Are The Modders On Strike?

[AquilaRossa]

A fair amount of X4 mods exist on the Nexus. But most of them are old. Some are updated for 2.50. Hardly any new releases. Same at Steam Workshop. Are the modders on strike, or are mods hiding somewhere I do not know about?

[Thecrippler]

You must understand moding takes time it can take up to years or more if you play fallout 4 i took 4 years to make good mods same ting with x4 foundations. or the X³: Reunion XTended mod it toke 2 years to make

you got some mods that are active Variety and Rebalance Overhaul, Faction War/Economy Enhancer, Rise of the Ossian Raider v1.3 and ashipmod

wait for another 4-5 years then maybe we will see some good mods coming out

[Shuulo]

Also note that many modders are players as well. So we are waiting for dlc and patches for game to be a bit more flashed out to play and create some major mods.
There are many things that needs fixing in base game, so it can be discouraging to start any global work. I'm already afraid how much rework there will be needed for my VRO mod after 3.0 hits

[Killjaeden]

You must understand moding takes time it can take up to years or more if you play fallout 4 i took 4 years to make good mods same ting with x4 foundations. or the X³: Reunion XTended mod it toke 2 years to make

The question is - are there people who are working on big mods for X4? Or any new model content ? It seems to me as if there are less people doing that kind of stuff compared to X3R/ TC days.

[Shuulo]

The question is - are there people who are working on big mods for X4? Or any new model content ? It seems to me as if there are less people doing that kind of stuff compared to X3R/ TC days.

I know of 3 people who are doing some major work, but none of it is really released. Also, many modders are just waiting for 3.0 just the same as players. Modding tools that will accompany 3.0 is also a big thing that many people wait before starting modding, so we will see the real picture only with 3.0 + dlc release.

[UniTrader]

Also mods might not need frequent updates in most cases, especially if its only small changes. For example i made one of the first Kitbash Ship mods for XR back in the beginning of 2014, and the next update of it was 2016 or 17, but apart from the fact that Capital Shields were introduced in the meantime it still worked fine and didnt really require an update (adding cap shields was really the only change).. Also i dont check every function of my mod for every patch, but i will update asap if someone tells me that something broke in my mods (it probably helps that i write my mods in anticipation of possible changes)

[Malakie]

Also mods might not need frequent updates in most cases, especially if its only small changes. For example i made one of the first Kitbash Ship mods for XR back in the beginning of 2014, and the next update of it was 2016 or 17, but apart from the fact that Capital Shields were introduced in the meantime it still worked fine and didnt really require an update (adding cap shields was really the only change).. Also i dont check every function of my mod for every patch, but i will update asap if someone tells me that something broke in my mods (it probably helps that i write my mods in anticipation of possible changes)

While it makes sense what you are saying, I get what the OP is asking.. It is very annoying to have to start a game over because mod is not updated for so long to the current release EXE ... I have had to lose many campaigns due to that.. the game is updated, the mod is not for a long time thereby requiring it to be removed... which destroys a campaign in many cases.

[7ate9tin11s]

In my case, I found that the things that annoy me (weak AI, few pirates/enemies, boring economy, etc.) are there because the game does not have enough AI thread priority to do anything else without becoming a slideshow. That and the game quickly becomes dull with only the three pilotable races and it is better to ignore Xenon/Khaak since there is no capturing their ships.

Maybe 3.0 will bring back the soul of the game, but for now it is just missing something in x3 that kept me hooked and playing.

[MegaJohnny]

Speaking only for myself, there's a few reasons:

• X4's UI is amazing, and there's nothing I feel motivated to rework.
• UI modding isn't supported yet, so I'm more sheepish about trying it.
• If I do want to edit the UI, I'll have to be extremely careful, because when I last looked at the map menu it was 18,000 lines long.
• I want to be able to report bugs I find with the 2.6 beta, and I can't be bothered turning my mods on and off all the time.
• The game is still changing quite quickly (for the better!) and I don't want to "fix" something if there's a good chance Ego will get to it in time.
• I made all my mods during a (very long) period of unemployment, so I have a lot less free time now.

I do have bits and bobs laying dormant though, so at some point I will get to work.

[BlackRain]

Waiting to see what comes with 3.0 plus DLC before I start looking into modding again (If I ever do)

[Warnoise]

From what i see modders seem to be demotivated to mod this game. Modding requires a lot of work and since there are so many broken things AND so much low content, modders realize that in the current state of the game there is no point in making a big mod that requires tons of work.

Hopefully things start getting livier after 3.0

[Angsaar]

I can only speak for myself, but I'd imagine for most is something similar: the frequency and content of updates of a mid-development (from bug-fixes and new content standpoint) game such as X4 means keeping up with compatibility becomes a nightmare, and personally I mod for 'vanilla' enjoyment and not masochistic tendencies

Due to the history of modding support from earlier titles some types of mods are relatively fast to make for a recently released game, but contents of patch notes show there are still key issues being resolved and chances of more lurking beneath the code are still too high for me to be willing to keep up with them.

Patch notes with only trivial fixes listed over time are my green light to keep the mod active.

Edit: That all said, I think the two or three most interesting mods to me are in active development and going strong here in the forum

[Motionblurr]

i guess we will be waiting a long time since 3.0 got delayed.

[teleportationwars]

In the last few weeks, we have gotten permission to locally port XR assets:
viewtopic.php?f=181&t=419288
Released an alpha of what is certainly the biggest mod so far:
viewtopic.php?f=181&t=419492
SirNukes has brought easy menu modding to x4:
https://github.com/bvbohnen/X4_Named_Pi ... e_menu_api
The starwars people have released quite a few ships:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/star-wars-mod-x4

If you want to mod, come to the discord. People are always willing to help.
https://discord.gg/AWNAKU9

[BrummBear02]

If you want to mod, come to the discord. People are always willing to help.
https://discord.gg/AWNAKU9

or want to give u work. i have lots of work to give away

[Malakie]

I would love to see many many many new ship types added like in X4. I have 400 ships added to one of my X3TC games.. Can only imagine that in X4 for now.. Would love to see a lot more mission types including more chain campaign type missions too.

[Observe]

Consider that a lot of modders who were prolific in X3/TC/AP did not enjoy playing Rebirth and subsequently left Egosoft games for other pastures. For some, changes in X4 were not sufficient to draw those modders back to the game. Very few will mod a game that they don't like. Therefore, many of the current modders for X4 are new blood. This is a well-worn story of dissatisfaction that was told over and over again when Rebirth came out. The volume of complaints has largely subsided, because so many have left the scene entirely.

I did a little bit of modding in the previous titles, but I am one of those who found no pleasure in Rebirth and I have zero interest in playing X4. However, It is good to see new modders enjoying this hobby. May they have many hours of fun doing so.

[RoverTX]

Consider that a lot of modders who were prolific in X3/TC/AP did not enjoy playing Rebirth and subsequently left Egosoft games for other pastures. For some, changes in X4 were not sufficient to draw those modders back to the game. Very few will mod a game that they don't like. Therefore, many of the current modders for X4 are new blood. This is a well-worn story of dissatisfaction that was told over and over again when Rebirth came out. The volume of complaints has largely subsided, because so many have left the scene entirely.

It’s been 10 plus years and plenty of people are still around. Considering that life goes on I think the number of mod makers at any one given point has been pretty steady.

In addition given that ships now have cockpits and many more moving parts it’s no big surprise that there are fewer ship mods. It’s also higher resolution so modeling requires more effort. So it’s far harder now to just kitbash some stuff together and slap some turrets on a ship and call it done.

[Malakie]

Consider that a lot of modders who were prolific in X3/TC/AP did not enjoy playing Rebirth and subsequently left Egosoft games for other pastures. For some, changes in X4 were not sufficient to draw those modders back to the game. Very few will mod a game that they don't like. Therefore, many of the current modders for X4 are new blood. This is a well-worn story of dissatisfaction that was told over and over again when Rebirth came out. The volume of complaints has largely subsided, because so many have left the scene entirely.

It’s been 10 plus years and plenty of people are still around. Considering that life goes on I think the number of mod makers at any one given point has been pretty steady.

In addition given that ships now have cockpits and many more moving parts it’s no big surprise that there are fewer ship mods. It’s also higher resolution so modeling requires more effort. So it’s far harder now to just kitbash some stuff together and slap some turrets on a ship and call it done.

Yea I keep running into people that used to play X3TC and mod it big then got dismayed by X Rebirth so they have not even given X4 a chance now.. I have swayed a couple I know to finally take a look but it is not easy. I just don't get their idea that out of the entire series, because one title was not up to their expectations, anything after that will be not good either.. Their loss though.. but it would be nice to have a lot of those older modders return.

[adeine]

The game is still changing quite quickly (for the better!) and I don't want to "fix" something if there's a good chance Ego will get to it in time.

Due to the history of modding support from earlier titles some types of mods are relatively fast to make for a recently released game, but contents of patch notes show there are still key issues being resolved and chances of more lurking beneath the code are still too high for me to be willing to keep up with them.

Definitely this, not to mention X4 is more difficult to mod than prior titles. Both due to its detail (interiors, etc.) as well as being based on a largely new system of abhorrently illegible xml, whereas X3 was iterative over X2.

I think we will see more development once the core gameplay and balancing has settled down/been properly addressed and a healthier selection of community tools exist to facilitate the modding workflow (tools to deal with models, scripting, etc.), assuming the game can maintain a player base. It's a lot of work, and not many people will be motivated to sink time and effort into something that will break or become obsolete a couple weeks down the line (cf. what 3.0 did to ship mods).

I'd also imagine it doesn't help that Egosoft are actively cutting people off from gameplay features for having modded installs.