20+yrs of Bethesta modding . Where r the Readme's in mods these days? Skyriim "creators" r the worst offenders

[mangojack]

The great mod creators in the Elder Scrolls series, always added an concise "readme" file.

Most "Skyrim" modders  seem to b on their own wavelength , expecting all to know the intricies of file management.

it's a shame most users r CS ignorant & moders r so insular.

[AaronOfMpls]

I think the broadband era brought in lots of new modders who started in that era, and weren't already familiar with readme practice.  As far as I know, it was rare to see it explicitly taught in how-to-mod guides for newer games; it was just kinda assumed at best and ignored altogether at worst.

 

Myself, I've always included a <mod-name>_readme.txt file in my mods' zips, since it was universal for earlier games I'd modded, like Civilization II or (especially) The Sims 1.  Practically every mod you downloaded for them included a readme file.  Especially since it was the late '90s-early '00s when I'd started modding these games. 

 

Back then, many of us were still on dial-up over a (landline) phone line, and we had to hang up the modem if we wanted to make or receive phone calls on that line.*  And cell phones -- if we even had one -- could only do phone calls and maybe SMS, no internet.  So we were only connected to the internet when actively browsing the web or checking our email on our computers -- and we often had to plan that around other phone line usage.

With no always-on internet connection, you couldn't just quickly check the web page you got the mod from anytime you wanted.  So a readme file was absolutely essential back then! 

And the practice has stayed with me ever since.  I've had little reason not to include a readme -- especially since once I've got one readme file and/or a readme template done, I can swap info in and out as needed when making other mods' readmes. 

 

These days, it's understandable if someone doesn't include a readme; it is a little extra work, after all.  Still, it is frustrating to not have that info if I'm going through old mods and I'm not sure where a mod came from.  Or worse, if it's a mod that's no longer available anywhere (either taken down, or from a defunct site) -- meaning I have to see if the Wayback Machine happened to archive the description page.

 

*  Most people didn't have a second line for their modem.  (We actually did have a second line, but none of our friends or neighbors did.)  And we got cable internet in 2000, once the cable company started offering it in our neighborhood.

Edited April 5 by AaronOfMpls

[LenaWolfBravil]

I put a lot of work into the mod description. There is no way I'm going to put even more work into a readme with identical text. Users can copy and save the mod description for themselves, and it is up to them to remember to update it every time I update it, which is often.

4 hours ago, mangojack said:

it's a shame most users r CS ignorant & moders r so insular.

I suppose I have the same attitude to such duplication as the original poster has towards grammar of the English language.

[AaronOfMpls]

9 minutes ago, LenaWolfBravil said:

I put a lot of work into the mod description. There is no way I'm going to put even more work into a readme with identical text.

While I go the opposite direction with my own mods: I put the info in my readme first, and then copy it into the mod description page. 

(I also save .txt files of my mod and image descriptions if they have a lot of BBCode formatting or any inline images -- both for composing in the first place, and as backup.)

[LenaWolfBravil]

5 minutes ago, AaronOfMpls said:

While I go the opposite direction with my own mods: I put the info in my readme first, and then copy it into the mod description page. 

(I also save .txt files of my mod and image descriptions if they have a lot of BBCode formatting or any inline images -- both for composing in the first place, and as backup.)

But that's exactly the problem: formatting. It is not preserved in a flat text file and I don't want to learn BBCode especially since it is going to be phased out very soon. Besides, I update the mod description more often than I update the mod itself and I am not about to reupload the mod just for the readme.

[AaronOfMpls]

23 minutes ago, LenaWolfBravil said:

Besides, I update the mod description more often than I update the mod itself and I am not about to reupload the mod just for the readme.

 Ahh.  Makes some sense.

I rarely have reason to update my own description pages, and I don't have much on them that's not in my readme's anyway.  And even if I did, I'd probably still use my readme as a starting point for the description page ... and not worry about putting every little description change in the readme.

(My own process has long been to compose longer things locally in a .txt file, then paste into the website's text box and apply any additional formatting if I want to.  ...And to Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C (select all, copy) right before hitting Post or Submit.  I got burned a few times back in the day, losing a long post either to lost connections or browser crashes before sites like the Nexus would save in the background as you go.) 

 

Edited April 5 by AaronOfMpls
Ok, why is [Post] in square brackets mangling all the text after it into a bad link?

[LenaWolfBravil]

5 minutes ago, AaronOfMpls said:

(My own process has long been to compose longer things locally in a .txt file, then paste into the website's text box and apply any additional formatting if I want to.  ...And to Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C (select all, copy) right before hitting Post or Submit.  I got burned a few times back in the day, losing a long post either to lost connections or browser crashes before sites like the Nexus would save in the background as you go.) 

Actually, I do exactly the same, only I write my initial text in WordPad with formatting. Copy-paste works for formatting too. However, I then update the mod description and don't update the local file.

[UsernameWithA9]

3 hours ago, LenaWolfBravil said:

Users can copy and save the mod description for themselves, and it is up to them to remember to update

I tend to agree, LenaWolfBravil. I can't speak about Skyrim mods, but there have been a few mods that I've downloaded for Morrowind which didn't include a ReadMe. No big deal. I just grabbed the text from the mod's description page and made my own ReadMe.

@mangojack If there is no ReadMe included with the download and the mod's description is vague or otherwise not up to par, then that's an issue. But you can always seek out the mod's creator/uploader via direct message or through the comment section to obtain the information. In my experience, that has been an effective method. You have to remember that some modders are amateurs who may or may not follow the guidelines set by those 'great mod creators in the Elder Scrolls series' of past that you referred to or... maybe they just forgot. @AaronOfMpls brought up a good point in that the internet is not what it used to be when ReadMes were essential due to connectivity issues. I can commiserate with his dial-up woes of yore.

So, sometimes it's up to you to drop your entitlement issues and do a little work too. If all else fails, move on. I'm sure you have better things to do with your time. It's just a game, after all.

Personally, I have included ReadMe text files in all of my mods, all two of them. Haha! I'm one of those amateurs previously referred to.

[mangojack]

9 hours ago, LenaWolfBravil said:

I put a lot of work into the mod description. There is no way I'm going to put even more work into a readme with identical text. Users can copy and save the mod description for themselves, and it is up to them to remember to update it every time I update it, which is often.

I suppose I have the same attitude to such duplication as the original poster has towards grammar of the English language.

Have U heard of copy/paste ? Dropping a txt file into ur "creation".7z aint so hard to do.

Readme's should also contain mod creation date.

[UsernameWithA9]

12 hours ago, mangojack said:

Readme's should also contain mod creation date.

Huh? You mean upload date, right? Mod creation date can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint and seems to me to be irrelevant. And I've never seen a mod's ReadMe mention it's creation or upload date probably because Nexus handles that by mentioning it in at least two spots on the mod's page, once on the Description Tab and again on the Files tab. Where are you getting your information?