About mods and DLCs...

[A Lamp]

I had this question for quite some time now: will DLCs break mods every time we install them?

One thing i know is that it won't generate any modded items outside of containers, although can it break the mods like the EP 4 release did?

 

[Sgt Socks]

On 9/24/2022 at 7:20 PM, A Lamp said:

I had this question for quite some time now: will DLCs break mods every time we install them?

One thing i know is that it won't generate any modded items outside of containers, although can it break the mods like the EP 4 release did?

 

This is a really good question. I do hope someone who knows the technical side of mods will be able to answer it.

I am hoping the DLCs don't break the mods! I've just started using them and mods like Place Anywhere, Item Piles and Santana's DIY have addressed areas of huge irritation for me. I'll be following this thread in the hope your excellent question will be answered.

Edited September 27, 2022 by Sgt Socks

[Digitalzombie]

Thats a question that no one will be able to answer at this point. Neither Hinterland, nor any modder.

Any "official" mod implementation is still floating somewhre in Nirvana. At this point I'm somewhat sure that there hasn't been much work going on there. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally fine with that We had time to get our tools together and there isn't much we can't do already. The "hard" work is already done. Everything else now is just ... grunt work. It's not about "can we do it?" but "how lazy are we today?".

So, let's ignore "official" mod support for now. At this point it doesn't matter much.

There was talk about splitting TLD into two games, one for story mode and the usual survival free roam. That alone would mean needing to maintain two version of every mod, so my guess is that the community will mostly ignore the story game. *IF* that happens.

Now we got a fresh cut-down version of the game. Mods definitely need updating when that happens. Depending on how friendly HL is with us at that point, we may get a bit of help. But either way, it's not a show stopper. Some mods will get left behind, just because the modders aren't active anymore. Maybe someone else picks them up and continues, or they fade into the long dark. Future will tell. At least everything is opensource. So pretty much anyone can pick it up again.

Now ... DLCs can be implemented in different ways.They could be distributed as standalone games (which would be a bit insane), HL could use the methods that the Unity engine itself got integrated already (actually very similar to modding ) or they could develop a completely fresh solution with some dark magic.

TL:DR -> My prediction

- Hinterland will change the core of the game to make it DLC ready
- Mods need update after that
- Depending on what the DLC changes when active (Mackenzie gets turned into a slug), mods can conflict in that area (JumpMod doesn't work because Mackenzie got no legs anymore) .... Not the actual technical reason of course
- If conflicts appear, mods need updates, need to be disabled or you can roll the dice

If a mod that you have installed breaks (or you uninstall it), you don't loose your savegames. If you delete custom items mods and load your game again, those items are gone from the game of course.  But it won't break your savegame. We're trying very hard to keep it at that, even with DLCs

[Sgt Socks]

@Digitalzombie

Thank you for such a detailed response.

I also want to thank you, and the other modders, they really are superb and address the gaping holes in the game.

Your candlelight one is fabulous! 

[Digitalzombie]

6 hours ago, Sgt Socks said:

Your candlelight one is fabulous! 

Thanks Have you noticed the subtle flowing wax effect when looking closely?

[piddy3825]

I love playing my game with mods and frankly I would not be surprised to see that somewhere down the line, modding will become split between two camps ie. free for play and fee based content.  Thankfully for now we have a very dedicated and genuinely responsive modding community who thru their hard work and creativity have made this game even more enjoyable than ever before.  So a very heartfelt thankful to these magnificent content creators!

[Sgt Socks]

On 9/29/2022 at 1:46 AM, Digitalzombie said:

Thanks Have you noticed the subtle flowing wax effect when looking closely?

I have indeed DZ, I spent so long organising my carved statues they had burned down a lot. I was so impressed with the detail 😊

[Guest jeffpeng]

The fact is: until there is an official modding API with some basic level of maturity mods will break with pretty much any version, simply depending on if what any mod relies on got changed. Which is generally true for pretty much any game. And even then this will happen from time to time. Even actual software breaks every so often when there is a new OS version. Even the most conservative projects such as Redhat or debian manage this.

There is a common wisdom: every line of code you change will cause two lines of fixes in whatever software relies on yours.