New forum guide for modders?

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I have a trivial question or two.
How important are the Resource Categories?
What is the definition of 'Gameplay Mods' from the Add Resource page, is that just an 'other' category?
e.g. A mod called Grim Tales that is a small collection of stories.
A mod that removes Trader's trading and questing. Is that a Trader mod or a gameplay mod - does it matter?
I'm a little surprised that mods aren't able to belong to more than one category - seems kinda old-school but it is what it is.
cheers
 
JoeSloeMoe said:
I have a trivial question or two.
How important are the Resource Categories?
What is the definition of 'Gameplay Mods' from the Add Resource page, is that just an 'other' category?
e.g. A mod called Grim Tales that is a small collection of stories.
A mod that removes Trader's trading and questing. Is that a Trader mod or a gameplay mod - does it matter?
I'm a little surprised that mods aren't able to belong to more than one category - seems kinda old-school but it is what it is.
cheers
Click to expand...
It is just a way for users to find what they are looking for. If your mod is in the wrong section, it might not be seen by someone looking for a specific kind of mod. For example, if someone is looking for a gameplay mod and your mod is listed under building mods, they won't see it when looking in the gameplay mods section. So it's best to place it in the best location possible. But many mods can fit into multiple categories, so you just have to do your best. I agree that it would be better if they could be given multiple categories.
 
Only possible to attach 10 files (images)? The horror! 😅
Epic fail, remake the forums again! 😋😉

But now seriously, isn't it a little limited? It might be just me, I like to add nice pictures in my mod descriptions, but it could be nice to have a slightly higher limit 😊

Just a humble suggestion 😅
 
LittleRedSonja said:
Only possible to attach 10 files (images)? The horror! 😅
Epic fail, remake the forums again! 😋😉

But now seriously, isn't it a little limited? It might be just me, I like to add nice pictures in my mod descriptions, but it could be nice to have a slightly higher limit 😊

Just a humble suggestion 😅
Click to expand...

IMHO, 10 is more than plenty. You have to take into consideration people with low-end hardware and low-bandwidth internet connections.
 
SylenThunder said:
IMHO, 10 is more than plenty.
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Depends a little on how you want to use them. Nowadays even "official" texts (like job openings etc) are getting cluttered with silly icons all over the place - people might want to use tiny images for that, which wouldn't cause that much load issues. Don't get me wrong, I'll vote to keep it at 10 if that's the use case, but just for perspective ... :)
 
SylenThunder said:
IMHO, 10 is more than plenty. You have to take into consideration people with low-end hardware and low-bandwidth internet connections.
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I'd agree about bandwidth, but hardware wouldn't make much difference for viewing multiple images on the forum. In any case, I think 10 would have been an okay number *IF* you could reserve posts in the discussion to add additional images and information directly after the mod posting. Then it wouldn't matter if you had to limit what was shown in the mod description itself. But since that's not possible and according to what was said about it, we are intended to put everything into the mod description instead of having 2+ posts about the mod, then the limit of only 10 images is not a good thing, imo. But at least people can still add a post with images in the discussion right away before anyone starts posting. They just can't take time to do it by reserving a post like in the past. And they can't edit or add to or remove images or other information later because of the very short time limit for editing stuff.

Anyhow, I'm starting to like the new mods section less and less. It originally seemed like a good thing, but it is becoming more and more limited compared to the old forum postings. I'd rather go back to the forum at this point if the mods section is going to be so limited. At least let us have the forum for stuff if we don't want to put it in the mods section.
 
Apparently someone edited the links in my added mods without asking. Is that how this works now?
I could not check the stuff and eventually edit them myself yesterday. After spending 3 hours adding the mods I have added I thought I could make the changes today instead. Apparently not.

May I ask why I cannot use a Nexus link as primary DL link, when I provide also one or sometimes 2 other alternative links in the mod description?
And if Nexus links are suddenly not allowed, why are there other mods posted before mine using Nexus links without problems?

Nexus allows me the best organization and way to give support and have control over the mods, see all of them in one place, update, and what not. So I usually prefer people to use that, but I always provide alternative links if someone does not want to use or cannot use Nexus. Why is that a problem now? That means one more annoying detail about a new forum that, otherwise, I think looks quite nice.

Thank you, I hope my message does not sound rude or anything like that, it is not the intention, I just want to understand how all this works now 🥰
 
LittleRedSonja said:
Apparently someone edited the links in my added mods without asking. Is that how this works now?
I could not check the stuff and eventually edit them myself yesterday. After spending 3 hours adding the mods I have added I thought I could make the changes today instead. Apparently not.

May I ask why I cannot use a Nexus link as primary DL link, when I provide also one or sometimes 2 other alternative links in the mod description?
And if Nexus links are suddenly not allowed, why are there other mods posted before mine using Nexus links without problems?

Nexus allows me the best organization and way to give support and have control over the mods, see all of them in one place, update, and what not. So I usually prefer people to use that, but I always provide alternative links if someone does not want to use or cannot use Nexus. Why is that a problem now? That means one more annoying detail about a new forum that, otherwise, I think looks quite nice.

Thank you, I hope my message does not sound rude or anything like that, it is not the intention, I just want to understand how all this works now 🥰
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Requiring someone to register and create an account to download your mod is not a good experience. This is why we require a direct download link for the primary download button. If you want to have alternative links in your description such as nexus mods that is fine. Once the workshop is out for steam, they will be direct downloads as well. We are slowly going through the resources and asking users to change the primary download links.
 
LittleRedSonja said:
May I ask why I cannot use a Nexus link as primary DL link, when I provide also one or sometimes 2 other alternative links in the mod description?
And if Nexus links are suddenly not allowed, why are there other mods posted before mine using Nexus links without problems?
Click to expand...
Not speaking for the people making these changes, but IMHO it is a matter of source. I think TFP wants the forum to be the new landing spot for mods until Workshop is implemented in a few years. They have currently allowed mods up to 10MB to be uploaded directly to the forum. Which will cover most non-overhaul mods unless they are adding a crap-top of resource data. Links to somewhere external would be secondary only for those mods that exceed the current 10MB limit, and would be providing a direct download link. Not a link to another website where you have to log in to download it.

As the website and sections like resources are still a work in progress, this may not have existed when you were posting, but it is available now when adding a resource.
ec69f2a3812df1eb19a5af5b9e23f485.png


Oh, I see Brains replied while I was typing this. Looks like I was pretty close. :)
 
LittleRedSonja said:
Only possible to attach 10 files (images)? The horror! 😅
Epic fail, remake the forums again! 😋😉

But now seriously, isn't it a little limited? It might be just me, I like to add nice pictures in my mod descriptions, but it could be nice to have a slightly higher limit 😊

Just a humble suggestion 😅
Click to expand...
Try adding them as embedded images that are hosted on another server. I believe that allows you to get over 10.
 
I see.
I think that is going to make keeping track of things, giving support, asking questions and what not way more complicated for the people actually making the mods.
Just a personal opinion of course.

Good to see more extra information and clarification is being added, thanks! 💜
There is a lot of new things and ways to do stuff so I personally am still a little lost 😅.

If I may suggest, that text is a little confusing and leaves things to interpretation. If you ask me, I understand that the rule only applies to files under 10 mb, not bigger file. Maybe it is the wording or punctuation.
 
LittleRedSonja said:
I think that is going to make keeping track of things, giving support, asking questions and what not way more complicated for the people actually making the mods.
Just a personal opinion of course.
Click to expand...
Why, when it would be done right there in the discussion for your mod resource?
 
LittleRedSonja said:
I see.
I think that is going to make keeping track of things, giving support, asking questions and what not way more complicated for the people actually making the mods.
Just a personal opinion of course.

Good to see more extra information and clarification is being added, thanks! 💜
There is a lot of new things and ways to do stuff so I personally am still a little lost 😅.

If I may suggest, that text is a little confusing and leaves things to interpretation. If you ask me, I understand that the rule only applies to files under 10 mb, not bigger file. Maybe it is the wording or punctuation.
Click to expand...
If you have a suggested edit for the message, please post it and we can review it.
 
Sure. Here, much clear in my opinion and less likely to be misinterpreted:

"
Mods of any size must provide a direct download link like mediafire, github or similar hosting sites not requiring login or register.
As an alternative, mods up to 10 mb can be uploaded here instead.
Links that require the user to register, create an account blablabla this part stays the same.
"
 
SylenThunder said:
Why, when it would be done right there in the discussion for your mod resource?
Click to expand...
I guess the question becomes "Is this trying to be a 'forum software' or a 'general call center software'?". For a lot of mods, offering support on a forum is decent enough; but in some cases it may not be the best or even a decent option. It requires everyone involved to get into a habit of keeping open a browser tab on these forums; including the players that might be willing to offer help. Other softwares may well be better suited for that, and for example fit thru a creator's workplace firewall better. Or work better on their phone. Or.. you know. People have quite different tool chains.
 
Has anyone suggested the one strength nexus has, about mod dependencies yet?

I suppose we could include those manually, but a specific and consistent methodology would be super helpful.
 
I'll admit that I hate how Nexus works, but it is a very common source for things like mods. Not allowing it because it requires you to have a free account to download stuff is a bad decision. Honestly, this is starting to feel like an EA or Microsoft controlled thing at this point.

Don't forget that people have followers on Nexus and that is where they expect to find the mods. Mod authors are probably not going to want to move their stuff somewhere else if they aren't already posting the mods to multiple sources. I can easily see mod authors deciding it isn't worth it anymore for this game with how these rules are being set up and just give up on this game and move on to another. Why jump through hoops when you make mods because it's something enjoyable? That just removes the enjoyment from it.
 
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