the modding zone is completely broken and cursed

[Z0MBE]

Because I don't see alotta good mods like I used to, and I feel like there's a great need for many different things that vanilla doesn't provide...

[jagholin]

wat

[jagholin]

something particular that you don't like? Accessible is just a buzzword, modding always requires some talent, and what specific features you miss on mod portal https://mods.factorio.com/ or built-in mods browser?

[AlexMBrennan]

Well, yes, the in game mod browse is certainly the dumbest idea ever but they seem very married to the idea so I doubt this is ever going to change.

Essential missing features:
0. Allow the player to fix broken mods when broken mods stop the game from loading This was eventually fixed
1. Update mods without first loading the game
2. Change mod configuration without restarting the game (i.e. "save and quit" in addition to the existing "save and restart")
3. The ability to browse mods by mod author - e.g. if you want to install all mods by Arch666Angel then you need to open the mod portal in your web browser, look up his mods (this is not possible in the in-game tool for reasons only known to Wube), and then manually enter the names of the mods in the in-game tool to install them.

I honestly do not understand how anyone could look at this garbage fire and think that it is suitable for public release.

[jagholin]

1. Update mods without first loading the game

mod manager would need to be an external tool. Many games do this (slay the spire is an example). It should be possible to make a tool like this, because all it needs to do is to manage /mods folder and interface with mods.factorio.com. I think there used to be program like this.

2. Change mod configuration without restarting the game (i.e. "save and quit" in addition to the existing "save and restart")

don't really see a need for this. You want to change your mods and then quit the game? Why?

3. The ability to browse mods by mod author - e.g. if you want to install all mods by Arch666Angel then you need to open the mod portal in your web browser, look up his mods (this is not possible in the in-game tool for reasons only known to Wube), and then manually enter the names of the mods in the in-game tool to install them.

Don't know what you are talking about, you can search author's name and it shows you all their mods.

[jagholin]

what I would want is it is sometimes necessary to download specific mod versions, and not just the latest one. Example: seablock modpack, it's currently broken if you download it through ingame mod manager, because it requires old versions of angels mods, and doesn't work with new ones.

[Z0MBE]

Originally posted by Jagh:

wat

Originally posted by Jagh:

something particular that you don't like? Accessible is just a buzzword, modding always requires some talent, and what specific features you miss on mod portal https://mods.factorio.com/ or built-in mods browser?

It really begs the question to me why there is not a massive amount of mods in general or that the mods that are there are massively under-developed .. either there are no more modders or modding is too strenuous. There should be tons of mods and variations but the fact that there is basically no development at all leads me to believe that there is a much more stark issue that's being ignored here.

[jagholin]

Originally posted by mccafferty.max:

It really begs the question to me why there is not a massive amount of mods in general or that the mods that are there are massively under-developed .. either there are no more modders or modding is too strenuous. There should be tons of mods and variations but the fact that there is basically no development at all leads me to believe that there is a much more stark issue that's being ignored here.

what? I really don't understand what are you talking about. There are thousands of mods for factorio 1.1 on the mod portal, there are many great mods that receive active development or support. Krastorio 2, space exploration, angels and bob mods, tons of smaller QoL projects... Considering that Factorio is a niche game, there is ridiculous abundance.

As for your other points... I'm sorry. but do you live in a some sort of idealistic illusion? What you described is basically just pareto principle. It's expected that most of the mods out there are of subpar quality, or are abandoned or under-developed. Most games on steam are garbage. Most movies and songs produced are terrible and receive little attention. It doesn't mean that there are no great movies, games or songs anymore. This is so prevalent and universal that one might call it a natural law. If you are still wondering about this, you either haven't lived long enough or haven't payed attention.

And yes, mod development(and any sort of serious artistic or engineering task) is a hard work. You have to program in Lua(which is one of the easiest languages to learn), and/or you have to create good graphic assets. If you tried to do any of this, you would know that it requires talent and/or experience, knowledge of relevant tools and methods, and a s*t load of free time. Yes there are places that can help - there is Factorio discord where you can chat with devs or other modders, there is official forums with modding sections, there is a great API documentation, and there are tons of mods, many of them open-source - so you can just learn by example how to do some things. But external help can only do so much - in the end it's in your hands(and your imagination) to create what you want.

[brian_va]

Originally posted by AlexMBrennan:

Well, yes, the in game mod browse is certainly the dumbest idea ever but they seem very married to the idea so I doubt this is ever going to change.

Essential missing features:
0. Allow the player to fix broken mods when broken mods stop the game from loading This was eventually fixed
1. Update mods without first loading the game
2. Change mod configuration without restarting the game (i.e. "save and quit" in addition to the existing "save and restart")
3. The ability to browse mods by mod author - e.g. if you want to install all mods by Arch666Angel then you need to open the mod portal in your web browser, look up his mods (this is not possible in the in-game tool for reasons only known to Wube), and then manually enter the names of the mods in the in-game tool to install them.

I honestly do not understand how anyone could look at this garbage fire and think that it is suitable for public release.

for all its faults, its beats using steam workshop by a wide margin. version control alone is reason enough for valve to be ashamed of themselves.

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by mccafferty.max:

Originally posted by Jagh:

wat

Originally posted by Jagh:

something particular that you don't like? Accessible is just a buzzword, modding always requires some talent, and what specific features you miss on mod portal https://mods.factorio.com/ or built-in mods browser?

It really begs the question to me why there is not a massive amount of mods in general or that the mods that are there are massively under-developed .. either there are no more modders or modding is too strenuous. There should be tons of mods and variations but the fact that there is basically no development at all leads me to believe that there is a much more stark issue that's being ignored here.

Smells like a troll post to me:
1. One simple glance on the modding hub shows dozens of mods in all variety and "colours"
2. Mods are constantly being devved by the mod-authors to the point people are blaming the FACTORIO devs for their game breaking whilst what really happened was that they updated mods and conflicts arose between mods biting eachother because author 1 isn't as fast as author 2 (or has to do more work in order to fully update) and conflicts arise.
3. ANY visit to the modhubs will shows dozens of active discussion threads of mods being requested, devved, updated and discussed.

[PunCrathod]

It's funny how people complain about the ingame mod manager when there is nothing preventing you from using/making your own mod manager. The api for mods.factorio.com is well documented and the devs are answering all question about it to people who want to make a third party mod manager. And if you want you can use any filesharing service you want. There is nothing preventing you from doing that. At the end of the day the mods are just files in a folder. Just like 99% of all other games that have mod support.

Third party mod managers are very much supported by the devs. There is even a forum subsection for them https://forums.factorio.com/viewforum.php?f=137

Also I have yet to find a game that has a better first party mod manager.

[dragonsphotoworks]

Only thing I would change about current mod structure is being able to save SETS of mods. Otherwise everything else is there. version.. ok not in mod manager but is on modportal.
Mod variety,,, there are tons. When i just go through list to see if anything interests me. And I see tons available, and interesting.

As for looking up by author i do it all the time. How I find bob/angel mods anyway. I probably need remove some of my stand along mods as they seem to be adding them to their packs lol

I dont understand how people can say mods hard to find or limited in scope. I see QOl, belt, inserter, building, weapons, turrets, trains, logistic and more mods all over place. My problem is finding eact type I want at time since list so huge and not every one uses similiar naming structure lol

[Z0MBE]

Originally posted by dragonsphotoworks:

Only thing I would change about current mod structure is being able to save SETS of mods. Otherwise everything else is there. version.. ok not in mod manager but is on modportal.
Mod variety,,, there are tons. When i just go through list to see if anything interests me. And I see tons available, and interesting.

As for looking up by author i do it all the time. How I find bob/angel mods anyway. I probably need remove some of my stand along mods as they seem to be adding them to their packs lol

I dont understand how people can say mods hard to find or limited in scope. I see QOl, belt, inserter, building, weapons, turrets, trains, logistic and more mods all over place. My problem is finding eact type I want at time since list so huge and not every one uses similiar naming structure lol

The main issue I have is with promptness in updating mods or creating mods. My problem is that the new update comes out and it takes like a whole year for most of them to be updated. Other games get mod updates within weeks and tbh some of those games are dead and nobody plays them, I just expect there to be an abundant amount of mods all of the time tbh.

I notice that with different updates there are inconsistent amounts of mods and inconsistent mod updating, like whole mods just go dead and have to be completely reinvented, or they are completely broken on certain factorio updates and never get fixed. Or they just die and that's it. I feel like it should be way easier and a much bigger part of this game, it's very necessary.

You can definitely easily find mods and mod authors, I guess I just mean that the modding in general should be alot more than it currently is.

[Overeagerdragon]

Originally posted by mccafferty.max:

Originally posted by dragonsphotoworks:

Only thing I would change about current mod structure is being able to save SETS of mods. Otherwise everything else is there. version.. ok not in mod manager but is on modportal.
Mod variety,,, there are tons. When i just go through list to see if anything interests me. And I see tons available, and interesting.

As for looking up by author i do it all the time. How I find bob/angel mods anyway. I probably need remove some of my stand along mods as they seem to be adding them to their packs lol

I dont understand how people can say mods hard to find or limited in scope. I see QOl, belt, inserter, building, weapons, turrets, trains, logistic and more mods all over place. My problem is finding eact type I want at time since list so huge and not every one uses similiar naming structure lol

The main issue I have is with promptness in updating mods or creating mods. My problem is that the new update comes out and it takes like a whole year for most of them to be updated. Other games get mod updates within weeks and tbh some of those games are dead and nobody plays them, I just expect there to be an abundant amount of mods tbh.

This is not meant to offend you in any way but have you ever done any coding/modding yourself? Mods like Angel's, Bob's or Py's are so extremely big it takes a while for the author to actually get them up to date again. We're not talking about changing a single line of code but hundreds, if not thousands, if not ten's of thousands of lines of codes; testing it, adjusting it again, testing again and even though this takes a long while (though I think a year is a bit of an exageration on your part) as a guy who has done coding I really think the bigger modpacks are updated extremely quick when taking into account that the authors aren't paid (usually), alone AND usually have a social/professional life on the side.

[Z0MBE]

Originally posted by Overeagerdragon:

Originally posted by mccafferty.max:

The main issue I have is with promptness in updating mods or creating mods. My problem is that the new update comes out and it takes like a whole year for most of them to be updated. Other games get mod updates within weeks and tbh some of those games are dead and nobody plays them, I just expect there to be an abundant amount of mods tbh.

This is not meant to offend you in any way but have you ever done any coding/modding yourself? Mods like Angel's, Bob's or Py's are so extremely big it takes a while for the author to actually get them up to date again. We're not talking about changing a single line of code but hundreds, if not thousands, if not ten's of thousands of lines of codes; testing it, adjusting it again, testing again and even though this takes a long while (though I think a year is a bit of an exageration on your part) as a guy who has done coding I really think the bigger modpacks are updated extremely quick when taking into account that the authors aren't paid (usually), alone AND usually have a social/professional life on the side.

Ok, but Im just talking about any mod in general, mainly for me, mods that add one thing that do one thing, like meter power or pollution or transfer power or have a well that doesn't need to touch water. For some reason there's always like 3-4 mods that add inland water pumps and they always get replaced by a different variant. Why can't there just be one? It's all very inconsistent. Bobs mods and angels mods and all these big mods I'm sure, have whole teams that work for them to do it. Im not talking about them. Im fine if they need time to do what they do. My problem is that the entire system is so cumbersome that nobody bothers.

Tbh when I said most mods aren't updated for a year, Im talking about not just the main couple mods and Im actually talking about "most" mods.. That's why I put most.

[astrosha]

It sounds to me as though you expect there to be dedicated modders, people whose sole purpose is to make, and then maintain, their mods.

The reason there are a bunch of water well type mods (per your example) is that different people come up with different approaches, and then maintain their mod for different lengths of time. Modder A might have only played Factorio from 2016 through 2018, and made their mod and maintained it during that time. Another person, Modder B, comes along in late 2017, sees and uses Modder A's mod, and when Modder A stops supporting it, decides to write their own. Modder B supports his mod for a while, then moves on from Factorio as well, leaving both the original mod and the new mod abandoned.

People do have lives outside Factorio. People commonly play a game for a while, sometimes a long while, and then move on to other games leaving the previous game entirely. There are plenty of mods out there that I'd love to see better developed, but the authors seem to have left Factorio completely (Enchanted mods, Storage Energistics mod, I'm thinking mainly of you). The only recourse you or I have is to take up the torch where someone else dropped it off; either coming up with our own mods using previous ones as inspiration, or to contact the previous author and take up maintenance for their mods specifically. Or, just take the lazy route, and play with the plethora of available mods and just lament the lack of older, non-maintained mods.