what happened to MODS???

[fredbeene]

There seems to be a dearth of community mods.
Really nothing new.
Is modding not possible any more

[darkcloud4579]

It's a 20 year old game, many of started playing as teens in college and have adult children now. Most of what anyone would've created mostly exists already including thousands of fictional logos for teams, quickstarts that can be imported between versions and more.

The current generation of players aren't going to have spent the thousands of hours many of us did immersing themselves in making mods, if they have computers at all, so there's no real "new blood" to mod making, but you know...you can always contribute too, if there's something missing that you want.

[thehef]

In addition, many of the mods we used to rely on a decade or two ago are now included in the game.

[Ty Cobb]

It's a lot of work to make an effective MOD or quickstart. Our wonderful 3d stadium guys have covered so much ground. The utility apps that have come along are great. Lots of niches, some unfilled, but many overwhelmed by the high quality MOD's we've gotten. I'm sure it's intimidating to many. And, hef is absolutely correct—many MOD's are now rolled into the game. That is a tribute to the work of a Dev Team that actually listens to their base...and we have been graced by that for 24 versions (No base prior to v2).

Find a niche. Occupy it. Make a good product. It sounds so very easy, but it isn't. The hardest part is a niche you enjoy and that isn't occupied. We're frankly blessed by the 3d stadium guys we've had so far. Skyboxes are my niche, but I'd not mind some company. Jerseys and logos are plentiful. Schedules...we've got a couple of guys that have been carrying the ball for a long time—we need more. Facegen and baseball cards are well covered.

You want to know the niches that quickly come to mind as unoccupied? Jersey fonts...a lot of opportunity there. Backgrounds...nobody, and I mean nobody puts these out regularly. Sounds could use more contributions. 2d stadium pics are lagging. Ballpark diagrams could use expansion. Pants aren't in great supply yet. Player photos are very well covered, but could use variety—headshots are well...boring. Colors files need to be worked on, particularly for fictional teams. Any XML guys with the time to contribute? Re-skying ballparks...I've done a few, others have. There are still a lot of people playing in 2d AFAIK. Let's not forget them. Online Leagues...I still know nothing about making one. Quickstarts and templates are hard, hard work. There are few available. Sit down, be prepared to put a lot of time in, and make one. From personal experience, it will take months to develop if you cover everything. Tutorials on MOD creation would also be helpful. Describe your software/hardware, the workflow, the obstacles, the shortcuts, and the cost.

You know what would be a great help for players? Prefab QuickStarts for each year with consistent settings. Newer players in particular would appreciate this, I'm sure. It's a time investment, but somebody or several somebodies could do it if they wanted.

We have a wonderful community of MOD makers, and we should celebrate that. That said, we're a community, and we need input from far more people. Got an idea? Throw it out there. The veterans of the MOD wars will only be glad to see it, and will gladly offer sincere input to help if you ask.

Rant concluded.

[darkcloud4579]

Good coverage & write up, Ty. +2 on the niche thing.

[Syd Thrift]

Yeah, for me the big mods are uniforms, logos, and stadia throughout history and those have already been done now. I’ve always wanted to put together historical quick starts but yeah I’m not sure that’s a big audience…

[Ty Cobb]

It's not about the size of the audience, Syd. A few years ago, I made a combination historic/fictional league set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. To this day I have no idea how many played it. I got an idea and ran with it. I had Construction Kit stadiums, custom backgrounds, logos...the works. To nab it all was about a 5GB download. It took 6 months to make. I poured over Wikipedia and history pages to ensure that team names/stadium names were relevant to the towns. Who played? I don't care...I had fun making it and learned a lot. It was the precursor to skyboxing for me.

That reminds me...3d types who don't feel up to a stadium...Jorin has a tutorial in the Construction Kit folder about making pieces for the Kit. Absolutely nobody has tackled this, and the kit is a marvel for user customizing if only we had more pieces.

[AESP_pres]

Doing MOD is sure a lot of works... believe me I know. Lans and me are working since more than a year updating all the FGs use in the game because the name convention changed two or three versions ago and the project is going well (can't say the % but I'd say at least 75% of the players starting from 1871 are done).

As it was said previously pretty much everything else was done in the past: the stadiums, the uniforms, the player pictures, FGs, etc. so now it's mostly upgrade for them unless Markus change the way to do something in the game.

[Ty Cobb]

FYI Syd, while I didn’t say it before, I will now: I’d love to see what you make. It may take a while, but I’m curious and interested.