TWC Hosted Mod Idea

[whimsical]

This probably is'nt the right forum but I was thinking about what a great site this was in terms of the know how and creativity of its members. I've also noticed that the owners/moderators have produced some top notch work in there own right.

I suppose the question I am asking is would it be possible for the site to create/host a mod that incorpoates the very best of fixes and gameplay enhancements from the forum as a whole. The idea would be to provide a mod that would bring the vanilla edition closer to its full potential without changing its essential nature. I am aware that lusted & darthmod (to name but a few) have created some excellent mods aimed at filling this type of niche. Its just that as these mods progress the enhancments become more exclusive to the mod in question and therefore more difficult to extract the best of each into your own (i.e. you need to incorporate and change other files that might overwrite enhancements from another mod).

The idea is that such a mod would generate debate and understanding as to which enhancements are best and why, provide extra qudos for ideas that make it into the mod and above all else provide an "off the shelf" means for the members to install the best of everything from around the forum.

Thoughts anyone?

[scottishranger]

It is a good idea, and a well though one to. It is up to the modders if they want to do that. Most mods already share and incorperate others mods and idea into their game, and like you mentioned, both Lusted's and Darth do an excellant job. I myself and not a modder. but I think it is a nice idea.

[Germanicus75]

I agree it becomes more and more difficult to follow all the various mods out there, test them all and decide which is best for you. And you may not agree with everything the mod owner does.
Having a repository of mod add-ons you can add to vanilla to make your own personalized version of vanilla modded just how you want it is a good idea.

[Lusted]

There are several problems with your idea.

1. Agreeing what is the best. Thats going to be impossible, unless you go by majority opinion.

2. Having someone set the mod up. You would need a modder to take time out of their own work to do a mod that mgiht not have anything of theirs in, and make sure it worked, and keep it updated.

3. Permissions. Most modders are okay with givign out permission for use of their work, but given how often a 'Best of' mod is likely to get updated, asking permissions is gonig to turn into a big headche.

[Plutarch]

it would be a good idea if they could all get together and work something out. who knows tho, maybe we can look forward to something revolutionary

[Lusted]

I doubt it, modders all have thier own ideas and do their own thing. You'll never get us all to work together and agree on things.

[The Walrus]

I doubt it, modders all have thier own ideas and do their own thing. You'll never get us all to work together and agree on things.

Thats why we mod To make the game how we want it.

[whimsical]

Thanks lots for your thoughts
I've got very limited modding know how (or time) or I'd volunteer for it myself, however if I could just explore the idea a little further (forgive me if this sounds rather simplistic).

1. Agreeing what is best.
Yes this would be difficult and would have to be a concensus decision as it would be a community mod for the community (desicion making by consensus, scary is'nt it!). Perhaps we could have a poll of some sort split into the various aspects of the game (eg. Campaign AI, Battlefield AI, unit balancing, environment, skins etc) and incorporate into the mod as appropriate. The mod would'nt have a theme as such it would just be a vanilla revamp incorporating what people like best from around the community. I also seem to recall that this site used to have a TWC awards thingy for best modders. Perhaps this would provide an oppotunity to take that idea one step further and incorporate it into a 'best of' in a mod. (that might not work though). I'm sure there are opinions out there about what mods are "best" if we can define best as bug free, difficult, immersive and realistic etc.
2. Having someone set the mod up.
On an endless number of threads you will enevitably get someone asking "How do I use A with B, or is A compatible with B. Sometimes there is an easy solution, and more often than not, the modder is happy to give advice. If it was just a case of copying text files into a data folder then I'd be happy to do it but I don't suppose it would be that easy would it? Perhaps its simply a question of TWC asking the community (Would the powers that be do something like that). I'm sure there are members with intermediate experience but with, (as yet) less than intermediate wizadry, who might see this as an oppotunity to get into the modding scene.
3. Permissions
If I can't mod the very least I could do is ask for permissions. I'm obviously not a modder but if I were I would be chuffed to bits if my work was potentially going to downloaded by heaps of people.

Its not that simple is it?

[Halie Satanus]

Moved to 'Mod com' forums.

Mod teams are often difficult to organise and maintain even when the goal is the same, the main problem with your idea is there are far to many variables to what the mod was hoping to achieve, Say you get two guys who make formations mods and they can't agree on one aspect of it, You as leader have to make a choice, but the most likely event after that is the one you vetoed is going to get upset.

Take a look at the sticky in this forum 'what a mod leader should know' it's long and has many varying opinions but that alone should give you an idea of why this would be near impossible to pull off.

Saying that though people have started and completed specific community mods so on a small scale things do get done, The community naming project for one.

We did used to have a community modding collective, the Trivium group, I'm not totally clued up on why they ultimately didn't last but they did a lot of good work during their time.