No Mods on Steam

[mangatake]

Why are there no Stardew Valley mods on Steam? I know the game's mods are available on other websites, but why aren't they consolidated on here like other games?

[katzemancer]

Originally posted by AlwaysAngron:

Originally posted by Ericlegacy:

Because modders decided against it. I'm a modder myself, I wouldn't care too much either way.

But we get paid by other websites having our mods hosted on their sites. I don't think Steam offers anything like that?

I'm guessing that's one of the reasons there's no support for the Steam workshop.

No they didnt and 99% of all modding websities including the major ones dont pay you for mods.

Steam offers 1 click installation and collections. Way better than having to go to a website, great for steam deck users too.

Several of the major modding sites, including nexus (the one stardew mods are most commonly hosted on...), offer donations and payments for modders.

Modding can take up a huge amount of time, way more than a few extra clicks to install something on your end, so having that option is very helpful and a real incentive to not bother with the frankly underdeveloped steam workshop system all just to make installing things slightly less complicated than manually installing or using a mod manager.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by AlwaysAngron:

Yeah im sure that something that incidentally happened to some random guy once is enough to not add a feature that literally thousands of people would find convenient. Someone accidentally using a sprite from starbound in 2017 isnt serious buddy.

I guess this type of response is what happens when people don't read properly and fail to see the bigger picture. Intellectual property was a point, among other good points, buddy. No one said it was what made the dev deciding not to implement workshop support.

He does care about the modding community though, and have indeed expressed in the past that he might consider it more IF there was a larger demand for it among mod authors. That implies there has most likely been some kind of dialogue.

Source:
CA's Twitter

[V.V.]

Originally posted by cookie:

Originally posted by AlwaysAngron:

No they didnt and 99% of all modding websities including the major ones dont pay you for mods.

Steam offers 1 click installation and collections. Way better than having to go to a website, great for steam deck users too.

Several of the major modding sites, including nexus (the one stardew mods are most commonly hosted on...), offer donations and payments for modders.

Modding can take up a huge amount of time, way more than a few extra clicks to install something on your end, so having that option is very helpful and a real incentive to not bother with the frankly underdeveloped steam workshop system all just to make installing things slightly less complicated than manually installing or using a mod manager.

Vast majority don't donate lol creators had their paypal links in the mod descriptions well before Nexus started to encourage donations when you would go to download a mod. It doesn't change the fact that people are used to free mods, and most of the OG creators know that creating mods was never about monetary gain, but a passion and love of the game they are modding for.

It's nice to get a tip every now and then, but that's not why most people get into modding. it's not even incentive to make it a job... they would still have to get jobs to cover the cost of living, because not even half of the people downloading are donating. So just because donating is encouraged, doesn't mean that mod creators are actually making any money for their work. Not enough to make it worth their time.

[V.V.]

Also a lot of Workshop mods have paypal links in them. The higher quality ones anyway. Just so ya'll know. You CAN donate to mod creators on the Workshop by asking them if they have paypals too. But you wont.

[ChrillBill]

That part in CA's tweet always had me a bit puzzled - "and even make a living there".
As in, that's the main soruce of their income or, just earning a nice bunch of extra cash. I think it's the latter. But I also know there are some super rich and generous donators out there in the world... How lucky if one of them takes interest in your mod! :p

[EleventhStar]

Originally posted by DaBa:

If clicking a few times, then copying some files is too much for you, then what are you doing playing video games on a PC? I don't know many people who cite things like "1 click installation" as a selling point on a windows PC.

gatekeeping isn't cool. it's good for you too if modding becomes more mainstream.

On of such problems being something I've already said that you seems to have completely ignored: Steam Workshop doesn't work well for video games that are sold on multiple storefronts. You only end up dividing the modding community and end up in situations, where there are at least two places that host them (because games bought on GOG for example can't use steam workshop), and then one place has mods that other one doesn't. It just becomes a mess.

in some cases sure. but let's not pretend steam isn't an enormous platform. steam also isn't a walled garden compared to xbox/playstation/ios/android.

[V.V.]

Well, I know of one mod in particular that got the creator hired on as a developer for a game studio. So if anything, maybe the hard work pays off in a career instead of a donation.

[EleventhStar]

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

That part in CA's tweet always had me a bit puzzled - "and even make a living there".
As in, that's the main soruce of their income or, just earning a nice bunch of extra cash. I think it's the latter. But I also know there are some super rich and generous donators out there in the world... How lucky if one of them takes interest in your mod! :p

yeah there is no way someone makes a living from modding just this game. way to small market.

it's probably possible to make a living if you make and maintain mods for a lot of games at once.

but the only examples of people that i know for sure make a living with mods is people selling hacks, cheats and bots for competitive multiplayer games. and they sooner or later always get sued which they usually can't afford.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by V.V.:

Well, I know of one mod in particular that got the creator hired on as a developer for a game studio. So if anything, maybe the hard work pays off in a career instead of a donation.

Good point. It also makes a lot of sense when you think about the fact that all talented developers started off somewhere. Even ConcernedApe. Though I will admit, he stands out to me when I think about all the aspects in this game that he has created himself.

Usually people are good at different things, which is why many forms a company/studio.

But Eric is a man of many talents for sure.

[dredre99877]

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

Originally posted by ChrillBill:

The actual modding process for Stardew Valley is very quick and easy.

. but one wonders why some of the more common dependencies aren't just baked into SMAPI at this point, or even why SMAPI isn't baked into the game itself by now.)

Because of copyright laws....

[supersand]

I think a steam workshop would be amazing for this game, I hate having to download from nexusmods.

[EleventhStar]

Originally posted by dredre99877:

Because of copyright laws....

got a source for that?

the only mod authors ive ever seen have problems with having their mods incorporated into the base game are the ones that put a lot of creative effort into it, art, level design, writing, etc. which is understandable, and generally best for all parties involved it if stays seperated.

but quality of life/purely under the hood mechanical mod authors are usually happy to have their stuff put in the basegame, either directly of when the devs are inspired by them.

(and then ofc there are also plenty of game studios that simply say they own any mods you make once you accept their terms.)

[SirCabbage]

Honestly, Steam Workshop mods are always highly controlled- with Nexus the community is able to create a bunch of mods and frameworks, and loads of weird and wonderful things that would likely otherwise be restricted. I have never seen a steam workshop that hasn't compromised in some way the power of modders.

[EleventhStar]

Originally posted by SirCabbage:

Honestly, Steam Workshop mods are always highly controlled- with Nexus the community is able to create a bunch of mods and frameworks, and loads of weird and wonderful things that would likely otherwise be restricted. I have never seen a steam workshop that hasn't compromised in some way the power of modders.

pretty sure devs can do that on nexus too if they want. it's usually larger companies that do the whole morals police on the workshop and i don't really see nexus standing up to any of those.

[Calico Witch]

Originally posted by DaBa:

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

best is subjective

1 click installation is a huge selling point.

so is not having to go to a user unfriendly 3rd party site. (its 5 clicks just to download something at nexus before you even get to installation, and you need an account too.)

If clicking a few times, then copying some files is too much for you, then what are you doing playing video games on a PC? I don't know many people who cite things like "1 click installation" as a selling point on a windows PC. Especially when we're talking about something like modding, which is inherently not a user friendly or simple activity in the first place. Besides, you're using a machine that has nothing to do with ease of use and being user friendly, that's what consoles are for. You can handle a few clicks, I'm certain. Go buy a console or something if you want ease of use. I guarantee you that a vast majority of PC players will never take "Ease of use" over anything that provides other, tangible benefits, or sidesteps more important problems.

On of such problems being something I've already said that you seems to have completely ignored: Steam Workshop doesn't work well for video games that are sold on multiple storefronts. You only end up dividing the modding community and end up in situations, where there are at least two places that host them (because games bought on GOG for example can't use steam workshop), and then one place has mods that other one doesn't. It just becomes a mess.

Well, some of us play on a PC because that's all we have. And some of us are old folks and have a hard time figuring ♥♥♥♥ out. Ease of use is important!