X Mods and Nexus Mods

Jack08 · Post by **Jack08** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 07:49

apricotslice wrote:
Lord_Dakier wrote:Egosoft must let this happen.
Its nothing really to do with Egosoft. Its up to individual modders and scripters to want to participate there.

Which I guess throws it round the other way.....what incentive is there for us to spend time away from here and over there ? Unless I'm active there, I'd never remember to keep it up to date. And I wont be active there without a reason to be.

Simple, use the site as a download location, and link to it from here - That way you have to update it.

It frees up space on our own web servers, if we have them, and if we don't it provides a space to place things for download on high-speed servers that don't have a risk of going offline forever and loosing download links ( happens alot, and threes alot of invalid downloads on these boards to back this statement up )

You don't have to be active on the Nexus community boards in order to put your mods on the nexus system - have you actually visited the nexus site apricot? - you can easily use it just as a point of download & information, while at the same time it becomes an index for others to search through.

No one at any time said you would need to be active on there forums; You could easily say in the description of your mod on the nexus system "visit this thread at egosoft board [link] for technical support" if you really that lasy that you cant check the nexus systems own comments - which are very neatly organised on your mods own page so you don't have to go searching through things to find questions related to your mod.

In the end, i see everything your saying as pure laziness, or stubbornness, nothing more. It only takes a few seconds to check if someone needs help on a site as well organised as Nexus.

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 08:09

Jack08 wrote:It frees up space on our own web servers, if we have them, and if we don't it provides a space to place things for download on high-speed servers that don't have a risk of going offline forever and loosing download links ( happens alot, and threes alot of invalid downloads on these boards to back this statement up )

Not really. I have my own site for a reason. And hosting my own stuff is part of that reason.

You don't have to be active on the Nexus community boards in order to put your mods on the nexus system - have you actually visited the nexus site apricot? - you can easily use it just as a point of download & information, while at the same time it becomes an index for others to search through.

True, I dont need to be active, but being active on a site is the only way I remember it exists. If I'm not there nearly every day, the only thing that gets me there is getting a notification about something. Otherwise I forget it exists. So for me, activity is necessary.

No, I havent been there. So far I havent seen anything to prompt me to go there.

No one at any time said you would need to be active on there forums; You could easily say in the description of your mod on the nexus system "visit this thread at egosoft board [link] for technical support" if you really that lasy that you cant check the nexus systems own comments - which are very neatly organised on your mods own page so you don't have to go searching through things to find questions related to your mod.

Yes, but I'd forget it existed and the mods on Nexus would become out of date rapidly. I already support my mods here and on my own forum. Why do I need a 3rd place ?

In the end, i see everything your saying as pure laziness, or stubbornness, nothing more. It only takes a few seconds to check if someone needs help.

I know me. If I'm not active on a site and visiting it most days, or I'm not getting notifications to take me back there regularly, I forget I even did anything there.

I dont mind my stuff being hosted anywhere, as long as it doesnt rely on me keeping it up to date.

If it had an active modding area for AP that was like this place, then I might keep some interest going. Depends on the options for that area and how much interest there was in my own stuff. Also in how well its moderated.

Post by **Cycrow** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 11:16

i have no problem using other sites as long as i can upload stuff via ftp.

it would be good to have a central location for downloads, the plugin manager can then use the site to grab a list of all available mods for easy download/install

Post by **Ketraar** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 12:03

Cycrow wrote:it would be good to have a central location for downloads

This keeps popping up, there is a central location, its called XDownloads and is maintained mostly by SS_T (great job btw

).

While I dont mind an additional place to upload stuff, I feel its will have the same destiny as filefront. For me XDownloads is perfect, simple and free of adds or other stuff that clutters the view. Post the info and discussions in here and link to Download, done.

So I dont see any real benefit for me as modder and dont see how it would be better to decentralize the discussion topics, other than for the big mods that obviously need their own space to develop them. Now if it was the Steam Workshop, that would be a different story altogether, THAT would be useful.

Just my 0,02€ worth.

MFG

Ketraar

Lord Dakier · Post by **Lord Dakier** » Thu, 6. Sep 12, 16:12

apricotslice wrote:
Lord_Dakier wrote:Egosoft must let this happen.
Its nothing really to do with Egosoft. Its up to individual modders and scripters to want to participate there.

Which I guess throws it round the other way.....what incentive is there for us to spend time away from here and over there ? Unless I'm active there, I'd never remember to keep it up to date. And I wont be active there without a reason to be.

True, but further exposure only helps out Egosoft

casadoom · Post by **casadoom** » Fri, 7. Sep 12, 09:04

I am neither a mod creator nor a regular poster, however I have been lurking these forums for years only recently creating an account.

What I can say though is that Nexus is simply an amazing download hub with all it's amazing futures. In this forums for example there is no "popularity/downloads" counter other than there number of comments and the page the mod is usually in.

All in all, X nexus would be simply amazing and would be much appreciated for a user such as myself and a long time use of nexus.

mr.bear · Post by **mr.bear** » Fri, 7. Sep 12, 10:28

isn't the reality that this idea is just much, much too late? anyone creating an X-Nexus now would implicitly be asking everyone to transfer their stuff over to X-Nexus; loads of stuff isn't maintained, and half of people just wouldn't move.

It'd just lead to a pointless fracturing of the community. This would have been a great idea 5-6 years ago.
If you want to create an X-Nexus site, do it for Rebirth.

Rebirth is incompatible with these games so both sites can remain separate, and there are no users/downloads/information that need transfering.

mr.bear

Mysterius · Post by **Mysterius** » Fri, 7. Sep 12, 13:46

I really like the idea, from the point of view of a simple user.

I find it difficult to keep tracks of all interesting mods here, particularily when you stop playing for a while and decide to come back monthes later.

I use the Nexus a lot for other games, so I know how perfect it is for that (suscribe to mods, view your download history etc).

Lord Dakier · Post by **Lord Dakier** » Fri, 7. Sep 12, 17:52

I'm just thinking of integration with Nexus mod manager, jesus it would be so useful for updates!

dillpickle · Post by **dillpickle** » Fri, 7. Sep 12, 19:09

I think it's a great idea, and would certainly use it for my stuff - makes tracking multiple mods a lot easier.

Ketraar wrote:This keeps popping up, there is a central location, its called XDownloads and is maintained mostly by SS_T

There is, and I noticed that some of my stuff has been put on there, whilst I don't have a problem with the files being in multiple places, I have no idea whether they will get updated if I update the mod, also it would have been nice to have a name on it rather than 'Unknown' and at the very least a link back to the forum thread so people would know where to get info/help.

mr.bear wrote:creating an X-Nexus now would implicitly be asking everyone to transfer their stuff over to X-Nexus; loads of stuff isn't maintained, and half of people just wouldn't move.

No one is going to force you to put your stuff there, and as for the stuff that isn't maintained then the chances are it is out of date or the links are broken anyway.

Also there is probably a lot of stuff that isn't even in the download library - I know there's some stuff I've done that it wasn't worth creating a thread for, if it's just a case of adding a short description when you upload it these little mods/tweaks etc... become accessible for those that may find them useful.

xiriod · Post by **xiriod** » Fri, 7. Sep 12, 19:20

dillpickle wrote:Also there is probably a lot of stuff that isn't even in the download library - I know there's some stuff I've done that it wasn't worth creating a thread for, if it's just a case of adding a short description when you upload it these little mods/tweaks etc... become accessible for those that may find them useful.

Yes I got loads of those too, and also it would increase visibility for the game with others that use Nexus. Nexus has a way of increasing the number of created mods of any given game that is there, which is good.

Post by **Ketraar** » Fri, 7. Sep 12, 19:34

dillpickle wrote:There is, and I noticed that some of my stuff has been put on there, whilst I don't have a problem with the files being in multiple places, I have no idea whether they will get updated if I update the mod, also it would have been nice to have a name on it rather than 'Unknown' and at the very least a link back to the forum thread so people would know where to get info/help.

Well all it would take is for you to update them as I do with my stuff.

Given the amount of files SS_T has to handle its not feasible to ask that all details are taken care of. Such a centralized Mod database either needs cooperation or (exclusively) dedicated people to maintain. An THAT has been the actual hurdle for such a thing in the past, people hardly cooperate.

But like said before, no one stopping anyone to do it.

MFG

Ketraar

Nicoman35 · Post by **Nicoman35** » Fri, 7. Sep 12, 22:50

mr.bear wrote:isn't the reality that this idea is just much, much too late? anyone creating an X-Nexus now would implicitly be asking everyone to transfer their stuff over to X-Nexus; loads of stuff isn't maintained, and half of people just wouldn't move.

It'd just lead to a pointless fracturing of the community. This would have been a great idea 5-6 years ago...

I second that

Observe · Post by **Observe** » Sat, 8. Sep 12, 01:54

Nicoman35 wrote:
mr.bear wrote:isn't the reality that this idea is just much, much too late? anyone creating an X-Nexus now would implicitly be asking everyone to transfer their stuff over to X-Nexus; loads of stuff isn't maintained, and half of people just wouldn't move.

It'd just lead to a pointless fracturing of the community. This would have been a great idea 5-6 years ago...
I second that

Initially, I was thinking this may be a good idea. However, the points (quoted) are valid, and many of us modders are rather busy on projects either here with X or elsewhere on other games. Moving everything over could be a real nightmare in terms of time required. Currently, we have what we have and it seems to be working more or less.

That said, I think once Rebirth gets going (with modders), this may well be an idea who's time has (will) come.

Thanks

Ovni · Post by **Ovni** » Sat, 15. Sep 12, 03:12

batolemaeus wrote:There's no central hosting, links go dead eventually, some mods use .spk, some are manual install, some use custom installers.

This. People upload stuff to a variety of places which eventually go down (think megaupload) or worse, their own personal sites. It's kinda sad to see dead links for interesting mods. So Nexus would be very nice, my experience using it for Oblivion mods has been very good.

Plus it could give the X series some needed advertisement, if the X Nexus is discoverable from the other Nexus sites.

LordDeTracy · Post by **LordDeTracy** » Sat, 15. Sep 12, 11:51

Make it happen.

I would have to say to modders is if your to lazy to spend a few hours to move stuff over then why are you modding?
Currently it drives me nuts to have to search for mods, go to 50 billion different links of different websites (thats IF they arent dead) to download a mod, then spend an hour trying to figure out the best load order patch and seeing testing which mod conflicts with the rest.

XNexus would give you all a platform to use to keep mods up to date and somewhat conflict free of having your downloads hosted everywhere. Not to mention it would give you all massive exposure.

Post by **Cycrow** » Sat, 15. Sep 12, 13:17

LordDeTracy wrote:Make it happen.

I would have to say to modders is if your to lazy to spend a few hours to move stuff over then why are you modding?

perhaps because modders would prefer to spend there time modding, rather than moving stuff around different sites and making sure everything is updated.

and calling modders lazy is really not a good thing to do, afterall they do it in thier spare time for fun.

if anything, if you want to improve the modding community it'll be better to make it easier for modders, rather than easier for users.

my problem with modding sites is that usually you have to do each mod seperatly through a webpage and it takes time, especially if you keep alot of mods updated all the time.

currently i have a set scripts that create all the packages and uploads them automatically. If i had to constantly do all this manually, i would get bored very quickly

apricotslice · Post by **apricotslice** » Sat, 15. Sep 12, 13:36

I store the latest version of all mods on my download site. The update process includes ftp to the site, updating the first post on the egosoft thread, making an announcement reply on the same thread, and then doing the same thing on my own forum.

Those who use my mods, I would hope, get notifications of posts on my threads, and see when updates are made.

My mods and script packs are findable on the sticky thread, the central place to find mods and scripts.

As I said before, an external site wishing to remain up to date needs to automatically update itself. To rely on human reliability to remain up to date, is to be unreliable and never up to date, as humans are just not reliable.

As an ex-programmer, I cant see it being that difficult to build a function that after a modder and their download site is registered, said download site is searched periodically for updates and new files. Just takes a bit of imaginative programming and the same will to get it done as everyone says we modders should have to keep an external site updated.

And I also echo what Cycrow said, we mod because thats what we do, and insulting us wont get anyone anywhere.

Moonrat · Post by **Moonrat** » Sat, 15. Sep 12, 15:46

LordDeTracy wrote:Make it happen.
I would have to say to modders is if your to lazy to spend a few hours to move stuff over then why are you modding?
Currently it drives me nuts to have to search for mods, go to 50 billion different links of different websites (thats IF they arent dead) to download a mod, then spend an hour trying to figure out the best load order patch and seeing testing which mod conflicts with the rest.

XNexus would give you all a platform to use to keep mods up to date and somewhat conflict free of having your downloads hosted everywhere. Not to mention it would give you all massive exposure.

I agree with the 1st sentance but certainly not the 2nd. What us modders lazy...??! Yeah... sure! Of course I could spend all of my limited time away from RL playing X rather then providing labour intensive content to strangers in far off lands free of charge... but I choose not to and provide something of interest to others! A strange definition of laziness if ever I heard one. But I digress.

Uploading my mod to what is only a couple of places upon each release is the least of my worries (at least for me). As a modder, the more available my content is and used, the more satisfied I am that my labours are appreciated and I've not been wasting my time... To this end I have already gone some way (with not inconsiderable effort) to ensure that firstly connary's wonderful IE mod was visible within AP (when previously it was not), and then to ensure that both IE & IEX were compatible within the very popular mod XRM so as to widen their usage. In time, if I can just stop being so lazy there'll also be an XTC version...

I will gladly upload IEX to the Nexus site... how do I start or is all this just hot air! I personally can see little downside and anything to spread the X gospel far and wide has got my vote. Just imagine what EGOSOFT could do if their player fan base was 10x bigger!

[Nexus]Dark0ne · Post by **[Nexus]Dark0ne** » Tue, 18. Sep 12, 03:11

Sorry for the lack of response up until now. I've been keeping up with this thread during my travels and waiting for as many people to chime in with their feedback. The feedback has been really useful in setting and explaining the tone and sentiment of you folks, the mod authors, and gauging reactions to the idea, so thanks for all the feedback!

Some very valid points have been raised and I'll try to address them as best I can.

There are a few mod authors who like to maintain their own sites and make use of FTP features and what not, who also don't want to deal with the hassle of the added management time of maintaining a mod on more than one site. That's perfectly fine and it can still work with the Nexus setup.

The biggest barrier to entry for this community isn't finding where to download the mods, it's finding the mods at all. Forums just aren't good as file databases; there's no categorising or way to drill-down and search for specific things. You can use the forum search, but you're just as likely to come up with a lot of duff results too. The Nexus works pretty well doing this, however, and can function as a repository whether you upload your mods there or not, because we allow mirroring.

To mirror your files, you simply have to setup a mod page where you can upload screenshots and descriptions for your mods (to ensure people know what they're getting)and then setup a mirror to point to your site, rather than upload your mod to the site. The mirror doesn't even need to be to the download; send people to your front-page, or to your specific mod pages, or to your release thread here. This means that when people come looking for something specific they can find it on the Nexus, but you don't actually need to maintain your page with every file update on the Nexus. Just give people an idea of what your mod does, and then send them to your site to download it if you so wish. The only time you're then "wasting" is the 10 minutes or so to copy and paste your mod description and upload a few screenshots of your mod. No more management time needed on the Nexus end.

In the same vein, if you want to keep all your comments to one site (I'd presume that would most likely be your release thread here on the official forums) then you can turn the commenting system off on the Nexus and direct people to your release thread here for commenting. No fuss. No wasted management time checking comments on multiple sites and threads.

On the matter of "too little, too late", that really depends on you guys and your uptake of the site. These days I'm enjoying focusing a lot more on nurturing the communities in need rather than the communities that are going to get the mega-traffic. It's why I've released sites for Mount & Blade, Neverwinter Nights, World of Tanks over the past year. These are games that already had established modding communities but were in need of something a bit more robust or permanent. I enjoy supporting these sorts of games. Personally, I look at the X modding community and there is a very obvious need for something more robust. You might not agree, but from someone who wants to sink their teeth in to all the X mods that are available, there really, really is.

I think what might be best is if I have a chat with SS_T and see what he has to say about the community and things, if he's willing. As someone already running a modding site for the game I'd love to get his insight on things and help out in whatever way I can.

Until then, if you have any more feedback or questions just let me know.

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

X Mods and Nexus Mods