Are mods usually confusing as hell or am I just an idiot?

[archmageazor@lemmy.world]

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).

[snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works]

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

[swab148@lemm.ee]

Can't wait for the Linux version.

[snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works]

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.

[snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works]

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

[dan1101@lemm.ee]

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.

[rogue@feddit.uk]

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.

[stamets@lemmy.world]

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.

[majorllama@lemmy.world]

Some games lend themselves better to modding. Some are much more complicated to mod. Some games need a mod manager to do conflict checks and some games can just have mods piled on top of each other endlessly without issues.

Mods within certain game engines can pretty much be moved between games ofln the same engine often with very little adjustment.

I would say in modern modding it is usually fairly straightforward, but some games and some older mods definitely require some deep computer fuckery.

Stick to things you're comfortable with and skip the ones you aren't.

[feelzgoodman420@eviltoast.org]

To be fair, Mass Effect has one of the most convoluted modding processes and dogshit communities of all time. Other games are easier lol.

[sgtastrawberry@lemmy.world]

It also depends where you get the mod from as different sites offers different amount of help. On some sites you need to download, un zip, drag and drop files in different places and change files both in the mod and outside it, and other sites you just press a button and your good to go. Even when it is the same or similar mods.

[stamets@lemmy.world]

I was doing it for the Legendary edition to be fair. I dunno if that makes a difference at all. I ended up just sticking with a couple of basic community patches, staying in casual outfits on the Citadel and such in ME1, and upscaled cutscenes. Anything more than that was just way too fuckin confusing.

[feelzgoodman420@eviltoast.org]

Haha awesome! Actually i was referring to the original trilogy being terrible to mod. I'm not sure about the legendary edition.

[zahille7@lemmy.world]

I like it cause I can turn on/off certain mods without having to use another mod as a manager. And because I find it easier than having to look for certain folders to put everything in.

[corrodedcranium@leminal.space]

Mod Organizer 2 is typically recommended over Vortex but it depends on the game. I think Vortex has wider support.

[corrodedcranium@leminal.space]

Even then it can be difficult. A lot of mods have other dependencies that need to be installed and those dependencies and can have dependencies.

[corrodedcranium@leminal.space]

Isn't GTA IV a bit difficult to mod? I feel like I recall using OpenIV and having to track down the correct directories to install each part of a mod the right way