Large Modpack

[CJ5Boss]

Hello modders,
I want to create a large modpack like Pyanodons, Darkstar, Bobs, etc. I already have ideas and plans forming, but there is a lot and it is not enough to really get me started. I want to include new buildings, recipes, tech, etc., much like any other large game-changing modpack does. I am at a block, though; I am trying out these modpacks to see what they do together, but generally, I have a big question.
Where should I start?
I know some people start with the ideas, others build off of existing stuff, but I'm wondering what some of your methods are.
Thanks very much,
CJ

[SuperSandro2000]

I am currently doing this mod https://mods.factorio.com/mod/ERPTbaAB and I am planning Expanded AngelBob.
Right now I just use Google Tasks on my phone to collect ideas all day and try to do them ingame.
I am very active on the discord and trough that I find a lot of ideas and help but usually I get the ideas while looking at mods I already use that just lag the angelbob treatment.
The other day I wanted to do a burner equipment for the power armor, asked on discord and got plenty of mod suggestions. Next step would be to test those all, pick the one I like script wise the most and then adapt it to my pack. That means change recipes when needed or maybe add a new high end variant.
Hope this help you a bit and generally you just start somewhere and go on from there what interests you the most at that time.

[CJ5Boss]

I am currently doing this mod https://mods.factorio.com/mod/ERPTbaAB and I am planning Expanded AngelBob.
Right now I just use Google Tasks on my phone to collect ideas all day and try to do them ingame.
I am very active on the discord and trough that I find a lot of ideas and help but usually I get the ideas while looking at mods I already use that just lag the angelbob treatment.
The other day I wanted to do a burner equipment for the power armor, asked on discord and got plenty of mod suggestions. Next step would be to test those all, pick the one I like script wise the most and then adapt it to my pack. That means change recipes when needed or maybe add a new high end variant.
Hope this help you a bit and generally you just start somewhere and go on from there what interests you the most at that time.

Cool, that mod sounds pretty nice! Thanks!

[SuperSandro2000]

Cool, that mod sounds pretty nice! Thanks!

Thx

[bobingabout]

something to keep in mind for my mod is, when it first started, graphics weren't exactly the most important thing for me. A lot of icons are just recolours of base game icons, or cropped and resized google images. (most still are), some of the icons are even from older versions of the game.

As for building entities, when I first made the Electrolyser for example, it was just a chemical plant graphic. this changed later. and if you look around, a lot of graphics are still just clones of base game entities.

The graphics aren't that important when you start out, as long as you do make the effort to replace them over time.


if you want to start out like me, don't aim big from the start, look at one area that you think needs improvement, then mod it. in my case I started by adding a lot of ores, then methods to smelt them into metal plates, and then worked on more chemicals, then updated the smelting to include multiple methods, like adding the electrolyser for Aluminium, and the complexity slowly built up from there, expanding into multiple areas.


A valid method that a lot of people use is to build on top of other mods. For example, you know you need metals, well, Bob's ores adds a lot of ores, via bob library which adds easy ways to make new ores (and all sorts of useful functions), don't be afraid to use my library as a starting point, or even bob's ores as a requirement for your mod, or even bobplates (metals, chemicals and intermediates).
Also, metals and intermediates were 2 mods to start with, but back in 0.10 when I wrote them, there was no way to set a mods order, so there was no way to use intermediates from the intermediates mod in bobplate's recipes if you loaded intermediates second, and there was no way to make the intermediates be made from metals if you loaded it first. unless of course you assumed both mods were installed in one of them. the natural progression was just to merge the two.
The ability to check what exists after loading data (data-updates.lua) was added in 0.11, so some of the intermediates mod was moved back to it's own mod... Bob's Electronics mod.

Remember, what I made didn't happen overnight, in fact for 0.9.8 all we had was ores, plates and intermediates mods, 0.10 saw this expand a lot further, but still only half a dozen mods. the library didn't even exist until 0.12. Take it slow.

Also in a few weeks 0.17 will be released which will pretty much break ALL existing mods for 0.16, so... you might want to wait until then before putting too much effort into anything. a good portion of the community will pounce on 0.17 as soon as it is released.

[CJ5Boss]

something to keep in mind for my mod is, when it first started, graphics weren't exactly the most important thing for me. A lot of icons are just recolours of base game icons, or cropped and resized google images. (most still are), some of the icons are even from older versions of the game.

As for building entities, when I first made the Electrolyser for example, it was just a chemical plant graphic. this changed later. and if you look around, a lot of graphics are still just clones of base game entities.

The graphics aren't that important when you start out, as long as you do make the effort to replace them over time.


if you want to start out like me, don't aim big from the start, look at one area that you think needs improvement, then mod it. in my case I started by adding a lot of ores, then methods to smelt them into metal plates, and then worked on more chemicals, then updated the smelting to include multiple methods, like adding the electrolyser for Aluminium, and the complexity slowly built up from there, expanding into multiple areas.


A valid method that a lot of people use is to build on top of other mods. For example, you know you need metals, well, Bob's ores adds a lot of ores, via bob library which adds easy ways to make new ores (and all sorts of useful functions), don't be afraid to use my library as a starting point, or even bob's ores as a requirement for your mod, or even bobplates (metals, chemicals and intermediates).
Also, metals and intermediates were 2 mods to start with, but back in 0.10 when I wrote them, there was no way to set a mods order, so there was no way to use intermediates from the intermediates mod in bobplate's recipes if you loaded intermediates second, and there was no way to make the intermediates be made from metals if you loaded it first. unless of course you assumed both mods were installed in one of them. the natural progression was just to merge the two.
The ability to check what exists after loading data (data-updates.lua) was added in 0.11, so some of the intermediates mod was moved back to it's own mod... Bob's Electronics mod.

Remember, what I made didn't happen overnight, in fact for 0.9.8 all we had was ores, plates and intermediates mods, 0.10 saw this expand a lot further, but still only half a dozen mods. the library didn't even exist until 0.12. Take it slow.

Also in a few weeks 0.17 will be released which will pretty much break ALL existing mods for 0.16, so... you might want to wait until then before putting too much effort into anything. a good portion of the community will pounce on 0.17 as soon as it is released.

Thanks very much for the advice, that helps me a lot! I will definitely wait for 0.17.