What makes a mod popular?

[SilvasRuin]

The first thing I look for in a mod is endorsements. Shameful, I know, but I vainly hope that the ones with high endorsements will be good.

In retrospect, it really shouldn't be surprising how often that has disappointed me. Maybe I just don't have the same taste in mods as everyone else... I still sort mods by the amount of endorsements when looking through them, but anymore it is not a deciding factor.

 

What I want out of Oblivion is a fantasy sandbox with a logical world (no horrendous scaling), matches the established in-game canon (The Arena organizer says Invisibility is acceptable during arena matches, don't disable it!), gets rid of temptations for munchkinism (I love you Realistic Leveling and Quest Reward Leveler!), gives character development equal but distinct choices (Mighty Magick Reborn's fatal flaw is awarding mage characters much more Magicka in the long-run with no drawbacks or trade-offs at all), and provides a challenging and fun environment. At least, those are the most important things for me. I thought OOO and MMM were the answer to that, but as you probably tell I still used many supplemental mods on top of those two, and OOO wound up disappointing me in the long term anyhow.

 

But to get back on subject for what I look for and off the subject of how disappointing popular mods have been...

When I REALLY get to looking for mods, I tend to sift through a large number of them, popular or not. The first thing that cements my attention is a well-detailed and concise description listing exactly what a mod does. Far too often mods do things that I did not at first know about, and that more often than not pisses me off and causes me to remove them. Yes, wall of texts will drive me away as well, but it isn't that hard to list what a mod does and what compatibility issues it might have are without writing an entire essay. If your mod IS just that complicated, a link to the readme would serve nicely once the initial description has obtained my attention.

See, what I'm looking for in the description is an idea of how it will affect game balance and what sort of problems might arise if I use it, both balance-wise and compatibility-wise.

 

Second, I like to find out what little "extras" a mod does. Many mods are not modular and don't know when to leave well enough alone. MMR added the munchkinism to the Intelligence and Magicka growth system. Midas Magic adds admittedly game-breaking flight/levitation spells. Frostcrag Spire Revisited adds an Elder Scroll to the library. (I have yet to learn if that is only decoration or not, but I dearly hope it offers no other purpose than looking pretty, otherwise it nearly ruins a near-perfect mod.) Even the best mods add SOMETHING that sucks or that I just can't agree with, so I like knowing what it is ahead of time so it doesn't catch me by surprise later.

 

 

Which is the third point that effects my decision. If a mod adds a huge exploit that is not modular, then I will usually pass it up. "You don't have to use the exploit" isn't good enough for me. I don't want it to be there at all. I want to abuse the hell out of whatever clever combination I can come up with, but I do NOT want any mod to simply hand me something that completely ruins the balance of whatever major overhaul I've got running. I have barely considered any armor adding mods because they are often as strong as glass, daedric, or sometimes ebony, and they are provided for free and without effort. Blood and Mud sells vampire cures and Elixirs of Exploration in ordinary shops, without quests to earn them, and out on the shelves where I can just sneak in at night and steal them. (There are so much worse things about Blood and Mud, but I won't get into them here.) These kinds of things are complete deal breakers for me. Speaking of which, I'm still on the fence about Midas Magic. It is fantastic, but the Midas Chest, Midas Summon, and any of the spells providing steeds or allowing flight bother the hell out of me.

 

Fourth, I finally decide whether or not I think it will enhance my game in some way. This includes searching out compatibility issues with my other mods and possibly actually using it for a short time to make sure there aren't any issues I've missed. If I find a mod is buggy, I'll usually get rid of it fairly quickly. Similarly if there are several compatibility issues that are not relatively simple to fix, I'll get rid of the mod. This is also the point in which I might try out multiple similar mods just to see which I like more, like the various water and weather mods out there. Basically, the final deal maker or breaker is compatibility and quality testing. If it makes the graphics better, provides a useful but non-game breaking function or tool, or provides its own balance tweaks that don't interfere with other balance mods (such as one mod balancing magic and another balancing melee), then I'll probably keep it and use it.

 

One extra point here: Try not to make the mistake so many other mod makers have made. MANY of the magic mods are not modular enough for me. Yes, a lot of the changes can be quite fun, but I'd very much like the option of leaving certain changes out, for balance's sake. I've abandoned too many great mods just because of little sections that I feel ruin the whole thing for me.

Of course if you do make a very modular mod, you have a bit of a tightrope act to go through. You can either make each individual segment its own .esm file and keep it simple to install but take up more precious mod space for the people using a lot of mods already, or you can make .esm files of each combination of components to remedy that situation but then risk scaring off simpler modders. That latter option seems to be usually dispelled by just making the mod omod ready so people can just answer a couple questions and have all the complication dealt with for them.

 

 

In short, I think making a quality/useful mod that is self-contained and/or modular so as not to screw things up when combined with other mods is the most important part, with a concise but quite informative description following just after in importance. You NEED actual quality, but you need to let people know just what it is that makes your mod good almost as much.

 

 

 

Final note: Manual or omod doesn't matter to me anymore as I'm now aware of how to handle most of them and I know the pros and cons of both. Before I knew as much as I know now, however, I aimed for the omod ready mods first since they were the least intimidating to install. Simple installations go a long way.

[78stonewobble]

Final note: Manual or omod doesn't matter to me anymore as I'm now aware of how to handle most of them and I know the pros and cons of both. Before I knew as much as I know now, however, I aimed for the omod ready mods first since they were the least intimidating to install. Simple installations go a long way.

 

THAT and a good readme. :)

[Dracomies]

On the subject of popular mods, popularity really depends on the people downloading the mod.

 

I have been on all three servers.

 

Dragon Age Nexus

Fallout 3 Nexus

 

and now Oblivion Nexus

 

Let me tell you...they all want different things and they are tailored in different ways. There's a lot of similarities but I am seeing certain patterns.

 

But in general...what makes a mod become popular..is if it is in one of three categories.

 

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1. It is rare or something that not a lot of people are doing as of yet.

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or

 

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2. It is common (something a lot of people are doing) but it has a certain something that makes it a bit better than the rest of the competition.

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or

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3. It has "Sex" written all over it.

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or

 

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This is probably the most important...when what you offer...is something that should have been in the game in the first place or fixes flaws of the game.

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The more unique your style, the more people will be interested in what you do.

[Mortrix927]

For me, I look for

 

1. Whether or not I agree with the premise. I am much more likely to try a mod if I agree with the authors stated intentions.

2. A good description, including any installation instructions that aren't "put this in the data folder, unzip & activate". Nothing is more irratating than unzipping in the data folder, locating the read-me, and finding out that it has to be in that folder over there, or can only be installed with that utility.

3. If your mod requires special resources, such as wrye bash, or OBSE; try to provide a link.

4. Make the read-me as concise as possible, especially if there is specific stuff the player has to do, such as in an ini file or when first starting the game. Don't include a bunch of information that has little to do with it. You want the player to remember the important stuff, which he's not likely to do if there's a four-page essay in the middle of it about your boy-scout arrow making experience. (I have a mod that actually has this, and this is on one that requires you to find the password before you can unzip the real file)

5. If at all possible, try to avoid situations where the user has to type something in the control panel to make something appear. Either script it to appear in inventory on install or, for more challenge, place it somewhere in the world. If doing the later, give enough (preferably in-game) hints for the player to be able to find it. Hint: "Somewhere in the West" is not much of a clue.

/rant

[majikmonkee]

I haven't modded Oblivion before, but I'm an old (as in really old) school modder of games like Wolfenstein 3D and other ancient FPS games, and I've seen both good and bad reactions when it comes to response to a project. Don't get frustrated, just appreciate that there are 70 individual people out there enjoying (hopefully) your efforts. As far as I'm concerned, even one person really enjoying something I've done is reward in itself. Anyway, I'm pretty picky about mods, but here's what I look for:

 

- an interesting name: either a clear description of what it does, or if it's a quest mod, an intriguing name that will get me hooked and looking for...

 

- screenshots, screenshots, screenshots: I'm a visual person, and if you can show me some good looking pics, I'm halfway to downloading it.

 

- unique environments or creatures: I've seen plenty of the official Oblivion and its expansions, new content is good content.

 

- puzzle/combat balance: I like combat in small doses, but will keep playing and remember long after a mod that works my brain.

 

- content that blends with the original game: I like being able to use mod quest rewards to enhance the vanilla Oblivion gameplay when I go back to it.

 

Like I said, I'm picky, and rarely download mods from description alone, but being picky has worked for me so far - I have yet to download what I consider to be a real stinker so far. Based on my own preferences, my favorites thus far have been Heart of the Dead and Lost Spires. I was working on Ruined Tail's Tale most recently. All three so far have appealed to my mod senses on many different levels. =D

[hawkfist]

First and foremost, I need to belive the mod will not mangle my game. I have been seriously mangled in the past, and now I look to avoid it. So if we're at Mangle Factor 12, I'm afraid the dilithium chamber will explode and I'm not going to download the mod. Second, I look for endorsements. Everyone here knows more than me, so I usually don't move on a mod until it's heavily endorsed. While I know this is the same reason no one wants to publish my novel, it's just a fact of life. Finally, I think most of us have been playing Oblivion for a long time, so I think the key for a modder who wants a popular mod is to somehow manage the juggling act of injecting the new without harming the old. Something special, that allows me to experience some aspect of Oblivion in a new way ... that's amazing.

 

For example, the most telling case in point for me here was when I downloaded the Dwemer Skyship mod. Not the skyship, mind you. I don't like the Skyship, don't live on it, never call it to me anymore. But maaaaan ....when I jumped off that skyship wearing the Dwemer Parachute (in a chest, undocumented in the little readme), and all of a freakin' sudden I was FLYING in oblivion for the first time, (well, gliding at least) I was in heaven. Mind you, I had not downloaded the Akatosh Mount at that point, and the Midas Magic Carpet spell is just a horse that looks like a carpet (at least that's how it worked in my world). But with that parachute, I could see the world from the sky for the first time. My first leaps, from Dive Rock, from the Skyship, from the Mage's Sky Home, and later just into combat from higher vantage points ... ahhh, the thrill of it.

 

Give me a tiny power to affect the world in a small but new and special way (like gliding was), and I'll love the mod.

[CemeteryN7]

I can't really tell you how to make your mod popular, but what I can tell you is that, if you think its a good idea and you like it, upload it. Don't expect it to become popular. And if it does don't expect it to happen quickly.

[majikmonkee]

Yeah, sometimes good mods take a while to get well known. If it's a big mod, serious players will take time to play it through thoroughly before responding or endorsing a mod. I actually steer clear of mods that are primarily sexploitation, just not really my thing, I don't usually go after mods that alter my realism settings in ways I don't want.

[Mortrix927]

Yea, I tend to agree with that. Some mods take a lot of hours to play through enough to know what your talking about, unless your an expert on modding and you whip out the magic mod-checking app.