Can we stop using mod.io?

[Plitz]

It ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ never works, my mailbox is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ full to the brim with verification codes, because i have to log in EVERY SINGLE TIME when i start the game ... and i have to restart the game for mods to work and then i have to verificate again and so on and so on .... AND IN THE END MY DOWNLOADED MODS ARE NOT EVEN THERE!

Steam has a perfectly fine working workshop ... what is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problem?

[Kunovega]

Originally posted by Plitz:

Steam has a perfectly fine working workshop ... what is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problem?

The "problem" is steam used to allow workshop mods to be downloaded by anyone. That was changed a couple years ago to only allow steam users to download from the workshop. In response, any company that has a game across multiple platforms is now more likely to use a different mod release site so that they only need to support one mod site that releases to all of their distribution platforms.

For a game to support steam workshop, they now either need to restrict their playbase to steam only or spend the manpower to support multiple distribution platforms, and that's an easy to avoid expense as a developer.

Tropico 6 is available from multiple places, steam, epic, windows store and so on. Kalypso (and many publishers) are choosing to only focus on one distribution location for mods that work across all platforms.

Another example would be Sega (publisher) with Two Point Studios (developer). Back when they released Two Point Hospital, steam still allowed workshop mods to be distributed to anyone and Two Point Hospital had extensive workshop integration. However, by the time they published Two Point Campus, Valve is no longer allowing Steam to to distribute workshop mods outside of Steam, so they've chosen mod io as a cross platform solution.

Here's where they noted it as well:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1649080/discussions/3/3828665650629679870/#c5294588689504654767

Steam Workshop is awesome, but we wanted to make sure players across all platforms could access modding in Two Point Campus, rather than making it Steam specific. Mod.io enables both PC and consoles players to do this, which is why we made the decision to use it over Workshop.

The additional advantage (for the developer) is that mod io isn't just cross platform with other PC distribution (epic, gog, etc.) but also allows them to support their console releases with mods. (something steam workshop couldn't do even back when you could get mods from it for other PC site releases)

That's your problem in a nutshell. Valve decided to not let steam workshop be cross platform anymore, and even back when it was it still didn't support console downloads.

mod io is an all in one solution for the developer to support everything, all PC store fronts and consoles at once. For any of them to switch back to using steam workshop, Valve wouldn't just need to revert their policy on PC distribution of the mods, but would now need to add in console support as well ~ and that's quite frankly not likely to happen since it would be a big expense for valve with zero return, since they would just be making a duplicate of mod io and giving people more reason to shop somewhere else while still taking advantage of steam features.

tldr: cost advantage of not supporting multiple mod distribution platforms

[Plitz]

Yet mod.io does not work for many people and that accross many games ...and there is NO workaround to fix this problem! Basically the second the game closes to "apply new downloaded mods" it just rolls back to default.

[sMudge]

Originally posted by Kunovega:

Originally posted by Plitz:

Steam has a perfectly fine working workshop ... what is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problem?

The "problem" is steam used to allow workshop mods to be downloaded by anyone. That was changed a couple years ago to only allow steam users to download from the workshop. In response, any company that has a game across multiple platforms is now more likely to use a different mod release site so that they only need to support one mod site that releases to all of their distribution platforms.

For a game to support steam workshop, they now either need to restrict their playbase to steam only or spend the manpower to support multiple distribution platforms, and that's an easy to avoid expense as a developer.

Tropico 6 is available from multiple places, steam, epic, windows store and so on. Kalypso (and many publishers) are choosing to only focus on one distribution location for mods that work across all platforms.

Another example would be Sega (publisher) with Two Point Studios (developer). Back when they released Two Point Hospital, steam still allowed workshop mods to be distributed to anyone and Two Point Hospital had extensive workshop integration. However, by the time they published Two Point Campus, Valve is no longer allowing Steam to to distribute workshop mods outside of Steam, so they've chosen mod io as a cross platform solution.

Here's where they noted it as well:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1649080/discussions/3/3828665650629679870/#c5294588689504654767

Steam Workshop is awesome, but we wanted to make sure players across all platforms could access modding in Two Point Campus, rather than making it Steam specific. Mod.io enables both PC and consoles players to do this, which is why we made the decision to use it over Workshop.

The additional advantage (for the developer) is that mod io isn't just cross platform with other PC distribution (epic, gog, etc.) but also allows them to support their console releases with mods. (something steam workshop couldn't do even back when you could get mods from it for other PC site releases)

That's your problem in a nutshell. Valve decided to not let steam workshop be cross platform anymore, and even back when it was it still didn't support console downloads.

mod io is an all in one solution for the developer to support everything, all PC store fronts and consoles at once. For any of them to switch back to using steam workshop, Valve wouldn't just need to revert their policy on PC distribution of the mods, but would now need to add in console support as well ~ and that's quite frankly not likely to happen since it would be a big expense for valve with zero return, since they would just be making a duplicate of mod io and giving people more reason to shop somewhere else while still taking advantage of steam features.

tldr: cost advantage of not supporting multiple mod distribution platforms

Wouldnt the smarter idea be focus on the one that has the most sales then use Mod.io for the other lower selling launchers? We all know its about money, so why are they trying to play fair? Basic data search would show to focus for now on the easiest,biggest, and has built in infrastructure sense the workshop has been active on this game for awhile. But rather choose a more complicated 3rd party site that chances are isnt gonna work properly on every pc anyways so it just doesnt make sense to me

[Kunovega]

Originally posted by sMudge:

Originally posted by Kunovega:

The "problem" is steam used to allow workshop mods to be downloaded by anyone. That was changed a couple years ago to only allow steam users to download from the workshop. In response, any company that has a game across multiple platforms is now more likely to use a different mod release site so that they only need to support one mod site that releases to all of their distribution platforms.

For a game to support steam workshop, they now either need to restrict their playbase to steam only or spend the manpower to support multiple distribution platforms, and that's an easy to avoid expense as a developer.

Tropico 6 is available from multiple places, steam, epic, windows store and so on. Kalypso (and many publishers) are choosing to only focus on one distribution location for mods that work across all platforms.

Another example would be Sega (publisher) with Two Point Studios (developer). Back when they released Two Point Hospital, steam still allowed workshop mods to be distributed to anyone and Two Point Hospital had extensive workshop integration. However, by the time they published Two Point Campus, Valve is no longer allowing Steam to to distribute workshop mods outside of Steam, so they've chosen mod io as a cross platform solution.

Here's where they noted it as well:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1649080/discussions/3/3828665650629679870/#c5294588689504654767


The additional advantage (for the developer) is that mod io isn't just cross platform with other PC distribution (epic, gog, etc.) but also allows them to support their console releases with mods. (something steam workshop couldn't do even back when you could get mods from it for other PC site releases)

That's your problem in a nutshell. Valve decided to not let steam workshop be cross platform anymore, and even back when it was it still didn't support console downloads.

mod io is an all in one solution for the developer to support everything, all PC store fronts and consoles at once. For any of them to switch back to using steam workshop, Valve wouldn't just need to revert their policy on PC distribution of the mods, but would now need to add in console support as well ~ and that's quite frankly not likely to happen since it would be a big expense for valve with zero return, since they would just be making a duplicate of mod io and giving people more reason to shop somewhere else while still taking advantage of steam features.

tldr: cost advantage of not supporting multiple mod distribution platforms

Wouldnt the smarter idea be focus on the one that has the most sales then use Mod.io for the other lower selling launchers? We all know its about money, so why are they trying to play fair? Basic data search would show to focus for now on the easiest,biggest, and has built in infrastructure sense the workshop has been active on this game for awhile. But rather choose a more complicated 3rd party site that chances are isnt gonna work properly on every pc anyways so it just doesnt make sense to me

With your logic the focus would be on consoles which sell far more games than any PC version.

So, by your logic there would still be no steam workshop.

mod io supports console mods and all versions of PC release.

You're also arguing with the wrong person; I don't make these decisions, I'm just telling you what these companies are doing and why; and this isn't the only publisher/developer making this choice. It's a common trend ever since valve changed their workshop policy. Companies started looking for alternatives and the alternative they found let them not only support all PC platforms but also expand to providing consoles with mods, which previously was a much more difficult thing to do.

Consoles sell more games and are much easier to support, because there isn't as much hardware variation to cater to.

Complain all you want, you're quite lucky these companies bother to release on PC at all.

[Plitz]

I highly doubt, that Tropico 6 sold more on consoles than on PC ...

I wonder how other games manage multiple Plattforms ... like ... Total War and whatnot? Do you really think it is a huge deal to upload your 20kb Mod to the workshop and Nexus? Every Game with Modsupport has a working Workshop and Nexus! Heck, even Tropico 6 has a already working Workshop! WHY NOT ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ USE IT?

[Einheri]

Modding is in open beta. No point releasing a steam workshop at this point as far as i see it. There are still kit upgrades coming as well as some bugs. It's probably easier at this point to just distribute them via mod.io and not several ways. Since steam is a large platform and the workshop easy to use, i would assume that there is going to be a possibility to release them on steam at some point.

[Plitz]

The Beta thing makes no sense whatsoever ... why implement an EXTRA EXTERNAL plugin for your "beta mods", when you can just use the things already implemented ...