Support a new forum for mod threads.

[WesW]

I recently posted in the suggestions forum about the need for a forum dedicated to the mods themselves, and separate from the dungeon, which deals with mod issues. Mod-makers would announce the release of their mods, both those in developed (betas) and those ready for public release (gone gold, as the industry would say). The mod-makers would post the attributes of their mods along with readmes, and include links to their downloads. Forum admins could even edit the thread to include links to the mod if and when it is posted at the org.
I believe that in this way, most all mods could stay on the front page of the forum, which is the only page most people visit, and would become the designated place for players interested in trying out mods to visit.
I think we can all see that the longer the game has been out, the fewer people are going to come to the Main Hall for basic Q&A and strategy tips, and the more are going to be looking for mods to hold their interest in Total War. Also, it seems that many of the most ambitious mods are just getting going good, from the Roman and LOTR mods to LK's units add-ons, and so the mods should be developing more interest from players along with an increase in their quality.

So, I would like this to be a petition for the new fourm.

[TosaInu]

How about a subforum in The Dungeon? I do not know exactely how it's going to look, but it is possible.

[Stormer]

i think we need a whole new forum sorry to say will, but it will eventully or now think of the the guests comeing to read about RTW they dont wanna go looking around 4 differant forms i know i certainly wouldnt.

[Wellington]

"i think we need a whole new forum sorry to say will, but it will eventully or now think of the the guests comeing to read about RTW they dont wanna go looking around 4 differant forms i know i certainly wouldnt."


Er ... Stormer http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

Is this English or a hybrid I'm unaware of? I've no idea whether yours is a yes vote or a no vote http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Still, any vote is commendabale ... even if the ballot paper was spoiled


Anyways ... my twopence worth ...

I would really object to more modding forums on "The Org". One of the appeals of this site is everything is so easy to find (hhmm ... although I do get lost in the downloads sometimes ... B?). I tend to think that "less is better" in many respects. New forums, even if started with the best possible intentions (ie: specifically for completed mod's) would quickly attract questions/replies pertaining to such mod's then all us modders who copiously glean gem's of information from the work of others would effectively have to search in more places.
Also, a single modders forum such as "The Org's" is extremely beneficial insomuch as many 'established modders' and 'newbies' alike read threads that may be totally unrelated to what we are looking for/interested in but as a result 'throw' us into interesting area's that we never anticipated. You certainly don't have the priviledge of such 'diversifications of interests' in one forum on many other Game related modding sites.

I used to mod "Baldours Gate". My favourite site? - www.teamBG.com

A par excellent site for BG. Brilliant site, brilliant mods, brilliant utilities, brilliant ideas ... but try finding some specific modding info - if you dare

This site has upwards of 70 forums YES - SEVENTY Try this link http://www.teambg.net/forum/?c=all

What about modding forums? No less than 26 AND THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE ACTUAL MOD'S ... the link - http://www.teambg.net/forum/?c=group1

Oh, and forums for released mods? Er .. 19 ... the link - http://www.teambg.net/forum/?c=group2

I seldom use this site now as it's just IMPOSSIBLE to find what you want. Also, if you have a question to ask you require a honours degree in logistics merely to determine the correct forum for your post.

OK, this IS is an EXTREME example ... but I saw (over a few years) how requests such as this thread's eventually made a site's forums impractical for both established modders and newbies alike.

Please don't add more modders forums. If necessary reorganise the Download area's for specific mod's - sectionise the downloads area for specific types of mod's if necessary. But, whatever you do always bear in mind ...

... SIMPLE is, more often than not, BETTER

[King David]

I agree with Lord Wellington in this. It would be a royal pain in the backside to get folks to look at your mod from 100 different forums. Most Folks (The average joe) Like familiar things and in the Information supajehisaway its no diff. I seldom visit other forums including the CA site forum because I have grown to adapt to this one its sort of like coming home after a long day at work and relaxing at your familiar place with a hot cup of joe

[Quid]

Yep, I am def with you here....new forum for mods is a go...good one...


Quidster

[el_slapper]

What would be cool, on the other hand, would be a bigger description of the uploaded files... whoever finds my reb987 campaign cannot know what it is made of(single starting province for each faction, rebels everywhere else). Same thing for every mod. You download, THEN you have the readme. I've got the ADSL, no prob. But those with 56k, paying each minute of connection?

Would be cool to link at least to the readme.txt

[WesW]

Quote[/b] (el_slapper @ Jan. 13 2003,07:01)]What would be cool, on the other hand, would be a bigger description of the uploaded files... whoever finds my reb987 campaign cannot know what it is made of(single starting province for each faction, rebels everywhere else). Same thing for every mod. You download, THEN you have the readme. I've got the ADSL, no prob. But those with 56k, paying each minute of connection?

Would be cool to link at least to the readme.txt
I completely agree with all that you said. Apolyton, where I organized and posted my other mods and which also became the host and designer of my webpage, does exactly this for all the hundreds and hundreds of mods available for the various games they now cover.
At my urging, IIRC, they also started the policy of requesting threads for submitted mods, so that people who read the download area's synopsis description and were interested could get a more detailed description of the mod. This is very helpful for those games with dozens of available mods, and MTW is growing into that category. As you stated, for European visitors who pay by the hour, this can save them money as well as time, especially since mods tend to grow ever larger the longer a game has been out.
As far as this leading to a proliferation of forums, the logic seems to use the "slippery slope" theory that one thing inevitably leads to others. Since this is a private site with a small admin staff, I just can't see this happening now, since the site has been around a couple of years and the forums are still very well controlled. And, remember that we have a forum dedicated to comments regarding the forums where we can request elimination as well as creation of forums.
When the forum is created, the admins can simply note in its description that questions regarding specific mods should be confined to that mod's thread, and that failure to follow this rule will result in closing of the thread. You can be nice about it so that people won't be put off by their thread being closed.
Also, IMO there would be nothing wrong with a limited amount of "non-readme" threads, especially polls regarding things such as what features players would like to see added or changes they would like to the way the game is balanced. This would also be a place to post a sticky thread listng things like the highest-rated, most downloaded and "hottest" mods, as well as those currently in development.

I know that news coverage is often the most important factor in a game site's success when a game is new, but in my experience it is mods grow more and more important in keeping people coming back long after a game has been released, and people have become proficient at it and have acquired all the knowledge they care to regarding gameplay, features, historical background, etc.

[PanthaPower]

OKay, here's my two cents.

I agree with Wellington but but also agree with other people that there needs to be a new way of bringing the MODs to the community. IMHO I think it is a good idea to do the following:

* Create a new MOD Forum
* Make it "read-only" and only give Moderators the access.
* Create a new topic which will be sticky and update this thread with all the MOD's available including a brief explanation (maybe even a note that per e.g. 1st of januari 2003, a new release of the mod came out and is available now)
* When a new mod is finished and uploaded to the download section, the Moderator creates a topic which inludes the readme of the MOD. He also updates the sticky topic now with a brief explanation. New versions of the MOD with it's readme will be posted here too.

[WesW]

Pantha's suggestion sounds fine to me, though I would add the addition of a link in the readme post to a thread in the Dungeon where people could post. Sometimes people post mods here in a finished state and don't discuss them much, but I like to have an interaction with the people on the boards. Their suggestions help improve the mods I make, and their comments, the compliments at least, are a large part of what makes these mods worth posting. I spent a lot of time on the readmes and various spreadsheets, etc. that accompany the mods; things I would not need to do if I was only making the mod for myself. (The Medieval Pack II had about 8 readmes and several pages of spreadsheets representing dozens and dozens of hours of work.)
There were several threads on the various versions of the MedPack II that had more than 200 posts each, and maintaining and replying in them was one of the most rewarding parts of the whole experience. Therefore, I think that directing people to the ongoing discussion of the mods is very important to both the users and the creators.

[Wellington]

I also agree that PP's method would probably work best. As long as we only have 1 modders forum to post to - I'm happy.

[ShadesWolf]

Quite an interesting thread.

So this forum, which we all love and call THE DUNGEON

covers,

Maps
Historic battles
General info on Modding
actual mods

and this is for MTW and Shogun. So maybe sub-forums within dungeon would be better

ie

SHOGUN
-- Maps
-- battles
-- Modding guide
-- Mods

Mongol Invasion
-- Maps
-- battles
-- Modding guide
-- Mods

MTW
-- Maps
-- battles
-- Modding guide
-- Mods

So what do you all think ? this would also help when new things come along - ie Viking and Rome.