Is this a thing? (One-button Mod List downloading)

[Sirenapples]

I've been wanting to get back into Fallout 4 or Skyrim for months now but the idea of playing without mods is soul crushing, and the idea of taking a week or more redownloading and reapplying mods after having hunted them all down is fatiguing.

 

 

I know mod compilations are a thing, such as GEMS. But I've been fantasizing about the ability to make and share lists of mods with no permission necessary, because with a push of the download button you download ALL the mods on the list FROM THEIR individual sources so each source gets dinged with a View and a Download, while the page itself also gets 1 download of its own. If you Endorse, it Endorses the Mod List as well as all of the component mods or opens a popup window with all the components to individually endorse or not.

 

And of course you could always click links to the individual mod pages.

 

 

 

But the key here is that NMM will install each mod from their own sources, in a specific order given by the List Composer. In NMM there would be a new Mod Profile with the name of the Mod List you download and its Composer, activating that profile shows only the Mod List's mods (Or at least has them in their own folder at the top) and activates them all for you in the correct order.

 

 

BAM, Instant, immediate (Based on your internet quality...) and incredibly easy access to high-level modding and mod sorting at a push of a button.

 

I can't believe this isn't a thing. I see Mod Packs that are bundled mods that someone managed to get permission for individually and those are always neat enough. And then there are Mod Lists that show a bunch of separate mods.

 

But I really want a one-button full deluge of each individual mod in a proper order, and then a one-button (or two, mod profile then activate) mass-install/apply button within NMM.

Edited October 28, 2017 by Sirenapples

[UhuruNUru]

No and never will be, modding isn't that simple, and there's many reasons you may have to go to the source page, which isn't always on NexusMods, like extra steps required, and every page visited produces much needed ad revenue for the host site.

It's those financial reasons above any technical problems (which are also large, and much more complex than you may think), that's stopped this happenning for Skyrim.

STEP had ideas in that direction, but Dark0ne said no, and STEP's a specific guide, so it never needed any multi listing features.

 

Only Mod Picker had the multiple listings incentive to actually put something together, and apart from having to go to the mod page to download each file, is pretty much everything else, you're asking for, but only for Skyrim now, with Fallout 4 planned.

 

Not to mention NMM isn't advanced enough to cope with that sort of workload, and the more games/engines a mod manager supports the less game specific features it can have.

Steam Workshop is the extreme example, it downloads files to specific folders, and that's all it can do, it has no mod management at all.

NMM is a simple "Jack of all games, Master of none", which isn't a bad thing, it does what Steam Workshop can't provides simple mod management

 

It will never be anything more as Nexus is replacing it, The more advanced Mod Managers are, and always will be, game and/or engine specific ones. that can work around the specific needs that game has.

The new Witcher 3 Mod Manager is a clear example of this fact, less than a month old, and from the first release, was much better for Witcher 3, than any "Jack of all games" will ever be, because it's features are customised, not generic.

Simple fact is the more games a manager must work with, the less it can do that only works with one or two of them. NMM was originally a port of FoMM (Fallout Mod Manager) initially made for Skyrim, and thus does more with Bethesda's engine games, than later game additions.

[Sirenapples]

No and never will be, modding isn't that simple, and there's many reasons you may have to go to the source page, which isn't always on NexusMods, like extra steps required, and every page visited produces much needed ad revenue for the host site.

It's those financial reasons above any technical problems (which are also large, and much more complex than you may think), that's stopped this happenning for Skyrim.

STEP had ideas in that direction, but Dark0ne said no, and STEP's a specific guide, so it never needed any multi listing features.

 

Only Mod Picker had the multiple listings incentive to actually put something together, and apart from having to go to the mod page to download each file, is pretty much everything else, you're asking for, but only for Skyrim now, with Fallout 4 planned.

 

Not to mention NMM isn't advanced enough to cope with that sort of workload, and the more games/engines a mod manager supports the less game specific features it can have.

Steam Workshop is the extreme example, it downloads files to specific folders, and that's all it can do, it has no mod management at all.

NMM is a simple "Jack of all games, Master of none", which isn't a bad thing, it does what Steam Workshop can't provides simple mod management

 

It will never be anything more as Nexus is replacing it, The more advanced Mod Managers are, and always will be, game and/or engine specific ones. that can work around the specific needs that game has.

The new Witcher 3 Mod Manager is a clear example of this fact, less than a month old, and from the first release, was much better for Witcher 3, than any "Jack of all games" will ever be, because it's features are customised, not generic.

Simple fact is the more games a manager must work with, the less it can do that only works with one or two of them. NMM was originally a port of FoMM (Fallout Mod Manager) initially made for Skyrim, and thus does more with Bethesda's engine games, than later game additions.

 

 

 

Modding usually is that simple though. Just click download with nmm, then click activate when it's downloaded. Some mods have special steps but if those steps can't be automated then they can just be excluded from "Mod Chains".

As for load order, that'd be the job of the Curator / chain maker, to compose them in a certain order. This has the added benefit of helping everyone who doesn't understand load order very well such as myself.

 

The system could literally take you to the page to retain ad revenue as it does its thing so you see each mod currently being handled, or open it up in a new tab.

 

I feel like it doesn't even have to be done by Nexus, but is something any program could do. Essentially just going page by page to download the files and then activating them, with NMM or its own thing.

 

 

 

I don't have a reply towards the rest.

 

It's just a lot of work to get into modding and starting all over after playing a heavily modded game in the past feels daunting. I'm just dreaming about a thing that could literally do exactly what I would be doing; Press download. Press activate. (Well, and the most time consuming part; Searching. But searching would instead be done by curators making the chains of mods) But without consuming my own time and energy. Something I could set and come back to after cooking dinner, or when I wake up in the morning.

 

That sounds selfish, but it's a fact of the game. Both skyrim and fallout feel like empty husks without mods, particularly after having used heavy mod lists before.

 

 

OH!

 

But what about installing NMM mod profiles? Profiles are already a thing. Don't they activate and deactivate mods automatically to switch between profiles?

 

Couldn't you install a Profile someone else made? It could show mods you don't have installed and you could click it to go to the page and install it. But if you already have the mods, poof you're set. I have a MASSIVE library of downloaded mods from all these years, I think at one point a few years ago I determined I had 11% of all nexus mods lmao (I've since changed computers though and restarted the collection). Profiles made by other uses would be a huge help and could be similar to what I'm dreaming of!

Edited November 2, 2017 by Sirenapples