News from The Elder Scrolls Nexus

Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/users/9322077?tab=user+files&BH=0]randyknapp[/url], the author of many UI and quality of life mods for both Valheim and Subnautica, as well as the popular, ARPG inspired Valheim mod: [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/387]Epic Loot[/url].

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[b]BigBizkit: Thank you for joining us today. First of all could you tell us a little bit about yourself?[/b]

randyknapp: Thanks for having me! I'm Randy, I'm 33, I live in Seattle with my wife and kids. I'm a professional video game developer with 10 years of industry experience.


[b]Just about two months ago Valheim was first released in Early Access. Yet already, we have not only seen an [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/]incredible amount of amazing mods[/url] being released, but you yourself have been quite busy with several releases. How would you generally describe the kind of mod you like to create?[/b]

I'm most experienced with Unity UI, so I tend to focus on improving usability in the UI or adding new UI that improves some aspect of the game. Oftentimes there's just a niche or a space in the game that wasn't filled by the devs and I can find a way to fill that space. Other times I care about removing tedium or repetitive tasks, especially in survival games. Other than that, the main thing is that I create mods that I want to use. I make them exactly the way I want them, and I generally play the game with all of my own mods installed. Honestly I'm a huge proponent of making games into the game you want to play. Developer intent is important, but like, making it into the thing you want is just as valuable.


[b]In terms of Valheim modding you are most well known for two mods in particular: [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/92]Equipment and Quick Slots[/url] as well as [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/387]Epic Loot[/url] - both of which are a staple in my game. Can you tell us a bit about those two mods?[/b]

EAQS was a quick and dirty mod that I tried to get out as soon as possible. I personally wanted a lore-friendly way to increase my inventory space as well as add a few more quickslots, especially since in vanilla the keys for the built-in hotkey bar are not configurable! I honestly wasn't very happy with the implementation of first iteration of it, the inventory system is really hard to mod and it came with a bunch of issues, including a lot of conflicts with other mods. The second version of that mod tries to address some of those issues...but has a few more of its own too. It's a bit of a headache, haha! Ah well.

I'm having so much fun with Epic Loot. I think Valheim is an awesome game, and the vanilla experience is great. But I had a wild hare about Diablo-style loot drops and whipped up the mod, and people have absolutely loved it. I've gotten so much positive feedback about it, it makes me feel really good. Anyway, I love Diablo, Borderlands, The Division, and other looter-shooter/ARPGs and I thought it would be an awesome addition to the game. I am glad I released as early access too. When you release a finished mod and there's bugs, people yell at you. When you release an early access mod, they just report the bugs trying to be helpful! I love it! Plus I've gotten to chat with so many fans of the mod that have great ideas, or helpful suggestions, it's been really nice.

[center][img width=800,height=556]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1617199195-1030619593.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]I have to say that Epic Loot truly is an epic mod which adds so much to the gameplay experience! What gave you the idea and confidence that you could pull off such a detailed and polished mod?[/b]

Uh, interesting question. I love games, I've loved games since I was a kid, and I've always been a designer at heart. I got my start making levels for Warcraft 2, and it led to a lot of hobby level editing and game design for Warcraft 3, Starcraft, and a slew of Half-Life games and mods. So even though I'm a programmer in my day job, I love designing games and telling stories. (I released a pen-and-paper tactics RPG last year, Zafir: Tactical Roleplaying Game, go check it out ([url=https://www.zafirgame.com/]www.zafirgame.com[/url])! Anyway, I love making games, so doing Epic Loot as an additional layer on top of Valheim is sort of like designing a brand new game system, but super interesting because I've got to work within all the constraints of the existing game... and know where to break it to make the experience better. I dunno if I would call it "detailed and polished" yet, I released it as Early Access for a reason, but thank you, I do try to pay a lot of attention to the little things. 


[b]Not going to lie: at first I thought Valheim wasn't for me, but once I got into it I got hooked. Now I have a bit over 140 hours in it already! What do you think is it about Valheim that made it into such a hit - both as a game and in terms of modding?[/b]

Ah man, this is exactly my kind of game. I think it became a hit because they did a phenomenal job with the content ramp through the game. There are clear gates and progression blockers that drive the player in the right direction without being too forceful about it. Like other survival games, it helps players form goal loops that never really end, so its easy to get caught up playing and play for hours. You know, the "I need some fine wood for a thing, oh I need a better axe, oh I still need to find some tin, and oh I'm fighting a troll and I should make better troll armor, but I need bone shards, so I should go hit that dungeon I saw, and, and and..." type of game.

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[b]
You’re no stranger to Unity modding and have already made a name for yourself as the author of some of the most popular Subnautica mods. How did you first get into modding and being a creator?[/b]

Well, like I mentioned, I did a lot of it when I was a kid, but nothing ever really got popular and I focused on getting into the games industry as a programmer, not a designer. A few years ago I got obsessed with Subnautica when it came out, and once I realized it was a Unity game, I dug into figuring out how to mod for it. The scene was really bare back then. There was no mod loader. There wasn't a nexus page for Subnautica yet. A bunch of people were releasing modified Subnautica DLLs which is a huge no-no, both legally and logistically. Everyone was releasing their mods on their own personal sites with custom installers and stuff. It was a mess, and no one was willing to agree on what a "good mod loader" should be. So this other modder, qwiso, and I developed QModManager, got it on the Nexus and made it a LOT easier for people to create and use mods, and have them work alongside each other. That was the big push that I think kicked off that community. Then it was a matter of doing what I like to do: making UI improvements and quality of life mods. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/14]MoreQuickSlots[/url] was a hit, and then the big one was [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/31]AutosortLockers[/url], which reduced the tedium of that part of Subnautica a lot.


[b]Do you have any favourite mods from other authors?[/b]

Yeah for sure, I love everything by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/users/18901754?tab=user+files&BH=0]aedenthorn[/url], I use several of theirs: [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/85]Clock[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/40]CraftFromContainers[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/218]HereFishy[/url], just to name a few. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/236]HoldAttack[/url] is really great on my clicking finger. And I feel like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/mods/170]AnyPortal[/url] is a must, I mean I liked making a portal hub in my first playthrough, but after that it can get a little overwhelming.


[b]If you had to live in either the world of Subnautica or Valheim - which one would you pick and why?[/b]

Oh easy, Subnautica. I'm a huge sci-fi buff, and even though that society might be a capitalist dystopian nightmare, at least they have warp drives and interstellar travel. Subnautica, ironically I guess, is my relaxation game. When I'm stressed out I can boot up Subnautica, start a new game and just enjoy swimming and collecting. Valheim is a fun game and all but, you know, you're dead.


[b]What are some of your favourite things to do outside of modding and gaming?[/b]

I love cooking. My wife and I are working through an awesome cook book right now, trying a lot of new things. Did I mention I have little kids? I don't have a lot of free time besides that!

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1617203888-1625595675.jpeg[/img]

[b]What advice would you give anyone looking to get into modding in general and Unity modding in particular?[/b]

Leave your ego at the door. You can always learn more, always improve. That being said, Unity is a great way to get into game dev. There are TONS of tutorials and other resources for making stuff, plus tons of free assets on the asset store. It's the best way to play around and get your feet wet with game dev. And C# is pretty easy to pick up and get going with, and and has the same benefit of a massive amount of online documentation, answers, and resources. My biggest piece of advice is this: start small and finish. Don't start by thinking you're going to make your own MMO or Soulslike or something. Just start by making Tic Tac Toe. Or Yahtzee. Or something equally small and concrete. And then finish it. Aiming for something small and simple and working on it all the way until it's done is going to teach you so so much more than just noodling on something and never getting around to solving the hard problems required to get it done. And have fun! Modding lets you do what you love with games that you love, embrace that.


[b]Is there anything else you’d like to say to the community? [/b]

Let's keep building each other up, supporting each other, and helping the community grow and learn together!

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A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim/users/9322077?tab=user+files&BH=0]randyknapp[/url] for taking the time to talk to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url]. 

If Morrowind modding sounds like your jam, we have something special for you brought to you by organizer [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1233897]Danae123[/url] - please take it away!
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[font=Roboto, sans-serif]The third edition of the Morrowind modding competition "MODJAM" is upon us and it's back with a revenge![/font]

[b]So basically...
[/b]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]Come April 3rd (yes, this weekend!!), modders have 48 hours to make a mod based on a theme announced minutes before the jam begins. Simple enough, right?[/font]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]
[list]
[*][font=Roboto, sans-serif]Modders can work alone or in teams.[/font]
[*][font=Roboto, sans-serif]Modders' resources are allowed (with permissions and credits of course)[/font]
[/list][/font]

[b]About the theme...
[/b]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]Weeks leading up to the Modjam, themes have been suggested by the community.[/font]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]The week before the jam, [/font][url=https://forms.gle/k1SqoWWbkZZo76dH6]you can vote[/url][font=Roboto, sans-serif] to shortlist 10 themes.[/font]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]An hour before the jam begins (yes, this Friday!!), the top 10 themes will be revealed and the community will vote one last time during a [/font][url=https://www.twitch.tv/danaeplays]livesteam on Twitch[/url][font=Roboto, sans-serif], hosted by DarkElfGuy and me, Danae.
[/font]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]You don't need to join the livesteam to vote, it's just a lot more fun that way ;)[/font]


[b]That's nice, but I don't make mods...
[/b]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]Aha, we've got you covered! We want the Modjam to be a fun, quick event for everyone who loves Morrowind: modders and players alike.[/font]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]To this end, we have a couple of side-competitions:
[/font]
[list]
[*][i]Best Screenshot:[/i][font=Roboto, sans-serif] while others make a mod, players can play Morrowind and take a screenshot that best illustrates the theme. Just post it on the Nexus under the category "Spring Modjam 2021" before Monday![/font]
[*][i]Modjam Trophy Hunt[/i][font=Roboto, sans-serif]: a very special mod by Merlord will be available during the Modjam [/font][b]only[/b][font=Roboto, sans-serif]! Install the mod, read the clue, find the trophy, take a screenshot as proof. First to find the trophy wins![/font]
[/list]

[b]That's nice, but I don't compete...
[/b]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]Aha, we've got you covered! In addition to voting on the theme and joining the livestream, you can simply play the Modjam mods and endorse your favourite: a special Player's Choice Award will be given out based on Nexus metrics.[/font]


[b]Ok! Where do I sign up?
[/b]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]You don't :) - The Modjam is all about being in the moment! Just tune in for the livestream, make a mod, play mods, take a screenshot. [/font][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/add]Publish your mod[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/images/add]upload a [font=Roboto, sans-serif]screenshot[/font][/url][font=Roboto, sans-serif] and tag it "Spring Modjam 2021". That's it!
[/font]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]We even have a nice banner to put on your Nexus page:
[/font]
[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/741007470008336465/825987223974576128/ModBanner.png[/img]
[b]
Gotcha, first weekend of April and we're done!
[/b]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]Not quite... A week after the jam, we'll meet one last time on Twitch to chat with the mod authors, look at their mods and of course to reveal all the winners![/font]


[b]Right, but after that, we're done?
[/b]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]Yup. Spring Modjam over. Get ready for the May Modathon![/font]
[font=Roboto, sans-serif]But that's another story for another time ;)[/font]
 
[url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Morrowind/comments/m6zwkk/the_2021_morrowind_spring_modjam_competition/]Official Reddit Announcement[/url][font=Roboto, sans-serif] from DarkElfGuy.[/font]

[font=Roboto, sans-serif]More about [/font][url=http://danaeplays.thenet.sk/morrowind-modding-competition/]Morrowind Modding competitions[/url]

[url=https://discord.gg/k4xttsnkwu]Morrowind Modding Community[/url][font=Roboto, sans-serif] Discord where mods, projects and competitons are discussed.
[line][/font]
If that has peaked your interest you can keep an eye on [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/]our Morrowind section[/url] to view any new and exciting mod releases. Have fun and best of luck to all participants!

With Nexus Mods getting bigger and better every year, we're looking to bolster our ranks once again by recruiting a Junior Community Manager to work with our existing team to help us better serve our community.

This position is based in our offices in Exeter in the UK and you will need a right to work in the UK before you apply.

[size=4][b]The Role[/b][/size]
As a Community Manager, it is your responsibility to interact with and look after the Nexus Mods community and understand the needs and wants of the various smaller communities within. You will be the public face of Nexus Mods and the go-to person for any questions users have specifically about the community including our rules and regulations and how we enforce them.

Your position will have both an internal and external focus. On the one hand, helping to manage and look after the community we already have while on the other helping to expand the Nexus Mods community further, inviting new mod authors to join us and expanding our reach into new games.

As part of this role you will help to manage and coordinate our moderation team, ensuring they continue to do a good job, providing them support when needed and helping to find and recruit new members to the team as and when necessary.

You will need to have your finger on the pulse of the Nexus modding community, the general gaming modding community and the wider gaming industry so you can fully represent us in all those spheres. It'll be your job to ensure the Nexus Mods community remains strong and vibrant while continuing to grow.

Nexus Mods now has a strong social media presence on both Twitter and Facebook. As community manager, you will source and post highly relevant content on our social media channels and work to increase our reach in social media through promotions and other mediums.

You'll be learning the ropes of your position from our existing Community Managers - BigBizkit (Stefan) and Pickysaurus (Mike) and reporting directly to Nexus Mods owner, Robin.

[size=4][b]Responsibilities[/b][/size]
[list]
[*]Embodying the spirit and ethos of Nexus Mods as a point of contact for users across our forums, Discord, social media and support platform
[*]Expanding the reach of Nexus Mods by communicating with mod authors from games we do not currently support and helping them bring their mods to Nexus Mods
[*]Liaising with partners and external developers fostering mutually beneficial relationships
[*]Providing the "community perspective" when working together with the Design, Web, or Vortex teams to help steer the development of our platform
[*]Managing and supporting our team of volunteer moderators
[*]Responding to and dealing with high profile issues with moderation on the site
[*]Sourcing engaging social media content and managing our existing channels
[/list]
[size=4][b]Requirements and Skills[/b][/size]
[list]
[*]This is an office-based position. You need a right to work in the UK and a willingness to relocate to Exeter as soon as possible
[*]Strong communication skills both verbally and written (English)
[*]The ability to remain calm and impartial even when people in the community are being unfair or unreasonable, maintaining a professional demeanour throughout
[*]A good understanding of social media and communication platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Discord
[*]A good understanding of how Nexus Mods works and the rules of Nexus Mods
[*]A deep understanding of how modding works such that you can properly investigate and resolve mod author conflicts regarding asset permissions
[/list]
[b][size=4]Bonus Skills[/size][/b]
[list]
[*]Previous experience making and releasing mods
[*]The ability to pick up and understand how modding works in new games, including Unity and Unreal games that do not have modding tools
[*]Previous experience managing social media platforms via Hootsuite or other comparable SM Management tools
[*]A sense of humour
[*]A love of computer games
[/list]
[b][size=4]Other Information[/size][/b]
[list]
[*]We will offer a competitive market rate salary dependent on your level
[*]32 days holiday a year, plus an additional holiday day after you have worked in the company for 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years
[*]An allowance of 25 Euros each month to spend on video games, to play in your own personal time, that can be unrelated to work (any games you need to do your job are bought by the business!)
[*]Employee Assistance Programme
[*]We will provide high spec hardware for you to work from in the office
[*]For the right candidates, we may be able to assist with relocation expenses and logistics
[*]This is a full-time office-based position from our offices in Exeter, UK
[/list]
[b][size=4]To Apply[/size][/b]
Please send an email to jobs@nexusmods.com with your CV and username telling why you’d be suitable for this role.

Your notifications are getting a facelift! Starting on 22nd March 2021 all users will be upgraded to the shiny new system featuring easy access to their preferences, an improved design and more control directly in the notifications panel. We need to permanently remove all existing notifications with this change, so please use this time to check the ones you currently have if you care about them. There are a few things you need to know before the switch-over happens, so read on for more information.


[size=4]What's happening?
[/size]
Our current notifications system has served the site well for many years but was starting to get a bit old and tired, plus it's not particularly easy to modify or scale up to fit the needs of the growing community. It really began showing its age in September 2020 when the system [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14363]hit some database limits[/url] which required considerable maintenance work to get it going again.

To remedy this, we've built a brand new replacement system from the ground up with a focus on easier access to notification preferences, a cleaner design and full control of your notifications direct from the panel. While it may not look much different from what you're used to, it lays the foundation for a much more powerful and versatile system.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1615220341-1216140555.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1615220337-2064315837.jpeg[/img][/center]

We've migrated all the notification types you're used to into this system, so you shouldn't be missing out on anything. In addition, it's now considerably easier to add new types of notifications to the site. So, if there are any events on the site you wish you were notified about let us know in the comments and we'll see what we can do!

You'll be able to get your hands on the new panel from [b]22nd March 2021[/b], with the old system being switched off the same day.

As a quick summary, here are the things that are new (or different) with the upgraded system:

[list]
[*][b]Read notifications now remain in your notifications panel[/b] - As we've moved all controls for notifications into the panel, you'll be able to see any manage notifications you've already read. Here you'll also find controls to mark them unread or delete them.
[*][b]Quickly toggle notification settings[/b] - Just click the cog icon and you can change your preferences without needing to leave the page you're viewing.
[*][b]90-day cleanup[/b] - One of the problems the old system had is that it kept notifications forever. Meaning inactive users were collecting more and more notifications they may never read or at least would be overwhelmed with when they return. We'll now be keeping notifications for 3 months and then automatically clear them from your panel.
[*][b]No more game-specific notifications[/b] - While this may come off as bad news for some of you, we've removed the ability to filter notifications based on the game site you're viewing. In a [url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/9312023-game-specific-notifications-survey/]survey we ran in November 2020[/url] ~75% of users did not use this option and the overall consensus was that it would be largely unnecessary if we allowed more granular control over notifications.
[/list]
As time goes on we'll be iterating on the system to add new notification types and better controls for managing which notifications you receive. For now, we've replicated the "old" system functionality so it should feel both new and familiar to you.


[size=4]What's the catch? [/size]

Unfortunately, the data used by the new system is incompatible with the old system. This means that all of your existing notifications will be [b]permanently removed on 22nd March 2021[/b]. We're giving you a heads up now so you have time to manage any important alerts from the existing system before the switch-over takes place. 


We're keen to see what you guys make of the new system and, as before, please let us know in the comments if you have any good ideas for new types of notifications to show. We might even be able to get some of the best ideas in place in time for launch!

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14458]Two weeks ago[/url] we launched our [b]Nexus Mods Trivia Quiz[/b] as a first of many community events for this year marking the [b]20 year anniversary[/b] of Nexus Mods. We all hope you enjoyed the quiz and if you weren't one of the lucky winners - don't worry. We're planning to do plenty of events like these spread throughout the year, building up to our site's birthday in August.

And with that said, keep on reading to see all the correct answers and to learn who the lucky winners are...


[b][size=3]The Quiz Answers[/size][/b]

Here are the correct answers to the seven questions we asked. Please note that regarding the grading we tried to be both lenient and fair, so we were counting answers as correct even when they were slightly misspelled or more wordy than necessary. 
[line]
[i]1. In December 2020 the long-awaited RPG Cyberpunk 2077 made by CDProjekt Red was finally released. Who is the equally famous and breathtaking voice actor of one of the game’s main characters: Johnny Silverhand? [/i] (2 points)

[b]Correct Answer: Keanu Reeves[/b]

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1613482081-944305293.jpeg[/img]

In the first question, we were looking for the voice actor of corporate-hating Rockerboy - Johnny Silverhand. The answer, of course, is none other than the internet's most beloved actor: Keanu Reeves. Many of us will remember [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DWap7pS7XM]Keanu Reeves' "breathtaking" performance[/url] at E3 2019 that sparked many feel-good memes. As Johnny, he might be a bit less likeable than real-life Keanu, but he's certainly badass!


[i]2. Looking at our 9 most popular games in terms of total downloads (top row on the homepage) - which of these games is the oldest going by its official release date? (Please only provide the game name as it appears on our homepage) [/i](3 points)

[b]Correct Answer: Oblivion
[/b]
[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1613482670-2002943416.jpeg[/img]

The oldest of our 9 most popular games is, indeed, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion which was released 20th March 2006 - almost 15 years ago. To put this into perspective, Oblivion came out several months before Facebook switched to open registration (in other words, until then it was exclusive to US universities).

By the way, the second and third oldest games from the top row are: Fallout 3 (28th October 2008) and Dragon Age: Origins (3rd November 2009).


[i]3. Oh no, one of our most popular games of 2020 got pixelized! Can you find out which game we’re looking at here?[/i]  (2 points)

[b]Correct Answer: Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord[/b]

[img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1613482893-1774020373.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1613482885-1887770589.jpeg[/img]

Fans of the Mount & Blade series probably didn't need to look at the pixalized game art twice to know that the game we were looking for here had to be Bannerlord.

Since it's Early Access release in March 2020, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord has quickly risen to become one of our most popular games. We're very happy to have become the home for Bannerlord modding, now hosting over 2,000 mods that have been downloaded well over 20 million times!
[center] [/center]
[i]4. Which Skyrim (NOT Skyrim Special Edition) mod won the “Mod of the Month” vote in March 2020? (Hint: Check the Mods of the Month in the header)[/i] (3 points)

[b]Correct Answer: Combat Gameplay Overhaul

[img width=700,height=289]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1613484867-876848968.jpeg[/img]
[/b]
In March 2020 we saw many awesome Skyrim mods being uploaded, but the one that stood out the most to users was [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/100904]Combat Gameplay Overhaul[/url]. The mod is also [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/33767]available for Skyrim Special Edition[/url] and definitely one I would recommend as it makes combat so much smoother, responsive, and fun!


[i]5. And now the protagonist of one of our most popular games got scrambled! Can you help us unscramble this? (Hint: He likes to scream at people.)[/i] (4 points)

[b]Correct Answer: DOVAHKIIN[/b]

[img width=280,height=280]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1613485631-732891572.jpeg[/img]

He might come in all forms, shapes, and sizes (even as a tiny little duck, apparently), but the protagonist of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is typically referred to as "Dragonborn" - or "Dovahkiin" in dragon tongue. And of course, one of the Dovahkiin's favourite things to do is to shout at people - especially when they're named Nazeem and standing on a cliffside.


[i]6. How many members do we have on Nexus Mods (rounded to the nearest million)? (Hint: Check the homepage.)[/i] (2 points)

[b]Correct Answer: 25 Million[/b]

[img width=800,height=178]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1613487089-650892345.jpeg[/img]

Yep, it took 20 years to get here, but we recently passed the 25 million members mark - which is an absolutely epic milestone in the history of Nexus Mods. Thank you all so much for joining our site - to those of you who stuck with us through all the years, and to all the newcomers - welcome!


[i]7. You can tell we’ve saved the best for last! We’ve designed an amazing new cover art for one of our most popular games. Can you guess which one it is? [/i](4 points)

[b]Correct Answer: Blade & Sorcery[/b]

[img width=502,height=300]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1613487642-914035332.jpeg[/img] [img width=240,height=300]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/Images/games/4_3/tile_2673.jpg[/img]

Taking inspiration from the works of Picasso, Rembrandt, van Gogh, and Shia LaBeouf, yours truly painted a brand new cover art for one of our most popular games on the site: the VR hit [b]Blade & Sorcery[/b]. I haven't spoken to KospY, the creator of the game, about replacing the existing cover art yet, but I think I managed to capture the essence of the game quite well. What do you think? 

[line]

And that's it! If you got all of these right then congratulations and kudos to you for scoring 20/20!

How many points did you score? Let us know in the comments below! (If you're in doubt, I'll be able to check your entry to tell you your score).


[size=3][b]The Winners[/b][/size]

We had many many entries, but there can only be six total winners, and only one lucky winner who will soon be able to call themselves the proud owner of their very own Nexus Mods branded mug! (It's even shinier than last time...)

[img width=900,height=479]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1614011140-1918865994.jpeg[/img]

So, without further ado, the winners are: 

The winners of [b]3 x £10 Steam Gift Cards[/b] (one each)
[spoiler]
[list]
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/41664045]Domizerro[/url]
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1064519]pascaliedema[/url]
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/44870342]WolfTheKiller66[/url]
[/list][/spoiler]

The winners of [b]2 x £25 Steam Gift Cards[/b] (one each)
[spoiler]
[list]
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/40324940]Shemiroth[/url]
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/36808780]krystian28021996[/url]
[/list][/spoiler]

...and last but not least, the winner of the main prize [b]a MUG-nificent, Nexus Mods branded coffee/tea/milk mug - as well as a game of your choice[/b]...
[spoiler]
[list]
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5922654]TheGreatFalro[/url]
[/list][/spoiler]

Congratulations to the winners! Make sure to check your private messages on Nexus Mod for a message from staff regarding your prizes.

And to everyone else who didn't win this time: thanks for playing and maybe you get lucky next time. There will be plenty of opportunities this year to get your hands on some prizes - so stay tuned!

Vortex 1.4 is here - fresh out the oven! A lot has happened since our last [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14333]Vortex related news update in September[/url]. Our devs have been working through many of your feature suggestions and implemented some very handy new improvements that will make your modding lives a bit easier. Keep on reading if you'd like to know more about what's new in 1.4.

[i]Vortex 1.4. has been released on the beta branch on 10th February 2021. Go to your "Settings > Vortex > Update" and select "Beta" to opt into the beta branch and start testing the newest releases as soon as they're available. After this initial testing phase, we're expecting to release 1.4 in the "Stable" branch very soon.[/i]

[center][url=http://nexusmods.com/site/mods/1][/url][/center][center][url=http://nexusmods.com/site/mods/1][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1596718710-1830764704.png[/img][/url][/center]

[size=4]Big quality of life improvements![/size]

[b]Automatically install mods after they've finished downloading[/b]

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1611674665-958220389.jpeg[/img]

Our devs have added an awesome convenience feature that allows you to have your mods automatically installed as soon as they finish downloading. Now you can queue a download for a larger mod, go off to play games, cook dinner, train your pet [url=https://www.google.com/search?q=tarsier&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB824GB824&sxsrf=ALeKk02TdEE1lEL0eJNEuR0jlQpvkxZ60w:1613055235193&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWta-Ci-LuAhUIYsAKHb3MDs8Q_AUoAXoECCEQAw&biw=2048&bih=954]tarsier[/url] to hum the Skyrim theme tune, (or other, normal human things) and when you come back your mod is installed and ready to go!

Paired with our other automation features, you can now download, install, enable, and deploy a mod with just one click and (as long as there are no conflicts with other mods) you're ready to go. Simply toggle all the automation features ("Settings > Interface"), initiate a Vortex download by clicking the "Download: Vortex" button on a mod page and Vortex will run through all the steps from installation to deployment once the download is done!


[b]Auto-shutdown Vortex and your PC when downloads are finished[/b]

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1611674516-321200939.jpeg[/img]

This is another quality of life improvement especially for those of you with slower internet speeds. Now you can queue large downloads, leave them on overnight and rest easy knowing that Vortex will close itself and schedule your computer to turn off once the downloads are finished. I wish Steam had this feature!


[size=4]Event History[/size]

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1611674521-827147118.jpeg[/img]

Have you ever clicked a few too many buttons a bit too quickly and now you don't remember what exactly it was that you did? Well, with this most recent improvement, thanks to our developers, this is now... history (pun intended)! Simply click this new button in the toolbar to view a history/log of your last [b]100[/b] actions in Vortex:

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1612969177-856266750.jpeg[/img]

(For the Bethesda games, you can also bring up a separate Event History specific to plugins by clicking the history icon in the toolbar on the plugins screen).

Note that while enabling/disabling mods can be undone through this dialogue (if the mod is currently disabled/enabled), not all actions are reversible - but at the very least, you can now get an overview of where you left off last time you used Vortex.


[size=4]Filters and Search for the Conflict Editor (Rule Dialogue)[/size]

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1612963633-1506723142.jpeg[/img]

We've also made some improvements to the conflict editor that allows you to specify rules to determine which mods should override others. You can now use the search or apply a filter and hide resolved conflicts to only view unresolved conflicts that require your attention. We've also made it easier to apply a "before/after all" rule for a mod and added the option to use the suggested load order for all mods that are conflicting with each other as a quick way of resolving all conflicts.

[i]Please make sure to read the dialogue carefully and understand that the suggested load order usually produces decent results, but cannot be a guarantee for a working mod load order in all cases.[/i]


[size=4]Gamebryo Archive Check (BSA/BA2 Check)[/size]

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1611675678-129985877.jpeg[/img]

As seasoned modders may know, many "Oldrim" (Skyrim Legendary Edition) mods can be used with Skyrim SE just fine, as long as the assets are converted for Skyrim SE and the plugin is resaved in the Skyrim SE Creation Kit. However, one thing to watch out for is that mods coming with a BSA archive made for Oldrim will prevent Skyrim SE from launching. Annoyingly, the game does not give you any feedback and does not alert you to the root of the problem, it simply does not start when a Skyrim SE mod is attempting to load an Oldrim BSA.

With the Gambryo Archive Check that is now part of Vortex, however, you will be informed when one or several of your Skyrim SE mods are trying to load a Skyrim Legendary Edition BSA, so you know exactly why the game isn't launching, allowing you to find and address the issue by either disabling the mod, or downloading a compatible Skyrim SE version of it.


[size=4]New Game Extensions galore![/size]

Once again we've added new game extensions (most notably for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3]Baldur's Gate 3[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/residentevil32020]Resident Evil 3[/url]) and so has our community of talented extension developers! A big thank you goes out to everyone who has [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/categories/4/?BH=0]contributed a game extension[/url]. Thanks to everyone pitching in, [b]Vortex now supports 137 games[/b].

A special thank you goes out to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/site/users/917017]ThunderGod97[/url] who developed [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/196]Vortex support for Cyberpunk 2077[/url] which has since become one of the most popular game extensions to date.

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/196][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1611677205-831180098.jpeg[/img][/url]

The authors of the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/179]Starsector game extension[/url], ALazyWizard and Wispborn, have done such an outstanding job, that their extension is now replacing our version of the game extension - thank you very much!

Last but not least, as of Vortex version 1.4 the community-made extensions for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/202]Subnautica[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/site/mods/203]Subnautica: Below Zero[/url] are also replacing our own, so users currently managing either of those games will be prompted to download the respective extensions - but don't worry, all you have to do is click to install the extension(s) when prompted and Vortex will handle it from there.

This just goes to show that our open-source approach for Vortex is working out. No one knows the modding needs of a given game better than the people in that particular modding community, and that's why it's great to see talented community developers taking it upon themselves to improve the extensions for the games they actively play and mod.


[b]Other relevant updates in 1.4 ([url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/6360526-current-version-1322/]view the full changelog[/url]):

[/b][list]
[*]Ability to bring Vortex to the foreground when downloading
[*]Tracking mods from within Vortex is now possible
[/list][list]
[*](Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord) now auto-detects the SDK and configures it as a tool
[*](Blade & Sorcery) We fixed an issue that lead to mods with spaces in the mod title to not be loaded properly as of U8.4 
[*](Bethesda games) Vortex will now warn you when you're reaching/exceeding the plugin limit
[*](Bethesda games) Vortex will now warn you if a script extender is set up as primary tool. but not installed correctly
[*](Bethesda games) Vortex now displays bash tags for plugins in the details panel
[*](Bethesda games) you can now ghost plugins

[/list]
[line]

A big thank you goes to all the community developers and the hundreds of thousands of you who are using Vortex every day! It's truly humbling to know that so many of you are using our official mod manager Vortex to mod the games you love. Rest assured, with your help, we're going to continue improving your modding experience in the future even further!

We all love games, that's one of the things everyone in this community has in common, so when our friends over at [url=https://www.gog.com/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA]GOG.com[/url] asked us if we'd like to give away some game keys to you guys as part of their "We Love Games" celebration, we could hardly say no! 

We have 5 copies of [url=https://www.gog.com/game/lichtspeer_complete_bundle?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA]Lichtspeer[/url], [url=https://www.gog.com/game/sword_of_the_necromancer?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA]Sword of the Necromancer[/url], [url=https://www.gog.com/game/bonkies?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA]Bonkies[/url], [url=https://www.gog.com/game/gods_will_fall?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA]Gods Will Fall[/url] and [url=https://www.gog.com/game/project_wingman?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA]Project Wingman[/url] to give out to the 25 randomly chosen winners.

[center]
[url=https://www.gog.com/game/lichtspeer_complete_bundle?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1612962276-1626664511.jpeg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.gog.com/game/sword_of_the_necromancer?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1612962266-317226567.jpeg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.gog.com/game/bonkies?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1612962288-1593993169.jpeg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.gog.com/game/gods_will_fall?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1612962254-1062192626.jpeg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.gog.com/game/project_wingman?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1612962297-1967027102.jpeg[/img][/url][/center]

There are a few rules you should be aware of before entering. It's pretty basic, but if you get it wrong your entry will be disqualified and we'd hate for that to happen. To put your name in the hat to win you need to:


[list]
[*]Leave a comment on this article. You can say anything you want, but why not tell us what your favourite game is and what makes it so great? (Site rules still apply.)
[*]Log into the Gleam widget with your Facebook, Twitter, Discord or Email account. 
[*]Complete both the "Leave a comment on Nexus Mods" and "Check out the GOG We Love Games Sale" options.
[*]Submit the form to complete your entry or use the Facebook and Twitter options to increase your chance of winning.
[/list]

If you forget to comment or include an invalid username, your entry will not be counted.


[center][url=https://gleam.io/8iTVx/we-love-games-giveaway-gogcom][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1612889017-1964682239.jpeg[/img][/url][/center]

Good luck! We'll be closing the competition on at [b]09:00 GMT on Monday 15th February 2021[/b] and contacting the winners shortly after. If you don't win a game, you can still pick up something new for up to 92% off [url=https://www.gog.com/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA]in the sale[/url]! 

[size=1][i](Disclosure: We are a member of GOG.com's affiliate program. This means if you use any of the links in the article above to make a purchase from GOG.com, we get a very small cut. It's another way to help us keep the lights on and we're always happy to promote such a great company!)[/i][/size]

I think I speak for pretty much everyone when I say we've got high hopes this year will be much better for everyone around the globe than 2020 was. With that said, it might come as a bit of a surprise to some of you, but did you know that we're actually going to celebrate the [b]20 year anniversary of Nexus Mods[/b] come August 2021? That's right, Nexus Mods (and its predecessors going by other names) has now been around for almost two decades! Just to give you an idea of what that means: back then when the site was founded, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was the movie of the year, Apple had just come out with the iPod, and Microsoft released its first ever Xbox. It's mad to see how times have changed since then!

To celebrate our 20 year anniversary we're planning to do several community events throughout the year, with some bigger ones to get hyped for closer to the actual birthday in August. And with all of that being said - let's get started!
[line]

[b]It's quiz time![/b] After the great success of our [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14298]1,000 Games Milestone Quiz[/url] that we did last year, we decided to run another quiz event in which you can win one of six prizes.

[center][url=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVGn7w2rFWj6llJENfHaoaY0BsbC6ZDCq46uVRKsYs73ZJwg/viewform][img width=900,height=332]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1612275818-655809081.jpeg[/img][/url][/center]
Test your knowledge of Nexus Mods and gaming in general, have fun, and win prizes along the way! Simply submit your answers to [url=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVGn7w2rFWj6llJENfHaoaY0BsbC6ZDCq46uVRKsYs73ZJwg/viewform]the quiz questions[/url] until [b]22nd February 2021 03:00 PM (GMT)[/b] for your stab at winning a prize. There's a total of seven quiz questions. Some are a bit harder, while others are a bit easier and the points awarded for each question reflect that.

You can score up to [b]20 points in the quiz[/b] and the better you do, the better the prize you can win as we will be picking the winners from the pool of the highest scoring participants!

[b]
The Prizes
[/b]
[list]
[*]1x Game of your choice - AND a mug-nificent, premium-quality, [b]Nexus Mods branded coffee mug[/b]! 
[*]2x Steam Gift Cards valued at £25
[*]3x Steam Gift Cards valued at £10
[/list]
Here's a "mug shot" of the dainty drinking device one of our lucky winners will soon be able to call their own. Look how shiny it is!

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1612360536-205963767.jpeg[/img]
[center][quote][b]"[/b][b]I might've spent way too much time shining the mug."[/b]
- Pickysaurus[/quote][/center][b]
How to enter
[/b]
[list]
[*]Fill out [url=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVGn7w2rFWj6llJENfHaoaY0BsbC6ZDCq46uVRKsYs73ZJwg/viewform]this submission form[/url] (no Google account necessary) providing your Nexus Mods username, email, and your seven answers.
[*]You can edit your responses at a later point in time via a link that will be sent to you to the email you specify in the form.
[*]Do so before 22nd February 2021 03:00 PM (GMT+1) as that is when the competition ends.
[/list]
I hope you all enjoy playing the quiz and we'll be looking forward to seeing your entries. We'll keep you updated once we've picked the winners shortly after the competition ends. Make sure to check your PMs and keep your eyes on the news section.

Good luck to you all! One of you might soon be the proud owner of their very own, shiny, Nexus Mods mug!


[b]Terms and Conditions
[/b]
Participants - Entries - Responses
[spoiler]
[list]
[*]Participants are required to submit one (1) entry with responses to the quiz via the Google Form linked in the article.
[*]All entries must be submitted before the date specified in this article.
[*]You may use search engines or other assistance to find the solution to the quiz questions, where possible.
[*]Entries found to be in violation of any of the competition rules and/or our general terms and policies will be disqualified.
[/list][/spoiler]
Prizes - Winner Selection
[spoiler]
[list]
[*]1x Game of your choice up to a value of £50 as well as a Nexus Mods branded mug will be awarded to one randomly chosen participant with the highest overall score.
[*]The "Game of your choice" prize consists of either:[list]
[*]Any game that can be purchased as a redeemable code, up to the maximum value of £50.
[*]OR If we cannot source your chosen game, a £50 gift card to be redeemed in the Steam game store.
[/list]
[*]2x £25 Steam Gift cards will be awarded to two other randomly chosen participants with the highest, or next-highest score.
[*]3x £10 Steam Gift card will be awarded to three other randomly chosen participants with the highest, or next-highest score after that.
[*]Prizes and entries are limited to one (1) per participant. In the case of duplicate entries or edited responses, only the most recent set of responses from a given participant will be considered for the prize draw.
[*]Participants opting out of the prize draw by selecting that option on the Google Form, are not eligible to win a prize and will not be considered during the random prize draw.
[*]Prizes will be issued to winners via private message on the Nexus Mods forums by the Nexus Mods Community Managers. The mug will be shipped to the address provided by the competition winner.
[*]Given potential complications with shipping to various countries and/or regions in the world, we cannot guarantee that the mug will arrive in due time, in one piece, or arrive at all. We will try our best to package and ship the mug so it hopefully safely arrives within a reasonable timeframe.
[*]The Nexus Mods team reserves the right to disqualify any entry at their sole discretion, with or without providing a reason. 
[/list][/spoiler]
General Terms and Conditions
[spoiler]
By submitting a competition entry, you are agreeing to be bound by these terms and conditions.
[list]
[*]Promoter name. Black Tree Gaming Limited incorporated in England and Wales with company number 06360077 of Dean Clarke House, Southernhay Studios, Exeter, EX1 1AP  (referred to throughout these terms as the “Promoter”, “we”, “us” and “our”).
[*]Deadline. All competition entries must be received by the Promoter by no later than the Closing Date. All competition entries received after the Closing Date are automatically disqualified.
[*]How to Enter. You may enter by filling out the Google Form linked in the article.. You must complete this initial entry to be eligible to win. You do not have to pay to enter the competition, however, you are responsible for any phone or internet charges you may incur when entering. If you are unsure about these charges, you should contact your phone or internet operator before entering. Entries will not be acknowledged and we do not accept responsibility for entries that are lost, delayed or which we do not receive.
[*]Eligibility. You must be aged 18 or over at the time of entry in order to enter this competition. We may require you to provide proof that you are eligible to enter the competition. No purchase necessary. You must enter the competition yourself. Entries which are incomplete, removed, corrupt or ineligible will not be accepted. We reserve the right to verify any entries and winners and may refuse to award prizes and/or disqualify you if you make or attempt to make any entry to this competition which is in our reasonable opinion contrary to these terms and conditions or by its nature unfair to other entrants. This might include entries which are made by automated means, fraudulent, made in bulk, made on behalf of another person, or made by hacking, cheating or deception. You must comply with the laws that apply to you in the location that you access the competition from. If any laws applicable to you restrict or prohibit you from entering the competition, you must comply with those legal restrictions or, if applicable, refrain from entering the competition.
[*]Prize conditions. Prizes are subject to availability with no cash alternative. Prizes are not negotiable, exchangeable or transferable. The winner(s) will be contacted via Private Message on the Nexus Mods website. You must claim your prize personally within 1 month of the Closing Date otherwise your claim will become invalid (you are solely responsible for this). The decision of the Promoter is final. We have the right to substitute any prize for an alternative prize of equal or greater value.
[*]Excluded participants and entries. Employees of the Promoters, its holding or subsidiary companies, its agents or suppliers or anyone else professionally connected with the competition, or members of their families or households. The Promoter will not admit entries which: are automatically created by a computer or bot or script or other automated technology, created in bulk, have been altered or forged or tampered with, are illegible or incomplete or which generally in Promoter’s reasonable opinion are inappropriate to admit.
[*]Selection of winners. The winner will be chosen by the Nexus Mods team. If you cannot be reached by private message or email address when entering we may choose a new winner.
[*]Ownership of competition entries and intellectual property rights. The Promoter does not claim any rights of ownership in your competition entry. The promoter is granted a non-exclusive, worldwide, irrevocable license to use, display, publish, transmit, copy, edit, alter, store, re-format and sublicense the competition entry and any accompanying materials for its marketing or other commercial purposes.
[*]Data protection and publicity. If you are a winner of the competition, you agree that the Promoter may use your provided information to announce the winner of this competition and for any other reasonable and related promotional purposes without any payment to you. You represent that all of the information which you provide to us in connection with this competition shall be and shall remain complete and accurate. You represent that your entry will not contain anything (i) that is or could reasonably be viewed as harmful, harassing, defamatory, libellous, obscene or invasive of another’s privacy; or (ii) which you do not have a right to make available lawfully (including any material which infringes the rights of any other). By entering this competition, you agree that any personal information provided by you with the competition entry may be held and used only by the Promoter, its affiliates, its agents and suppliers to administer the competition.
[*]Limitation of liability. Insofar as is permitted by law, the Promoter, its agents or distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the winner(s) or runner(s)-up or accept any liability for any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of the Promoter, its agents or distributors or that of their employees. Your statutory rights are not affected. The Promoter will NOT accept responsibility for competition entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit for any reason or in any way.
[*]Social media. You acknowledge that the competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with any of our partners, Facebook, or Twitter. You agree to release our partners, Facebook, and Twitter from any responsibility to you in relation to the competition.
[*]General. (a) We may use the information which you provide in entering this competition to contact you for the purposes described in these terms and conditions. We will process and store your information in accordance with our privacy policy which can be found at: http://help.nexusmods.com/article/20-privacy-policy
[*](b) We may wish to transfer all or a part of our rights under these terms to someone else without obtaining your consent. You agree that we may do so provided that the transfer does not significantly disadvantage you. (c) If there is any reason to believe that there has been a breach of these terms and conditions, the Promoter may, at its sole discretion, reserve the right to exclude you from participating in the competition; (d) The Promoter reserves the right to hold void, suspend, cancel, or amend the competition where it becomes necessary to do so; and (e) These terms and conditions shall be governed by the laws of England and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
[*]For questions, Please contact support@nexusmods.com
[/list][/spoiler]

[size=4]TL;DR[/size]

We have recently enabled a new download location for Premium Members that can potentially increase download speeds for any users who might have slower speeds than expected with their Premium Membership. If you're a Premium Member and you think you should be getting faster speeds then please try the "CDN" download location, which now defaults to this new provider.


[size=4]The long version[/size]

If you’ve had the (mis)fortune of taking the time to read my [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14453]year in review post[/url] recently then you’ll be aware that we move a fair amount of data to our users - we estimate around 60PB per year - through our download servers.

We are also storing a large amount of data - we’ve just ticked over 40TB of mod files and this is increasing at around 1.5TB per month currently as the number of mods we host increases and the size of the mods authors are making are growing.

How we store and serve this amount of data on a budget is a challenge we're always tackling as we continue to provide a "free" service to our users. Free is in quotes because, as you know, there are ads on the site and these generate revenue used for paying for the services we provide. We don't sell user data or anything of that ilk, so our two revenue streams are straight-up advertising and Premium Memberships.

To help us manage our file serving needs we created our own mini-CDN, of sorts, a few years ago which uses bare-metal servers in 7 different locations around the world; Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Singapore. These servers are kitted out with NVMe drives and each server has 20gbps of connectivity. While we average around 25gbps of total traffic (across all our servers) on any given week, the recent Fallout Frontier release proved the servers could handle these theoretical maximums without a sweat as our Chicago server alone managed to briefly hit that 20gbps mark during the initial hours of the mod's release. This custom-built CDN system is [i]significantly[/i] cheaper to own and run for us than any CDN services that are available online. The caveat to this is that while our users in North America, Europe and parts of Asia and Oceania will have good download speeds from our servers, users from other areas of the world can potentially have poorer download speeds especially if their local ISP's infrastructure has bad connectivity to our CDN.

In layman's terms, the difference between good connectivity and bad connectivity is like the difference between a good sat nav for your car and a bad sat nav. A good sat nav knows when you are travelling, when and where traffic can bottleneck at different times of the day, where any roadworks are, where any newly constructed roads are and will direct you from A to B in the most efficient way possible which will significantly decrease your travel time and increase the speed at which you get to your destination. A bad sat nav does not know any of these things and can potentially take you through horrific traffic conditions, road works, bottlenecks and not make use of the newly built roads meaning it can take you significantly longer to get to your destination. Thus, good connectivity ensures our data packets reach your PC in the most efficient, fastest way possible ensuring good download speeds. Bad connectivity can send our data packets via bad cabling, overloaded networks and a myriad of other negative networking issues meaning you get considerably slower download speeds.

To clarify, we do not cap our Premium service in any way, shape or form. Whatever speed a user gets from our download servers is the maximum uninhibited speed possible between our server and your computer - if it's slow, it's almost certainly because the traffic is not being routed well by either our ISP or your ISP but, unfortunately, that is not something we have control over to fix.

An example of this is here in the UK where on a basic 75Mbit home connection if I try to download from our CDN node in Los Angeles, some 5,400 miles away, I can reach download speeds of 6MB/second without any issues. However, some of our users in Brasilia, a similar distance to LA, will get far lower speeds than this to the same LA location. This is due to the connectivity between the ISPs in the UK compared to the connectivity of some ISPs in Brazil. Essentially, there is more cabling and better management of the network between North America and Europe than there is between North America and South America. Unfortunately, this is something which is completely out of our control. The solution to this problem is to hope and pray the connectivity between North America and Brazil improves (which involves major ISPs laying more cables to provide more bandwidth and/or for them to improve how they route their traffic) OR for us to requisition more servers that are more local to South America. However, hardware costs, data centre costs and bandwidth in many areas of the world can oftentimes be many magnitudes more expensive than it is in North America and Europe meaning it's not financially viable to do this. For example, the bandwidth costs with our provider to South America or Asia costs 223% more than it does from Europe. From Australia it's 312% more. Unfortunately it is simply not sustainable for us to set up additional nodes in these locations.

As our user base increases, so do the number of users who are becoming Premium Members, and it is becoming an increasingly sore spot for me that some users have not been getting good download speeds when paying for our Premium service, irrespective of whose fault it is.

To remedy this we recently decided to spend a not-insignificant sum of money on an additional CDN service specifically for Premium Members. The CDN we have settled on contains 51 download location nodes, considerably more than the 7 nodes within our home-made CDN. Node locations include 2 in South America, 3 in the Middle East and 15 in Asia and Oceania. You cannot pick the specific download location within this CDN, the CDN will pick the node nearest to you, however, our existing CDN locations are still available for you to choose if you so wish. While we would love to roll this out to normal users too it simply isn't financially viable, so our "old" CDN will remain the service used for non-Premium users (and any Premium Members who wish to use it).

To put it into perspective, we are predicting this new service will increase our file serving costs by 62% per year, and that's just serving Premium Members, so it is not a decision I have taken lightly, and it is not something that would have been possible until more recently as our user base has increased.

If your download location is currently set as the default "CDN" option then you are using our new download service. If you have previously manually set your download location (either in your [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/myaccount]site preferences[/url] or by manually selecting a download location from the download window on a file page) then you will need to choose the "CDN" option when you next attempt to download in order to access this new download service. This new service is for [url=https://users.nexusmods.com/register/memberships]Premium Members only[/url] so if you are not a Premium Member you will not have access to these options.

As a part of this update, we are decommissioning the bare metal Signapore CDN node that we currently have (which was Premium-member only) and this should go down in a few week's time. The new CDN service we offer should provide as good as if not better speeds than this node for all our Premium Members in the Asia and Oceania areas and thus it's an added expense for no gain.

We put this new CDN service live last week and since doing so we have not received a single complaint about download speeds, which I'm naturally extremely happy about. I'd be interested to hear from any Premium Members who have seen an improvement in their download speeds on the site since our new service went live. If you're a Premium Member and you're still getting slower than acceptable speeds on our servers please read our [url=https://help.nexusmods.com/article/92-im-having-download-issues-what-can-i-do]help article[/url] and, if possible, provide us with the feedback requested via [url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/forum/117-feedback-suggestions-and-questions/]our forums[/url] so we can try and help you troubleshoot the issue.

Thank you for your support.

In this feature, we're chatting with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/users/2355906]Aragas (aka Aragasas)[/url], one of our top Bannerlord mod authors. While you might not have heard of him, if you've played Mount & Blade II with mods there's a good chance you've used at least one of the mods he and the other members of the Bannerlord Unofficial Tools & Resources (BUTR) team have worked on.


[b]Thank you for taking the time to talk with us Aragas. To start off, can you tell us a bit about yourself? [/b]

I'm a Senior Software Developer from Russia, from a pretty normal family. Since this is a gaming related site, you might be interested in the fact that I’m one of the maintainers of [url=https://pokemon3d.net/]Pokémon 3D[/url], a fairly old game that recreated the 2nd gen Pokemon games in 3D!

I'm not new to modding, but I never stayed for too long with a single game. That changed when I started to work on Bannerlord! I fell in love with the game and the idea it represents, so now I spend a significant amount of my free time working on the game with our team - BUTR!


[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1611670682-2041173251.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1611842759-1756877361.jpeg[/img][/center]

[b]Can you tell us a bit about the Bannerlord Unofficial Tools & Resources (BUTR) team?[/b]

We're a small team dedicated to improving the game itself and the ecosystem around it.

I'm sure you’re curious why we chose BUTR as the name of our team. There's an old meme in the Warband community 'Butterlord' based on the [url=https://mountandblade.fandom.com/wiki/Butter]Butter item[/url] the game has. We decided it would be funny to do a butter pun, so that's the origin of the acronym. After that we spent a day or two on creating the actual translation of the acronym, this was one of the biggest challenges our team ever faced.

The team created a lot of mods and tools that are intended to improve the modding experience. At the moment of the interview, we maintain and develop [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/2006]Harmony[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/2102]UIExtenderEx[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/2018]ButterLib[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/2513]BUTRLoader[/url].

Each member of our team has some great mods that are not directly part of BUTR:
[list]
[*] I'm the author of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/612]Mod Configuration Menu[/url] (MCM) and a few other little mods.
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/users/9325378]zijistark[/url] is the author of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/2174]Houses of Calradia[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/2089]Noble Titles[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/1902]Pacemaker[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/2524]QuickStart[/url].
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/users/2449911]Artifixer[/url] is the author of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/1750]Allegiance Overhaul[/url].
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/users/958353]JackQW[/url] (not active) is the author of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/186]Community Patch[/url].
[/list]
Our team also created a [url=https://github.com/BUTR/Bannerlord.Module.Template]project template for modders[/url] for an easy start with modding and created tools that ease compilation against any version of the game!

We haven't forgotten about NexusMods itself! We're working on improving the current [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/about/vortex/?]Vortex[/url] integration with the game, but we don't have an ETA on when it will be done right now!


[b]Your profile says you've also made mods for Factorio in the past. Which other games do you play or make mods for? 
[/b]
My first modding experience started back in the good old days of Warcraft III. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was really fun to edit some units by making them bigger or marking them as hero units!

At some point, I tried to help with Rimworld. The original author of [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=935732834]SeedsPlease[/url], if I remember correctly, abandoned the mod and I tried to port it to a newer version of the game. I was still inexperienced back then and quickly decided against continuing the effort.

After that came Factorio. I always enjoyed playing modded sandbox games because they tend to expand some core game mechanics, and this wasn't an exception.

As you might know, the game is based on setting up pipelines that move items from one location to another. There is also crafting. For example, if you want to create a Brass alloy (a modded item), you need a Copper plate and a Zinc plate which you put into a Smelter. The game also provides metals as a liquid as an addition to items (plates). You can't combine liquid metals into liquid alloys and this was exactly what [url=https://mods.factorio.com/mod/angelsextended-remelting]my mod[/url] did. A pretty small addition, but it drastically changed how you could create your base and how you could set up your pipelines!

Also, while I was developing the mod for Factorio I noticed that there was a lack of a development ecosystem around the game. I created a proof-of-concept [url=https://github.com/FactrIDE/FactrIDE]modding IDE FactrIDE[/url], which was intended to enhance the modding experience. For example, with one click it could archive the mod files, put it to the "mods" folder and run Factorio. It could handle things like creating an empty project with basic templates, manage dependencies and there was also an ambitious idea to create a UI constructor for the Prototype system that the game has used for declaring things like buildings and items so users wouldn't touch the Lua code directly. FactrIDE even had a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPIky_6_vro]video[/url] demonstration!

Unfortunately, the community was for some reason pretty sceptic and unfriendly at that point towards the idea, so I decided to not continue in that direction.

As for playing, well, I enjoy Paradox’s grand strategy games and Rimworld!


[b]What is it about the Mount & Blade franchise that you feel makes it stand out from other games?
[/b]
A lot of folks just play multiplayer, where they can roleplay by doing formations, recreating historic battles, or playing it as intended by slaying each other mercilessly. The competitive element of the game in my opinion is great!

I feel that the strongest part of the franchise is the singleplayer. The games combine really well both the action elements from the multiplayer and the strategy aspect from the grand strategy genre. You personally lead your conquest and you can participate in the battles that will decide your future and the future of your realm. I miss this feature from the grand strategy games and I’m glad that the M&B franchise covers this gap!

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1611660255-844481216.jpeg[/img][/center]

[b]Are there any features you really hope to see in Banner before it leaves Early Access? 
[/b]
I'm a big fan of Crusaders Kings II. Actually, one of our team members, zijistark, is lead of the [url=https://hip.zijistark.com/]Historical Immersion Project (HIP)[/url] - the greatest overhaul of the game in my opinion!

This leads us back to your question: the relation system of the game is a fairly basic one and it might stay this way when the game releases, as the devs mimic the core aspects of Warband. But what I would want is to see a character relation system similar to CKII with HIP. A complex opinion system where actions matter and would not be forgotten by characters for decades, where NPC's can backstab you because they didn't get a fief they wanted or be the most loyal vassals, always ready to help you. Any work to make the AI more dynamic in the sandbox, with actions hopefully motivated by understandable reasoning, is welcome work. Also, the opinion system should be bidirectional - what Lord Aldric thinks of you is not necessarily what you think of Lord Aldric.

A great warlord should not only be good with an axe, but have a sharp tongue and a keen mind!


[b]Do you have any favourite mod or mod authors you'd like to give a shout out to?
[/b]
First of all, a shout-out to all the mod developers using our tools and libraries! We appreciate all the feedback we get and we are always happy to include new features that are proposed to us! Just recently we created a new API for the UI manipulation library UIExtenderEx with the help of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/users/53171956]Arganancer[/url]!

I also want to explicitly mention several mods and their maintainers:
[list]
[*]The author of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/688]Improved Garrisons[/url] - [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/users/86556643]Sidiess[/url]. He’s managing a mod that changes core game mechanics without the usage of Harmony, which is one of the most difficult tasks a modder could wish for! 
[*]The maintainer of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/118]Detailed Character Creation[/url] - [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/32724840]Designer225[/url]. He’s maintaining one of the oldest and popular living open-source mods!
[/list]
There are actually a lot of mods that still are being maintained since the beginning of the early access. I admire all their dedication with keeping their complex mods working after each game update!

Also, there are a lot of interesting framework mods like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/411]Custom Spawns API[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/286]ATC - Adonnay's Troop Changer[/url] that has the intention of unifying changes of the game.

Unfortunately, since the community is fragmented, I’m sure that I missed some other great mods and frameworks. I hope they will forgive me for not including them here!


[b]What advice would you give to someone who wants to make their first Bannerlord mod? 
[/b]
I would recommend mod authors to focus on creating content mods instead of creating gameplay changing mods.

Bannerlord is a true early access game. Almost every new game version will drastically alter the game's internal code, code upon which gameplay mods depend. Because of this, writing gameplay mods is a huge challenge, since each new game version will break the mod.

If modders are not comfortable tracking the code changes, getting into deep logic modding may not be the best idea!
The devs are helping us with introducing breaking changes into the Beta branch of the game first. Usually, it takes at least a week for the Beta branch to get into the current (Stable) branch, so we are able to always provide a working mod for the current version of the game. Unfortunately, some mod developers get tired of this and leave some great projects, as the maintenance is indeed hard!

I do want to point out that the issue will be gone either in the last stages of the early access or when the game will be released!


[b]Is there anything else you'd like to share with the Nexus Mods community?
[/b]
I would like to mention that we not only have [url=http://docs.modding.bannerlord.com]official modding[/url] documentation for the game but an [url=https://docs.bannerlordmodding.com]unofficial[/url] one too! While it’s true that it’s stale, it’s not dead and just needs a push with good articles! We would be really happy to include modders' experiences of working with the game!

We also hope that the game’s communities will unite at some point, as there are a lot of small communities based on big mods. Unfortunately, there isn’t much cooperation between them!

As a final note, I want to thank our Bannerlord community for being so understandable, helpful and positive! It is a pleasure to be a part of it!

[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/users/2355906]Aragasas[/url] for taking the time to talk to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url]. 

Happy new year everyone.

It has been [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13961]a couple of years[/url] since I last updated you all on the more internal goings on at Nexus Mods so I've decided to drum up enough enthusiasm to write another of my long-winded, banal "blog posts" on the matter. I wasn't able to get around to doing one last year and I am aware that some of you actually like to punish yourselves, but if you're like me and just like to skim read, here's the TL;DR:

Statistically we're doing better than ever. Everything you would like to see increase for your modding enjoyment, has. We're serving more users more mods for more games each and every year, not by a little, but by a lot. However, progress in some areas has been slow for us as we work to fight decade-old legacy code, highlighting key areas for us to improve upon, but we're better placed to face that head-on now than ever before. Read on if you're interested in the details, leave it there if that's all you needed to know.


[size=4][b]2020 in numbers[/b][/size]

A year of Coronavirus and staying safe at home has inflated our statistics considerably. We averaged 8.4 million unique visitors each month, a 43% increase from 2019's 5.9 million visitors with pageviews averaging 184 million each month, a 36% increase on 2019's 136 million. While these numbers have always steadily increased year-on-year, this is the single biggest yearly increase we've recorded since Skyrim was released almost a decade ago.

Our membership has swelled, increasing by 5.3 million in 2020, a 75% increase on 2019's 3 million new users. We are now less than 50,000 new users off hitting the 25 million member milestone which will almost certainly be reached by the end of January.

We welcomed 300 new moddable games to the Nexus Mods in 2020, up from the 221 new games added in 2019. This means the number of games we support has almost doubled in two years. We averaged 4,599 new mod uploads each month, a 47% increase on 2019's 3,116 new mods per month. 2020 is the first year in Nexus Mod's 20 year history that the new mod split between Bethesda games and non-Bethesda games was actually in favour of non-Bethesda games with 54% of all files uploaded in 2020 being for non-Bethesda games. Non-Bethesda file uploads increased 82% in 2020 while Bethesda uploads increased 22%, up from -7% in 2019, showing that Covid has increased modding in both Bethesda and non-Bethesda games alike.

Some big game releases in 2020 including [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mountandblade2bannerlord/mods/]Mount & Blade: Bannerlord[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/mechwarrior5mercenaries/mods/]Mechwarrior 5[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/residentevil32020/mods/]Resident Evil 3[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/]Baldur's Gate 3[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/]Cyberpunk 2077[/url] and the continuing [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/halothemasterchiefcollection/mods/]Master Chief Collection[/url], among many others, have continued to increase our extensive mod offerings outside of Bethesda games while [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/]Stardew Valley[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/]The Witcher 3[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/]Monster Hunter World[/url] have continued to thrive with modding communities more popular than some of Bethesda's offerings on Nexus Mods.

Naturally, with the increased number of users, views and mods on the site our download servers have also been busier than ever, averaging 56.7 million downloads each month in 2020, an increase of 32% on 2019's 42.8 million downloads. This means, on average, our users are starting 22 new downloads every second of every day of the year. 72% of downloads are for Bethesda games, showing that Bethesda games still account for the lion-share of downloads on Nexus Mods, however, that share is decreasing each year. In 2017 the share was 90%. While the number of downloads for Bethesda games increased by 1% in 2019 and 26% in 2020, the number of downloads for non-Bethesda games has increased by 69% and 89% respectively showing that, while Bethesda modding is still just as popular as ever, we continue to make inroads in hosting mods for as many games as possible, be they Bethesda games or not.

Our users downloaded over 59PB (59,000TB) of files in 2020, averaging 27Gbps of throughput on our service providers at any given time.

Finally, user uptake of Vortex is increasing. In 2019 Vortex accounted for 67% of all Nexus Mods users who used mod managers [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/myaccount?tab=api]connected to our API[/url]. By the end of 2020 this number had increased to 72%. What we're seeing is less people using Nexus Mod Manager (15% in 2020, down from 22% in 2019), and they are moving to either Vortex or Mod Organizer 2 (12.5%, up from 10.5%). Considering the fact Nexus Mod Manager is, unfortunately, unstable and prone to unrecoverable corruption of the mod installation folder this is only a good thing as far as we are concerned. Unique users of the API (i.e. people who use mod managers to download and install mods from Nexus Mods) increased to just under 1,000,000 each month.


[size=4][b]Donation points a resounding success[/b][/size]

Perhaps the thing I am most proud of over the past few years, our [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13611]Donation Points system[/url] continues to become more rewarding for mod authors on Nexus Mods. Since we launched the system in May of 2018 we have [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/about/donation-points/]paid out almost $600,000[/url] to our mod authors. In the 8 months to December 2018 our payouts averaged a little over $9,000, in 2019 this increased by 22% to just over $11,000 each month and in 2020 we increased the fund by a whopping 197% to average payouts of just under $32,750 each month to our mod authors. This large increase was made possible by the changes we made to the way we served downloads, putting a 5 second delay on non-Premium users and putting up more advertising regarding Premium Memberships.

In the same amount of time, Nexus Mods users have donated $221,579 to mod authors directly through the PayPal buttons found on file pages and user profiles, meaning that over the past 30 months mod authors on Nexus Mods have received total payouts of over $820,000 either directly from Nexus Mods, or from users on Nexus Mods. While this is an awesome number, lets not forget that there are now over 115,000 users who have uploaded mods to Nexus Mods.

While the majority of the Donation Points we hand out are cashed out via PayPal, mod authors have also bought $16,000 worth of game CD Keys from [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/modrewards#/store/all/1]our store[/url], spent $15,300 on discounted Nexus Mods Premium Memberships and, most importantly, they have donated over $17,500 to charities, including $6,818.52 to the Wildlife Conservation Society, $3,614.29 to Doctors Without Borders and $1,626.12 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, among others. I feel a great sense of pride when sending these charity payments on behalf of Nexus Mods, its mod authors and its users.

We will continue to invest in the Donation Points system as much as possible, balancing the funds necessary to run these sites as efficiently as possible with the want to give back to mod authors as much as possible. Ultimately, it is revenue generated from the advertising shown on our site and the Premium Memberships bought by our user base that funds this initiative and this is something we could do better at conveying to our users - that everytime they see an ad or buy a Premium Membership, some of the revenue generated is going directly to mod authors who are making use of our Donation Points system. I imagine a large part of our user base has no idea how much money is being given back to mod authors and how some of the inconveniences they are experiencing (either through delays in downloads, ads and/or download speed caps) help to support the mod authors whose work they enjoy.

It is an aspiration of mine that, one day, the Donation Points fund will reach 7 figures a year.


[size=4][b]Vortex continues to see extensive improvements[/b][/size]

The Vortex developers were as busy as ever in 2020, releasing 51 minor versions/hotfixes and 2 new major version updates with the third major update just around the corner.

To save you trawling through our extensive [url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/6360526-current-version-1322/]Vortex change logs[/url] I'll summarise some of the more interesting improvements we've made to Vortex in 2020 for you below.

[b]Game extensions[/b]
[list]
[*]13 new game extensions have been added by us, including Mount & Blade: Bannerlord, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Wolcen: Lord of Mayhem, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator
[*]42 new game extensions have been added by the community, including Cyberpunk 2077 by ThunderGod97
[*]Vortex now supports over 135 games
[*]The Witcher 3 now has full integration with the “Witcher 3 Script Merger”, load order management, symlink support and menu mod support
[*]Monster Hunter World support now has automatic detection and installation of Stracker’s Loader, a prerequisite to modding MHW
[*]We've added load order management to Blade & Sorcery
[*]Bethesda games now have guided installation of script extenders (obse, skse, fose, nvse, f4se) and will warn users if they have set up a script extender for the primary tool but it's not installed (correctly)
[*]There is now support for installing and updating SMAPI for Stardew Valley. Vortex now associates mod created files with the mod itself and removes those files when the mod is removed (preventing SMAPI warnings about loose files)
[/list]

[b]New functionality for users[/b]
[list]
[*]Extensions are now updated independently from the main app when Vortex is restarted, meaning we do not need to do a new Vortex release everytime we update support for a single game
[*]Added the ability to create mod reports which contain information that can be useful for mod authors troubleshooting user issues, including details of what mods the user has installed, the deployment method used, deployed files, overwritten files, and more.
[*][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1596549295-1778331160.jpeg]Conflicting file previews[/url] allow users to open one or both of the conflicting files in the program of their choice directly from the file conflict editor to e.g. compare 3D models in nifskope.
[*]We've added auto-start and auto-shutdown functionality
[/list]

[b]New functionality for developers[/b]
[list]
[*]Support for game detection via GOG, Origin/EA Play, UPlay and the Windows Store
[*]We created a generic extension to deal with load ordering in games (generic load order extension) which can be used by any/all game extensions as needed
[*]Patches to Unity games are now deployed as mods so they can make use of different deployment methods
[*]Extensions can now add buttons to the main toolbar
[/list]

That's what we managed to release in 2020, but in the last quarter of 2020 extensive work was done on version 1.4 of Vortex which is due for release very soon. I'd be remiss if I did not share what Vortex 1.4 has in store:

[list]
[*]The option to automatically install mods once the download finishes
[*]The ability to automatically shutdown Vortex and the PC once all downloads are finished (perfect for when you leave your computer running to download mods over night)
[*]A history/activity log that will allow users to trace back their steps and undo certain actions as required
[*]Vortex will warn the user if they install a mod with an incompatible BSA or BA2 archive which would cause a crash on starting the game
[*]Vortex will provide tips for organizing the mod load order in the conflict editor
[*]Resident Evil 3 support
[/list]

Vortex continues to come on in leaps and bounds, year on year, with a growing user base and developer base to back it up. To those people who have released game extensions this year, thank you for your work. 42 new game extensions created by the community in one year is amazing work!


[size=4][b]Web development is slow going[/b][/size]

While development of Vortex is coming on leaps and bounds, the development of the site is progressing at a slower pace than we would hope, especially on front-facing features that you, the user, get to see and experience.

While we want and aim to be in a position where new features and improving the site is what we primarily work on, our number one priority is always keeping the site up, running and able to handle the ever increasing number of users and mods on the site.

While modern frameworks put scalability at the forefront of their ethos, Nexus Mods was created long before these frameworks existed, and long before modern cloud computing was even a thing. Nexus Mods was built around a basic [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)]LAMP stack[/url], with hundreds of thousands of lines of code in a LAMP environment. We've spent the past few years gradually rewriting different parts of the site to adhere to [url=https://12factor.net/]12factor app principles[/url] and separating old systems from new ones; the user service released late 2019 is all new, our API, quick search service, file stats and uploads are all handled separately from the LAMP stack. These updates and the new systems we are building are all based around modern frameworks and ideals with scalability at the forefront, but we still have a lot of legacy code and systems that need to be updated which do not have any scalability and still use bare-metal servers.

Each time we release these new services that replace the old ones it takes a burden off our old infrastructure, reducing another bottleneck in the long list of bottlenecks. However, when these old systems hit capacity, it's not as simple as buying more servers and tacking them on, or even replacing the servers they are on with more powerful hardware - the data migration alone would take weeks - during which time the site would be down for everyone which, I'm sure you can agree, is not plausible. Instead, our focus is on optimisations where we can, with a clear focus on replacing old legacy systems as soon as we possibly can.

This is slow work, and it's made slower by the fact Nexus Mods is an extremely popular site with a very large amount of traffic, with database tables that can contain millions, sometimes billions of rows. We're attempting to do Enterprise level work at comparatively small budget pricing.

With this in mind, we've recognised the large job ahead of us and we have invested accordingly. Our team has grown from just 1 person, myself, in 2010 to 16 people today, of which 6 are backend focused developers and 4 are frontend focused. 2 of our backend developers joined us last year, along with an additional 2 frontend developers. With these new additions we are hoping we are now done with recruiting for the foreseeable future and our team can continue to gel well and refine our processes to tackle the monolithic task before us head on at an ever increasing pace.

Each year presents new challenges, and we came into 2020 having had a torrid December 2019 that was plagued with downtime and site slowness caused by a huge influx of traffic over the holidays. We spent the first quarter of 2020 looking at quick fixes and optimisations we could make to server configs and our code to ensure we could go back to providing a smooth operation. Each year we think we've done enough but each year we manage to hit a bottleneck, oftentimes in different places. In 2018 we would struggle to serve anything over 200 requests a second, in 2019 we managed to improve efficiency so that number was 270 requests a second and in 2020 we'd increased that number further still to 400, doubling our capacity in just 2 years but this still was not enough come December 2020. The solution isn't just tweaking a couple of things with our server configs, this is work that takes months of developer time spanning software, hardware, dev ops as well as integrating with external services that scale wherever possible.

To highlight the challenges we face, recently we had the honour of hosting the long awaited [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14433]Fallout: The Frontier[/url] before anyone else. A large mod with high expectations, the mod has been popular, so popular that it managed to bring the site down for a little while. However, while it was reported that this was due to the amount of traffic, this isn't entirely true. It wasn't the amount of traffic the site received that brought it down, indeed, it did not create any more traffic than we would see on a busy Sunday evening normally, but instead it was the [i]type[/i] of traffic which we received which caused the issue. Because the mod brought back a lot of old users who had not signed into Nexus Mods in many years, it triggered a poorly optimised query in our notification system which was being hit a lot more than usual and all at the same time. This code was many years old and coded at a time when the site was nowhere near as busy and did not have anywhere near as many mods or games. A hotfix to the code fixed the issue over the weekend, but not before the damage was done. This issue is indicative of the challenges we face each week, battling the effects of old code and systems that were not built for scalability with our wish and will to create new things for our users.

We are frustrated that we cannot make more visible changes to the site more regularly, like new, updated or additional functionality, however, the work we do now is integral to the stability of the sites and puts us on a stronger footing moving forward. We do not want to release major new additions to the site before our foundations are more solid - building on top of legacy systems is both perilous and makes our jobs harder further down the line, much like building your house on sandy land. However, we are aware that our users would like to see changes all across the site, both small and large, and these are being kept track of, to be tackled as and when we can.

The take away from this is that, while on the surface it seems like we are not doing much on or with the site, below the surface there is an awful lot of very necessary work being done by a growing number of developers to ensure the future viability of Nexus Mods.


[size=4][b]Our staff have moved to a new home[/b][/size]

While this one perhaps isn't so exciting for all of you, it's pretty exciting for us, just as soon as we're all allowed back into our workplaces after the worst of Covid has passed.

We moved into our first physical offices in 2016. Up until then our team was full remote, spread out across multiple locations in multiple time zones. For a while, and with a small team, this was OK. However, as our team began to grow and as the complexity of the work required began to dawn, we realised that our team efficiency would be so much better if we could collaborate together in the same space rather than relying on internet technologies to get us by.

4 of us moved into a shared office space in 2016 to trial it out and, having worked from home since 2007, I instantly saw how much better this was going to be for Nexus Mods.

After our year contract was up we moved into rented office space in 2017. Over the course of 2016 and 2017 we had slowly begun to relocate our workforce down to our home in Exeter, removing remote positions and bringing almost our entire workforce into the office space. This office was very utilitarian, perfectly fine for our needs, but it was really just 4 walls plus a conference room for meetings and a small kitchenette attached to the main office room. We could comfortably fit 12 in, but after that things would start to get a little cramped. We had unfortunate instances of colleagues microwaving fish lunches or curries and stinking the entire office out for the rest of the day. We still haven't received an apology for the fish incident, the culprit adamant they had done nothing wrong. The less said about that the better...

With plans to recruit further at the start of 2020 and with an aim to try and hire more experienced developers with a keen interest in scalable solutions, I spent time in 2019 trying to find us some good office space in Exeter that we could make our own and customised to our needs. It isn't just about providing a great experience for the staff at Nexus Mods which should hopefully also translate into better work, it's also about being able to recruit the cream of the crop to come and work for us. Would you rather work in a drab and dreary office or one that has been tailored around a bright and positive experience? If you were going for two jobs at the same pay level, would this be something that you took into consideration when making your final decision?

In November 2019 I put my name down on a building that formed a part of an old hospital right in the city centre, with the current tenants due to end their contract in July 2020, it was perfect for our needs.

In September 2020 we finished extensive modifications to the building which includes plenty of break out rooms, multiple conference rooms (with one doubling up as a ping pong room), a kitchen big enough to service a staff of 20 (with plenty of ventilation and a corridor between the kitchen and the office space beyond to prevent a repeat of fish-gate 2018), an outside deck area for summer lunches and a comfy top floor dedicated to games consoles and PC gaming, complete with 5 ready to go PCs for gaming on as and when wanted.

As we all know, Covid hit around March 2020 and, as such, we have not been able to make extensive use of the space yet or have the full team in to experience what it is like on a "normal" working day. We did however get plenty of time to customise the office to our specification without needing to worry about deadlines, so there is a silver lining to the Covid delay. Having had to work under Covid work-from-home restrictions for 10 months now, I am more resolute than ever that working in an office with flexible working conditions is far more efficient for our teams trying to work together than anything internet technology can offer. I'm sure you will all have your own opinions on this, however, for Nexus Mods, and with (now) 10 years of first hand experience working from home in this business and with 4 years experience working from an office, I am sure it is the right thing for us.

We very much look forward to being able to use our new space to its fullest in the years to come.


[size=4][b]In conclusion…[/b][/size]

If we just go by the statistics then 2020 was a magnificent year for Nexus Mods. Both the content on the site and the user base has grown considerably, Donation Points has been a resounding success and Vortex continues to expand and improve. However, my excitement is marred by the slow progress on the website side and issues with reliability. I am hopeful that the additions we've made to the team over the past 18 months and improvements in our work place will begin to show dividends through 2021 and beyond in the hope that, within the next couple of years, I can be far more excited about writing these blog posts as I come to you to share the great things we've done in the community over the past year.


[i]Edit: an earlier version of this post contained incorrect stats regarding the API usage figures (I was using weekly figures, not monthly). These figures have now been updated and are now correct.[/i]

Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/9159133?tab=user+files&BH=2]CloudedTruth[/url] - author of the very popular [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1187]Relationship Dialogue Overhaul[/url] for both Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition as well as various amazing follower mods.

[center][img width=1000,height=271]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/74256-1-1458105571.jpg[/img][/center]
[b]Thank you for joining us today, it’s truly appreciated. We like to start these interviews off with a bit of a personal introduction, so could you please tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]
 
I'm 28 years old from the United States and currently work in manufacturing dealing with parts and materials for creating circuit panels/electrical boxes & breakers.
 

[b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1187]Relationship Dialogue Overhaul[/url] is an immensely popular mod of yours for both Skyrim LE and Skyrim SE. How would you describe that mod for those who have yet to try it out and what inspired you to set out and create it?[/b]
 
Relationship Dialogue Overhaul (RDO) is an attempt to make the NPCs in the game feel slightly more alive and human-like. Make friends, spouses, and rivals talk to you in a way that makes them seem more appropriate. It also restores some dialogue that was originally cut from the game. The original inspiration behind the mod came from the mod [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/70495]Amorous Adventures[/url]. I remember the first time I heard NPCs use custom dialogue that had been edited together I was just awestruck. For some reason such a concept had never come to me until hearing it from another mod, but as soon as I did it sparked me to learn how to create my own dialogue.

[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1610634327-1978398670.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1610634320-1183726343.jpeg[/img][/center]
 [b]What was your journey from mod user to mod creator like?[/b]
 
When I started playing and modding Skyrim on PC I was like most others and began with the Steam workshop, then transitioned to the Nexus. After getting adapted to a different way to install and use mods I began in dabbling with NPC edits and customization, which ended up being the first mod I made and uploaded (which has long since been deleted because it was not very good...)

From there I really started to learn how to use TES5Edit tool and the Creation Kit much more effectively and began to make changes to mods I had downloaded to suit my own tastes. Following some time doing this, I first got introduced to Amorous Adventures from a video by Shinji72, and inspiration from that really kicked off my mod creating journey.

I created several small dialogue mods before finally ending up with Relationship Dialogue Overhaul. During the process of creating RDO I was messaged by a very talented character creator, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/2650523?tab=user+files&BH=0]rxkx22[/url], and together we created an attractive follower that has unique dialogue. Since then I've been able to work with him add some extra features and functions to his follower mods. I've created several other small mods - not dialogue related - that are more of my own personal taste and which are also available.


[b]Several of your mods are what would be considered follower mods, in one form or another. In your opinion, what are the core ingredients for a good Skyrim follower?[/b]
 
That all depends on what you want. There are some extremely expansive follower mods available that really end up being more like quest mods instead of follower mods (which is fine, if that's what you want). And there are others that are a little more subtle and just have a small (back)story and that's it. As long as the follower fits into your Skyrim world and doesn't drag you out of it, then I think it's good follower mod. 

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/74256][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1610635262-996503810.jpeg[/img][/url]
[b]
The term “immersive” has become a bit of a meme in modding - Skyrim modding in particular. Nonetheless, I think we can all agree that there is definitely such a thing as an “immersive” mod. What does that mean for you and do you have examples of mods that truly add to an immersive experience?[/b]

To me, what makes a mod immersive is if it makes your playthrough more enjoyable. People will argue day and night on if a mod's "immersive" but really it's down to each user and their choice. One way that's been approached is by saying if the mod had been in the original game and you would have enjoyed it, then it's an "immersive" mod. I do have several pet peeves when it comes to custom voiced audio, and one is if it's really poor quality. For me, that completely ruins the experience. Also, if the dialogue is spoken with zero emotion when it needs to have some, that also ruins it for me. Those two things would make a mod very "un-immersive" for me.
 
 
[b]What are some games other than Skyrim you enjoy playing? Have you ever tried modding other games?[/b]

Other games I enjoy playing are Battlefield 3, the occasional Chivalry, and Rocket League. There are others but those are the main ones. I have not modded any other game besides Skyrim.
 
 
[b]What are your favourite hobbies outside of gaming/modding?[/b]

I'm quite a fan of motor racing, particularly open wheel, and participate in go-karting when I can. I also enjoy traveling around and listening to a variety of voices on a wide range of subjects and topics.
 
 
[b]Do you have any tips for budding mod authors who want to follow in your footsteps?[/b]

My best advice I would give to people is to learn how to use TES5Edit and the Creation Kit, those are the tools you will use the most. The internet is your friend, use it for any questions you have. Ask other authors for help. Have patience, learning this can take time. For those wanting to do audio, you will need even more patience if you're going to be creating new dialogue out the games audio files, it's not something you'll be able to get on your first try. Don't get easily discouraged.
 
[center][img width=900,height=542]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1704/images/12713-1-1508718533.jpg[/img][/center]
[b]Is there anything else you’d like to say to our community?[/b]

I know I've been out of modding for quite a time, and that's simply due to both getting burned out and other obligations. If the time is available and I have the creative energy I will get back to it. Thank you for your understanding.

[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/9159133?tab=user+files&BH=2]CloudedTruth[/url] for taking the time to talk to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url]. 

Big news Fallout fans, it's finally happening! Fallout: The Frontier will be available to download on [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/68009]Nexus Mods[/url] from 8pm (GMT) and on [url=https://store.steampowered.com//app/1356060]Steam[/url] next week.   

Development of Fallout: The Frontier started almost 7 years ago and there were certainly times along the way where it looked like it would never make it to release, but the dedicated modders behind the project stayed strong and are now releasing this DLC-sized mod for New Vegas into the wild for the entire world to enjoy. 

Nothing builds anticipation like a ticking clock, so we've added this video from the mod team which will unlock as soon the mod is available.

[center][youtube]xtMgxLiW52Y[/youtube][/center]

If you're not already familiar with the project, here's a quick summary:

[quote]The Frontier is a gigantic “new game” sized, free mod for Fallout: New Vegas. It takes place in snowy Portland, Oregon, with a desperate battle between the NCR and the Legion. Including 3 major questlines each with their own unique playstyles, over 27,000 lines of fully voiced dialogue from hundreds of actors, hundreds of new characters, over 150 new unique and interesting weapons, hundreds of new armours, and the best drivable vehicles New Vegas has ever seen. With work done by a host of the best FNV modders still around, including [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/2846058]Devilswish182[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/1026866]Weijiesen[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/4983589]Mindboggles[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4776864]macintrol[/url], it’s safe to say The Frontier could be considered its own unique unofficial Fallout game.[/quote]

The versions of the mod on both [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/68009]Nexus Mods[/url] and [url=steam://openurl/https://store.steampowered.com//app/1356060]Steam[/url] are exactly the same, however, they are installed and managed in different ways. The Steam option uses an installer to move the mod files to and from the Fallout New Vegas folder, whereas the Nexus Mods download is a conventional mod you can install with your favourite mod manager.

[i]We anticipate that there will be a high demand for this file immediately after release, so your download speeds may be slower than usual. Thanks for understanding. [/i]

During the final months of development, I had the opportunity to catch up with the Project Lead of The Frontier, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5605673]tgspy[/url]. He very graciously took some time out to answer a few of my burning questions ahead of the release.

[line]

[b]Without spoiling too much, can you give us an idea of the story and characters?
[/b]
The Frontier doesn’t have quite as simplistic a progression or “end story” as NV and some of its DLC’s have. Each questline has different goals, as do their leaders. In a general sense, each questline has its own core “theme”. This core theme is hyper present throughout the entire questline and dictates the motives and story elements. The 3 major faction leaders, General Blackthorne, Legate Valerius, and Paladin Tasha Weaver, all have their own unique stories to tell and the player is along for the ride. We’ve done a lot of work to make sure that the story is as fresh to players when they join as possible, so we’ve been extremely light in our story spoilers. We do hope this waiting and secrecy will give players a nice surprise when they play the mod.


[b]Who are "The Crusaders" and what is their quest?[/b]

The Crusaders are the brainchild of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4184393]Odinsword[/url]. They’re a unique twist of the Brotherhood of Steel and act as our “independent” playstyle. Here’s the basic lore :

[quote]The Crusaders were formed by a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin, Tasha Weaver, who was left for dead at Helios One.  She and several other Brotherhood refugees met up at New Canaan to live out a peaceful existence.   The destruction of New Canaan was the crucible in which the Crusaders were born.  Returning from a missionary trip, Weaver beheld the destruction of all she came to love.  Possessed with fury, Weaver repaired and repainted her power armour.  Gritted her teeth she added a new symbol to her armour: a blood-red symbol that merged the Crusader Cross with the BoS insignia.  Standing back she believed God had a new mission for her:  To reclaim the Holy Lands, to rebuild the old cities like had been done with New Canaan and New Jerusalem.  The BoS was correct in their collection of old-world technology, but wrong in their worship.  The tech should be used to reclaim the cities from the wasteland trash and establish new Mormon cities like New Canaan.   Brotherhood and Mormonism philosophies battled in her mind congealing into a strange new religion.

Driven by her charisma and indignation, Weaver and her fellow missionaries formed the Crusaders and declared a Holy War against what she perceived the enemies of rebuilding humanity, the Enemies of God or the Unworthy as she called them. Setting out to reclaim the Holy Lands, she makes a detour with some of her knights to give Blackthorne some much-owed payback. A man she viewed as evil incarnate.[/quote]
The Crusaders have a unique blend of scripted sequences and dialogue rich encounters, playing out like a New Vegas questline. It also has some incredible moments with unbelievable FX. We really hope players will enjoy the Crusaders as the unique faction they’ve become.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1610539886-918730887.jpeg[/img][/center]


[b]The Frontier is going to take place in Portland, Oregon almost 1,000 miles away from the Mohave. Will your choices in the mod have any impact on New Vegas itself? [/b]

Nope! As a general rule, mods that modify the vanilla game, and the Mojave world space itself, tend to make themselves incompatible with other mods over time. We didn’t feel it appropriate to modify the vanilla game in ways players may not necessarily enjoy; it also has the benefit of allowing players to enjoy the mod nearly as its own unique game, albeit still using the story of the courier.


[b]What is performance like in The Frontier? Can you run it on low-end hardware? [/b]

Performance has long been the downfall of many new vegas mods. This engine, with its 32 bits and graphical pipeline oddities, is unfortunately not suited to a large scale mod. All this being said however, we’ve put in an inordinate amount of time to make sure that performance is as optimal as possible for everyone. A powerful CPU makes a world of difference in this engine, so if you’re running a powerful CPU alongside a decent graphics card, you’ll be able to run Frontier at whatever FPS you like. That being said, those on laptops and very weak PC’s, won’t be able to run this mod at stable 60. We understand that some people are hell-bent on their games running at 60, but there’s not much more we can do, unfortunately. The Frontier is, however, contrary to the statements above, extremely stable. We’ve put just as much time into the performance as we have into stability and crash fixing. We’ve identified dozens of different CTD’s and crashes, including some engine-related crashes, and patched them. As such, the Frontier can be a stable experience for hours, so long as you’re running [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/66537]NVTF[/url] and the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/68714]Mod Limit Fix[/url].


[b]As this project has been in development for a long time, do you have any lessons learned you'd like to share about coordinating on such a huge mod? [/b]

Well, as project lead, this is a pretty big thing for me. I’d like to say I learnt a lot about modding, but really, what I garnered most from my nearly 5 years on the project, was how to deal with teams and deal with people, as well as manage expectations. I give this advice freely to those either trying to start their own projects or work in teams in real life.


Number 1 thing I’ve learnt is, when it comes to big projects, is to understand the required work that comes with being a project lead or team manager. This advice doesn’t practically apply to real life, but some elements of it can. It tends to be that newer modders want to make “the next big thing”, but are only willing to commit themselves to be the ideas person and the manager. This simply doesn’t cut it. To build a team, you should be able to show what you’re capable of. Whilst there is an element of “cult of personality”, where if you’re charismatic enough and are able to gain at least a few well-known team members, the team can grow over time from word of mouth, you need to be able to put your money where your mouth is. A project lead in modding should be able to multitask. You should be able to be the one who does all the nitty-gritty things, to fix performance, to make interiors to fill out spaces, to do the things your dedicated role team members don’t want to do. Now, it is the case where the project founders and the project leads can be very different people; I think of Cascadia, the Fallout 4 mod, where this is the case, as well as our own mod. As long as your team has a dedicated leader, who can delegate tasks and do general work, you should be fine.  
 
[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1610540346-58269579.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1610540351-998686320.jpeg[/img][/center]

Number 2, is being able to work within the constraints of your team and to know the skills of your team. Having a team with 30 members is wonderful, but if you can’t delegate tasks to them all, you’ll end up falling head over heels. This is where co-leads and department leads can come into play. This isn’t a requirement mind you. This is more pertaining to much larger teams. On smaller teams, like the Frontier, I find it much easier to individually keep track of every team member. Know what they can do, keep their workloads manageable, learn when to back off but also know when to discipline. Your team members are not employees! You don’t work for a AAA game studio with human resources, it’s a project made in your free time as a hobby. Treat your team members as friends rather than cogs in a wheel, you’ll be better liked as a project lead that way. Keep things casual, but semi-professional, when actively working on your project.
 

The final thing, and probably the simplest. Enjoy it. You may make this project your resume piece, you may not. But if you can’t enjoy what you’re making, it’s for nought. Don’t burn yourself out over a mod for a video game. If you’re not enjoying it, take a week off, a month off. If you can’t find some enjoyment or satisfaction out of the content you create. Why bother? This isn’t a paid gig, so if you don’t enjoy, understand when it’s time to move on.  


[b]Which parts of the mod are you most proud of? 
[/b]
That’s really difficult. I’d like to think the thing I’m most proud of is the friends I’ve made along the way, but I’d have to say the thing I’m most proud of is just the breadth and variety of content available, whether that be AAA level visual effects, great new interiors, unique gameplay interactions, incredible scripting; there’s a heck of a lot to be proud of. I’m proud of my whole team for putting in such an incredible effort over these years.

[line]

If you want to know more about The Frontier you can read [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13851]BigBizkit's 2018 Interview[/url] or [url=https://www.falloutthefrontier.com/]visit the official website[/url]. 


While we know 2020 has been a bit of a rubbish year (understatement of the century) for a lot of people, it has been an exhilarating year for Fallout New Vegas modding. In April we saw the release of coveted Mod Limit Fix, closely followed by a big update to New Vegas Script Extender in June. Fallout: The Frontier is an excellent way to start off 2021. It's incredible how much love there is for this 11-year-old game. 


Are you excited about exploring The Frontier? 

It's been a busy couple of months! Our eagle-eyed users may have noticed the lack of a November announcement in the We The Players event, so we're declaring the winners from both November and December today, which brings the year-long event to a close. 

[line]

Happy New Year to everyone here at Nexus Mods, I hope that this year is far better for us all than the last!

As this is the final month of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14288]prize-giving[/url], I first wanted to say a huge thank you to all you avid gamers that have joined the site, submitted reviews, screenshots and collections, given us your feedback, and just helped make the platform even better. Without you, we wouldn't have added the ability to add games to lists (Wishlist, Playing, Completed etc.), nor would we have changed collections to have the ability to rank the games within it. We owe you a debt of gratitude. I also wanted to say thank you to Robin, Tom, Stefan and of course, Mike for everything you have done and continue to do for [url=https://wetheplayers.com/]We The Players[/url].

This year is a big deal to us, we have a new logo coming soon, we're finally moving out of early access, and we have some fantastic new features in development. With our users' help, we have begun to build a great community, we have a small but friendly [url=https://wtp.gg/discord]Discord group[/url] who talk video games and general chat, and we're currently on the lookout for a few moderators to help out over there. Our [url=https://www.facebook.com/wetheplayer]Facebook Page[/url] is growing, and we're now beginning to create articles for our blog page. If you want to submit anything, please hop over to [url=https://wtp.gg/discord]Discord[/url] and put forward your ideas, we're always looking for new talent.

Last year was a tough one for me; we had planned to go live and then exhibit at lots of live gaming events. We bought marketing material, and then everything shut down due to the pandemic. At the office we made the tough decision to use the time during lockdown to test the site and resume marketing when the virus subsided; we had no idea that we'd still be in this situation nearly a year later. Thankfully Robin came on board and allowed us to reach out to you all. I wish that I could give a Switch Lite, or at least a £50 Steam voucher to every one of you, but alas, the budget doesn't stretch that far. 

So for the last time, here are the winners for the Nintendo Switch Lites we have to give away:

The first one goes to [url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/lazyluna678]Lazyluna678[/url] for their review of [url=https://wetheplayers.com/games/scrap-mechanic]Scrap Mechanic[/url] - "[url=https://wetheplayers.com/reviews/don-t-mind-me-i-m-just-building-something-new]Don't Mind Me... I'm Just Building Something New[/url]", we enjoyed this review immensely as Lazyluna678 goes on to break down a game that we would never have looked at otherwise. With a well broken down review, headings to let us know what we were reading, and an image to demonstrate the game, it was a very effective way to review the game. With no prior knowledge of Scrap Mechanic, I knew exactly what to expect when I bought the game (which I did in the Steam Winter Sale). With a similar premise to Minecraft, but with "better graphics, more parts, way more complex creations, and mainly focused on building technology", it won me over (for the record, I enjoy Minecraft too). The final score was 9.6.

[url=https://wetheplayers.com/reviews/don-t-mind-me-i-m-just-building-something-new][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1610625130-1362965859.jpeg[/img][/url]

The second one goes to [url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/gawain-games]Gawain-Games[/url] for their review of [url=https://wetheplayers.com/games/wolfenstein-the-new-order]Wolfenstein: The New Order[/url] - "[url=https://wetheplayers.com/reviews/gawain-s-wolfenstein-the-new-order-review]Gawain's Wolfenstein: The New Order Review[/url]". Gawain-Games has become a prolific reviewer on the site and has been close a few times to win the Nintendo Switch Lite, but this review caught our eye. The reason being is that they admit to not being a fan of shooters, but felt they should give the game a go as a friend who was streaming gifted it to them. Immediately upon starting the game, they knew they were in for a treat, with strong characters in B.J. Blazkowicz, Irene Engel, and Wilhelm Strasse, combined with a great story (that continues from [url=https://wetheplayers.com/games/wolfenstein-the-old-blood]Wolfenstein: The Old Blood[/url], released after 'The New Order), and impressive visuals, Gawain enjoyed every aspect of the game from start to finish. The final score was 9.3.

[url=https://wetheplayers.com/reviews/gawain-s-wolfenstein-the-new-order-review][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1610625126-424606302.jpeg[/img][/url]

So that's the two winning reviews. Now we have the ten random winners for the £50 Steam Gift Cards. These are:
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/elmordorable]Elmodorable[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/34621485]Pokigum[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/sturpz]Sturpz[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/71865568]Ausrion[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/azgoodaz]Azgoodaz[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/97168548]Azgoodaz[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/jz-bai]JzBai[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2000006]JzBai[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/ebra]Ebra[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/52632506]Ebe222[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/epicmarkvan]Epicmarkvan[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3065838]Epicmarkvan[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/giffsen]Giffsen[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/39138600]Kazukiwoof[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/endify]Endify[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/82168478]Endify123[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/nahti]Nahti_[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/83464303]Nahti[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/savvycrazy]Savvycrazy[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/100006553]1SavvyCrazy100[/url]

Although the Nexus Mods competition has now ended, we often do giveaways on our [url=https://wtp.gg/discord]Discord[/url] and Social Media channels ([url=https://www.facebook.com/wetheplayer]Facebook[/url], [url=http://www.twitter.com/wetheplayers]Twitter[/url], [url=http://instagram.com/wetheplayers]Instagram[/url]). Shortly we will be giving away a Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and a Nintendo Switch Fortnite addition - keep an eye on the channels for more information.

Thanks again to every single one of you who has registered and tried the site. Thank you to those who have shared the site with friends, or on social media, bringing new users to the site is vital for its success going forwards. Finally, your input has helped us immensely; we are building a platform that we want you to enjoy using and visiting, so constructive criticism is welcome. We hope to see you over on the [url=http://wetheplayers.com/]site[/url].

Kindest regards, 

Paul

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Congratulations to all the winners! Please join me in thanking Paul and the We The Players team for giving our community the chance to win some excellent prizes! 

It's a new year and once again we're back with another mod author interview. Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/11550578?tab=user+files&BH=0]DeadPool2099[/url] 3D artist and author of many amazing weapon mods for Fallout 4, such as the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32361]Service Rifle[/url] or the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/26386]Wattz Laser Gun[/url]!

[center][img width=875,height=492]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1609933629-349221972.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]BigBizkit: Thank you for joining us today. First of all, could you please tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]

Deadpool2099: You’re welcome :) Well, I don’t know what would be interesting that I can tell about myself. I was born in a family full of artists, so it pretty much defined my future. I was only doing traditional arts up until I changed my university to one which required knowledge of 3D programs. So I started studying for it, I really loved it, and so I decided to mix one favorite hobby (3D arts) with another (gaming). So I started making mods for my favorite game at the time :)

  
[b]You’re best known in the Fallout 4 modding scene for your incredible weapon mods. Which ones would you say are your main mods or the ones you are most proud of?
[/b]
I believe I’m most proud of two of them – the first and last, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20143]9mm[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/32361]Service Rifle[/url]. The first one is my first finished model, that I made after like 2 months of learning 3D arts, and it was quite good for a beginner, and the Service Rifle, well, there’s so much work been put into it, there were different texturing approaches and I generally paid more attention to details. So even after 2 years of improving my skills, I don’t dislike it unlike some of my other early works, haha!


[b]What specifically drew you to Fallout 4 modding and what made you decide to create all kinds of cool new guns?
[/b]
It might sound strange, but that was the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/16694/]Fallout 4 Animation Kit[/url] by ShadeAnimator. And my love for FNV, too. As soon as I saw that ShadeAnimator made custom animations for guns possible, I thought that it would be incredibly cool to bring all those FNV guns that are missing to FO4. Though, I couldn’t animate or model back then, but hoped that someone someday will make it. But then, as I said, I went to a university that required 3D skills, started learning it, and then thought “heck, why can’t I do it myself? How hard can it be” :) So I tried and made them - some at least :)
 
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1609933530-1413113319.png[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1609933544-2126591536.png[/img][/center]
[b]The guns you’ve created are all incredibly detailed. How much time did it take you to create the Service Rifle, the Wattz Laser Gun, or the Bullpup Bozar? What was the development process like?
[/b]
It is easier now that making gun 3D models became my job rather than a hobby, but it all depends on how complex it is. Stuff like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/28478]Bullpup Bozar[/url] I could do in roughly 2 weeks, while the Service Rifle with all the attachments could take 2 months. Now I usually make a pistol in 1,5 – 2 weeks and something complex, like a sci-fi rifle in 3-6 weeks, but it still depends. What may seem simple can take twice the time than something complex to make.

 
[b]There is no shortage of amazing weapon mods for Fallout 4 and new ones are coming out almost daily. Do you still keep up with Fallout 4 modding and do you have any favourite gun/weapon mods from other creators?
[/b]
Sadly, I don’t pay as much attention to the Fallout mod scene as I used to, because of so many new and exciting games that are coming out at the end of the generation, and so little free time I have now, but my top favorite are [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/13283]WastelandMelody’s Chinese AR[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/15909]DKS-501 Sniper Rifle by LtCommander[/url], and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/20687]M1 Garand by asXas[/url]. I can’t imagine playing F4 without those. Also, I really love the work by TheRizzler, ShoeBurglar and ToastyFresh, I always use their mods in my game, and I’m a big fan of what they do.
 
[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1609933575-1857587488.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1609933582-1197837292.png[/img][/center]
[b]What tools do you use for your creations and how did you learn how to use them?
[/b]
It’s 3Ds Max for modeling, Substance Painter for textures and ZBrush for highpoly models and minor sculpting, when it’s required. I used to learn primarily from tutorials on the web for the most part, plus I asked for help from my teachers in the uni for some specific questions.

 
[b]Have you ever tried your hand making mods for other games?
[/b]
I had some ideas, but never got to this, as no other game did hold me for as long as Fallout 4 did.
 

[b]What advice would you give people interested in becoming a mod author or a 3D artist in particular?
[/b]
For 3D artists, the program you’re using doesn’t matter, but what you do does. If you’re using the same software pack as I am, tutorials by Tim Bergholz, especially his AKM tutorial, and by Michael Pavlovich helped me a LOT to get into 3D, and I can’t recommend them enough for beginners :)

But most importantly – practice. Spend as much time as you can doing what you like: modelling, texturing, scripting or animating, and you’ll become a pro in no time :)

[center][img width=875,height=492]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1609933598-1074866894.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Is there anything else you would like to say to our community?
[/b]
Enjoy the things you’re doing. If you’re playing a game, modding it or even making your own, it’s gotta put a smile on your face in the end, no matter what your path is or was :)

[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/11550578?tab=user+files&BH=0]Deadpool2099[/url] for taking the time to talk to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url]. 

It's almost Christmas! We hope you've all managed to keep off the naughty list during 2020. 


There's a good chance if you're reading this you might be wondering why you were logged out of the website recently. Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your account. This happened because we had to clear everyone's active login session as part of a routine - but essential - database maintenance task. 


If you haven't been logged out yet [url=https://users.nexusmods.com/user/security/edit]please make sure your account email address is up to date[/url] as you may still be logged out in the next hour. 


We understand that this will be a minor inconvenience to some of our users, however, this change is necessary to prepare the website for what is shaping up to be another busy festive period and to enable us to continue to improve our services moving forwards.


If you're having trouble logging back into your account, please see the self-help articles below for assistance:

[list]
[*][url=https://help.nexusmods.com/article/102-i-am-not-receiving-emails-from-nexus-mods-what-can-i-do]I'm not receiving emails from Nexus Mods, what can I do?[/url]
[*][url=https://help.nexusmods.com/article/108-account-recovery]I have lost access to my email address/Two Factor Authentication device. [/url]
[*][url=https://help.nexusmods.com/article/113-troubleshooting-website-issues]I'm getting errors on the login page. [/url]
[/list]

Of course, if you're still not able to get into your account again, you can contact our Community Team by emailing [url=mailto:support@nexusmods.com]support@nexusmods.com[/url]. (Please make sure you send your email from the address used with your account, where possible.) 


So you know, over the holiday period it may take longer than normal to respond to support requests, we apologise in advance for any delays. 


Thank you for your patience and for being a part of the Nexus Mods community in 2020! We look forward to catching up with you all in 2021. 

Another month, another prize draw in the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14288]We The Players[/url] competition exclusive to Nexus Mods users! Once again time for TokenGeek to announce the lucky winners of the Nintendo Switch Lite and 5x $50 Steam Gift Cards in October's draw.

[line]

Slightly late with the announcement of winners this month, my apologies. We've been busy ensuring that all the titles for the 'next-gen' consoles are all present and correct on the site.  

October was a big month for us here at We The Players, not only in terms of ratings and reviews, but we have also released our first significant update to the platform - Game States. We wanted our users to be able to keep a record of games they have played, completed, mastered or abandoned - this first iteration of that feature has gone down well with our community. We hope that future updates will allow you to import your games automagically from your game clients, Steam, Origin, Epic and even Xbox and PSN - this should make it easier if you own hundreds, if not thousands of titles.  

Currently, we are working on completing an upgrade to our Collections feature. Users will not only be able to group titles together but will be able to create 'Numbered Lists'. This may not sound like a lot straight off the bat, but is a feature that has been requested numerous times. Now you will be able to create lists such as 'Top 10 Games of 2020', or 'Every Superhero game in order of greatness', you get the idea. We hope that we'll be able to share this update with you next month.


[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1605622584-958692770.png[/img]


In terms of the competition, we have had another great month of well-written reviews, hundreds of ratings and even some screenshots submitted. Thank you to the entire community at Nexus Mods for supporting us each month.

First up are the winners of the £50 Steam Vouchers...

[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/elkian]Elkian[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/48377158]ElkianLionblood[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/majorshepard]Majorshepard[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2073131]MajorSherpard[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/vega]Vega[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/33399325]aihre[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/rosena]Rosena[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/52307361]Noela[/url]
[url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/dm-fproject-gaming]DMF ProjectGaming[/url] >> [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/66193551]rbombo4[/url]

Congratulations to each of you, you will find the redemption codes in your DM's in the next few days.

Next up we have the winner of the Nintendo Switch Lite, [url=https://wetheplayers.com/user/sierra-komodo]SierraKomodo[/url] for their review of [url=https://wetheplayers.com/games/enderal-forgotten-stories]Enderal: Forgotten Stories[/url] by SureAI - [url=https://wetheplayers.com/reviews/enderal-a-great-mod-with-an-amazing-story]Enderal: A Great Mod With An Amazing Story[/url] (Be warned, SierraKomodo has marked the review to contain some spoilers).  

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77868/]Enderal[/url] is a total conversion mod for Skyrim that SierraKomodo has enjoyed immensely, stating that this free mod adds a better levelling system into the game than the vanilla Skyrim and also a great perk system. Even though it doesn't offer much of a graphical update to the original Skyrim, the game does seem to require slightly higher PC specifications to run as well. The mod can be obtained for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77868/]FREE[/url] right here at [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77868/]Nexus Mods[/url], the only caveat being you need to own the original Skyrim (and who doesn't!).

The next few months are pretty big for us; we have several new features making their way onto the site, and in January we are finally going to take the website out of early access - a huge step. We're glad to have Nexus Mods helping us out and hope that you enjoy the site going forwards.

Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1632043?tab=user+files]Mangaclub[/url], a long-time member of our modding community and author of some of your favourite weather mods such as Vivid Weathers for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73937]Skyrim[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2187]Skyrim Special Edition[/url], and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/15466]Fallout 4[/url].

 
[b]BigBizkit: Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Before we start the interview: what’s the weather like where you’re at right now?[/b]

Mangaclub: Thank you! It's good to have the opportunity to answer your questions. The weather is actually the very same as my actual mod that is in development: [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/46871]Whispering Hills - a Silent Hill Overhaul for Fallout 4[/url].  So in short, it is really cold and foggy :)


[b]Can you tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]

YES I can! First of all, I am from Germany and was born into the gaming world with the very first Gameboy I owned.

From there the fascination of computers grew massively. I spent months in front of my Amiga playing every minute of my spare time. I started modding when Fallout New Vegas was released. With that, I had my first experiences of how to mod games and how to avoid tearing out your hair from not working mods. My history in game development goes back much further though. I once lead a team of around 5 people to create a Silent Hill Clone Game. This project sadly never finished ([url=http://soms3d.de/]soms3d.de[/url]) but I was able to acquire all needed knowledge of 3D engines and how they worked back then.

[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1605023345-102285690.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1605023351-1520223051.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]You are most well known for your Vivid Weathers mods for Skyrim and Fallout 4. How would you describe these mods to people who have yet to try them out?[/b]
 
Vivid Weathers can be described as a total weather and visual overhaul for these games. It aims to replace and add many more weather simulations as well as overhauling the general image quality of the game with new colours and effects. This includes even using some unused effects that are in the engine but never made it in to the final release in an enabled state.
 

[b]What initially inspired you to create a complete weather and visual overhaul for Skyrim?[/b]
 
When I first played Skyrim, I was more or less disappointed with the visuals of this game. The strong green tint and bleached out colours made everything look dull. So I started to create an ENB for Skyrim called "Vividian ENB" which has grown very huge over time. In fact, it has grown so large that I was hitting the boundaries of what I could do with an ENB alone and I was forced to do these changes with plugins. That's when I started to tinker with weathers and to say it short... it was necessary to embark on the journey towards making a weather mod in order to make my ENB work out the best.  
 

[b]Do you still remember how it all started for you? What got you interested in modding?[/b]
 
Well as a German I feel the constant need to enhance the things that are in front of me. It literally started with Fallout New Vegas where I enhanced a few aspects of it like the colour palette and visuals. Seeing how one can change the feeling of a whole game and enhance it was giving me a "kick" that is still holding up to this very day. For me it is an expression of creativity that I got addicted to.  

[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1605023376-1969100609.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1605023382-1874245782.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Having been part of the community for so long now, you must have some favourite mods that go well alongside your own. Can you name a few?[/b]

Of course! I always recommend [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2424]Enhanced Lights & FX (ELFX)[/url] as well as [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2182]Realistic Water Two[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2154]Skyrim Flora Overhaul[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/671]Frostfall[/url]. Those mods are in my opinion a must have for Skyrim at the very least.
 

[b]Are there any mods from other authors that you look at and just go “wow”?[/b]
 
I am a big fan of the mod [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5271]Rigmor of Bruma[/url] which adds a very unique quest and follower to Skyrim. It literally captured me with the voice acting and the well written story. This was the one mod where I went "wow" after I finished it. But the things is, I cannot really experience many of those "wow" mods because I went from playing Skyrim and Fallout, to modding it. Modding became a replacement for playing the games. That sadly also means I miss out on many good mods that are out there.
 

[b]If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self regarding your first mod(s)?[/b]
 
"HOLY MOLY! STOP MESSING AROUND WITH THE TINT VALUES THOSE ARE EVIL" or something like that :) - Really there are many things in the creation engine that can make you go crazy because they change the visuals in a way that makes it impossible for you to figure out where a specific ugly look comes from. The "Tint" value in the imagespaces is one of those.  
 

[b]Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of modding and/or gaming?[/b]
 
Oh, of course. I am restaurating old classic computers form the 80s and early 90s including Amiga, C64, NES and ATARI. I also built up a Tabletop arcade machine from scratch and tour with a team of enthusiastic friends ([url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXdKlrtyQAEDs1XqixXlBrg]look up Retr-o-mat[/url]) to exhibit those machines on games conventions. Other than that I love taking photos (that's where most of my cloud textures come from) and as a Zen Buddhist meditation also is part of my life now.
 

[b]Are you excited for any upcoming games?
[/b]
Oh, yes I sure am excited for Cyberpunk but also for new Resident Evil Remakes. I am also especially excited about the new upcoming release of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey!

[center][img width=1000,height=418]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1605023371-1623867768.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Is there anything else you would like to say?
[/b]
Sure! These times we live in are particularly rough for every one of us. If we focus on what's important (in my opinion that's family, friends and everyone in your circle), then we can overcome these times together. The more we hold together as humans who stop being divided by concepts of skin colour, religion and political views, the more we will stay strong for what's ahead of us.

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A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1632043?tab=user+files]Mangaclub[/url] for taking the time to talk to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url]. 

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated [b]UI/UX Designer[/b] who is passionate about creating practical, simple and human solutions to complex problems which will help design the future of Nexus Mods – a service used by millions of players worldwide.


Together with the front-end team, you will be expected to work alongside our back-end development teams to release new features and to also take full responsibility for the look, feel and user experience of the Nexus Mods product suite.


We work as closely as possible to an agile project management scheme and every team member's input is highly valued - we're looking for someone who can constructively discuss and present new ideas in our meetings.


[i]Due to COVID-19, we are currently working remotely, however as soon as government advice allows we will be moving back to office-based work.[/i]


You can view the [url=https://apply.workable.com/blacktreegaming/j/80DC4F55EC/]full job description on Workable[/url] and if you think you would be a good fit, get your application in today!


If you're interested in joining our team, but don't think this is the right role for you then keep an eye on our [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/about/careers#current-positions]careers page[/url] and site news where we'll be posting available positions in the future. 

Skyblivion is a name that most modders of Skyrim or Oblivion may have heard at one time or another over the last 9 years. It's an incredibly ambitious project which aims to recreate the entirety of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in the newer game engine used by Skyrim. The team have recently released their first "Development Diary" which gives us a taste of what's to come. In this feature, we're chatting with Rebelzize and the team about this exciting venture. 

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[b]Rebelzize, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. In your video, you say that Skyblivion has been in development since 2012. There must have been many different contributors over the years, can you give us an idea of the size of the team and how it has shifted over the life of the project?
[/b]
Thanks for having me! Like any game, the project has gone through several stages of development from preparing the first tools to working out a roadmap and finally to the stage we are currently in which focuses on recreating, implementing and redesigning the major areas of the game. Since its inception, we have had contributions from around 200 people. Unfortunately, a lot of these contributions tend to only last for short periods with few contributors staying with us for longer periods of time. This of course is not a problem and we are happy with any help that we can get to make Skyblivion happen. At the moment our active team consists out of around 30 people, they are divided between 3D artists, interior designers, landscapers, concept artists, coders, quest implementers, asset implementers, navmeshers and a few generalists.


[b]We've previously featured the team from [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13781]Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil[/url] who are working on another Skyrim modding project to recreate Cyrodiil (the region featured in Oblivion). Can you describe how the two versions of [b]Cyrodiil [/b]are different and if there is any crossover in what you're doing? 
[/b]
Our friends over at Beyond Skyrim are working in the same province but we have completely different goals. Our goal is to recreate Oblivion’s locations, quests and some of its mechanics, in short, remaking Oblivion as a current-generation title. Since we are remaking Oblivion a large focus of ours is to capture that charm Oblivion had which includes its sometimes wacky and funny quests. Beyond Skyrim is working on the same province but doesn't have you play as the [url=https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Hero_of_Kvatch]Hero of Kvatch[/url] or play through any of the original quests. Most of the crossover will be in assets that the projects share and similar-looking locations and biomes.

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[b]Oblivion is an iconic game and is very different from Skyrim, so recapturing the feel of the world is no small feat. What do you consider to be the most important elements to make the game world really feel like the Cyrodiil we remember so dearly? 
[/b]
For starters, the look and feel of the game need to be overhauled. Skyrim's weathers and assets were made with a colder climate in mind. Oblivion on the other hand has a much warmer and more vibrant climate and as such our colour palette needed a complete rework. I think if you will look at screenshots of our weathers we can all agree that we did a pretty good job there if I do say so myself ;).

Secondly, the stories and quests you come across during your playthrough. Oblivion’s writing in my opinion was a lot more interesting than Skyrim’s and had players going on a lot of fun and unexpected adventures. It is our mission to let players re-experience those stories, albeit in a slightly different way. 


[b]Will Skyblivion feature any significant departures from the world seen in the 2006 release? 
[/b]
Most of our changes are graphical. Our exterior worldspace has been remade from the ground up to feature more diverse biomes and overall be packed with more secrets, treasure, hidden secrets and lots of STUFF. NPC’s, creatures, monsters and all our assets have gotten a facelift to be up to modern game standards which will allow players to immerse themselves into the world and get lost in this fantastic game all over again.


[b]Looking at the clips from the Developer Diary, we can already see the incredible detail in the landscapes, dungeons and interiors. Are you planning to apply the same creative license to the story and quests of Oblivion or perhaps expand on elements you felt were lacking in the original game? 
[/b]
For Skyblivion its important that we do not change a winning formula. I still play Oblivion to this day and like many others, I don't come back for the graphics but for the story. As such our aim is not to fix that which isn't broken but to focus on what we do want to improve. The world. On that note quest locations, unique Daedric realms and other areas that play a significant role within the story will be overhauled to better fit their purpose and lore.

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[b]With Cyrodiil being the province at the heart of Tamriel, it shares borders with 6 other regions, including Skyrim. The original game showed these areas as inaccessible, coloured terrain. Do you plan to do anything special with these diverse border regions? 
[/b]
Certainly. Like all aspects of our project, we try to work in visual storytelling into the game world. All borders to the other provinces for instance now feature border gates. Depending on relations with the other province these border gates will visually look quite different from one another. Some are even abandoned or ransacked which allows you to march into a different province for a little while. Other than you can expect to taste a hint of whatever province is behind the border.


[b]Are there any significant technical challenges you'd had to overcome while building your project or advancements in modding you've made that you are particularly proud of?
[/b]
As a base for our project’s quests, we converted all of Oblivions quest data which was a massive undertaking. The tools developed for this specific purpose are immensely complex but as of writing this we finally have been able to implement all this data into our game. The next step for us is to manually fix and reimplement sections that don't function as intended but overall this is a massive time saver for us. 


[b]It's exciting to hear that there will be hidden treasures dotted around the world for players to discover. Are these caches planned to include regular loot or will there be some easter egg items which players can track down? 
[/b]
A mix of both. We obviously don’t want to overdo adding our own easter eggs to the game or you would soon find [url=https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Easter_Eggs#Pac-Man]Pacman references[/url] in nearly every kitchen for instance. My tip for when the game launches would be to keep an eye out for any oddities or trails that you might be able to spot. Following these might lead to some nice surprises :)


[b]Are there any elements from TES:5 which you have decided to keep as part of the project? 
[/b]
Since we use Skyrim as a base for our project many elements will be very familiar to the player. That isn't to say that we don’t work on recreating mechanics such as underwater combat for instance but a lot of features can be classified as negligible and if we want to release this project in a timely fashion we simply can’t spend all our time recreating every little element from Oblivion. 

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[b]In December 2019, you uploaded [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/31206]3E Cyrodiilic Steel Armor[/url] as a standalone mod to show off some of the work from the team. Are you planning to release any other standalone mods in the lead up to the full project launch? 
[/b]
We would certainly consider it. The main issue with these Nexus releases is that our team is so small that it is difficult to spend resources on public releases like this since that time would be better spend on the core project. Perhaps this article will yield some talented folks who want to take on some Nexus releases in their free time ;).


[b]We all know that it's impossible to give a release date on a passion project like this, but can you give us a rough idea of how far along the project is? 
[/b]
I get this question every day on my streams and the best possible answer is this: with a project of this scope we try to focus on an MVP, minimal viable product, which contains all quests, 3D assets, locations and creatures from the base game. In other words, we indeed implement all the quests, recreate all 3D assets needed to provide a stable game, finish the exterior map and remake and implement all Oblivions creatures.

All quests are currently in the build but need manual work by our quest implementers which currently progresses steadily, I'm confident in saying that the gross amount of work is behind us thanks to the conversion and now we can focus on tweaking, adjusting and re-implementing where needed. 3D artists are hard to come by unfortunately and so this area of the game currently can use a boost. Most of the clutter claims have been finished but some clothes, creatures but mostly a lot of architecture claims remain. Without architecture, we can't finish our cities. The exterior map is nearing completion of its first phase, after this, we can focus on adding more minute details and finalizing the map.lastly for creatures we don’t have a lot of work left to do, mostly a few monsters and animals and some creatures that need rigging and implementation.

I hope that gives people an idea.


[b]If there are modders out there who would like to help you realise the dream of Skyblivion, how can they help?
[/b]
Our core team consists mostly out of modders from around the Skyrim community. Anyone who is experienced in creating 3D assets, implementing 3D assets, rigging creatures, implementing quests, creating interiors, creating exteriors or just has good CK knowledge and wants to work on a big project with a team of hobbyists and game developers are more than welcome to apply [url=https://skyblivion.com/volunteer/]on our website[/url].

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[b]An important question, have you cast a voice actor to play the Adoring Fan yet? 
[/b]
Don't worry. He sounds just as annoying and unloveable as ever.


[b]Thank you again for chatting with us today. Is there anything else you'd like to say to the Nexus Mods community before we wrap up?
[/b]
I sincerely want to thank the amazing Skyrim community for all the help and support they have given us since our first announcement. We simply wouldn't be here without them. Additionally a big thanks to Pickysaurus for having us for this interview. I selfishly hope we can grow our team a little thanks to this.


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A big thank you to Rebelzize and the Skyblivion team for taking the time to talk to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url][/b] or [b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url][/b].