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[Lagslayer]

How does having that many mods even work? Do you run them all simultaneously, or switch some of them on and off so that they don't run together? And how big are these mods? typically. Just affecting a couple character models? Adding entirely new, custom content? How much content?

It just seems completely insane and obsessive from the outside. Please give me some context.

[Descan]

Context: "Hey, that looks cool. Oh, that looks cool! Ohhh I gotta have that one. Wait, I have 100 mods now? Wat."

[Karkov]

How does having that many mods even work? Do you run them all simultaneously, or switch some of them on and off so that they don't run together? And how big are these mods? typically. Just affecting a couple character models? Adding entirely new, custom content? How much content?

It just seems completely insane and obsessive from the outside. Please give me some context.

All of mine run at the same time, and a lot of them aren't giant expansive updates, mainly just things that make the game slightly better than usual.  Models, followers, graphics overhauls, I've got a mod that allows me to wear infinite rings if I wanted to.  They're all kinda diverse, but I think I have around 2 GB of mods.  But yeah, like Descan says.  "Oh, wait, how many mods to I have now?"

[Kadzar]

So it's sort of like if you were at some sort of buffet with a limitless variety of foods and had a bottomless stomach?

[Owlga]

As someone who played her first gamebryo based RPG on PC last year, yeah you need about that many mods in any of them to get the most out of it. (Or as Janet says for literally any game Bethesda made themselves to make them playable) Though the one I was playing was new Vegas and only really needed about 35 since it was a much better base game.

[Bauglir]

They're all "run" simultaneously. There's a mod manager program used to install and maintain them. Basically, it inserts data into a folder that the game consults during loading, replacing or adding content according to what's in the folder. I think. I don't know how Bethesda designed it, but the basic gist is that most of their sandbox games are designed with modding in mind. Files in this folder override the content of the base game, or add additional triggers that add new content.

A large number of them are performance enhancers, and many others are changes to systems or rules that I don't like. Those tend to be very small, either replacing wasteful resources (often textures or models) with efficient ones or changing a few lines somewhere in the game. Some are new content, ranging from dozens of new weapons (including models for each) to a new hairstyle because I wanted to see how the physics engine handled hair that used it. A very few, like SkyRe, are gigantic, affecting nearly every aspect of the game and requiring its own utility to handle the generation of compatibility patches for mods that affect the same files.

It sounds like there's a lot, but probably well over 50 are just tweaks or patches that I consider strict upgrades, and will automatically install no matter what I'm doing. They just sort of pile up as you see stuff that makes you think, "This would make the game better".

There are other posters here who get heavier into the new content stuff, although I can't think of any off the top of my head. I've had more myself - these are mostly refinements on existing concepts, since I trimmed a lot of the fat I wasn't using after last time.

[Skyrunner]

It's the best model ever for game companies Just do a decent enough job and the community will do everything else for you! We're all being used for their gain O_O

[Bauglir]

Honestly, I agree. For a given kind of game, at any rate. I wouldn't say all companies should pursue the fanbase-as-creators angle, but it's a very healthy niche to maintain. There are some games where the point is to tell a particular story or something, and they probably shouldn't take that same path, lest the game feel simply unfinished. Games that are already platforms for user expression, though, absolutely should take a least-resistance approach to modifications, if nothing else.

This is why I like DF's RAWs so much >___________>

[Descan]

I'd argue that games where the idea is to tell a story should still have mod-ability, if not in mind, then at least not actively worked against, and accommodated where possible.

Just look at Amnesia! Full game, tells a story, modding tools included (either that or very easy to mod the files) and a large base of user-created "stories" comes from it. Whether they're any -good- is up to you decide, but it's still there.

[Putnam]

Dwarf Fortress modding is the one I find the most interesting, so far. Amnesia's modding tools give you the tools to tell a story. Dwarf Fortress's modding tool gives you the tools to give the game the tools it needs to tell stories--stories which themselves are tools for far grander stories when parsed through the ever-available computers with extremely advanced language processing algorithms built-in called "humans".

[Bauglir]

Fair enough. Working against it is a bad idea, yeah, but I can definitely see why a lot of developers might not bother accounting for it. Putting in extra work to prevent it is silly, though.

[Graknorke]

New spam account making personal attacks on Vector for reasons I cannot ascertain. However, the account signed up only hours after the post if first replied to was made, making me thing it's someone who already either posts on or lurks B12.

[Tiruin]

New spam account making personal attacks on Vector for reasons I cannot ascertain. However, the account signed up only hours after the post if first replied to was made, making me thing it's someone who already either posts on or lurks B12.

Either way, a very, VERY sad individual.

The hell would anyone even do such a thing?!

>_>

[Caz]

There's a lot of dark things in this world. I always get the righteous anger mode, but it's really not at all useful unless you're going to turn anger into action. Being soraged doesn't make the world better.

[Descan]

I'm assuming they've been cleaned up, but is it along the same lines as that one that mocked her talking about her professor treating her differently because of being female?