Why is factorio not using the workshop?

[Jay Mac]

I'm trying to get a few simple mods installed and this is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nightmare.

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

Factorio is a stand alone game that was brought to Steam for the fans. As such not all of the players are on steam and can use the workshop. This is why they have their own mod portal, so that all mods are available for all users.

[Zamber]

What kind of "nightmare" is simply drop zipped mods into [mods] folder?
I think its even kind of magic when you dont need to unzip them there. ;)

[still__alive]

And the mod management in Factorio is way better than Steam Workshop. Steam Workshop is pretty much the worst mod management system I've ever used.

If you are not comfortable with navigating your computer and you are trying to get mods from the website and manually install them, I can see how some people could get confused. I don't actually know if there is the option to do it this way, but I'm assuming you can.

But you don't have to do it that way. You can just use the mod section that is in the actual game, it functions basically the same as Steam Workshop. Minus some of the issues that Steam Workshop has, and I'd argue better/more functionality as well.

[brian_va]

what game version are you on, and what mods are you trying to install?

[ChillCore]

Originally posted by still__alive:

And the mod management in Factorio is way better than Steam Workshop. Steam Workshop is pretty much the worst mod management system I've ever used.

+1.000.000.000^64

I don't actually know if there is the option to do it this way, but I'm assuming you can.

You can indeed mod the steam version without entering your credentials if you do not feel like entering your credentials into the steam version (*) by just dropping mods in the correct folder.





(*) as i refuse to do. :P

[AlexMBrennan]

tl;dr: It's a completely arbitrary decision. They flipped a coin, and we got the mod.factorio.com mod portal.

I'd argue better/more functionality as well.

That's largely immaterial - most people would prefer a single acceptable service over thousands of marginally better services. Having every single developer implement their own mod portal (with their own usersname & password database which I am sure is perfectly secure because every 1 man indy studio has the funds to hire security experts) clearly isn't the solution.

You can indeed mod the steam version without entering your credentials if you do not feel like entering your credentials into the steam version

Yeah, you just have to enter your credentials into the mod website because the mod portal does not allow you to download anything without a Factorio.com account.

Factorio is a stand alone game that was brought to Steam for the fans. As such not all of the players are on steam and can use the workshop.

And Steam customers didn't initially have a Factorio.com account so either way one group has to create an account with a platform they don't want to use - if Steam customers can be expected to create Factorio.com account then I don't see why Factorio.com customers can't be expected to create a Steam account.

You can just use the mod section that is in the actual game, it functions basically the same as Steam Workshop. Minus some of the issues that Steam Workshop has, and I'd argue better/more functionality as well.

It took them ages to fix broken mods bricking the game (because the game would crash trying to load a broken mod before you ever got to the mod manager) so excuse me if I am not convinced by the inherent superiority of an in-game mod manager.

I also don't appreciate the automatic restart (my computer can install updates and shut down so why can't Factorio?)

[Torkkar]

Originally posted by CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate:

Factorio is a stand alone game that was brought to Steam for the fans. As such not all of the players are on steam and can use the workshop. This is why they have their own mod portal, so that all mods are available for all users.

umm... Except no Rimworld was fully developed off steams and it STILL supports BOTH workshop & its own mod hosting site & it features an ingame mod manager that also shuts off incompatable mods until they can be updated.

so why not Factorio?

[brian_va]

Originally posted by Torkkar:

[
umm... Except no Rimworld
so why not Factorio?

rimworld with mods can break catastrophically on major version updates, same problem that plagues every other game that tends to break mods on version changes. factorio would be no different. valve doesnt believe that commoners should have control over trivial things like version control.

[still__alive]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

I'd argue better/more functionality as well.

That's largely immaterial - most people would prefer a single acceptable service over thousands of marginally better services. Having every single developer implement their own mod portal (with their own usersname & password database which I am sure is perfectly secure because every 1 man indy studio has the funds to hire security experts) clearly isn't the solution.

Not immaterial in the sense that it seems Wube has decided they can do better than Workshop, and that if they don't want to support it, they don't have to. Whether or not most people would prefer a single service.

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

You can just use the mod section that is in the actual game, it functions basically the same as Steam Workshop. Minus some of the issues that Steam Workshop has, and I'd argue better/more functionality as well.

It took them ages to fix broken mods bricking the game (because the game would crash trying to load a broken mod before you ever got to the mod manager) so excuse me if I am not convinced by the inherent superiority of an in-game mod manager.

Bet this exact issue is still a thing elsewhere on the Steam Workshop though. :P

And it isn't that an in-game mod manager is inherently superior to the Steam Workshop. It is just that Valve has implemented one of the laziest, poorest mod management platforms I've ever had the (dis)pleasure of using. I suppose Bethesda's thing for Skyrim was possibly one I could name that was worse, which was an in-game manager as well, wasn't it? So Steam Workshop is the 2nd worse I guess.

Valve could do so much better if they'd put some effort in. It is almost like they gave up after their paid mods idea fell through or something. Maybe they just don't care. Or maybe they don't have any experience with better platforms and thus don't know any better. Or improvement will be coming, just that Valve takes a really long time to develop stuff.

[PunCrathod]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

tl;dr: It's a completely arbitrary decision. They flipped a coin, and we got the mod.factorio.com mod portal.

It was anything but arbitrary. They just didn't want to split the community.


Also steamworkshop is just plain horrible. There is no version control. You are always stuck on the latest version of the mods no matter what. Even if they are incompatible. Even worse if there is a patch on the game that requires modmakers to update what happens most of the time is that you have to go back to a previous version because of mods. Then some mods update and no longer work with the old version of the game so you have to update but some mods havent updated and now your save no longer works. Forced autoupdates and mods is the worst combination ever. Even if all mods are updated right away it can still break your saves and there is no options for fixing it.

Compare that to factorios own ingame modmanager. If you don't tell it to update it never touches your mods. Your save will always work. And if you want to update then it will tell you what mods are incompatible with the newer version of the game. And if you update and it breaks your save you can go back to the previous version of both the game and mods and your save works again.

To me that looks very much superior over steamworkshop. The only advantage steamworkshop has over other systems is that it is owned by valve and their fanboys flock to it even if there are better options available.

[Doom Sayer]

Originally posted by Jay Mac:

I'm trying to get a few simple mods installed and this is a ♥♥♥♥ing nightmare.

What the ♥♥♥♥? Have you ever watched/read the multi page guides on modding Bethesda's games? (Fallout 3, NV, 4, Skyrim etc) Where it involves like 8+ distinct apps to do everything you'd want, many of their games themselves need fixes to make them launch on modern pc's.....

Some mods need patches to work with other mods and those patches for mods need patches, then the game itself needs mods that act as patches then those patches need patches and those patches need patches for patches.....

[GunRunner89X]

Yes, downloading mod files and putting them into the correct folder location is really rocket science isn't it............................

Or just log into the mod portal in the game and you don't need to do anything cos it's all done for you automatically..............

Yeah really nightmarish alright..............

[Doom Sayer]

Originally posted by Gun-Runner89X:

Yes, downloading mod files and putting them into the correct folder location is really rocket science isn't it............................

Or just log into the mod portal in the game and you don't need to do anything cos it's all done for you automatically..............

Yeah really nightmarish alright..............

Its actually really sad because after I replied I realized it was bait.