When mods make their way into The Long Dark

[Mroz4k]

What we think will happen:

 

What the reality will look like:

 

I ain´t even mad.

[KinoUnko]

these new TLD mods are getting out of hand.

[Fuarian]

I really hope it doesn't turn into Skyrim with ridiculous mods that make no sense. 

[KinoUnko]

18 minutes ago, Fuarian said:

I really hope it doesn't turn into Skyrim with ridiculous mods that make no sense. 

deep down inside, you know it will. But that's half the fun of modding. 

[Fuarian]

2 hours ago, KinoUnko said:

deep down inside, you know it will. But that's half the fun of modding. 

Dragonborn Wolves... fack

[Prestermatt]

How long does it take for Thomas to bleed out if you shoot him in his smiling face?  And how much scrap metal can you harvest from him?

[quadgamer]

Don't worry, mods will never happen.

[Carbon]

 Mods are ultimately a blessing.

 They can extend the life of a game with modders creating things and ideas that make enough variation or alteration to a game to re-spark or renew interest in it after the initial wave has subsided. There are many examples of this, some where even the mod has outlasted and outshone the original game.

 That there may come a litany of ridiculous mods is of no consequence; we all have the choice of which mods we choose to employ. In fact, the madness that can present itself in mods I believe is illustrative of great interest in the game and exposes perhaps otherwise hidden potentials within it, some of which perhaps even the developers didn't see.

 I am very pro-modding for these reasons and I hope that at some point in the life of TLD it becomes not only discreetly available, but condoned by the developers. If they wish to hold that off until story mode is done, I can partially understand that in wanting to keep the game 'pure' until completion. On the other hand however, Survival mode is all but done, save perhaps some more maps being released. In this sense then, mods made exclusively for Survival mode would leave Story Mode untouched and it could progress unaffected.

 So, I think mods extend the life of a game and can potentially unlock or open potential unrecognized by the developers.

[Mel Guille]

While Survival Mode is a pretty polished experience at this point, there are still lots of improvements and additions we're hoping to make available in the future. Don't assume it's set in stone just yet! 

[cekivi]

3 hours ago, Mel Guille said:

While Survival Mode is a pretty polished experience at this point, there are still lots of improvements and additions we're hoping to make available in the future. Don't assume it's set in stone just yet! 

Any chance mods and/or custom difficulty will be some of those improvements?

[Timber Wolf]

4 hours ago, Mel Guille said:

Don't assume it's set in stone just yet!

I'd be very disappointed if it was!

[Mel Guille]

21 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Any chance mods and/or custom difficulty will be some of those improvements?

Nothing has been announced yet, so I'm afraid I can't comment on exactly what's coming. However development on both Wintermute and Survival Mode continues, and the team pays close attention to how changes and additions are received and takes feedback into account when planning new content.  Not a very satisfying answer, I know, but wait and see -- we think you'll like what we have coming.  

[Timber Wolf]

2 minutes ago, Mel Guille said:

Not a very satisfying answer, I know, but wait and see -- we think you'll like what we have coming.  

That works for me!  I'm patient and just want to continue to see the game evolve.

[Blinkin]

I've been lurking around in several topics about mods, most outside these forums.
I completely understand why modding would be a problem seen from bug reporting point of view. But I also see the benefits.

Looking forward to what the game will be after the final version when modding becomes officially allowed on these forums.
One thing I really hope to see, which currently is already the case, is being able to download mods outside of Steam mod workshop (Steam mod workshop is a great idea with a horrible implementation: if you don't own the game on Steam you can't access the mods).

[Carbon]

8 hours ago, Mel Guille said:

While Survival Mode is a pretty polished experience at this point, there are still lots of improvements and additions we're hoping to make available in the future. Don't assume it's set in stone just yet! 

 That's good to hear Mel and yes, I shouldn't make such assumptions.

3 hours ago, Blinkin said:

I completely understand why modding would be a problem seen from bug reporting point of view.

 Good point and one I hadn't at all considered, but folks who use mods do so at their own risk (voiding the warranty, as it were). I used a heavily modded installation of Skyrim that eventually kind of stopped working (well). I didn't think to take it to the dev forums where I would have undoubtedly have been cold shouldered. Anyhow, a good point to consider.

 

[Blinkin]

This is actually a point which the community managers of Hinterland have been stating on several other forums. So I won't take credit for it haha.

I don't think I know much games I haven't been using mods on. Even games from 20+ years ago have been modded in some way. For example the hacks done on Black & White (1) to allow it to run with high settings on modern machines. Without these hacks the game won't run at all on some machines.

Mods can indeed be really great for players!
But from software/game development point of view I see why you wouldn't be a fan of it. There will always be a (small) portion of players who refuse to read the (sticky) rules and keep posting bug reports of the game while using modifications. Games like Kerbal Space Program embraced the modding community during development but also required bug reports about the base game only (unless it was entirely related to the modding part of the game). Still some people completely ignored this which leaded to confusing bugs for the developers.

But when the time comes that The Long Dark is finished and Hinterland officially allows modding... I will be cheering. Modding is one thing, having a developer embracing mods is the best thing a great game like this can overcome. As long as the community is respectful and open, which this community is to my opinion.

P.S. I know some people will be triggered by the word "hacks" as apparently a lot of people see this word as something negative. To prevent a topic derailing discussion (as seen on other forums): hacking means nothing more than using or altering a product in a way that differs from how the original developer intended it's use. For example: Using a clothespin to prevent your trousers from getting in your bicycle chain during cycling.
Cheers!

[TROY]

Lots of interesting viewpoints here. I think  @Carbon said it best.  "we all have the choice of which mods we choose to employ."    no matter how ridiculous the mods may get or seem, no one is in charge of which ones you use except you.  If you don't like it, dont put it on your machine.

I'd also like to point out that Raph himself clearly stated that modding support is coming in the near future in the September Dev diary.  

"It’s also time for us to get back to Survival Mode. We still have a lot of things we’d like to add — more regions, more wildlife, new and improved survival mechanics, modding support, etc."

OK, well maybe he didn't clearly state it's coming in the near future, but he said he'd  like to add it.  good enough for me.  

[TROY]

21 hours ago, Mel Guille said:

Nothing has been announced yet, so I'm afraid I can't comment on exactly what's coming. However development on both Wintermute and Survival Mode continues, and the team pays close attention to how changes and additions are received and takes feedback into account when planning new content.  Not a very satisfying answer, I know, but wait and see -- we think you'll like what we have coming.  

Oh Mel... go sit down and relax. We ALWAYS like what the team has coming.