reassured me, but I still have to remember that R. A. Salvatore has (or had) a lead role in shaping the entire narrative of the game world, be it the 10,000 years or so of history, or the localized period in Reckoning. Now, I like Salvatore's books, and I'm especially a fan of his never-ending series of Drizzt books, but there's something you learn eventually if you read his books long enough. First, they're pulp fiction - if you're looking for complex stories, you need to be looking elsewhere. There are a few basic themes stringing it along, and the rest is fairly simplistic, though that can be fun to read as well... but then we come to the second issue. Salvatore's incredibly repetitive. He's a bit of a one-trick pony, and he'd write the same story over and over again if but given the chance to do so. He lacks originality. How that works out in games? Forgotten Realms - Demon Stone, that's how. Bland, ever-predictable, and characters that were cardboard flat. I still wince whenever I recall that game plot and characters. And here Salvatore was something rather close to creative lead - a consultant in charge of the entire world's backstory. With a game that, in itself, serves a stepping stone to the MMO that's meant to follow afterwards, that's not good. Still, the videos have been somewhat reassuring...

That looks suspiciously like army food.

Well, I guess it's introductions time. Haven't done this in a while, which is rather sad, considering the good times I used to had in some forums. Name's Roman. Or Roman_K, as the nickname goes. I'm 26, soon to be 27. Guess I've been playing computer games ever since I had a computer in the house, back in 1992 or so, and I've generally enjoyed it. I'm also a fan of fantasy and science-fiction, with a more specific dash of Steampunk being very much appreciated if and when it's done well. Hi, everyone! EDIT: Mind, I've been lurking since forever, as I've obviously used the various Nexus sub-sites when looking for quite a few mods over the years. I think Oblivion first pulled me over here.