Are mods usually confusing as hell or am I just an idiot?
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Relatable, Mods do be tricky to implement
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"If it was easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it'd just be the way. "
Modding varies from game to game, but having been doing it for nearly 40 years now, I can say it has generally become easier in the titles that want you to and harder in the ones that don't.
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Like most things, you're just "an idiot" until you figure it out. Like any skill, the more you practice the better you get. Just take the time to understand it better and it will start making more sense eventually.
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Also the timeline usually matters. Mod methods can change as game patches are released. Mods can have mod patches. Mods can be deprecated for new mods or mod methods. Mods can have other dependencies. Install order sometimes matters.
I think OP is right; mods can be messy, complicated, and a lot of work.
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Yeah, I usually just follow the instructions, which seems to work 99% of the time.
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This just reminds me of the mod situation for early versions of Minecraft. These days it's as simple as pressing a button and dropping your mods into a folder, but back then it was a case of directly modifying the main Java file, removing specific bits, adding specific bits in specific places... not smooth at all
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For every mod you add, complexity usually increases exponentially.
Depending on the game, difficulty also varies: modding stardew valley is joy (117 mods in a pack, easy afternoon sipping tea), modding skyrim less so (oh god,these two amazing mods tweak the same tree, time to go patch hunting, 2 weeks later you play it only to spot obscure graphical glitches, all hail wabbajack automation!), trying to make a working multiplayer mod pack for rimworld is pure suffering (why do you hate me, why do two compatible mods generate mass instability?!? 4 months of bug hunting and unsalvageable runs due to strange mod interactions, gave up for now).
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Genuinely not had a problem with mods, and I've been PC gaming for decades. Of course sometimes mods don't work but thats life. Just be patient, you'll get it done.
Decent mods have a readme file - follow the steps strictly - no skipping thinking you know better - and they should work.
Also look on YouTube or search online for guides - people often provide step by step guides to mod games purely out of a love for gaming.
Keep going - mods can be great, and its one of the many benefits of PC gaming. You'll get there!
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I used to manually mod like this, but for a few years now I've pretty much just been using mod lists/packs.
For Bethesda RPGs (TES/Fallout), and a couple other games, you can use Wabbajack to auto-install a bunch of different lists, some of which have thousands of mods.
For other games you can usually use Vortex and Nexus collections, or in the case of Steam workshop, workshop collections.
If you want a good mod list for BG3, there's Listonomicon.
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Depends on the game. When the game was made in a way that is easily moddable then installing mods usually just means putting the mod files into some directory. But when a mod is supposed to do something that is not really supported then it has to do even more crazy stuff. And when several mods want to do similar crazy stuff it gets even more complicated.
So it really depends. Though BG3 has mod support built in by now. So everything in there should be easy.
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Use Nexusmods and their Vortex mod manager. It simplifies it a lot, though you may have to watch a quick tutorial video or two. It's nothing that you won't learn, though.
Certain other games may have other mod loaders just for them, that you can use. KSPs CKAN comes to mind, or Curseforge for Minecraft. A lot of games handle mods through the Steam Workshop.
In the case of using mod loaders most of the stuff you will have to do yourself will be limited to keeping mods updated, resolving conflicts, and managing load orders (where applicable).
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Some games are super easy, press a button and it's done (steam workshop and things like that), most games are pretty easy but it varies (drag and drop some files to a specific place, maybe do a load order) and then there's the games that aren't made in a mod friendly way and require a 50 step ritual to add a minor graphics update that probably won't work the first 3 times because you forgot to add a patch on step 7b. Mass effect is definitely not a game designed to be modded, bg3 hasn't had full official mod support that long afaik so some stuff is likely still hacky
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Can't wait for the Linux version.
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It's more that most games aren't made with consideration for modding, this means you can have core gameplay elements hidden in encrypted packages and modding is limited by what you can actually get access to. Sometimes the devs/publishers will actively make mods harder though. Really depends on the game, the company, how determined people are to mod it, how long the game's been out for, the engine and probably a bunch else that I haven't thought of right now.
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Yeah, the main reason doom can be considered more friendly is because the whole engine's been taken apart and rebuilt by half the game industry by now
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YMMV but as a long time mod installer I find the UI of Vortex more confusing than manually modding most games. But if the UI clicks with you then yeah it would be a lot easier than manual.
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I decided to not even bother with a significant number of mods because they just seemed mind numbingly confusing to set up.
I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering if I'm missing some trick or something.
I think you made the right choice here.
There's no quality control in modding communities so I'd say the effort the developer puts into the install instructions is going to be a reasonable indicator of the quality of the mod itself.
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Well the one that I was thinking of specifically in that moment came with a wiki and a youtube guide on how to set it. I just balked. Like some fuckery sure, but that is just obscene.
