Unofficial Patches - "Legendary Edition" or Separate Files?

[cronozero5]

Well, I don't really plan on getting any of the DLCs, and would hate to miss out on all upcoming bug fixes to the base game from this amazing mod, so I voted "no"

Edited July 15, 2014 by cronozero5

[lofgren]

My vote is definitely "Whatever is easiest for the team." These patches may be for the use of the community but they are still a lot of work and I assume y'all have some kind of life that needs tending outside of Skyrim.

 

Minor patches that bridge DLCs can be created by others if necessary. As far as I know there are no truly gamebreaking issues. So if the patches continue as four projects it's not that big a deal.

 

The percentage of players who do not own all three DLCs is shrinking and it mostly comes down to a personal choice. If you can afford the free time to play Skyrim and the rig to play it on, you can probably afford the DLCs. So they have no one but themselves to blame if they can't make use of the patches should they be merged.

 

Basically, either scenario is reasonable and y'all should do whatever makes this project easiest for yourselves.

 

Also a third option, just throwing this out there, might be to have one patch for the main game and one patch for all three DLCs. That way folks who do not have all three DLCs could at least get fixes for the base game, and you have only two files to manage instead of four.

[seanxx]

One patch. The number of people still playing Skyrim now and who didnt grab the dlc in the various sales for 50% or 75% must be pretty small.

Most recent Unofficial skyrim patch unique downloads on nexus is 30893, dawnguard is 29673! that's 96% percent, udp is at 25995, that's 83%.

[livnthedream]

I vote yes. Inter dlc fixes are a good thing.

[lmstearn]

Voted no.

The alternative that has been suggested is a package form with Bain/Fomod Installer that auto detects DLCs and provides optionals for other patches.

The big reason really is that I have no desire at all to want to install and play with any of the DLC. (Well, perhaps Hearthfire). They would clog my game and HD up with more cons than pros. The general consensus on the playable value of these is not wont to arrange too many bunches of glowing praise on display.

Iron out the major bugs in Vanilla first. Well- if we are all satisfied they are gone, then sure, move on.

[Sixxness]

If you could provide the "All-In-One" as an optional choice for each DLC mod page. This seems to be the best option, I guess?

[Arthmoor]

If you could provide the "All-In-One" as an optional choice for each DLC mod page. This seems to be the best option, I guess?

That's simply not feasible with the way things are right now. It would absolutely require a new install folder to make sure the work isn't contaminated by other mods, and rather than streamlining our process or saving work, that would only generate even more.

 

The alternative that has been suggested is a package form with Bain/Fomod Installer that auto detects DLCs and provides optionals for other patches.

This really isn't a viable option either because it solves nothing, and it would require someone on our team to know how to even build an NMM based installer package. I don't think any of us has much of a desire to go there.

 

Our problem is not one of packaging, it's one of workflow. We *DO* have a process right now that works, but runs into a few snags here and there with inter-DLC conflicts we can't manage with the current system. Switching to a unified system would absolutely demand a change in workflow that wouldn't be compatible with what we're doing now.

 

Keep it coming though folks. This isn't something that's going to get decided in a day or two.

[TheFuzzler]

To me hearthfire is basically "lets play mums and dads". I didn't want to play it when I was 9 and I don't want to play it now, so if I didn't get GOTY in a summer sale there's no way i'd pay for it now. I know others have no intention of buying the other DLC. Furthermore I definitely wouldn't be just handing over my money to bethesda so I could use a mod which fixes things that are broken in the game, which they themselves show no intention of fixing.

I see a number of people saying "The DLC is cheap enough to get..." umm. No it's not. Currently DB and DG are $25 each on steam. That's not "cheap", if you don't have any DLC and you wanted them, it's literally cheaper to buy GOTY edition. Realistically people aren't going to spend $50 for the patch, so they'll be stuck.

 

So this is how I see it:

Worst cases for each of the groups:

For those that have the DLC: you need to manage a few more patches.

For those that don't: You need to either spend $50 to buy the game again or go without the updates.

 

Personally I don't think that's fair.

Edited July 15, 2014 by TheFuzzler

[livnthedream]

To me hearthfire is basically "lets play mums and dads". I didn't want to play it when I was 9 and I don't want to play it now, so if I didn't get GOTY in a summer sale there's no way i'd pay for it now. I know others have no intention of buying the other DLC. Furthermore I definitely wouldn't be just handing over my money to bethesda so I could use a mod which fixes things that are broken in the game, which they themselves show no intention of fixing.

I see a number of people saying "The DLC is cheap enough to get..." umm. No it's not. Currently DB and DG are $25 each on steam. That's not "cheap", if you don't have any DLC and you wanted them, it's literally cheaper to buy GOTY edition. Realistically people aren't going to spend $50 for the patch, so they'll be stuck.

 

So this is how I see it:

Worst cases for each of the groups:

For those that have the DLC: you need to manage a few more patches.

For those that don't: You need to either spend $50 to buy the game again or go without the updates.

 

Personally I don't think that's fair.

 

Thats the wrong way to look at Hearthfire imo. Look at it more as a ton more assets than can (often are) added to mods to increase how well those mods are. Not to mention the benefits to various crafting/economy overhauls. I got married once and adopted kids just to see how it was handled and have skipped it ever since. I still like the byoh stuff (to a small extent) and value the dlc entirely for what other modders have done with it, notably Kryptopyr.

 

As for cheap, there is a reason why the numerous sales have been pointed out. You do know that you can get Steam codes from other sites than just Steam? And yes, I bought all of my dlc on their own, even shelling out the money for Hearthfire on purpose. :P

[lmstearn]

 

"This really isn't a viable option either because it solves nothing, and it would require someone on our team to know how to even build an NMM based installer package. I don't think any of us has much of a desire to go there."

 

I can post you a pro forma package for them on AFK Mods. Might take some weeks. It's a viable option because it solves the problem for players of Skyrim who do not want to acquire DLC. Plus, what about those who are in the middle of a Vanilla game? Would they have to abandon that for a new game with the DLC for continued patch updates?

 

"Our problem is not one of packaging, it's one of workflow."

 

This is a critical issue. We do not wish for any "unpaid overtime" on our hard working patchers. :tongue: