New forum guide for modders?

[khzmusik]

Hey, this is a question for the moderators about the new forums.

I see that the old threads for mods has been archived. I also see that there is a drop-down at the top of the forums called "Mods", but what is in that drop-down seems to be changing as the forums get up and running.

Can you give us an idea of the way mods are going to be handled on these forums, moving forwards? Perhaps not official rules, but just in general, the way that the forums are going to be set up to handle mods.

Are there going to be specific mod-related features, like individual mod pages? Thread auto-generation? Or are things going to work as before, and the "archived" posts are just because of the move to the new software?

 

[Brains]

Hey khzmusik,

Yes we will be utilizing the Mods Resource at the top of the forums now to manage the mods. When you upload your mod (up to 10mb) or use a host link, it will prompt for information pertaining to which versions your mod supports, any licenses that need to be presented and whether it is a client or server mod.

Once submitted, it will require moderator approval at which point your mod will then be public and available for download, and a discussion thread auto generated for user support. People can then rate your mod and leave reviews. As a mod owner you can then submit updates to your mod and it will keep a version history attached to that resource.

The categories up there are not in stone and just a first pass, as we add / remove some you can request your mod be moved to a different category or changes be made.

Hope that answers your questions and gives guidance for others with similar questions.

 

[khzmusik]

Thanks, that answers a lot. I think it is a good idea. It makes the forums a more mod-friendly resource, like 7daystodiemods, or Nexus but specific to 7D2D.

I'm sure there will be issues (like, what happens when one mod is split into two in an updated game version) but I'm sure those issues can be worked out.

It is definitely more coherent than the old forum system.

EDIT: Also let us know when that is open for business. I'd like to get started listing my mods, and I'm sure most other modders feel the same way.

 

[khzmusik]

I just saw the categories. I have a suggestion: "Challenge Mods". These would be mods that are geared towards specific, unique gameplay challenges: no crafting, "the floor is lava," sunlight sets you on fire, etc.

Or, should those go into the "Gameplay Mods" section?

 

[Brains]

Thanks, that answers a lot. I think it is a good idea. It makes the forums a more mod-friendly resource, like 7daystodiemods, or Nexus but specific to 7D2D.

I'm sure there will be issues (like, what happens when one mod is split into two in an updated game version) but I'm sure those issues can be worked out.

It is definitely more coherent than the old forum system.

EDIT: Also let us know when that is open for business. I'd like to get started listing my mods, and I'm sure most other modders feel the same way.

They are currently open, please submit your mods.

I just saw the categories. I have a suggestion: "Challenge Mods". These would be mods that are geared towards specific, unique gameplay challenges: no crafting, "the floor is lava," sunlight sets you on fire, etc.

Or, should those go into the "Gameplay Mods" section?

Gameplay for now. If we find there are a bunch with a similar theme we will then add more categories and break them out.

 

[LittleRedSonja]

Hi! Nice to see the forums are back online
I have 2 small questions about the new way to "post" mods.

1- Is there any way to just "move" or "edit" the archived mod post, without having to create a new from scratch?
2- Is there any way to provide 2 or more download links for a mod? The existing UI seems to allow only one external url for download, and I for example always provide 2 or sometimes 3 links specially for people that do not use Nexus. Is there any way to provide an alternative DL somehow?

Thank you for all your work, I imagine it has been a lot of work to move all the stuff to a new place

 

[SylenThunder]

Hi! Nice to see the forums are back online
I have 2 small questions about the new way to "post" mods.

1- Is there any way to just "move" or "edit" the archived mod post, without having to create a new from scratch?
2- Is there any way to provide 2 or more download links for a mod? The existing UI seems to allow only one external url for download, and I for example always provide 2 or sometimes 3 links specially for people that do not use Nexus. Is there any way to provide an alternative DL somehow?

Thank you for all your work, I imagine it has been a lot of work to move all the stuff to a new place

For 1, I would think that it may be possible to merge an old mod discussion thread into the resource thread. I am afraid to test that in production though.

 

[JoeSloeMoe]

Kind of a side question, given that the new forum framework is designed to support a more structured approach to mods, does that imply that going forward this forum will be the de facto FP supported mod repository for 7DTD? i.e. there will be no Workshop integration in Steam or is that maybe still pencilled in for a possible future integration?
cheers

 

[Riamus]

Kind of a side question, given that the new forum framework is designed to support a more structured approach to mods, does that imply that going forward this forum will be the de facto FP supported mod repository for 7DTD? i.e. there will be no Workshop integration in Steam or is that maybe still pencilled in for a possible future integration?
cheers

Steam Workshop is still shown on the roadmap. I doubt they will decide not to include that. But that won't happen soon. This gives a better option until then.

 

[Brains]

This forum isn't to take over for steam workshop, its just an added bonus with the way it supports resources. This forum is to be a 1 stop shop for all the games TFP create.

As for the mod threads, it is best to create a new one since the old ones are poluted with all the update posts, etc. Yes, we can try and use the old one in place and delete the original post (might delete all the posts since the OP creates the thread), or we can try and move all the posts to the new thread.

 

[khzmusik]

If we have a lot of mods, and upload them all at the same time, is that going to delay approval? (I don't want to be thought of as a "spammer" or something.)

EDIT: Also, a suggestion - add another checkbox that tells users whether the mod can be run with EAC on or off. (Not all client-side mods require EAC, some just have additional assets like icons.)

 

[SylenThunder]

1- Is there any way to just "move" or "edit" the archived mod post, without having to create a new from scratch?

Ok, I tested this. Looks like the first post with the details you provided will end up at the bottom of the discussion due to it sorting by age. But as a result of this, you end up with your original OP from the original thread at the top of the new resource discussion, so it may be moot IMHO.

 

[SylenThunder]

If we have a lot of mods, and upload them all at the same time, is that going to delay approval? (I don't want to be thought of as a "spammer" or something.)

I don't believe so. We will just have a stack of posts that will need to be moderated. When I logged into the forum this morning there were 12 pending.

I am fairly certain that most moderators, like myself, make it one of the first things to check when starting up the forum for the day, and periodically throughout the day.

 

[khzmusik]

I thought of another suggestion.

Many (if not most) modders use a Git host like GitHub or GitLab to host their source files. Usually, the actual source code is available (and not just compiled code).

I have been providing a link to the source in the "more information" link. But, maybe it would be better to have a dedicated link to source files? (Obviously not all modders want to give out their source, but many do.)

 

[Riamus]

Ok, I tested this. Looks like the first post with the details you provided will end up at the bottom of the discussion due to it sorting by age. But as a result of this, you end up with your original OP from the original thread at the top of the new resource discussion, so it may be moot IMHO.

I'd say yes and no... you'd then have to edit both the original post and the new Mods submission with any updated information so that it appears in both the first post and in the new Mods section. If you only update one, then you'll only see the updated information in one location. That isn't horrible if people want to do that, but it isn't ideal. I assume it's not possible to edit the date of a post so you could set an old date on the new Mods submission so it'll appear first in the discussion? I know it could be done on the back end, but probably not something a moderator can do and I doubt the people who work with the back end will want to deal with that.

As for the mod threads, it is best to create a new one since the old ones are poluted with all the update posts, etc. Yes, we can try and use the old one in place and delete the original post (might delete all the posts since the OP creates the thread), or we can try and move all the posts to the new thread.

That's true, though there can be a lot of helpful troubleshooting information in those old discussions. For now, I am just linking the old thread within the mod description for anyone who wants to look back at the older information. If a better option is found, I can remove that link later.

I do have a request/suggestion regarding the discussion part of the new Mods submissions... Right now, the first post in the discussion shows only a small part of the Mod description. To see the full description, you have to click the link that takes you to the Mods section. It would be great if the full description could be viewed within the discussion and without being minimized as it makes the discussion looks really weird if you open a mod topic from there. I'm half tempted to make a response to that initial post that contains the full information so it's available within the discussion, but that will look odd. It would be better if it could just be set up to do it automatically.

Another thought is that certain "mods", such as tools, may not really be client or server mods. You need to select one of those, though. Maybe there could be a third option for things that aren't installed as a mod? For example, Teragon really isn't client side or server side. You could mark it either way if you wanted... it's run on a client computer (usually), so you could call it client side. But it doesn't have to be installed on other clients other than the person making the map. And once a map is made, that map needs to be server side to be used but doesn't need to be client side. I chose to mark it server side just because it made the most sense because the output of it (the map) needs to be server side, but it's not quite the same thing as a server side mod.

 

[khzmusik]

Another thought is that certain "mods", such as tools, may not really be client or server mods. You need to select one of those, though. Maybe there could be a third option for things that aren't installed as a mod? For example, Teragon really isn't client side or server side.

EDIT: Never mind, I missed that there is already a Tools section. Duh.

 

[Brains]

I do have a request/suggestion regarding the discussion part of the new Mods submissions... Right now, the first post in the discussion shows only a small part of the Mod description. To see the full description, you have to click the link that takes you to the Mods section. It would be great if the full description could be viewed within the discussion and without being minimized as it makes the discussion looks really weird if you open a mod topic from there. I'm half tempted to make a response to that initial post that contains the full information so it's available within the discussion, but that will look odd. It would be better if it could just be set up to do it automatically.

To see the full description, click the `Overview` tab at the top.

 

[bdubyah]

So would there be an easy way using this system to still have a consolidated type post for several mods/modlets? I posted my vehicle pack there but I also offer all those vehicle as separate downloads, but I don't feel like having to post 20+ new resources. Before I just had one thread for all those types of mods as it made it easy to keep everything together. I guess I could just create another new resource and just post all the links in that for all the other mods, assuming that's okay to use it that way?

 

[LittleRedSonja]

That would be handy. I also had a "consolidated" post where I had all my mods and a link to the forum topic for each of them, to make it easier to find all in one go.

This is the one I had

I wonder because that kind of post does not have a single "download link" but instead only reference links to other mods inside the forum.

 

[Riamus]

To see the full description, click the `Overview` tab at the top. View attachment 34310

Yes. However, that is not what you see if you open the discussion thread directly from the forum rather than from Mods. And a lot of users who aren't posting mods aren't going to even notice that Overview. They'll still see the discussion by clicking on that "Read more about this resource" link, so they'll get there. But it just looks really poor when you open the discussion directly and can't see the entire description without going somewhere that isn't within the discussion thread. It would be great if it showed the entire description in the same format as what you see in the Overview without needing to expand it (that only works if it's a very short description) or needing to go to the Overview. The way it is now, it's very tempting to make the first reply in the thread be the full description. That will look bad as well because it's basically duplicating the first post and it also means having to edit both the post and the mod submission when doing updates, but it would at least make the description full visible within the discussion. I just feel it would be better if that were automatically done. There's no reason to have only part of the description showing.

Hmm... and one other thing we really need for the Mod discussion section... we need to be able to edit posts. It seems you have a time limit on editing now. I'm not sure how long that is, but it's less than 24 hours I think. It is very common to make Reserved posts on a discussion in order to add more information later. But now we can't edit those. That's a problem.