Forum Suggestion (mod/scenario forum)

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dyoung0224
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Forum Suggestion (mod/scenario forum)

Post by dyoung0224 »

Hi all,

First time on the forums, 100+ hours into the game.
I love what factorio has become, and I am very impressed with the 4 year development time the game has undergone. It is obvious a game of this nature trying to achieve what it is, takes a long time. Especially with the current budget/resources/etc.

I havent played factorio much the past few weeks, mostly because I "maxed out" the save file that I was playing.
The game kept me plenty occupied, I must have redone my entire base 2 or 3 times, and I felt like I was always coming across a new recipe I had never noticed before (how long did it take me to get concrete floors? oh man), or better/more efficient ways to do things. There was always room for improvement.

However, after a point, the vanilla game got a little boring and I looked to the forums for new ideas.
The game's built-in scenarios were very fun so I started there.

The Mods and Scenarios forum has been very disappointing for me in terms of connecting me with new ideas involving mods or scenarios. Most (actually... almost all?) of the higher-viewed threads are years old. Hardly any of the files work anymore, or don't work as intended. There was never any stringent version control implemented. Some posts say "oh it works on 0.12+" except, only being in version 0.16 currently, those files do not work. You would think moving 0.04 in version control would indicate a close compatibility, but factorio's development doesn't really follow that nomenclature.

I can sort by "recent" posts, but there doesn't seem to be much activity these days in the modding/scenario community. Even going to the dedicated mod website, it is very difficult for me to pick between mods. The top-rated mods are almost exclusively "bobs mods" and they all don't seem to do much individually (okay I can add more resource types into the game. cool. what do I do with these resources? oh, I can build intermediate products with them, using this other mod. cool. what do I do with these intermediate products? oh I can build a treehouse, using another mod. cool. what does the treehouse do? guess I have to install 3 mods to find out!"

It would be helpful to implement forum rules that require the minimum version number required for that mod/scenario, in the title. It would also help the mod website out to combine the 50 different Bob Mods into its own section/category, so the mods that use his changes can be seen separately. Or create an entirely new category of mod called "support" mods or somesuch, kind of the backbone for other mods, so users can filter those out. If I wanna install this cool looking mod but it requires Bobs Resource Patches, okay cool whatever Ill get that too, but im not looking for "bobs resource patches" when Im searching for new mods to try

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Aprillion
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Re: Forum Suggestion (mod/scenario forum)

Post by Aprillion »

Official mod portal both on the web https://mods.factorio.com and the in-game interface contain version numbers...

The very first announcement on top of Bob's mods forum viewforum.php?f=51 contains a list of links for 0.16 if you want them all, and it contains topics like "Feedback" where you can leave your feedback if this was too much trouble installing all the mods individually...

The semantic version indicator about API compatibility is usually applied only to release versions (> 1.0), not for alpha versions (before 1.0). The point of delaying release is that developers can change major parts of API without keeping backwards compatibility, so that the released product is well designed without historical baggage. Not sure what will be the policy for Factorio though.

dyoung0224
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Re: Forum Suggestion (mod/scenario forum)

Post by dyoung0224 »

I realize I wasn't very clear about my post. Apologies.

On the forums: (viewforum.php?f=36)
The Mods & Scenarios forum does not produce newer content very often. It is very difficult to find a current, working scenario in that forum. This problem is made worse by the fact that thread titles do not include the version number, so I have to go into each thread just to see if I can run it. Forum mods could edit thread titles to include the last known version number that the scenario works for. This would make browsing the forum easier. Alternatively (or as well) it would be helpful to search by top posts in the last 6 months. Or top posts containing "0.15" or "0.16" in the title. This would allow me to narrow my view to scenarios that work with my install.

On the Mod website: (https://mods.factorio.com/)
When I want to check out a new mod, I don't know where to start as I have never played with mods before. So I go to "most downloaded" section (as I'm sure most people do who dont know where to start)
These are the top 10 mods listed on that page:

Resource Spawner Overhaul
Bobs Functions Library
Bobs Logistics
Bobs Metals, chemicals, intermediates
Bobs Assembling Machines
Bobs Modules
Bobs Power
Bobs Adjustable Inserters
Fully Automated Rail Layer
Bobs Ores

I will use Skyrim mods as an example for the point Im trying to make:
If I want to make my skyrim game prettier, I will look for a popular mod that changes the graphics options of skyrim. Lets say mod X. Well, mod X actually requires 15 other mods which individually do things like retexture the grass, or add better fire particles, or add more glow on weapons. It takes these 15 other mods, applies its own settings to them, makes a few tweaks, maybe adds a couple more things, and you have the finished product. So if I want to make my game prettier, I dont go online looking for a "high res grass texture" mod. I find a mod that installs all the other mods it needs, then applies certain settings to those mods, to make my game prettier.

Maybe I am misunderstanding bobs mods, but this seems to be somewhat the same case. Im not really interested in Bobs Logistics mod. I want a "Bobs mod" that does ____ to my gameplay. It does this by installing the logistics mod, the ores mod, the modules mod, the whatever whatever mod, and configures those mods for me, to give me the experience that Bobs Mod intends. I should be able to change settings in "Bobs Mod" that will tweak each of the individual mods for me.

My point is just that the mods website is flooded with "bobs ___" mods. Why not have "Bobs Mod" be one page, one category, and you can install whichever types you want: ores, power, logistics, whatever, to customize your experience, but they are all still considered "bobs mod"
That way, https://mods.factorio.com/ is more easily navigated and other mods have a chance to be seen.

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