Factorio Forums

So...I finally got the last achievement I was trying to get before using mods. Now I have to go and update all my mods to work with space age, which people have been asking me to do for months.

My question is:

• Is there any desire for yet another modding guide?
• Video or text?
• Hosting ideas that aren't youtube?

As for youtube, it's pretty simple. I refuse to give google my phone number for any reason. I watch youtube without an account most days. Grayjay is nice for that. I can't find a way to register an account without a phone number. As for 'burner phone', well, no. They'll require that number for recovery until the sun burns out. So it has very little to do with security and everything to do with tying a real-world ID to an account (via the credit card you pay for the phone with). That's...a completely different rabbit hole, but just trust me, I've thought about this problem and my mind is set.

As for me, the only real reason I have to make a guide at all is because it was so hard for me to figure out how to make my mods initially I want to save others from that pain. And all the videos I can find about modding are these hour+ ramblefests that could be 5 minutes if they actually understood how to teach.

But when you get right down to it, I know that, going forward, I won't support my mods once I 'complete' them. That's why I made the source code and all files available without license. So anyone could pick them up and make them work. So, to me, the guide is more about me wanting to be able to leave without regrets or feeling bad that I didn't make things as easy as I could have for people who like my ideas.

Thoughts?

As for a rough outline of how I'd structure it (one video for each item):

• What is the simplest possible mod. Doesn't add any items, doesn't change anything, just shows up in the mod list to show the bare minimum. 30 seconds probably.
• Explain the basic 'type' structures in the game: Entities, Items, Recipes, and Technologies. Show how they relate to each other. Show how you can make a technology unlock your item, and how your item can create your entity on the game world, and how recipes work, etc.
• Intro to data.raw, where to get it, what it is, why it matters.
• Factorio Prototype reference on the website. Showing how to use it and Data.raw to determine what properties *can* be changed about an entity/recipe/tech/etc. I will mention that additional manipulation is possible via scripting, but that's a much, much more advanced topic.
• How to create settings for your mod & Localization. How to set default values, read player-set values, give the entries names, handle translations, etc.
• A series of videos showing how I create/update a mod. Start with something simple, like https://mods.factorio.com/mod/EnhancedGridEnergyStores (literally just a reskin + parameter tweak to accumulators)
• A series of videos covering more complex mods, like https://mods.factorio.com/mod/NuclearRebalance (lots of internal math, some settings), or https://mods.factorio.com/mod/AssemblerUPSGrade (runtime scripting, LOTS of internal logic, event handling).
• Probably around the time I get to this point I would also make a dedicated video, during the complex mod series, covering how to do basic runtime scripting. Event handling mostly, why you might want to use it, what it can do, show the API, etc. More like an overview, because trying to cover scripting is like trying to explain the Bible in a 4 minute video.

I wouldn't really expect to teach non-programmers how to program. That's...that's more about how you think and organize information than about how to actually program. I feel like other people can teach programming fundamentals better than I could. But if you love art, and all you really want is to reskin your entire factory to look like a medieval village, data:extend and an understanding of what to update where is all you really need.

The attention to detail, the thoughtful approach to the work, the obvious care and support for users... It sounds like you would be a good fit working for Wube!

I tend not to watch videos for exactly the reason you mentioned. It is hard to craft a good video but it sounds like you have clear goals and a plan to achieve them.

Kingdud wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 2:48 am I refuse to give google my phone number for any reason.

If you know anyone with an Android phone, they already know it.

Kingdud wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 2:30 pm the moderators have silently, and without a record, removed from the post.

From clues it sounds like a good decision.

Kingdud wrote: Sat Aug 02, 2025 2:48 am As for youtube, it's pretty simple. I refuse to give google my phone number for any reason.[...]

There are other venues for video. What about X? You can easily upload long videos there, and X has revenue sharing.

I suggest a guide "how to use AI" for part of those other points you mention, after reading your defense before it was moderated, it seem like you know enough how they work to use them efficiently and with ethics and i'm pretty sure there would be some value if you managed to efficently use one to speed up the process of updating your mods to 2.0. I know i would be curious about it