News from The Elder Scrolls Nexus

We have just released an important upgrade to our user and login services. This will change how you log in to your account and manage your security settings. As part of the roll-out, all users are required to update their passwords. Please make sure your email address is up to date, and - optionally - that you (re-)enable 2FA in the new user portal.

[b]Note: If you are currently logged in, you can still use the site without having to update your password just now, however, towards the end of November 2019 all users will be logged out at which point everyone will be required to update their passwords.[/b]


[b]What's happening?
[/b]
Our [url=https://users.nexusmods.com/user/edit]new user portal [/url]includes vital security updates to our login, registration, password reset, Two-Factor Authentication and account recovery processes. As part of the upgrade, users will be required to log out and update their passwords to be at least 12 characters long - including at least one capital, at least one lowercase letter, as well as a number. Updated passwords in the new user portal will be secured with new, stronger encryption algorithms. This is a necessary upgrade to reinforce the security of your account data.

We have completely reworked our registration process to make it a cleaner and more straight forward process for new users. Our new registration system no longer makes use of the Invision Board forum registration system (though your logins, whether "old" or new, will still work on the forums). This change is something anyone who registered on the site within the past 6 years will know was needed, very much.


[b]Why are we making this change?
[/b]
Over the last few years, our developers have been dedicating a lot of time and resources to reducing our reliance on the Invision Board forum which was the foundation of our user service. It has now reached a point where the only way we can be confident in the security of our user data is to build a bespoke, modern user portal.

Due to its reliance on old IP Board code, we cannot vouch for the security of the current, dated user system, as vulnerabilities in old software code may or may not become exposed as time goes on. Such vulnerabilities could potentially be exploited by malicious actors, which is why our web team has spent a substantial amount of time upgrading the user system to bring it up to modern security standards.

We understand that this may cause inconveniences for some of you, but we are convinced that this is a necessary step that will ultimately benefit the vast majority of our current and future users.


[b]What does this mean for me?
[/b]
As part of the roll-out, all users will have to update their passwords, either now, or towards the end of November 2019 when all users will be logged out. 

If you do not remember your password, you will be able to [url=https://users.nexusmods.com/auth/password/new]reset it[/url] via the new user portal that will send an email with further instructions to the email address linked to your Nexus Mods account.

Because it is our main way of identifying that you are the owner of your account, the email address that is linked with your Nexus Mods account is of paramount importance. Unfortunately, rolling out the new user service will mean that users who do not remember their passwords and - at the same time - no longer have access to the email linked to their account will lose access to their accounts. In this event, we will only be able to restore your account if you have purchased Supporter or Premium Membership in the past and send us the receipt for the purchase to [url=mailto:support@nexusmods.com]support@nexusmods.com[/url]. If you are unable to recover your account due to this, you are more than welcome to [url=https://users.nexusmods.com/register]register a new one[/url].

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[b]Re-enable Two-Factor Authentication
[/b]
Because the new user system comes with an upgraded 2FA system making use of authentication apps such as Google Authenticator and Authy, all users who were previously using our old 2FA system will have to re-enable it on the new user system in order to secure their accounts. 

We highly recommend [url=https://users.nexusmods.com/user/security/edit]enabling 2FA[/url] for added account security, especially for mod authors with mods and/or Donation Points attached to their accounts.

That being said - if you aren’t already - please consider following best practices for online security such as using a password manager, not reusing the same password across multiple sites, and always keeping your login credentials and emails up to date.


[b]Foundations[/b]

Moving forward, the new user portal will be expanded upon to handle our Supporter and Premium Membership systems, along with other user-related services.

Once the team are confident that the launch has gone smoothly and the dust has settled a little, work will begin on improving the checkout, payment and management sections for Premium Members as well as the support and contact systems for users trying to reach us, the staff.

We have been thoroughly testing the new portal for weeks leading up to the release, but it's always possible we missed something. If you encounter a problem, please let us know on our [url=https://github.com/Nexus-Mods/web-issues/]bug tracker[/url] or by emailing [url=mailto:support@nexusmods.com]support@nexusmods.com[/url].

[b]Today we are talking to Interkarma, developer of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/daggerfallunity]Daggerfall Unity[/url] a Unity port of The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall that brings the classic RPG to a new engine substantially improving upon stability and playability. Curious to try it out? Follow the steps outlined [url=https://forums.dfworkshop.net/viewtopic.php?t=2360]here[/url].

[center][youtube]RPEmRzxtJnA[/youtube][/center]
First and foremost: could you give us a bit of an introduction to who you are and how you got into modding / programming?[/b]
 
I’m just a normal geeky guy. I was born in Australia and have lived here my entire life. Most of my early life was spent in rural/outback regions due to my father being an opal prospector. I often didn’t have any technology around, not even a television. But comics, board games, and books were usually there to fill in time.
 
I’ve always enjoyed pulling things apart to see how they work. Once I got into computers, I started doing that with software. Early on, I had an Action Replay cartridge for the family C64 that let me pause games at runtime, inspect their assembly code, make changes, rip out sprites, etc. I had a tremendous amount of fun working out how these games did some of the things they were doing and used this to write my own small games and tools. I built tools like a sprite editor, ADSR sound editor, a basic word processor, and games like a side-scrolling shooter, that kind of thing. I kept doing this as I grew up, trying to rebuild small parts of other games to see if I could do it. I didn’t make mods so much as hack around with code and try to understand how the original game was created.
 
I’ve always wanted to create my own original games, and have dozens of ideas I want to work on. It’s only lately though that I really have the time and experience to make that a reality.
 

[b]For those who have never heard of it, how would you describe what Daggerfall Unity is in your own words?[/b]
 
Daggerfall Unity is a superset of classic Daggerfall. I like to describe it as “Classic Daggerfall Plus”. It’s not a remaster in the sense we’ve come to expect when this is done commercially. Rather, it’s a ground-up recreation of the classic game plus quality of life features and modding capabilities. The foundation of the idea was to port the classic Daggerfall experience into a modern game engine and give it modding support like later Elder Scrolls games. The default experience should look and feel a lot like classic, while providing for modders to remix, upgrade, and extend the base game in ways not possible in classic Daggerfall. With some of the mods available now, such as new guilds and airships, I feel like everything is working out even better than I’d hoped.
 
Daggerfall Unity is very much its own game though and doesn’t always do things exactly the same way as classic. Usually, this is due to bug fixes in Daggerfall Unity, or platform differences as the result of playing on a different engine, modern hardware, or higher resolutions. But we’ve worked very hard to ensure the game can be enjoyed extremely closely to its roots. Options like Retro Rendering mode are there to deliver a true 320x200 experience, most QoL features can be toggled on and off, and many control element can be finely tuned. With a bit of patience, players can dial in either an pure retro experience, or mod things closer to Morrowind/Oblivion quality levels, or find something in between. Daggerfall Unity is very flexible in what you can do with the game and most people can find a setup they enjoy playing.
 
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[b]From what I have learned, the whole project has kept you busy for an unbelievable amount of time. If you had to give an estimation: how many hours/days/years would you say you have put into creating Daggerfall Unity and what kept you going during all this time?[/b]
 
This all began in the year 2001 when I started building tools to explore Daggerfall’s textures, 3D models, map layouts, etc. These were Daggerfall Explorer, Modelling, Imaging, Cartographer, and Jukebox. I started with information on Daggerfall’s file formats available from the UESP and gradually built on this with my own discoveries. I did this on and off for around 12 years, picking away at Daggerfall’s file formats and little mysteries just for my own amusement. I even had a shot at recreating Daggerfall in 2005, but lacked the experience and community then to make much progress.

While learning Unity in 2014, I wanted something more challenging to work on. My wife suggested I try porting some of my Daggerfall code into Unity, to use something familiar while learning a new tool. Because most of my code from 2009 was written in C#, it was fairly trivial to port it to Unity. This is how Daggerfall Tools for Unity (DFTFU) was born. I had model importing working in a day, locations in under a week, and the whole world working within a few months. At this stage though, it was just a toolset to import assets. There wasn’t any real gameplay.

This all re-sparked interest in recreating Daggerfall, something I was interested in again by that stage. I officially started work on Daggerfall Unity in August 2015 and it has been like a second job ever since. For the next four years, I would spend roughly 6-40 hours per week working on Daggerfall Unity, building a community, managing the codebase, and so on. I’d make the time a by creating a few hours each morning and evening, and basically sinking every weekend into it.
 

[b]What would you say is the main lesson you learned from your time working on this project? What would you tell your younger self about going into a massive undertaking like Daggerfall Unity?[/b]
 
If I was being fair, I’d probably tell my younger self to do something easier instead. Daggerfall is a huge and complex game, and my younger self made the mistake of thinking it was a simple game because it was an older game. That’s just not true, something I worked out really quickly once it came time to build some of the game systems.
 
But now that I’ve come out the other side, I wouldn’t want to change a thing. I’ve become a better programmer, learned how to manage a large project with several developers, and grow an online community. All of this will be invaluable as I move on to creating my own games, something I wanted to do in 2014. I just had to get Daggerfall out of my system first.
 

[b]Did you get a lot of support from the Daggerfall community during development?[/b]
 
Absolutely! The support from the community has been incredible, and it’s the main reason I was able to make it this far. For those first couple of hard years when I was mostly working alone, the love and support I received was the only thing that kept me going. And from around 2017, the number of top-notch contributors exploded and we suddenly had brilliant devs like Hazelnut, Pango, Nystul, Allofich, Lypyl, Ferital, TheLacus, Numidium just pushing things forwards every day with a seemingly endless stream of quality updates and information. Even when I thought we had all the people we needed, devs like Meteoric Dragon came along and added loads of improvements, JorisVanEijden helped expand knowledge of the quest system, Jay_H built, tested, and fixed hundreds of quests, and Pango became an overmind generalist who can help with practically anything including community management. I maintain a full list of contributors at the below forum link.
 
[url=https://forums.dfworkshop.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=233]https://forums.dfworkshop.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=233[/url]
 
[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1572271564-410713571.jpeg[/img]

[b]Daggerfall (The Elder Scrolls II) was released in 1996, the same year Bill Clinton was re-elected, and Pokemon was first introduced to the world. My point is: Daggerfall came out a very, very long time ago! That being said, what makes Daggerfall as a game special to you and what made you want to revive it by developing Daggerfall Unity?[/b]
 
I played a lot of tabletop RPGs when I was in my teens and twenties. Games like Daggerfall gave me the feeling I was playing the videogame version of a tabletop adventure run by a great DM. There were just so many deep systems to explore and things to discover.
 
When I was playing Daggerfall back in 1996, the web was nowhere near as developed as it is now. Information was a lot harder to find. Daggerfall felt like this big black box to tease open and see how it worked. There were rumours about a dragon being in the game somewhere, and I’d set off into the wilderness looking for it like an idiot. There was always this feeling every time I went into one of those procedurally generated dungeons that I might really be the first person to explore it. There was just something very special about this game back then, and I couldn’t help but want to understand it more.
 
Everything since then has just been a gradual evolution of my love and interest in the game. It’s not something that happened all at once, but rather grew slowly over many years.
 

[b]What can you tell us about the Daggerfall and Daggerfall Unity community? Other than diehard fans who grew up with the game, do you get a lot of people who are only now picking it up to see what it’s all about?[/b]
 
I’m amazed how many younger players are still trying out Daggerfall and Daggerfall Unity in 2019. This isn’t just the domain of older gamers like myself.
 
I feel that Daggerfall Unity helps make the game more accessible to new players. It’s a smoother and more comfortable experience with a lot of QoL features and new stuff to explore through mods. Given the modern popularity of The Elder Scrolls in general, I feel like it’s a great way to experience the series roots in a more comfortable and stable manner. I also encourage die-hard retro gamers to try out the original so they can experience what Daggerfall Unity is building upon.
 

[b]Have you taken notice of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/29416]Skygerfall[/url] - a mod for Skyrim that aims to bring the entire main quest of Daggerfall into Skyrim? What are your thoughts on it?[/b]
 
It looks amazing! I haven’t had time to play it yet, but I can tell it was made with love and attention to detail. I’m looking forward to giving it some playtime in the future.
 

[b]Other than Daggerfall (Unity), do you have any other favourite games? Ever done any modding for those?[/b]
 
A few modern favourites are Elite Dangerous, World of Warcraft, Subnautica, Void Bastards, and Outer Wilds. I’ll play almost anything, but I prefer games that give me fun systems to explore and then just take their hands off. I get really annoyed when games constantly try to guide me, or too frequently break gameplay to show me a cutscene, or take away control of my camera to force me to see something.
 
I’m not much of a modder and have only tinkered with creating mods for other games. I tend to fall in love with systems first and gameplay later. Maybe because I grew up with basic stuff like card games and board games before I ever saw a video game, it feels like understanding rules and systems always comes before actually being able to play them. I’m the rare kind of person who prefers a heavy spiral bound manual filled with tables and formulas over an in-game tutorial.
 
 
[b]Daggerfall Unity is currently released as an alpha. How can people get set up and help you with development going forward?[/b]
 
There’s not much left on the development side that isn’t already allocated out or being worked on by someone. Insofar as the core gameplay, everything is done now and it’s just bug fixes, refinement, and features unique to Daggerfall Unity. It’s hard to imagine getting more help than I already am. There’s always room for more mods though. I strongly encourage anyone interested in developing for Daggerfall Unity now to check out the mod scene and build something awesome.
 
Other than that, the best thing everyone can do is just keep being awesome to each other and help others create new stuff for the game. If we all continue lifting each other up, there’s no telling what people might be creating for Daggerfall Unity in a few years.
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[b]Is there anything else you would like to say to the Nexus Mods community?[/b]

I’d like to thank Nexus Mods for supporting Daggerfall Unity and making the lives of our players easier. I also hope [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/daggerfallunity]the mods available today[/url] inspire other creators to make something new for the game. Considering some of the mods starting to appear, I can only imagine what the scene can look like in a few more years. I’m looking forward to seeing where it all goes.

[line]
A big thank you to Interkarma for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always, if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

In this Mod Author interview, we’re chatting with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4958252]JosephRussell[/url] (formerly Treacleman), the author of Skyrim’s most popular male follower mod in 2018 - [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20035]Lucien[/url]. As a special bonus, Joseph has created a video version of this interview for you to enjoy!

[center][youtube]94pE2USikns[/youtube][/center]

[b]Thank you for joining us today, Joseph.
[/b]
Thanks for having me, Picky, it’s an absolute pleasure.


[b]For those in the community who don’t know you, tell us about yourself. 
[/b]
My name is Joseph Russell – I’m a full-time engineering student and a part-time writer, but I’m probably best known as the creator and voice of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20035]Lucien, the custom-voiced follower mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim[/url]. I’m based in the UK, I drink an awful lot of tea, and I have a cat called Grey.


[b]If you had to pick your absolute favourite game of all time, what would it be and why?
[/b]
Oh, now without a doubt, that has to be [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croc:_Legend_of_the_Gobbos]Croc: Legend of the Gobbos[/url]. It’s a platformer from 1997 which is hated by an awful lot of players, mainly for its ridiculous control scheme, but I absolutely love it. It was the first game I ever played, it has a great sense of adventure and whimsy, it’s stuffed full of secrets and comes with what has to be one of the best video game manuals ever written. Seriously, it’s wonderful.

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In terms of play-time, of course, I’ve spent more hours in Skyrim than any other game by a huge margin. Even vanilla, it’s got hundreds of hours of content in there, and with modding, it’s pretty much infinite. It’s a great game to get lost in, and now I’m making content for it as well as playing it, it really is a big part of my life these days. But nonetheless, Croc has my heart.


[b]There might be some in our community who have yet to meet Lucien, what can you tell us about him?
[/b]
Well, there’s a lot I could tell you about Lucien, but I think I know someone who could do a much better job, so I’ll just [url=https://youtu.be/94pE2USikns?t=134]hand over to him.[/url]

[quote]Hello there! My name is Lucien Flavius. It’s an absolute pleasure to do this interview. As I so often seem to say, I’m a scientist, philosopher, amateur wizard, and something of a musician, though I suppose that’s more of a hobby. 

I’m here in Skyrim on an academic expedition, and I’m in need of someone a little tougher than me to show me around and make sure I don’t die. I’ll pay you handsomely for the job, and if you’re willing to train me, I’ll do my best to help you out in battle however I can. 

I’ll also sing to you, read to you, and comment on hundreds of different situations in Skyrim, including content from other mods. Ah, did I mention mods? Oops, there goes the fourth wall! Well, anyway, if you fancy giving me a go, hop onto the Nexus, Steam or Bethesda.net and download me! What’ve you got to lose? Right then, back to you, Joseph![/quote]

[b]Is Lucien inspired by a previous Skyrim character you played as or does the inspiration come from elsewhere? 
[/b]
There’s a lot of me in there. He’s very much how I think I might react to the situations Skyrim presents you with. He’s a bit of a wuss, he’s very academic, he’s more likely to run from a fight than confront it, he likes singing, he likes bad jokes… I tend to amp up those aspects of my personality for Lucien since I think it’s quite funny seeing how someone like that reacts in a world of tough, strong barbarians and assassins. 

The voice I use for him is basically mine but just a little bit posher. That’s really handy when it comes to voicing so many hundreds of lines for the mod. I know Gary Hesketh, who voices [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1461]Inigo[/url] (a fantastic mod that everyone should download), goes through this complete vocal transformation to create his character and keeps it up for over seven thousand lines of dialogue. I’m not that talented, I’m afraid, so a posher, wussier version of Joseph Russell it is.


[b]Before Lucien, your mods included typo fixes and patches for Bethesda’s Creation Club content, what inspired you to make the jump to your own fully-featured follower mod?[/b]

The typo fixes were originally made for my own personal use. As someone who does a lot of writing, spelling and grammar mistakes can really bother me, and pull me out of my immersion in-game. They’re such easy mistakes to make, and so many of Skyrim’s extremely talented modders don’t have English as a first language or don’t come from writing backgrounds, so it’s totally understandable why those mistakes sometimes slip through the net. But I thought, why let it bother me when I can go in and fix them?!

The Unofficial Creation Club Updates came much later, but stem from the same sense of perfectionism – I wanted the Creation Club DLC to fit seamlessly into the game, so set about tweaking the files to my tastes. Again, they were mainly for personal use, but I’m happy to hear some others have benefited from them.

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For all those patches, though, as satisfying as the results can be, the work itself isn’t fun. There’s no creativity in there, it’s just dull, repetitive busywork, so I always hoped to move onto something more enjoyable one day. Working on the patches gave me the skills and familiarity with the Creation Kit and xEdit that I needed, so when I set about making a story-based mod, I already knew how to do a lot of what was required. 

I tried a couple of times with quest mods that never got off the ground, and collaborated with the awesome [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/37834630]MihailMods[/url] on adding quests to a couple of his locations, but I found that quite hard technical work when what I really wanted to do was write. A follower mod really seemed like the answer to that – while there’s certainly still a lot of technical work in setting things up, the vast majority of it is writing hundreds and hundreds of lines of dialogue, and it really is a lot of fun!


[b]How many hours would you say you've put into the development of the mod?
[/b]
Ooh, that’s impossible to say, really. I started work on Lucien in September 2017, released in September 2018 and haven’t really stopped since. Thousands of hours, certainly. Lots.


[b]As you are the voice actor for Lucien, do you have any tips for budding voice actors to get that perfect recording?
[/b]
While I’ve done a bit of amateur dramatic stuff over the years, I’m not a professional, so don’t have much experience in voice acting outside of this role. However, the key thing I’ve found in voicing Lucien is that you really do have to remember to act. It sounds obvious, but it’s so easy to fall into a “reading voice” when it’s actually really important to focus on varying your pitch and tone, and sounding like you’re talking to another person rather than a microphone.

When we’re talking in person, so much of our emotion is communicated through our eyes, faces and body language, and in voice acting, all those visual components are taken away. All you’re left with is the voice, so it’s really important to pump up the emotion in all your lines to 150%. If it feels over-the-top when you’re saying it, chances are, when you listen to it back, it’ll sound just right.

Also, don’t be afraid to indulge in a little method acting every now and again. In Lucien’s training scenes, when you’re teaching him how to take a hit, that’s the sound of me punching myself in the stomach you can hear. The stamina training has me doing press-ups, and the fight scenes have me waving my fists around, ducking, dodging, and pretending to throw fireballs. It looks a bit silly, but hey, it works for me!


[b]What hardware and software do you use when working on the mod?
[/b]
I think this is really one of the most important things when you’re voicing a mod. The difference between good and poor-quality hardware is incredibly obvious to the listener, so it’s a really good idea to invest in some high-end kit. I use a [url=https://focusrite.com/usb-audio-interface/scarlett/scarlett-solo-studio]Focusrite Scarlett Studio Solo Pack[/url], which comes with a great quality microphone and amplifier. I also use a pop filter, sponge cover, and shock mount to minimise the impact sounds of consonants like “t” and “p”.

In terms of software, I do all my recording and compression in [url=https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/]Cubase[/url], which came with my microphone kit. It’s also great for various vocal effects, with which I had an awful lot of fun creating the voice of Dumzbthar. When the bulk of the work is done, I tend to do a bit of tweaking, mainly batch normalisation, in [url=https://www.audacityteam.org/]Audacity[/url].

For modding, all of my creative work is, funnily enough, done in the [url=https://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Landing_page]Creation Kit[/url]. When it comes to the finetuning and bug-fixing phase of modding, however, that’s when I break out [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/164]xEdit[/url]. Where the CK is a sledgehammer, xEdit is a scalpel, and it’s incredibly handy for tweaking individual records, conditions, wording etc. in a contained environment without impacting the rest of the mod. It’s also how I clean my mods before uploading, which is a vital step I couldn’t do without xEdit.

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[b]Lucien has interactions with numerous other mods, including other followers. How did you choose each mod to add support for? 
[/b]
Well, to start with, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1461]Inigo [/url]was a no-brainer – Lucien draws so much inspiration from that mod, I simply had to have them interact in some way. After that, I just picked mods that I myself love, or that I thought would work particularly well with Lucien. For instance, Auri, from [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/11278]Song of the Green[/url] by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2424584]Waribiki[/url], has a wonderful dynamic with Lucien by way of the sheer contrast between their personalities. Writing those interactions was a delight, and I’d love to expand them further sometime.

Another example was [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4341]Moonpath to Elsweyr[/url], one of Skyrim’s first quest mods and one of the first mods I ever downloaded. It’s relatively small these days but adds an entirely new province to explore, which made it a perfect candidate for an interaction patch, with so many opportunities for lore-bites and sand-related jokes.

There are a few technical limitations that influence things – followers and locations I can interact with easily, but for quest, new-lands and weapons mods, I need a patch. This simply isn’t worth it for mods I can only add one or two lines for, so I prefer to choose mods with lots of potential for a large amount of dialogue to maximise that “value/download” ratio.


[b]Are there any other significant mods you'd like to support in future?
[/b]
Yes, lots! [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/11802]Legacy of the Dragonborn[/url] support has been planned since day one, but it’s such a massive mod that covering it properly would take several months of development, so I’ve been ticking off other high-priority things first. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/10917]Beyond Skyrim – Bruma[/url] support is coming soon, and I plan to keep adding more and more interactions and expanding the existing ones for as long as I work on Lucien!


[b]Do you have any favourite mods or mod authors?
[/b]
Ooh, tricky question, I have so many! I’ve already mentioned [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1461]Inigo[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/11278]Auri[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/11802]Legacy [/url]and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/4341]Moonpath[/url], which I love. All of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/684492]Arthmoor[/url]'s mods are must-haves, and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3959191]EnaiSiaion[/url]’s stuff is all fab too. I’m a huge fan of anything which adds immersion to the game, so I never play without [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/671]Frostfall[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/645]iNeed[/url], both amazing pieces of work. I could go on for hours listing my entire load order. Ah, but a special shoutout goes to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4995023]Nuukem[/url]’s [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20061]SSE CreationKit Fixes mod[/url], for making my life about a billion times easier. 


[b]Is there anything else you want to say to the Nexus Mods Community?
[/b]
Just that they’re wonderful. I’ve been bowled over by all the love and support the community’s given to Lucien over the past year, and I can’t wait to bring everyone the next update, and lots more for a long time to come! I’m certainly not going anywhere anytime soon.

Lucien can join your adventure in [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/95029]Skyrim[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20035]Skyrim Special Edition[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimnintendoswitch/mods/46]Skyrim for the Switch[/url].

[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4958252]JosephRussell[/url] for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always, if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

It has now been well over a year since [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13611]we launched our mod author rewards program[/url] - the Donation Points system - intended to give back to the very people who spend their time creating the mods we all enjoy and love. We're very proud of what we've been able to achieve so far with the DP system and you can now get an overview and breakdown of the distribution of DP on [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/about/donation-points/]our new, dedicated DP stats page[/url]. But that’s not all: As part of our commitment to giving back to our modding community, we recently implemented a site-wide change and permanently disabled advertisements for recognised mod authors.


[b]Donation Points System Stats page is now live[/b]

Over 6,800 mod authors have made use of the DP system, opting-in more than 37,000 of their mods in the process. The DP they have earnt have been used to purchase over 370 Premium memberships and more than 400 game keys available in [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/modrewards#/store/all/1]the DP store[/url]. On top of that, over $4,000 has been donated to charitable causes including Doctor's Without Borders and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

We are thrilled with how the system has been received and as of today you can get a good overview of how much money we have put into the system thus far, get a breakdown of DP earned “by game”, see how much has been donated to charity and more on [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/about/donation-points/]our brand new dedicated DP stats page[/url]. This page will be updated automatically each month as and when payouts are made, and we'll provide a link to this page from your Wallet page in the near future for easy access.

As you can see on the stats page, we have so far put over $156,700 into the system, or roughly $9,000 per month (up from $8,000 initially) - a sum which is further supplemented every month by the generous donations of users contributing to our [url=https://www.patreon.com/nexusmods]Mod Author Donation Fund on Patreon[/url].

Seeing how well the DP system has been received by the community, we are committed to doing our part and will try to give back to mod authors where and when we can going forward.


[b]No more Ads for Mod Authors[/b]

In a similar vein, we recently implemented a change to the way advertisements are delivered on our site to include mod authors in the “ad-free” group. In other words: in addition to Premium members and supporters, recognised mod authors will no longer see ads on the site.

This effectively means that if you have released at least one mod with 1,000 unique downloads or more, or several mods that have been downloaded 1,000 times in total, you will no longer be seeing ads on the site. This will be irrespective of whether you are a supporter or Premium member of the site.

This is another small way in which we can give back to the people who are doing their part in making our modding community what it is.


With that being said, thank you to all the mod authors, and happy modding!

Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/67426046]Atlasroar[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/26431194]Swishos[/url], and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5589894]GregAmazingNinja[/url] from the [url=https://discord.gg/g7F6aHw]Project Genesis World Overhaul[/url] - a massive, all-encompassing overhaul mod for [url=https://www.gog.com/game/kenshi]Kenshi[/url] - a squad-based RPG based in a desolate, post-apocalyptic world that infamously does not care about you.

[center][youtube]4SmFItVcv04[/youtube][url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/projectgenesiswo/discussions/0/1634166237663341074/][/url][/center][url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/projectgenesiswo/discussions/0/1634166237663341074/]
[/url][b]BigBizkit: Could you guys give us a little bit of an introduction as to what your roles are on the project?[/b]

Atlasroar: Of course! Hey all, I'm Atlas! I'm the community/server manager for the Genesis Modding Guild. I provide backend support for the server and finalize all posts made to ensure they are fun and easy to read :). I started off this journey just trying to make load orders work better for everyone. After doing a lot of research and realizing no one had any idea of what they were talking about when it comes to load orders, I decided it was time to sit down and finally try something I had 0 idea of what to do. After making a post that I was using LOOT as the basis for the idea, Greg found me on Reddit and invited me. After a month or so of pretty fast growth in Swishos' super-secret Discord, we decided to "move out". I made some recommendations on how to set things up, improve security and posts and Greg said: "You're hired".

Swishos: Hey guys I'm Sam! Or as I'm better known, Swishos. After playing Kenshi for some time I quickly began looking for mods that added to the current world. Something I always noticed was how empty a lot of the areas are, some areas of the map clearly got more love than others. Oddly enough it was Ninja Greg's [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/kenshi/mods/236]Avalon Isles[/url] mod that inspired me to start modding myself. It was one of the few mods I had found that added new factions to the map but also utilized a previously empty part of the map. I had previous experience with JavaScript and HTML5 but knew nothing about Kenshi modding going in. But with how the “Forgotten Construction Set” is set up I was able to self teach myself in a week or so through trial and error ^^. 

GregAmazingNinja: Hi I'm Greg, I'm one of the leads for the Genesis team and I do most of the level data edits. I also have one of the most essential jobs which is maintaining the server that allows everyone to access the overhaul files so our team can all work on it simultaneously all across the globe. I also do the tedious job of merging all the mod files into the overhaul.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1570105323-925470521.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1570105323-1379555566.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What would you say are the main features of Project Genesis World Overhaul and what was your inspiration?[/b]

GregAmazingNinja: The overhaul's main features include the complete restructure of every location with an improved version of it (larger, more decorated towns), the addition of hundreds of new locations, factions, quests, and the ability to lay siege to cities.

As for what inspired me personally, it's all my past gaming experiences that influenced our vision for the overhaul. I poured over 2000 plus hours into Skyrim during junior high school and I loved being able to go anywhere I wanted and finding something unique and receiving a quest to adventure further. I also poured countless hours into Mount and Blade Warband which had a lot of army management, politics, and fielding armies or sieging cities. With the implementation of the siege mechanics to Kenshi, I feel like we're just now scratching the surface as to what's possible with regards to how intricate and complex this game can become.


[b]To those who are only now hearing about Project Genesis for the first time, how would you describe what it is?[/b]

Swishos: The first thing I would say is that the “Project Genesis World Overhaul” and the “Project Genesis Modding Guild” are two very different things. The overhaul itself as you can imagine from the name is our planned project to fill out and expand upon the entire world of Kenshi, while keeping true to the game's lore. This includes new factions, cities, quests, dialogue and a lot more. All the new content we always try to link back to some of the vanilla lore so it feels like it was always meant to be part of the Kenshi world.

Now for the Modding Guild itself, we wanted it to be a place where any and every modder could come to share their work, help others complete their work or get the help they require. One location where we could focus all of the modding talent Kenshi has to offer in one place. Since initial conception though we have already incorporated a Mount & Blade modding community and are looking at expanding to other games in the future. Another feature of our guild is that we are happy to support any of our members whenever possible, this can come in the form of promoting their mods on release or even supporting their Youtube/Twitch accounts through our Discord server ^^ 

In the future, we are also going to be looking at a shared community account for Nexus Mods, as we have noticed a serious lack of mods being released to the Nexus which means for members/players who don't play through Steam they miss out on a lot of mods. So looking forward we plan on using this community account to upload members mods to the Nexus (with permission of course) this way it's no extra work for them but everyone gains access to all the mods coming out of our guild.


[b]Project Genesis will be touching on many aspects of the base game. One addition that stands out is city sieges - massive battles between rival factions. Could you explain how exactly sieges will work in your overhaul?

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1570091672-446208846.jpeg[/img][/b]

GregAmazingNinja: Before we delve into sieges we need to understand how the base game handles town overrides. So when a player kills/captures a leader of a faction, the player leaves the area and when they next return the city is taken over by a rival faction. We’ve completely done away with that and replaced it with a linear progression of these massive city battles that the player needs to take part in in order for the rival faction to take over. To get technical, it is an intricate tree of yes and no statements that determine how and when sieges occur. As we continue to add more sieges it will only get more complex in structuring the world states and dialogue for it. We actually have a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/projectgenesiswo/discussions/0/1634166237663341074/]developer diary[/url] going into great detail as to how they work. 


[b]Is there a particular new feature or mechanic that you are most proud of?[/b]

GregAmazingNinja: Well we're still technically in the alpha phase. But as of now, It’s the city sieges. That’s literally the crowning achievement of our overhaul, as no one’s done it before. When it comes to other games it might be a small achievement but in the Kenshi base game you take out a leader, leave the area and another faction "takes over". And we thought "Huh… that's it?". We took that idea and ran with it. If you want to take out any leader in a movie or video game you always gotta go through some enemies right? So that's what we did. We plan to expand this system to almost every town and faction. So just that alone is a huge achievement to the overhaul itself.


[b]How did you form as a team and decide to put a massive project like this into action? [/b]

Swishos: When I released my first popular mod The Hook Expansion back in April and it caught the eye of Greg. Soon after, I got a message from him asking about concerns of compatibility of our mods. We eventually came to the conclusion that by combining our mods together it would allow us to focus all our time on a single project and not have the issue of updating/patching multiple smaller mods.

As this idea expanded we began to think why not look at other modders with similar mindsets to us? Originally using the Steam community we quickly found a lot of interest in the project which led us to creating the Project Genesis Steam group so we had somewhere to organise everything, plus a Google Drive for the team. It was at this stage Greg and I decided it would be possible for us to do a complete game overhaul with the support we were already getting.

Not even a month after this and our project had grown beyond what we had ever imagined, the demands for a Discord could no longer be ignored. However, we wanted more than just a place to talk about our mod, with so many people interested not just in the project but modding, in general, it was decided to create a modding guild. A place where anyone could come to learn how to mod, help others where needed or receive the help you need to finish your own mod. Within two months of having the Discord server we were partnered with the Official Kenshi Discord and now have 700+ members and are still growing. ^^


[b]Your overhaul is a combination of many impressive Kenshi mods, but it is also far more than just the sum of its parts. What was the process of putting all the pieces together like?
[/b]
GregAmazingNinja: The addition of other mods was an afterthought at first. We began this project with the intent of creating an overhaul that adds hundreds of new locations and quests. What posed as an obstacle was the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/kenshi/mods/211]Functioning market stalls[/url] mod. It would have taken a tremendous amount of time to create a patch for a mod like that, so I just reached out to the author of that mod and asked if he wanted his mod to be in our base overhaul. He said yes, and so did every other mod author we asked. We’ve merged a large amount of mods that we deemed “lore friendly” only in the sense that it didn’t break existing lore. Because of the massive list of merged mods, our overhaul now served a second purpose, and that was to shrink load orders. As for the process of merging mods, it’s incredibly tedious and can only be done by someone who has direct access to the main overhaul file. If the mod that I’m merging has assets like textures and meshes and tons of weapons and armor, it will take me hours to sort through everything and rewrite all the file directories.


[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1570107314-765094629.jpeg[/img]
(Image by [url=https://www.artstation.com/artwork/0Xz5R4]5518 Studios[/url])

[b]To those who have yet to play it: can you explain what makes Kenshi as a game unique and especially appealing to modders?[/b]

Atlasroar: Yes, yes I can. Chris (the creator of the game) did a wonderful job of creating this world that just doesn't care about you. As a squad-based open-world game this game just really doesn't care about you. Your starting faction name is "nameless". Yeah, you're not the hero, or the chosen one. You are literally no one. With that said, you can write any story you put into your head. You can be anyone. A mercenary, a slaver, an anti-slaver, a farmer, a miner, an explorer, you can build your own city and grow your faction. Even at "end game" the game still just doesn't care about you. You'll get sold into slavery and beaten, you'll have the wrong guy (or girl) talk to the wrong person and just like that. You're a filthy heathen and now you're a slave, or maybe you're starving and poor, get sent to jail, or maybe you're starving and poor and dying, someone might help you and give you food. Until you learn how the world works, the world will try to relentlessly kill you. When you finally do know how the world works, well that's when it really tries to kill you. When it comes to modding. The system is a mess and can be hard to work with until you really get into it and bare your knuckles. But, the people of the Kenshi community are what make this game thrive.

If you play Kenshi you earn your support and your place. That's our gatekeeper. Is this game “Dark Souls” hard? No, but this game is so stupidly unforgiving, funny, and frustrating at times that it pretty much builds your character as a person. Yet, that is what makes modding here so rewarding. You'll have random people drop by and say "hey you forgot to set up this or this",  you'll see modders sit down in one of the Discords and blow up chat for 10 hours straight as they work out how to make a custom building. It's the community as a whole that makes modding worth it for this game.


[b]What tools did you guys use to create your mods?[/b]

GregAmazingNinja: The greatest tool we have is the Forgotten Construction Set, it’s a program that comes with every copy of Kenshi and we have the developers of Kenshi to thank for that. The second most important tool we use is an SVN server. I understand that the technology for SVN servers is a bit antiquated and that everyone uses Github now, but for the purposes of our overhaul, it’s been pretty straightforward. I run a server with the main overhaul folder and everyone on the team is able to access it directly. From there, our team members create sub mods with the overhaul enabled, which in turn get sent to me so I can manually merge it into the overhaul.


[b]How did you learn how to mod the game (or other games)? Do you have any tips for budding mod authors?[/b]

GregAmazingNinja: For the longest time I’ve been obsessed with the idea of taking some of the ancient ruins you clear out as the player and turning it into a player home. Unfortunately, that wasn’t included in the base game; when I walked into a city with all these ruined buildings, I was a bit baffled as to why I couldn’t buy and repair some of them. From there I decided to try my hand at learning how to use the construction set included with the game. If there are any tips I could give new modders is to simply take what’s written in the base game already and rip it apart to understand how everything works. Dissecting and trial and error was the only way I learned. Anytime I got stuck, I’d look it up online, but for the most part, it’s experience and curiosity that’ll drive you to learn more about modding this game.

Atlasroar: My modding experience started right here on the Nexus. I haven't published anything on any account but some pictures but man have I sunk some hours into the mods I've made. When it comes to Kenshi or any game really - realistically start small. Add a unique character or learn how to create a unique asset. Once you have stuff like that down you can very easily get help expanding into different categories. Just like with any community that has mods, you'll find many people out there who really want to pass on their own knowledge. 

It might be competitive out here in the modding world but at the end of the day no one wants to see anyone fail. Even if you're just making "stuff" bounce (LOOKING AT YOU BETHESDA COMMUNITY). As for tips, the biggest tip I can give to new modders for any community is this: www.nexusmods.com. You're welcome. To the user who is reading this, you already have 100% free access to the greatest modding community of all time. With guides upon guides upon guides of how to use almost any tool under the sun here for your specific game. 

But on a more serious note. Mod because you love the game you play. Mod because you want to change something. Mod because it's fun. You think Guardly, the author of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48593/]Really useful dragons[/url] mod was trying to become popular? No of course not.  It was fun! Modding doesn't have to be about views. It has to be about passion and fun. If it isn't fun and you are struggling to keep going then it's time to take a break. The whole point of mods is to add what you find fun and then they add it to the game for others.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1570108668-812650890.png[/img][/center]
[b]How can people help you guys out or even join the project?[/b]

Atlasroar: While realistically we aren't actively looking for anyone, this doesn't mean we can't use more people. If anyone wants to stop by and help us out, feel free to do so by using our [url=https://discord.gg/g7F6aHw]Discord link[/url].  

While we do require you to have some knowledge of what you want to add to the game, it's pretty open-ended when it comes to joining the team. But even there at that point, what it really comes down to is we want to see that you have a passion to contribute to the team and the mod itself. 

We just recently took on someone who wanted to provide funnier dialogue and stories. They just want to provide the dialogue. They don't even want to actually put it into the game. This is a passion project, and with that said we just want to do this right. We want to really put time and effort into this to create something mindblowing for the Kenshi community to play with and hopefully set a precedent on how to mod Kenshi from here on out. We have many in our group who are constantly checking back in on older files just to make sure they are up to there own standards. As people learn and grow more in the team we have people who will resubmit mods and just say "this is a better version use this". It's stuff like that that makes the Genesis team really grow as a whole. Everyone here wants to help each other and support each other. That's what we're looking for when it comes to team members.

[line]
A big thank you to the team from Project Genesis World Overhaul for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always, if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

For this week's mod author interview, we're joined by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/users/87374]Lo2k[/url], who has been a member of our community since 2006 and is the author of over 50 different mods for No Man's Sky.

[b]Thank you for joining us Lo2k. To start off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
[/b]
Thanks for inviting me for this interview on Nexus Mods. Sure. I'm Laurent Rousseau, aka Lo2k. I'm French and I live close to Paris. I'm repairing multi-function printers for a living and it provides me with quite a lot of challenges. I always wanted to create video games but heh, when I was younger, video games were "not a job" as I was told so often and I was far from the creative guys posting impressive portfolios of 3D animations to be hired. So I did 3D creations on my own, 2D editing, a bit of video editing, and finally, I dove deep into coding and I believe all of this helped me in some way to become a modder.


[b]How did you first get into gaming? 
[/b]
Gaming in general, or modding?

For gaming, I can't remember the very first time. My dad was the manager of a Xerox Store, selling the very first Apple computers well before the Apple Stores even existed. So I had a Mac SE for a long time at home and a bunch of games, even if the mac has never been a gaming platform. But at that time, PC gaming was not yet a big thing either, so I played the very first iterations of [url=https://macintoshgarden.org/games/crazy-cars]Crazy Cars[/url], [url=https://macintoshgarden.org/games/dark-castle]Dark Castle[/url] and [url=https://macintoshgarden.org/games/lode-runner]Lode Runner[/url] in black and white. At his store, there was also Amstrad 6128 and 464, so I also played some colourful oldies like the very first Gauntlet. That was another era…

Concerning modding, the story will be shorter. It really started in 2002 with the release of Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4 also known as GP4. As an F1 fan, I played GP3 a lot and saw the modding community growing. When GP4 was released, I had quite a lot of spare time so I started to look at it from the modding side and I learnt to code at the same time. This eventually lead me to create a lot of tools for this game, including a full track editor called GP4 Builder, and they are still in use today in the GP4 community. 

I left the GP4 community in 2016 after 12 "years of service" and started to look for new challenges and hobbies. Amongst them were a mobile game project and a new game I just bought and I was loving but that has a lot of tiny things that were annoying me and I would like to fix to enjoy the game even more: No Man's Sky.

[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1569505480-712287964.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1569505475-260020764.jpeg[/img][/center]

[b]From our conversations, you seem to really like No Man's Sky, what is about the game that draws you in?
[/b]
Well, NMS was sold (mark my words) to be the best retro-sci-fi experience a boy (or girl) could have ever dreamt for. And I had this young boy vibe for colourful sci-fi worlds, travelling into a galaxy full of stars and planets, discovering new ships, new wonders, exploring hundreds of planets, each with a diversity of trees, plants and creatures we had never seen before. That was appealing, to say the least.


[b]The game had quite a negative reception when it was first released but Hello Games has managed to turn it around with the NEXT and Beyond updates. Have these changes influenced your opinion of the game?
[/b]
Well, maybe, but not in the way you might think about, because for me the game has never been a complete deception. I was awaiting a solo game that lets me explore a universe alone. And that is what was released. We can argue on diversity, on bugs, on creature animations and a million other stuff but the core feature was here for me.

Since then, each update has brought something to the game. Each one making the game a bit stronger. We got base building, we got vehicles, we got new biomes, we got freighters and then frigates, we got an attempt at multiplayer and with latest Beyond release, we got a full multiplayer experience, we got VR and changes everywhere. I'm very pleased with that and I believe everyone is.

But on the other hand, I'm a bit worried about the latest changes from NEXT and Beyond. Multiplayer is not my thing and while I'm glad they brought it to the game for all the fans that dreamt playing this game with/against other players, I just hope Hello Games will continue to give us a way to play this game solo. Sadly this is less and less the case.

To give a single example: The anomaly, the tiny and almost claustrophobic shelter of 2 outlaws has become a massive nexus with tons of NPC and land pads. It makes sense from a multiplayer point of view but it is complete nonsense if you play the game solo. In my humble opinion, Space Stations would have been a better choice for a multiplayer HUD. Polo and Nada would still have their tiny station and everyone would enjoy the game either in Solo or MP. Nevermind…

Also, the Vulkan switch they opted for just before Beyond release and that is supposed to improve framerate had an unintended side-effect which removed all the shaders from the modding scene and most of the graphical fixes and enhancements mods for NMS were done via shaders. I could cite my [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/686]UltraWide HUD[/url] mod that was bringing an unstretched HUD experience for all non-16/9 monitors NMS players. It's quite sad because not only this feature was never released for the game but now they even broke the mod that could fix it for them. Anyway, I can't blame HG because I have huge respect for all they have accomplished for NMS, from the initial development, flooding, Sony pressure, bad release and devoted commitment for years up to this day.
So all in all, yeah, we have great new things in the latest updates and a few little niggly things. And I hope we will continue to see more improvements than niggly things.


[b]No Man's Sky features a lot of procedural generation, would you say this makes it difficult to mod? 
[/b]
It depends on what you want to mod. NMS is, from the different games I looked into for modding, the one that exposes the most settings to modders. Every big or small setting is available to editing, either via a simple text file or via textures and there's not much stuff that is fully written in the stone of the EXE file.

So we can't add many features to the game if they were not designed by Hello Games, but we can tweak almost all of the existing features. Even procedural generation is based on settings, like turbulence, noise, scales, roughness... a lot of them are exposed and are used by modders as [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/users/44146502]Redmas[/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/users/37637030]Rayrod[/url] who both provide complete overhauls of planet generation.

NPC, ships and creature generation on the other side makes them difficult to mod at this time. But modders find their way. Redmas rebalanced scales of the different parts of ships and vehicles to bring more variety to them for example. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/users/2666883]WinderTP[/url] replaced the shuttle class with ships from their favourite Sci-fi movies in [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/1064]Ships of Moar[/url]. 

Buildings use an L-system I still haven't looked in deep, but which creates tiny changes in the arrangement of each building interior, even if the scale of the changes is not as noticeable as it might be.

All in all, procedural generation is tough and Sean Murray did a humongous work on terrain generation. There's still room for improvements to create a larger diversity everywhere else, but it might be their focus for the next or the next, next update.

[center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1569505472-294894533.jpeg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1569505477-29879829.jpeg[/img][/center]

[b]What tools do you use when working on mods?
[/b]
Actually, the only tools really needed are an archive extractor like Periander's [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/19]PSArc[/url] to decompress all the game files that are stored in ".pak" files and [url=https://github.com/monkeyman192/MBINCompiler/releases]Monkeyman's MBINCompiler[/url] that could convert the binary ".mbin" files into ".exml" (text) files and the reverse. From here, you can use your favourite text editor and texture editor (with a DXT plugin as textures use the DirectX format).

On my side, coming from GP4 where all the files were in the binary form like the ".mbin" of NMS, I also use a hexadecimal editor when I need. It's of great use to compare changes or to quickly update some mods when a very few values have been changed after a new update.


[b]Have you ever made any mods for other games (or thought about doing so)?
[/b]
Not really, I mostly made some tools for Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4 as I described above. I don't know if you count them as mods as tools aren't really mods but they allow others to create mods with them. I also helped in improving some tracks and textures back then nonetheless.

I also looked around Cities Skyline modding community as I love this game too and would have loved to bring some improvements here and there but the framework is completely opaque to me so I play the game within its restrictions and the great mods already published by more talented modders than me like [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1619685021]Move-it[/url] and [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1312767991]Transport Lines Manager[/url].


[b]Do you have any tips and tricks to share with others who might want to start modding No Man's Sky? 
[/b]
Hmm, not really. The first advice is to come on the [url=https://discord.gg/22ZAU9H]No Man's Sky Modding Discord[/url] where most of the modders are discussing. A newcomer will most likely ever have an answer to his questions. There's also the [url=https://nmsmodding.fandom.com/wiki/No_Man%27s_Sky_Modding_Wiki]modding wiki[/url] that provides a good overview of most of the common knowledge about NMS modding.

My own advice to someone who would like to start modding NMS would be for him to unpack the files, look at the way files are stored into folders and the file names. Then convert the most expressive ones in mbincompiler and browse the list of settings until you find a value that could bring a change you would like to see in-game. Then recompile the mbin, repack and test your first mod.

See your change in-game and check if everything is as you expected. If not repeat until satisfaction. Modding is a trial and error game of his own. A great one though :)



[b]What are your favourite mods for No Man's Sky by other authors? 
[/b]
I browse Nexusmods every day so I see about every mod released, but I personally use very few mods from other authors in my own game (Having 60+ mods on my own already covers a wide range of improvements).

The only mods I can't play without are:
[list]
[*]Riccaforte's [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/324]RemoveIntroLogo[/url] which is one of the very first mods released for the game and that is still working today! 
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/mods/623]Clean Space[/url] version to remove the kaleidoscopic speed lines at each pulse drive.
[*]I also loved [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/15594199]LawnReality[/url]'s Crescent Worlds but it sadly can't be used anymore as it was a shader-based mod.
[/list]

[b]Is there anything else you'd like to say to the Nexus Mods Community. 
[/b]
Well, Nexus Mods has grown a lot and now hosts probably hundreds of communities so I'm not sure what part of NexusMods audience is also interested in NMS. But if they haven't tried the game so far and would like a space sandbox game, where you start at alone and end your journey with several ships, bases, a massive fleet and a better knowledge of an imaginary universe, they might want to try NMS :)

[center][url=https://www.gog.com/game/no_mans_sky?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfce][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1569506614-220646325.jpeg[/img]

Get 50% off No Man's Sky at GOG.com until 30/09/19![/url][/center]
[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/nomanssky/users/87374]Lo2k[/url] for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always, if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

A few weeks ago, we launched the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14103]beta testing phase for our new site navigation[/url]. Our design team has been hard at work implementing it, as well as working in some of the changes suggested by all of you who partook in the accompanying survey. Thank you very much for all your responses and feedback!

With that being said, we are very pleased with how well the new nav has been received, so we are now happy to roll it out for all of you.


[b]New Site Navigation - some key changes[/b]

The new navigation is meant to unclutter the old while retaining functionality and quick access to the places you want to browse, be it mods, media, the forums etc.

While we understand that getting used to something new might take a while, we are happy to say that the overwhelming consensus from the beta survey was that the new nav is easy to use with all relevant information being laid out clearly. 

That being said, there are a few new things that warrant pointing out. 


[b]More Favourites
[/b]
[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1569317864-1079241910.jpeg[/img]In the overhauled favourites menu, you can now add 12 of your favourite games (up from 8 in the old nav) for quick access. The game tiles are now in portrait mode to differentiate them more from mods. 


[b]Bringing back Mods of the Month

[/b][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1569317869-277050961.jpeg[/img]A feature of the site that was a bit lost in the old navigation and, therefore, did not get much use was “Mods of the Month”. The new nav aims to highlight this section of the site a bit more in the revised mods tab.

[i]What is “Mods of the Month”?[/i]
[spoiler]
Unlike “most endorsed mods” the best “Mods of the Month” are mods that received the most user votes in a given month (every user only has one vote per game, per month). 

Another key difference is that any mod, regardless of release date, is eligible to become one of the “Mods of the Month” at a given point in time. However, once a mod has been voted one of the best “Mods of the Month”, it will not be eligible to be voted for again. For example your mod released in 2016 could become “Mod of the Month” in December 2019, but once it’s in the list for that month that’s it, it can’t be voted for again.
[/spoiler]


[b]Shiny new Upload Button

[/b][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1569317752-1525245258.jpeg[/img]
The new “Upload” button in the top right stands out a bit more and can be used to directly upload either a mod, an image, or to add a video.


[b]Community Tab

[/b][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1569318580-1245449878.jpeg[/img]You’ll find all the relevant links such as the forums, our Discord and social media, the news section (featuring two fancy previews of the most recent news articles), and a link to our mod author donation fund in this section.


[b]Updates moved

[/b][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1569316900-1791873122.jpeg[/img]
One of the more notable changes is that your “updates” have been moved to the top right (into the bell icon) next to your avatar. Further, in order to be more consistent across the site “updates” are now called “notifications”. 

Clicking your avatar/user icon in the top right will allow you to access your profile, wallet, and user settings.


[b]Small changes since the beta
[/b]
Almost 2,500 of you have taken the time to provide valuable feedback. We listened to what you had to say about the new nav and our design team has taken some of your suggestions on board. 

[list]
[*]We brought back a link to browse all mods (mod tab).
[*]Mod categories have been added back to the mods tab.
[*]The colour scheme for the games is back.
[/list]
Lastly, we made a slight change to the nav when it comes to how you access the homepage (nexusmods.com) vs. the game homepage (in this example nexusmods.com/skyrim) and your favourites:

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1569317704-1751070074.png[/img]

[b]What’s next?
[/b]
Going forward, our design team will be focussing on improvements to the overall layout of the site including a new homepage, game homepage(s), and mod pages. As with the navigation, once we are ready, we are going to release new features through the beta version of the site so we can test new ideas and get your feedback on them. 

We will also be testing the current colour scheme with the new navigation to ensure it passes accessibility. This may bring an opportunity to add more colours. 

With that being said, we sincerely hope you guys will enjoy the new site navigation and we are looking forward to adding more features and improvements. 

Please, feel free to leave a comment and tell us about your thoughts and experience once you have had some time to try it out. 

Good news, everyone! As of version 1.0.3, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/about/vortex/]our new mod manager Vortex[/url] now supports GreedFall - the recently released action role-playing game developed by [url=https://twitter.com/spidersgames]Spiders[/url] (not actual spiders!).

[center][youtube]aDnfDJ_T5ks[/youtube][/center]

[center][url=https://twitter.com/NexusSites/status/1174594155194068992][img width=350,height=608]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1568881942-1831078983.jpeg[/img][/url][/center]

[b][size=3]Get the best GreedFall Mods[/size][/b]

Since the release of GreedFall last week, we have already seen an outpour of creativity from our modding community with various visual and quality of life mods being released by talented modders. Check out some of our favourites:

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/8?tab=description]Camera Overhaul[/url] by Shawnikaros

Allows you to customise the camera, FOV, removes bobbing and auto-centering if you play with a controller, and more!
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/8][img width=750,height=214]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2945/images/8/8-1568364382-20803466.png[/img][/url]


[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/6]Visible Sheathed Weapons[/url] by Andouce

Your fancy sheathed weapons no longer disappear into the void but are displayed visibly on your character.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/6][img width=750,height=214]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2945/images/6/6-1568382527-542992926.png[/img][/url]


[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/23]Play as Anyone in the Game[/url] by hqqttjiang

Adds a staggering 400(!) presets for character creation based on NPCs from the game.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/23][img width=750,height=421]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2945/images/23/23-1568464477-996933394.jpeg[/img][/url]

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/9]Slots for every Weapon[/url] by pablot

This mod will add upgrade slots for weapons that don't have any, simple but effective!
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/9][img width=750,height=349]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2945/images/9/9-1568279331-1501693045.jpeg[/img][/url]

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/22]Minimalist HUD[/url] by SEED3733

Overhauls the HUD and removes the XP bar and skills info.
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/greedfall/mods/22][img width=750,height=422]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2945/images/22/22-1568458784-1404637212.jpeg[/img][/url]

[b][size=3]
For mod creators[/size][/b]

Moreover, multi-variant mods - that’s mods that give you multiple options, for example for different damage values on weapons etc. are possible and supported through [url=https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/How_to_create_mod_installers]mod installers[/url] when used together with Vortex.

For anyone who is interested in learning how to create mods for GreedFall, we wrote up a short guide on [url=https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Creating_basic_Mods]basic GreedFall modding[/url] on our wiki.

[b]Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com//users/6960827?tab=user+files]ElSopa[/url] - long-time member of the site, texture artist, and creator of "[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/78537]I can't believe it's not an ENB[/url]" as well as several SkyUI themes and widget designs.[/b]

[center][youtube]MA8w4yABPPQ[/youtube][/center][center]Note: features swearing/inappropriate language.[/center]
[b]BigBizkit: To start this off, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]

ElSopa: Well, first of all, I want to thank you guys for giving me this space, as you have given other super talented authors!

About myself, well it's kind of, let's say, complex?

Years ago I used to play this online game, and to make it as short as possible, some really troubled guy got obsessed with me and then I found that he even travelled to my neighbourhood to find me, it was really creepy. Some sort of dangerous stalker, since then I'm very very reluctant to talk about myself online, I hope you understand!

But I can say I'm a dentist and I live in Argentina (I found some people who think I'm a woman... sorry guys!).


[b]Your username translates to “The Soup”. How did you come up with this soup-erb username?[/b]

LMAO

When I was young (even younger than today!) I used to watch a TV show called "The Soup". In this online game I mentioned I had a different name in Spanish that sounds really controversial in English, so I changed it to "Soup". Many players were from Argentina and called me "Sopa", so that's the origin of my name. 

(I wonder why that question surprises me coming from someone called Bizkit).

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1567086818-1251225847.jpeg[/img][/center]
[center][quote][b][size=3][i]"Fun fact: I don't like soup."[/i][/size][/b]
[i][size=2]- ElSopa, modder named after a creamy, tasty liquid commonly known as "soup"[/size][/i][/quote][/center]
[b]What kind of mods do you make mostly? How would you describe them?
[/b]
90% of my modifications are textures, then there are replacers for icons and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/25417]my beloved SkyUI theme[/url] (it's not abandoned, stop asking :D ).

And how would I describe them? Hmmm, I try to add some spark of creativity when possible, for example, I remember a grindstone retexture I did, I added the mark of the foot to the wooden pedal, I guess it's reasonable after so much use.

[b]
You’ve been a member of the site for over six years now. What got you interested in modding initially and what was your modding journey like?[/b]

Oh, my first contribution was [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38026]a SweetFX preset[/url], it's still there, it's not too nice tbh, but I tried my best to make it better, and after that, I did one called "[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48554]I Can't Believe It's Not an ENB[/url]". I had a pretty weak PC and running ENBs was impossible for me, so I made this preset to be used in combination with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/17802]Climates of Tamriel[/url] (a weather mod, for those who don't know) trying to make it look like an ENB. It got super popular and people loved it (even Gamwich praised it, I even embedded a screenshot of that to the description page haha). It's still being downloaded years after! After that, I made 3 more ICBINEs. And never had so much fun: for each one I made [url=https://youtu.be/bEAvPB-13Wg]a short animation of a guy having bad experiences with ENBs[/url] and moving to my preset. Watch the 3rd one, it's my favourite. Watching the YouTube views counter explode after each release was so satisfying  :)

After that, I realized I couldn't achieve anything better with the shader injectors and stopped for a while. I tried making one for Skyrim Special Edition but I never liked it - maybe there are better alternatives. Then I tried my luck with textures until today and I am still learning.


[b]How do you usually go about creating your mods/textures? What tools do you use and how did you learn to use them?
[/b]
Well, I find something that I think I could improve (at least for me) then I search for textures I like and that are royalty-free, that's important since I don't want to get banned.

About the tools I use: I love Paint.NET, it's super lightweight and you can add plugins for many things, I'm really used to that, I tried Photoshop once to warp some textures for a strider but never used it again. I use a program called Mindtex2 for some normals, it's a clone of Crazybump but way cheaper, and Materialize, which is better in my opinion. Then GIMP for giving the final touches on the normals, oh, and I am slowly learning Substance Painter and even more slowly I am learning Blender. That's basically it. I also use Adobe Flash for my icons and all the UI mods -  I was lucky because I got used to it from making animations, without that practice I doubt I would ever touch it, it's kinda tricky and weird.

Oh! and how did I learn to use them? Trial and error AND MOTIVATION (aka fun), I get frustrated really fast so I guess those programs are easy to use.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1567086745-1236365862.jpeg[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1567086748-1697701146.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]How much time passed between you realising that there are ants in Skyrim (yes, it’s a thing!) and you deciding to create [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/26715]a retexture for them[/url]? Could you even play the game without an HD ant retexture at this point?[/b]

Hahahaha, well to be fair, my ants retexture must be the 3rd on the site at least. There were others before me I realized later. Yeah I can forget about retextures in-game because I haven't even played the game lately, lol. when I'm sitting in front of the computer I'm making textures, or experimenting to learn more stuff (there are some atrocious experiments that I guess will never see the light of day).


[b]Have you ever collaborated with other modders on projects? What was the experience like?[/b]

Yeah! Now I can't remember exactly how it was, but thing is, I ended up making some icons for the unique weapons on iEquip (be sure to find them all, there are some cool easter eggs) - it was a great experience, Dunc (the author) was nice and often gave me raw meat, and he even allowed me to go outside the basement dungeon for a bit before resuming my work on the icons. I was also force-... I mean invited to watch all the seasons of Airwolf until I liked it (chained to the wall sadly). Hi Dunc!

I was contacted by the Beyond Skyrim team once, too, but I didn't feel I could contribute in a way that was fun to me, so I left.

Oh, also I helped some Spanish speaking guys with translations of their modpages, and other small things. And apparently my name will be added to an easter egg for a... uhm... certain Solitude mod.


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

You know what, I could name the obvious more popular mods everyone already knows, but I'll take this opportunity for naming some talented mod authors that deserve at least a peek at their profiles:

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/470953]mnelson999[/url] is an incredibly talented guy, I used his Nexus Mod Monitor since the ICBINE days until lately when the site changed and made it obsolete, check his profile now!!!

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1892037]MrNeverLost[/url], what a guy! He helped me a lot with stuff I didn't know about modding, and he is always so kind.

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/55773412?tab=user+files]RayMaster901[/url], he's new to texturing and learning fast!

Also, I want to thank [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/28794?tab=user+files]Schlangster[/url] for giving me permission to mod his incredible SkyUI!!!

There are others that I'm not mentioning because they are recognized widely, like: [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/34063535?tab=user+files]Dunc001[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/13953925?tab=user+files]Kojak747[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3447031?tab=user+files]QueenieAngel[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/92893]Cuyima[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/39335975?tab=user+files]Rallyeator[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/52194591?tab=user+files]Winedave[/url], sorry if I forgot anyone!!!! Also, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/11835658]Nazenn[/url]! he's super cool! and we're working on something amazing!


[b]What other hobbies do you have?[/b]

I love playing the guitar, singing, and keeping up to date with the UFO investigation scene (which is in a sad state lately). Oh and if there's anyone from Argentina (zona sur) playing instruments I want to form a band.


[b]Do you have any tips for people who are interested in getting into modding themselves?
[/b]
Find something you think you could do better or different, and forget about getting instant big results, start with something minimal and see it in-game, even if its some simple line on a texture or whatever. First time I edited a texture, when I saw it in-game, it was like drawing a moustache on Captain Picard's face. 

Ask for help, watch a lot of youtube tutorials.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1567086742-915956581.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]Is there anything else you would like to say to our community?
[/b]
That it's great when you find good people and sad when you find the wrong people - focus on the good ones and have lots of fun!

And one last message for the people in Argentina please:

Aguante los Redondos, Soda, Avant Press, Spinetta y Charly papá!

[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com//users/6960827?tab=user+files]ElSopa[/url] for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always, if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

Starting today, we're rolling out an opt-in beta version of the site that will feature a new header, footer and updated game tiles. The new layout features a minimal design that includes all the key features from the current version. If you are interested in taking it for a test drive, click the "Take a look" option in the banner at the top of the website (or [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/activate-beta-features?beta_code=1337k04l4]click here[/url]). 

[img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1567077253-543275399.jpeg[/img]

Once you've given yourself some time to adjust to the new design, we'd love to hear your thoughts. You can leave feedback by clicking the link to the Google survey just below the new navigation. 


[size=4]Site Design Survey Results and Focus Groups[/size]

It's been a few months since we asked for your thoughts in our Site Design Survey and you've provided a load of excellent feedback for us to really sink our teeth into. Thank you! 

Overall the comments were positive. You told us some of the reasons you love Nexus Mods and gave constructive criticism on the things we could do better. Here are just a few statements pulled from the results:

[list]
[*]Only 43% of users said they visit Nexus Mods from a mobile device, with an average review of 6 out of 10. We'll be looking into the improvements and feature suggestions you sent in while working on our new designs for mobile.
[*]When searching the site, around a third of you say that you sometimes resort to using an external search engine rather than the one built into the website. We also noted some really good feedback as to where our current search can be improved. 
[*]A lot of you really miss Mod of the Month being prominently shown on game homepages. We'll be looking into bringing it back into the spotlight in future revisions.
[*]Many users have requested the ability to add more games to their favourites tab.
[*]Users have also requested a better way of keeping track of their favourite content. 
[/list]
We’re aware that there are other issues with the consistency of the site, and we will be working through these in the background. We have invested a lot of time talking to the users who were selected to join our initial focus groups about various ideas our design team had for changes to the site. We will be sending out invites to a few more of you over the coming days, so if you said you were interested in shaping the future of Nexus Mods, keep an eye on your PMs. 


[size=4]Introducing our new front end developer[/size]

For a long time, we've been unable to give the front end of the website the time and resources it deserves. This year we have made it a priority to improve this with the aim of delivering a much better experience across the entire site. This is no mean feat for a design project the size and importance of Nexus Mods and we wanted to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13966]hire someone[/url] to work very closely with our designer to implement new designs and functionality to bring the website to life. I am privileged to introduce the newest addition to the Nexus Mods team, [b]themagickoala[/b].

[quote]Hi, I'm Rory, aka themagickoala. I started at Nexus Mods in June as the new front end developer. Since then I've been hard at work on the redesign, starting with this new beta release. Some fun facts about me:

[list]
[*]I used to work in cybersecurity, but switched to web dev because I liked looking at the pretty pictures I made;
[*]I've also worked in predictive analysis and in the automotive tech industry;
[*]I eat JavaScript for breakfast as part of a healthy balanced diet;
[*]I am literally a koala.
[/list][/quote]
[size=4]What's next?[/size]

This is just the beginning of a much larger project. Our beta section will be running alongside the current Nexus Mods site. This will give us the opportunity to share new features and designs with you. When we are happy that we have developed the core features of the site, we will review all of your feedback and look at releasing beta. This will be announced well before the full release to ensure we have covered users feedback.

The next release will feature a new login and registration system. Once this goes live, users will be required to update their passwords. More news will be announced when we’re closer to releasing the feature.

What do you think of the new look? Let us know in the comments below.

This week we're talking with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/users/46021252]FlashShifter[/url], creator of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/3753]Stardew Valley Expanded[/url], a massive overhaul mod for the titular game.

[b]Thank you for joining us FlashShifter. To start off could you please tell us a little about yourself? 
[/b]
I’m glad to be here and grateful to have this opportunity for an interview! My name is Devin. I graduated from university a couple of years ago with a BA in accounting. Moved to Seattle with my girlfriend to seek out employment. I enjoy video games, art, piano, and modding!


[b]You've been a member of our community since 2017, how did you first find Nexus Mods? 
[/b]
I originally joined Nexus Mods for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/starwarsbattlefront22017]Star Wars Battlefront II mods[/url]. My little brother showed me Stardew Valley in 2017 and I played the heck out of it on the Nintendo Switch (over 200 hours). I wanted to experience more of the game, so I became active in the Stardew Valley modding community to enhance my experience.


[b]What would you say are your favourite games and what do you like about them?[/b]

Some of my favourite games are Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, LoZ: Breath of the Wild, Bloodborne, Super Smash Brothers, and Red Dead Redemption 2. I love games with exploration and a good story. I also enjoy fast-paced games too!

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[b]Stardew Valley Expanded is the biggest and most popular mod for Stardew Valley in the last 12 months, but for anyone who hasn't played it yet. Could you tell us about the mod? [/b]

Stardew Valley Expanded is the largest mod for the game. From the mod description

[quote]This mod features 17 new locations, 63 new character events, 3 new NPCs, over 500 location messages, reimagined maps and festivals (all maps), a huge remastered farm map, a new world map reflecting all changes, and many miscellaneous additions. [/quote]
I aim to add over 30 hours of brand-new content, expanding the universe ConcernedApe created.


[b]What inspired you to create mods for Stardew Valley?[/b] 

Modding for Stardew Valley requires very little to no coding knowledge, so it was easy for me to pick up and learn. There were many things I wanted to add to the game I enjoyed. The project was originally only supposed to incorporate some map edits, but it kept growing and growing. To this day, the mod is still expanding!


[b]Have you ever created mods for other games? [/b]

I have not. I am open to the idea in the future, but I am currently focusing on Stardew Valley.

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[b]Are you the only one working on the mod or do you have a team of modders?[/b] 

I am the only developer for SVE and the creator. [url=https://twitter.com/mojav1a]Mojavia[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/41168370]HopeWasHere[/url] have helped me with the portrait art of the NPCs and new buildings. Other developers have added/tweaked their frameworks for SVE. Some people have assisted me in creating compatibility patches for other mods and streamlining installation. I also have used assets from other modders, acknowledged in the SVE credits section. But for the most part, I am the only person actively working on SVE and maintaining it.


[b]Many talented Stardew Valley mod authors have contributed assets and even entire mods to SDVE. What would you say are the challenges in bringing these all together?[/b] 

The toughest challenges I would say was asking for permission, ensuring proper credit was given, and tweaking/implementing these mods to mesh seamlessly together.


[b]If someone wanted to start making mods for Stardew Valley, what advice would you give them?[/b]

My first piece of advice is to ask yourself what you want to add and why you want to make it. The resources I used were primarily the [url=https://stardewvalleywiki.com/Modding:Index]modding wiki[/url], the map editor “[url=https://www.mapeditor.org/]Tiled[/url]”, the [url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CpDrw23peQiq-C7F2FjYOMePaYe0Rc9BwQsj3h6sjyo/edit#gid=239695361]Events Google Doc spreadsheet[/url], and the [url=https://discord.gg/stardewvalley]SDV Modding Discord[/url] for help.


[b]What other mods would you recommend when playing Stardew Valley?[/b]

I have a Mod Recommendations section on the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stardewvalley/mods/3753]SVE page[/url] detailing what mods I recommend!


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[b]Do you have any future plans for your mods you'd like to share? [/b]

SVE is still growing! I have plans to add more unique locations, more NPCs, more events, new activities, new festivals, new sprites, and more! If anyone wants to help with portrait art and C# coding, I would love to have a chat with you!

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Follow [url=https://twitter.com/FlashShifter]@FlashShifter[/url] on Twitter to keep up to date on the development of his mods. You can also join in the Stardew Valley discussion on our [url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/forum/3641-general-stardew-valley-discussion]forums[/url] and the Nexus Mods [url=https://discord.gg/nexusmods]Discord server[/url]!

A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/46021252]FlashShifter[/url] for answering our questions. As always, 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][b]BigBizkit[/b][/url] or [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975][b]Pickysaurus[/b][/url]. 

[b]Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/34063535?tab=user+files]dunc001[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1892037?tab=user+files]MrNeverLost[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5687342?tab=user+files]Fudgyduff[/url], the team behind [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27008]iEquip[/url] - a very clever equipment management overhaul for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/97177]Skyrim[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27008]Skyrim Special Edition[/url].[/b]
 
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 [/url]
[b]BigBizkit: To start this off, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself and your modding journey thus far?[/b]

Dunc001: Hi, my name is Dunc (short for Duncan), I am 46 years old, Scottish, a husband, father, company director, and I have absolutely no formal programming training! Other than hacking Windows Mobile phone games back in the day to increase gold levels, Skyrim is the first and only game I have any experience modding. Until I made the switch from console I had no idea the PC modding scene even existed, and my mind was blown by the amount of content available. I ditched the XBox, switched to PC, and spent the next two years building ever more ridiculous load orders (I think I peaked at over 1600 mods at one point) and learning the ins and outs of the Creation Kit and xEdit.

Fudgyduff: Hi, my name's Ryan and I go by Fudgyduff on the Nexus. I got invested in the modding scene when I started working on the Special Edition port of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/21085]QuickLoot[/url]. It's easily been the most challenging thing I've ever worked on as both a modder and a programmer. For some background, I went to college to learn how to program, primarily in C++, and SKSE plugin development has helped cement the theory I learned in my classes, as well as teach me a lot about the languages I never knew before.

MrNeverlost: Well, first off thanks for having me! My name is NeverLost, and I am a 22-year-old Norwegian university student. Few if any know me on the Nexus, as I have participated in exactly zero modding projects before. Probably for the best, as I am quite the clumsy guy :) (And Dunc can surely attest to that).

As for my modding journey, it probably started with Oblivion which I initially played on the PS3. I went a bit overboard with modding it initially, and it was not until the release of Skyrim that I tried my hand at making mods myself. 

I started with some simple xEdit patches, then moved on to the Creation Kit, and finally last year I tried my hand at papyrus scripting (Skyrim scripts). Later, I reached out to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/13953925?tab=user+files]Kojak747[/url] who at the time was asking for help with realizing LODs (Far distance objects) for the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/24587]Dev Aveza[/url] airship mod. He mentioned a guy to me called Dunc who he said could need some help with iEquip - and the rest is history!

 
[b]To those who are unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe the kind of mods you make?[/b]

Dunc001: I make what we would call “quality of life” mods, UI mods (obviously), and control mods.

Fudgyduff: I tend to make SKSE plugins.

MrNeverlost: I try to make mods that I need or want in my own game (In which my character is still level 2). I made [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/26122]Slick Sneaking[/url] because I wanted a way to play a sneaky character in my own game. I made branch animations for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/97215]Vurt's bent pines[/url] mod because he asked me to, and I figured a massive tree without moving branches is scandalous. I made the missing amethyst claw for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1394?tab=logs]John's Dragon Claws[/url] because I needed the complete package. And finally, I contributed to iEquip because I had the chance to - and let's not forget it's a kickass mod!

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 [b]Your recent mod that drew a lot of attention is [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27008]iEquip[/url] - a mod that completely overhauls the way you manage your equipment in Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition. How would you describe iEquip and what are its core features?[/b]

Dunc001: iEquip is intended as a way to move as much of the Inventory Menu equipment management as possible into the game HUD to cut down on the amount of stop/start/pause in gameplay. It allows you to cycle through left and right-hand items, shouts, powers, ammo, potions, consumables and poisons, and to apply poisons or recharge enchantments, all without leaving the game. It also has a wide range of advanced features designed to quickly equip something suitable for any given situation you might find yourself in, such as needing to quickly grab a ranged weapon or a shield/ward, or a light source, or a healing potion/spell, and so on.

 
[b]Is there a particular feature of iEquip that you are most proud of?[/b]

Dunc001: The things I am most proud of, and which took the longest to realise, are elements which most users probably won't pay much attention to! Things like the Edit Mode selected item highlighting, the Queue Management Menus, the Preselect Mode animations and the custom colours in the Edit Mode colour picker took more time than most of the gameplay features! There is so much of it that I am really happy with, but I guess my favourite single feature would have to be the poisoning system. I hope it makes poisoning a more viable gameplay option because with mods like Complete Alchemy & Cooking Overhaul, Smithing Oils and Tactless Toxins there are some really fun poisons out there that don't get nearly enough love because of the clunky vanilla poisoning system.

MrNeverLost: Most people probably won't notice it, but because the iEquip MCM is so large (we even broke some scripting limits), we had to figure out a new way to split the backend into smaller, more manageable pieces. So we did just that, and it turned out to help tremendously with keeping the ever-growing amount of options under control. It helps me keep my sanity, which is probably the best thing I can ask for!

 
[b]What was the inspiration for iEquip and what made you want to create it?[/b]

MrNeverlost: Dunc is probably better equipped to answer this than me, but personally I joined the project because I wanted to see a proper UI/Equipment mod released. One that can circumvent the problems that many other mods face dealing with Skyrim's many many quirks.

Dunc001: I have played a lot of mobile games with HUD inventory quick slots and action controls and I love that quick, unpaused access. SkyUI was the first mod I installed, and not long after I discovered [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/72238/?]Souls Quick Menu[/url]. Whilst I loved the idea of it, it just never worked perfectly for me and I wasn't that happy with the layout. I dabbled with a couple of bits of free software and managed to tweak it slightly, but realised that I was going to have to build my own mod if I wanted new functionality.  

I reached out to the Souls Quick Menu authors and they very kindly provided me with the original files, including the flash source, and I used that as the original inspiration (although it has all long since gone in the numerous rewrites). The other big source of motivation and energy to keep going with iEquip has come from my son who has provided constant encouragement, testing, and feature suggestions.

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[b]Another impressive mod of yours that works well together with iEquip is [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27007]Gamepad Plus Plus[/url]. Can you give us an overview of what it does and talk a bit about the development process of both mods?[/b]

Dunc001: The original version of Gamepad++ was actually the first mod I published. It was designed to give gamepad players access to more hotkeys so they didn't have to rely on playing with both the gamepad and keyboard. It works by having the player set keyboard keys as mod hotkeys in all their other mod MCMs, then using SKSE's TapKey function to emulate those keyboard keypresses when actually pressing gamepad button combos. 

When I later started working on iEquip I had it planned from the outset to have all the iEquip controls available to gamepad players by utilising single/double/triple press, hold and combos. As this was obviously going to have an impact on Gamepad++, I realised that mod would also have to be completely rewritten to avoid conflicts, and that then allowed us to build in integration between the two mods so that the controls didn't overlap or risk triggering unwanted actions. 

The real genius behind the key handler code in both mods is MrNeverLost. The iEquip key handling code is so complex and he has done a brilliant job of making it all work seamlessly.  That made it very easy to simplify and transpose into the new version of Gamepad++ along with the new blocking code which each mod uses to avoid conflicting with each other.


[b]What kind of mods do you like to use in your own game and which mods would you say work well together with your own?[/b]

Fudgyduff: I'm a big fan of third-person gameplay, so I like 360 animations, head-tracking, and player voice sets. Unfortunately, a consequence of making mods for the game is that I don't spend a lot of time actually playing it, so I couldn't tell you what goes well with my mods.

MrNeverLost: I like to use a lot of gameplay overhauls like Ordinator and Apocalypse that spice the game up a bit. For graphic mods, I use a mix of what I find on the nexus and edits/fixes that I make myself.

Dunc001: Well first off, iEquip is designed to work with pretty much everything and has built-in provision for many of the more popular mods out there which add content that iEquip may end up displaying and handling. We have also included a very easy to use patch framework which allows users to identify mod-added items and spells so they adopt specific icons and behaviour as required.  

As far as my game goes I am absolutely useless at combat so I am much more interested in exploration and discovery as a result, so my big vice is quest/dungeon/new lands mods.  I love cities, towns and villages overhauls as well: so mods like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27816?tab=posts]Kojak's new Enhanced Solitude[/url] are mana from heaven for me. And I love a good companion, so I am really looking forward to getting to know [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/20035]Lucien[/url] and see the interactions with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1461]Inigo[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/11278]Auri[/url] on my next playthrough.

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[b]What sort of mod from other creators do you find the most awe-inspiring? Are there any mods out there you find to be particularly impressive?
[/b]
Fudgyduff: [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/82725]Customizable UI Replacer[/url] is a mod that really blew me away when it came out. I'm a terrible artist so I'm jealous of people who can make nice looking UI mods.

MrNeverLost: Rather than the mods themselves, I find the creators inspiring. I've always looked up to the [url=http://skse.silverlock.org/]SKSE[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12604?tab=posts]SkyUI[/url] team for the amount of work they've put into their respective projects. Especially considering that their mods have pretty much become the backbone of every Skyrim mod list out there. It's really amazing that a mod can have such a big impact on a community.

Other creators I really like are [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4995023?tab=user+files]Nukem[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2025634?tab=user+files]Aers[/url], and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5687342?tab=user+files]Ryan[/url]. They've all brought so much to the "modding table", and I am very grateful that they've decided to spend their time making modding Skyrim so much better.

Finally, my friends [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/13953925?tab=user+files]Kojak[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/6960827?tab=user+files]Elsopa[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/34063535?tab=user+files]Dunc[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/43673957?tab=about+me]Looland[/url] always bring a laugh to the table when It's needed.

Dunc001: It goes without saying that the SKSE and SkyUI teams deserve huge respect, but I am also constantly amazed by the work that people like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5687342?tab=user+files]Ryan[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2148728?tab=user+files]powerofthree[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/9663214?tab=user+files]DavidJCobb[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2025634?tab=user+files]aers[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4995023?tab=user+files]Nukem[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2964753]meh321[/url] have and continue to produce. The level of knowledge and skill they have just blows my mind. I also find it incredible what some authors are able to achieve without the use of SKSE, in particular, mods like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/26627]Spellsiphon[/url] which released recently.  

And finally the content creators: those who spend their lives in the Creation Kit imagineering new lands and locations for the rest of us to enjoy. The huge modding teams are incredible and some of the upcoming content looks absolutely amazing, but I have to take my hat off to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1819137?tab=user+files]razorkid[/url] - what he has managed to achieve largely on his own in [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3008?tab=files]Beyond Reach[/url] is simply staggering.


[b]Are there any other games you like to mod? What are some other games you play regularly - if any?[/b]

Dunc001: I never have much time for playing, all my game time for the past two years has gone into building iEquip! I downloaded Kingdom Come Deliverance the day it came out and have yet to launch it, similarly about two years ago I installed Oblivion and Morrowind but I haven't opened them yet either! 

MrNeverLost: I really like the game Rimworld, and mod it infrequently. It's neat taking a break from Skyrim and looking at what the other modding communities out there are doing. Other than that, I just play whatever interesting RPG I can find.

Fudgyduff: I've tried modding other games, and you may come across some of my mods for them, but there's no other game on the market with the same community and modability that surrounds Bethesda games. When I try modding other games I always get frustrated that I can't do this or that, but when I mod Bethesda games using xSE, the only roadblocks I can't overcome are self-imposed ones. C++ is a very powerful language and I can leverage it to make mods that would be impossible in other games, or even in this game using native modding tools like Papyrus or the Creation Kit.

Recently I've been playing Tales of Berseria. I really like games with a good story and this one has amazing writing with really good voice acting.

 
[b]Do you have other hobbies outside of modding and gaming?[/b]

Dunc001: Being outdoors - I'm a mountain man at heart and I find something magical about being out in nature, particularly landscapes with scale (probably one of the reasons I like Skyrim so much as it reminds me of Scotland!).  When I can I like to get out on the mountain bike, and my wife and daughter have horses which are a huge part of our life and take up most weekends competing all over the country. I'm also a light aircraft pilot and although I haven't flown for a couple of years now I'm hoping to get some hours in again soon.

Fudgyduff: Programming is my hobby, so I really enjoy making mods for this game since they present interesting challenges that I get to solve using my reverse engineering/programming experience. It's a really nice hobby to have because when you finish coding something, you can compile it and get immediate results telling you whether it works or not.

MrNeverLost: I wish! I used to go mountain trekking before, something I want to start doing again in the future. Maybe when The Elder Scrolls 6 comes out? But for now, I am pretty occupied with uni, work and modding though :).
 
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[b]Last but not least: is there anything you would like to say to our community?[/b]

Fudgyduff: Don't be scared to try SKSE plugin development. If you've never done reverse engineering before, it can be very confusing to open up SKSE's solution and see 100's of class definitions with no comments on how to use them or what anything means, but I'm glad I tried it and didn't give up on learning how to do it. I've made some efforts to write some tutorials and wrappers for using SKSE's interfaces, and while I won't write your plugin for you, I'm willing to at least give some guidance on what to do - also, I like new challenges, so I might be interested in partnering up with other people to make cool new mods.

MrNeverLost: To all aspiring modders out there that struggle with motivation: take everything as a learning experience. Everybody gets discouraged from time to time, but there is no such thing as lost time. Sometimes I stop and wonder if I am wasting my time when modding, but I always feel better when I know I've learnt something new, or made something someone else will enjoy. Enjoy the small accomplishments, and don't focus too hard on the setbacks - that's the way to go in my opinion.

Dunc001: You're all awesome!  I have had so much help and support with iEquip and Gamepad++. I've asked endless questions and begged endless favours, and every single one of you I have reached out to has been so friendly and willing to help. iEquip really is a community mod, so many people have had input (directly or indirectly) and so much of it wouldn't have been possible or as polished as it is without that help.  Together great things can be achieved. So if you are just starting out on your modding journey and are wondering whether or not you can do it, yes you can. And we're all here to help you.

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A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/34063535]dunc001[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/5687342?tab=user+files]Fudgyduff[/url], and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1892037?tab=user+files]MrNeverLost[/url] for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always, if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

Today's guest in our Mod Author interview series is [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1733280]PrimeSonic[/url] - creator of a number of super useful feature mods for [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica]Subnautica[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnauticabelowzero]Subnautica: Below Zero[/url].

[b]We'll start as we always do. For those who don't know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
[/b]
Hi there. I'm PrimeSonic and I've been using this name on the internet since the very early 2000s, back when "Web 2.0" was still in its infancy. I've been a modder on Nexus for just over a year now, although I joined long ago as simply a gamer looking for mods. My day job is in business software, which isn't remotely as sexy as video games, but it pays well and still scratches that "problem-solving itch" more often than not. I've been working as a professional software developer for about ten years now and I took my first steps into computer programming almost ten years before that. I'm a PC hardware enthusiast and you could call me a gamer in that games have always been an will be an important part of my life.

And since we're here to talk about my Subnautica mods, remember that all my mods are open source and publicly available on [url=https://github.com/PrimeSonic/PrimeSonicSubnauticaMods]GitHub[/url].


[b]Given your handle - PrimeSonic - you must be a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. Which game would you say is the best in the franchise?
[/b]
The best Modern Sonic experience is still [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/71340/Sonic_Generations_Collection/]Sonic Generations[/url] (Get it on PC for mods). The best Classic Sonic experience is still somewhere between [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/584400/Sonic_Mania/]Mania[/url] or the [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=674578957]Sonic 3 & Knuckles Complete romhack[/url].


[b]How do you feel about the upcoming Sonic movie?
[/b]
As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't exist.

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[b]Could you tell us a little about your gaming history? 
[/b]
My earliest gaming happened on an NES at the babysitter's and whatever demos I could get on our 486 machine downloaded off AOL Kids. I've been a SEGA diehard since the early 90s but Nintendo has certainly had a special place in my heart too.

To list off the consoles I've personally owned myself: Genesis, Game Gear, Gameboy Color, Dreamcast, DS, Gamecube, Wii, 3DS, Wii U, Switch. But no matter what the generation of console, I always had games on my PC.
 
My fond gaming memories are plentiful. I could probably play Sonic 3 & Knuckles in my sleep after all the time I devoted to it. Even after years of exploring the world of Arcanum, I still managed to keep on discovering new things, long after I thought I knew the game in and out. I remember eagerly jumping on Sonic Generations when it released, rushing to buy a new and better graphics card so I could actually play it. I did a couple of tours of WoW with good friends back in the day. In the future, I will get to fondly remember FF14 as the MMO I played side by side with my wife.


[b]All of the mods you've shared with our community are from the Subnautica series. What was it about these games that inspired you to start modding them?
[/b]
It was one of those "right place, right time" things.

One of my favourite YouTube gamers ([url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/videos/660]MegaGWolf[/url]) was doing a Subnautica series and I was really liking what I was seeing. Once the game came out of Early Access and I tried it for myself, I was absolutely hooked for weeks following.

There were a respectable number of mods out at the time and used a fair number of them from the get-go. But it was the moment that I looked at some of the open-source mod code for myself that everything clicked. This was C#. I knew I could do this. Heck, I do stuff like this for a living. All at once I felt the rush of being able to apply my coding skills to something I was truly passionate about for the first time.
 

[b]Your newer mods include a suite of upgrades for the Cyclops Submarine. Could you talk us through some of them?[/b]

Yeah. Once I saw how big [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/101]MoreCyclopsUpgrades[/url] was getting, and just how much code reuse there was, I knew it was time to break it up and let people pick and choose the parts they want.

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/273]CyclopsSolarUpgrades[/url] - It's finally its own mod again!
This is somewhat of a spiritual successor to one of my earliest (and long deleted) mods: CyclopsSolarCharger. This mod adds an upgrade module for the Cyclops that works just like the Seamoth Solar Charger. Unlike the one on the Seamoth, you can add multiple copies of this upgrade module for added effect. Later on, it can be upgraded to a better version, just to give you something to work towards as you get into the later game.
 
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/277]CyclopsBioReactor[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/274]CyclopsNuclearUpgrades[/url] - I put these mods together as they were developed in collaboration with the guys of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/users/66012691]FCStudios[/url].
I don't have any 3D modelling skill or experience. Heck, I can barely make any 2D sprites as it is. But these guys made such awesome work on their own I just knew we would be able to bring our skills together to make something awesome.

In both cases, the mods add a new type of reactor that you can build in the Cyclops: a smaller Bioreactor and a smaller Nuclear Reactor. Both will feed power into the Cyclops similar to how those reactors would work in a base. The extra cool thing is that these mods were designed to give players more late-game stuff to work towards. Each one of these mods also includes new upgrade modules that can be equipped to the Cyclops that will enhance all of the bio/nuclear reactors on board at once!
 
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/276]CyclopsAutoZapper[/url] - The newest entry (and with updates to come in the future).
This mod adds a new upgrade module that taps directly into a docked Seamoth's Electrical Defense System, overcharging it to fend off would-be aggressors. The cool thing is that it's completely automatic. If the Cyclops is under attack, it will engage. It's not really a mod I'd recommend for a player's first play-through, but for Subnautica veterans looking for a new tool to defend the Cyclops, this can make for a fun addition.
 
There's plenty more, so check out the Requirements tab and see just how many mods were improved, or entirely made possible, by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/101]MoreCyclopsUpgrades[/url].

[center] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/images/News/14088_tile_1565186843.jpg[/img][/center]

[b]If you had to say which one of your mods you are most proud of, which would it be and why?
[/b]
That honour probably had to go to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/114]CustomCraft2[/url]. Not just because of how feature-rich it became over time or for how it opened up the door to many non-coders to make some of their own Subnautica Mods. No, the main reason I'm proud of it is because that was where I put my brain to the test and created my own C# serialization language from scratch, complete with its own parser.

I rarely get the chance to write code that complex, so to see it come together and prove to myself just what I was capable of was sheer joy. I'm just amazed that I was able to wrap my head around the problem in the first place considering that I had never done anything quite like that before.


[b]When you play Subnautica, which difficulty setting do you prefer? [/b][b]I've always played on Survival but never actually finished the story.
[/b]
You really should complete the story at least once. It really does bring everything to a close.

As for me, I very much enjoyed my first play-through on Freedom mode, since I was new to the whole survival genre of games and I really didn't want to stress myself over it. But on my second play-through, I understood just how rewarding it can be to play in Survival mode. There was a real sense of progression between having to catch my every meal in the early game to having a replenishing stockpile of food ready to feast on at any given time.

These days, when I actually play the game, I spend more time in Creative mode just enjoying the scenery or tinkering with a new base idea.


[b]What are your top 3 essential Subnautica mods?
[/b]
There's so many to pick from and I use so many myself, but if I had to pick just three that all players of all play style preferences should have:


[list]
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/24]EasyCraft[/url] - Makes crafting fun again by taking away the tedium. Once you've used EasyCraft, you won't want to go back.
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/12]SubnauticaMap[/url] - A well-balanced map feature that feels like a feature that could have been there all along. With the fog of war enabled, I feel it perfectly complements the game's exploration loop.
[*][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/207]Radial Tabs[/url] - Fixes the crafting trees so you don't have to worry about having too many crafting nodes. With how many crafting related mods there are, this mod here will guarantee that you never have to worry about crafting icons going off-screen.
[/list]

[b]What tools do you use when creating mods for Subnautica?
[/b]
It's important to remember that Subnautica wasn't created with a modding framework. So all the mods you see are, more or less, forms of code injection. Mods are made by adding to or replacing the original game code with the mod's code at runtime.
 
As for the tools to make this happen, I'll list the 2 most important ones.

[url=https://github.com/0xd4d/dnSpy/]dnSpy[/url] - Because Subnautica is developed in Unity, and Unity is developed in .NET, the DLL files themselves actually contain a surprising amount of meta-data, rather than just being binary blobs. On that note, dnSpy is a crucially important piece of software because what it does is read all that byte code and metadata and reassemble something that looks very close to the original source code. Sure, it's not a perfect recreation in that you lose some of the syntactic sugar, but it's enough for modders to be able to peek into the game's original code and see what we can do with it.
 
[url=https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/]Visual Studio[/url] - Looking at the original game code isn't very useful if you can't also write your own and for writing C# code, Microsoft's own Visual Studio arguably sets the bar for what all development tools should offer. I've been using the various versions of Visual Studio in my professional work since the old 2010 edition. It's still a fantastic development environment and, best of all for young coders, it can be free! I may use an Enterprise version of Visual Studio at work, but at home, the Community edition offers everything I could need.
 
Beyond these tools, everything else is in software libraries that make some aspects of modding Subnautica easier, or just outright possible in the first place. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/subnautica/mods/152]You can find more details on all this in oldark1's Modding Tutorial[/url].
 

[b]If a modder wanted to get started making their own Subnautica mods, what advice would you give them?[/b]

Make sure you're comfortable working with C#, with object-oriented programming, and be ready to learn a few things about Unity along the way. I would also say that creating mods for Subnautica can arguably be harder than it was to write some parts of the game in the first place.

Remember, we are injecting and replacing code here. There are no files to play around with. No text to tweak.
The game doesn't officially support modding. The only modding framework that exists was created by the modding community. So be prepared to dive into some real challenges. You'll be faced with not just expressing your own ideas in your code but also with figuring out how to make them work around someone else's code.

But if you're ready to do all that, there is quite literally no limit to what you could do.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1565255441-1080745880.jpeg[/img][/center]

[b]Have you ever thought about making mods for other games?[/b]

At this point, I know I could dive into modding any Unity-based game. Knowing what I know now, a lot more games just became "mod supported" for me, whether they were intended to be or not. 
But for right now, I still have Subnautica mods I want to create and others I want to improve. With the limited free time I have to do all that, it may be a while before I dive into modding for another game. It's certainly possible, but likely won't happen for a while.


[b]As a Mod Author do you check out other Mod Authors to either compare or learn from?[/b]

Absolutely and all the time.

I wouldn't have started making any mods in the first place if it hadn't been for the modders who came before me.
Their open-source code was an invaluable resource in getting me started. Even today, I'm always checking out what other modders are making. Maybe they've come up with a creative solution to a problem I never thought about or maybe they know Unity well enough to be able to do more with it.

Heck, some of the best mods I'm attributed to came from direct collaboration with other modders who shared their skills. Some mods of mine, in part or in whole, simply wouldn't have been possible without the tips and insights I got from other modders in the community.


[b]Are there any Mod Authors that you look up to or who inspire you?
[/b]
In the interest of time, I will pick one: The legendary [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/9322077]RandyKnapp[/url].

This was the guy whose works got me into modding in the first place and whose large collection of high-quality mods made me want to make more of them.


[b]To wrap things up, is there anything else you'd like to say to the community?[/b]

Never let anyone tell you that you're playing the game wrong.

Whether you use one mod over another or none at all, whatever makes the game most enjoyable to you is how you should be playing it.

[line]
A big thank you to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/1733280]PrimeSonic[/url] for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always, if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/12770808?tab=user+files]mathy79[/url] maker of [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/27622]Medieval Lanterns of Skyrim[/url] - which adds a lot of much-needed variety to the various holds in Skyrim - and other stunning visual improvement mods for Skyrim Special Edition.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1564579500-1078905705.png[/img][/center]
[b]BigBizkit: To start this off, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?[/b]

mathy79: Well, I am European, I’m in my 30s, and my everyday life includes math and science, some football on the weekends, and lately lots of 3D modelling.

[b]How would you describe the kind of mods that you make?
[/b]
I would describe them as visual enhancements as I am mostly doing new models and textures, replacing the old Bethesda stuff, adding some extra of my own. I am trying to give SSE a more realistic style and make it look a bit modern and polished.

[b]Your mods are mostly visual overhauls: what makes you gravitate towards making this sort of mod?[/b]

My passion for the last two years has been 3d modelling. I actually use, and sometimes abuse, Skyrim in order to somehow materialize my creativity into something that people would enjoy. I am trying to get better and learn more things daily and produce better models both regarding appearance and optimization. Low poly gaming modelling is a challenge that I actually adore and the existence of this amazing community provides a source of critique and feedback required for everything to evolve.

[b]What got you interested in modding in the first place and how did you initially go about creating your own mods?[/b]

Nothing impressive here really. I started by porting some mods by other people and doing some simple modifications on stuff made by other people. One thing led to another when I eventually got Blender on my desktop. It was love at first sight and from that point on it was only a matter of time. I spent a million hours trying to create some flora, trees, plants, and had no idea how difficult it would actually be. A year later, when I was done with the flora, I had already acquired a good amount of knowledge around gaming 3D modelling that enabled me to start doing more stuff.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1564580314-1380947372.png[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1564580327-933347990.png[/img][/center]
[b]What tools do you use to create your mods and how did you learn how to use them?[/b]

The vast majority of my work has been accomplished with Blender, paint.net and Bethesda's CK. I am still using Blender, but I am now capable of working with ZBrush, Maya, 3D-Coat, 3dsMax and Substance Painter. Of course, no mod would ever exist without the available scene tools NifSkope and xEdit.

I learned to use 3D related software by spending time with them. There is no other way really. Sure there are helpful tutorials out there, lots of them, but to be honest 3D modelling and gaming 3D modelling are two different things and the latter is way more demanding and time-consuming than the first.

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

Yes, certainly, lots of them. I really enjoy the things those guys of the Cathedral Project are doing, especially [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/24791]their weather mod[/url]. The [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/844]realistic lighting overhaul[/url] is also one of my favorites, extremely well made and detailed work by those amazing dudes. I like [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3373573?tab=user+files]DeserterX[/url]'s armor and clothing gems, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/40714370?tab=user+files]Metalsaber[/url]'s NPC overhauls, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/2531318?tab=user+files&BH=0]Frankfamily[/url]'s awesome armor and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3165110?tab=user+files&BH=0]Johnskyrim[/url]'s cant-get-any-better-than-that 3D models. Lately, I very much adore those little creature mods by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/20882614?tab=user+files]rougeshot[/url]. Those actually make a huge difference in visuals.

[b]Do you have any hobbies outside of modding and gaming?[/b]

The last 2 years I have been spending almost all my free time on 3D modelling. It’s addictive! I am currently addicted to it. Not sure if this will fade and go away at some point, but at the moment it’s literally eating my free time. I do enjoy watching and playing football with friends as much as swimming on Sundays. Sometimes I spend the whole night with an online chess group, but those times are getting fewer and fewer nowadays.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1564580536-1576078930.png[/img] [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1564580539-1436138753.jpeg[/img][/center]
[b]What about other games you like to play? Have you ever made mods for other games or would like to?[/b]

I’ve played chess online ever since I was a kid, I still do. Sid Meier's Civilization series has always been my favorite and I also used to spend some free time in the summer with Football Manager. I have never attempted to make any mods for other games, it’s only Skyrim for me. I have been involved with the Beyond Skyrim projects lately - not sure if this counts as 'other games'. I will certainly try to do some nice modding with them if I can.

[b]What would you recommend to users who would like to get involved with modding?[/b]

It’s addictive. Not because of the nature of modding itself, but mostly due to the way this community works. The whole process of making something, big or small, and have it instantly evaluated by so many people, this is addictive as hell. Within the depths of this community, there is infinite talent and wisdom hidden. I've met people in the scene that are so talented it’s hard to believe it. Thats in all aspects of modding, not just the visual part. To anyone that would be interested in getting involved with modding, I would only recommend being open to the people of the scene. It’s the community that will provide the motivation and knowledge at the same time. 

[b]Is there anything else you would like to say to our community?[/b]

What’s there more for me to say? I am proud of it. It’s not a common thing for a gaming-related community to keep up these standards. I will try to be part of the community for as long as possible.
[line]
Thanks a lot to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/12770808?tab=user+files]mathy79[/url] for taking the time to respond to our questions. As always if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

Back towards the end of 2016 [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/12905]we began work[/url] on a new mod manager, Vortex, to replace the ageing Nexus Mod Manager. Unfortunately, we considered this change [url=https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Vortex_vs._Nexus_Mod_Manager]a necessary act[/url] considering the mess that NMM was (and still is) in.

When we first started work on Vortex we were very aware that, over the 6 years that we worked on Nexus Mod Manager, it remained in a state of permanent beta which reflected our lack of confidence in the software's ability to remain stable and provide a solid experience for all users. With Vortex, we set out to learn from our previous mistakes and today I am happy to announce that Vortex is officially out of beta and has reached a 1.0 release.

After over 18 months of work in private, we [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13411]released the alpha of Vortex[/url] in early 2018 followed by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13816]a beta phase[/url] in late 2018. Today, Vortex leaves that beta phase entirely and hits an official 1.0 stable release, allowing users to mod 69 different games, up from the 28 games that the Vortex alpha launched with and the 27 that NMM supports.

In the 17 months it has taken us to go from our initial alpha to our 1.0 launch our Vortex developers have received over 58,000 feedback messages and bug reports. These reports were collated into 3,200 individual issues of which 3,000 of these issues have been addressed. 54 open bug reports remain, of which, not all of them are necessarily bugs and/or cannot be reproduced. In that time we have made 67 releases (almost 4 a month) that have contained bug fixes, performance improvements, UI and UX improvements, new game support and new functionality.

Since releasing the public alpha, many of you have tried or outright switched over to Vortex and your feedback and input has been invaluable in helping us improve Vortex and in making it more user-friendly along the way. It has truly been impressive to see the userbase for Vortex grow continuously over the course of these months and years.


[b]The numbers[/b]

Using figures from the past two months, two-thirds (66.02%) of all unique users hitting our API were using Vortex to mod their games. When we limit these requests to just Bethesda games that number goes down to a still highly respectable 62.61%. These figures will only relate to mod managers that actually access the API (MO2 and NMM versions released after May 2019). Even if we could include old versions of NMM and MO as well as "offline" mod managers like Wrye Bash, it's safe to say Vortex is by far the most used mod manager now for Bethesda games, which is something we're obviously very happy about!


[b]What does this 1.0 release mean?[/b]

Officially bringing Vortex out of beta means that we are confident that Vortex is now stable for almost everyone. We say almost everyone, as we simply cannot account for every single use-case and "interesting" setups that some users may have on their systems.

Our focus over the past 17 months has been on getting to this stage. Around about 80% of our time has been spent on bug fixes, speed improvements, refining our documentation and knowledge base for new users and improving useability, with only 20% of our time being spent on adding new functionality and features to the software.

1.0 marks a shift in how we delegate our time, the hope being that, now that the software is stable and we've dealt with as many bug fixes as we can find, we can now start to focus on "the fun stuff", which is adding new and exciting functionality. That's not to say that we won't be doing any more bug fixes, of course we will, but we're now confident we can spend more time adding features than bug fixing.


[b]I'm half way through a playthrough, should I switch to Vortex?[/b]

While we are happy that so many of you have embraced Vortex already, we would like to emphasise once more that we are not forcing anyone to make the switch. If you have a perfectly functioning load order and a stable modded game, then - by all means - stay with whatever mod management solution you are currently using. We'd recommend this to prevent causing any issues with your savegames.

If, however, you are starting a new mod setup, playthrough, or are setting up your games on a new computer, then it might be the perfect opportunity to give Vortex a try.

It is important to point out that Vortex is different from other mod managers. It is designed to move away from the need for extremely granular manipulation of your load order and towards an [url=https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/The_Vortex_approach_to_load_order_sorting]automated solution to load order management[/url]. While we realise that Vortex might require some relearning and/or shedding of old habits, we are confident that if you embrace it, it will help you manage your mod installation with less effort, as it has helped many users during the alpha and beta stage.

Feel free to browse our [url=https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Category:Vortex]knowledge base[/url] for tutorials and documentation to get you started.


[b]What’s on the horizon for Vortex after the full release?[/b]

While 1.0 is a major milestone, it certainly does not mean the end of the line for Vortex. The team is already working on various improvements and new features to be added in the not-too-distant future.


[b]Extensions management
[/b]
One of the key aspects of Vortex is that it is released as open-source under a GPL-3 license. That fact has enabled our community to write their own extensions for Vortex further expanding its functionality and scope. For example, 12 of the 69 game extensions there are for Vortex have been developed and contributed by members of our community. Thank you very much to every one of you!

As one of the upcoming features after 1.0, the team is working on a system that will enable users to browse and add extensions from within Vortex itself. The idea is to make it even easier for budding programmers to add to the functionality of Vortex, and for users of Vortex to more easily find and install these third-party extensions from within Vortex.

[b]Mod Packs
[/b]
The big one! As [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13961]we announced earlier this year[/url], mod packs - a much sought after feature in the community - will be the next major feature we will be working on. 

We're not currently ready to disclose how it will work but we can say that it will be intertwined with Vortex.

As we know full-well the various concerns you might have about mod packs, rest assured that we are prepared to do it in a way that is right for our community, and that is both convenient for users, but also fair towards mod authors whose contributions are the very lifeblood of our site and community.

[b]More game extensions
[/b]
We will continue to add more game support to Vortex at a steady pace for the foreseeable future and we're always happy to hear from users who want to help us in this endeavour.


While the 1.0 release will not be anything major for most of our Vortex users who keep their software up-to-date automatically, it marks a significant milestone for us here at Nexus Mods.

If you tried Vortex during the early alpha and beta stages and found it wasn't for you or that there was a bug you didn't like, try again, you might be surprised at how it has changed in that time.

Lastly, we want to thank everyone who has contributed to the development and improvement of Vortex; the users who have contributed to the code base, everyone who participated in the limited alpha, the open alpha and beta, the regulars in the Vortex forums and on Discord, as well as the Vortex dev team.


[b]Download Vortex 1.0.0:[/b]
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/about/vortex/]https://www.nexusmods.com/about/vortex/[/url]

[b]Knowledge Base:[/b]
[url=https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Category:Vortex]https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Category:Vortex[/url]

[b]Importing mods from NMM:[/b]
[url=https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Importing_mods_from_NMM]https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Importing_mods_from_NMM[/url]

[b]Vortex Support Forums:[/b]
[url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/forum/4306-vortex-support/]https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/forum/4306-vortex-support/[/url]

[b]Documentation for developers:[/b]
[url=https://github.com/Nexus-Mods/vortex-api/wiki]https://github.com/Nexus-Mods/vortex-api/wiki[/url]

A [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14053]few weeks ago[/url] we launched our Meme Mania community event where we asked you guys to come up with gaming and/or modding related, humorous memes and potentially win one of three game keys for a game of your choice on GOG.com! 

Many of you have submitted their memes and we had a blast looking through them all and picking our ten favourites. As a reminder: two of the three keys for a game of your choice on GOG.com go to two randomly chosen users from the jury selection, whereas one key goes to a randomly chosen user picked from everyone who has participated and submitted a valid entry.


[size=3][b]Jury Selection and Winners[/b][/size]

From all your submissions we picked the following users (and their entries) for the final selection: [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/images/16037]Feregorn[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/images/16031]kannam6[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/images/48956]Melodicry[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/images/46009]NewKeithMoon[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/images/739116]permad[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/images/172135]Rep Junior[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/images/738892]Sebngarde[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/garrysmod/images/56]Setoncio[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/images/152438/?force_view=1]TheNumbersMason[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/images/153475]Xilandro[/url].

And the two randomly chosen winners from the jury selection are...

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/images/152438/?force_view=1][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563791016-975130899.jpeg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/71159323?tab=user+images&BH=0]TheNumbersMason[/url] - for his custom-animated gif (check out the animation by clicking the image) bringing Keanu Reeves from the Cyberpunk trailer to the world of Fallout 4. Very impressive! Congratulations!

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/images/153475][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563791014-207689202.jpeg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/1417653?tab=user+images&BH=0]Xilandro[/url] - for, uh, well... an equally timeless and relevant meme highlighting the importance of bathwater. Congratulations to you!

And last but not least: randomly chosen from all participants...
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/images/737970][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563791330-1006019738.jpeg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/31819255?tab=user+images&BH=0]knightraider[/url] - Congratulations![size=3][b]


Community Selection[/b][/size]

[url=https://imgur.com/a/bKvYOTg]Check out the entire community selection with all contributions![/url]

A big thank you to everyone who has participated by submitting valid entries: 

[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/990135?tab=user+images&BH=0]09jlardinois[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/users/749254?tab=user+images&BH=0]Alehazar[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/45079237?tab=user+images&BH=0]AndyK88[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/35622385?tab=user+images&BH=0]anewacc[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/users/18222069?tab=user+images&BH=0]Apzurv[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/59105931?tab=user+images&BH=0]CommunistDoge[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/8025151?tab=user+images&BH=0]Custom22[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/40039520?tab=user+images&BH=0]dbzsquirrel[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/stalkerclearsky/users/15488454?tab=user+images&BH=0]FattyJoker[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/users/297596?tab=user+images&BH=0]Feregorn[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/users/61907786?tab=user+images&BH=0]flyer3232[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/users/9866459?tab=user+images&BH=0]GrandMaster123[/url], 
[url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/54982652?tab=user+images&BH=0]Infectedalloy[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/68905038?tab=user+images&BH=0]Jaccbudy[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/users/49260968?tab=user+images&BH=0]kannam6[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/57823536?tab=user+images&BH=0]KanyeWest4Prez2020[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/31819255?tab=user+images&BH=0]knightraider[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/25439469?tab=user+images&BH=0]Melodicry[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/3464391?tab=user+images&BH=0]michchall[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/19788949?tab=user+images&BH=0]MorrisonGamer[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/users/6974500?tab=user+images&BH=0]NewKeithMoon[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/52083166?tab=user+images&BH=0]permad[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/users/7103646?tab=user+images&BH=0]printerkop[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/users/207773?tab=user+images&BH=0]Rep Junior[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/batmanarkhamknight/users/25609639?tab=user+images&BH=0]rflores03[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/71473273?tab=user+images&BH=0]Rickel2Hero[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/47981558?tab=user+images&BH=0]Sebngarde[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/garrysmod/users/56540152?tab=user+images&BH=0]Setoncio[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/40874065?tab=user+images&BH=0]tccasnaova[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/users/3680978?tab=user+images&BH=0]templeofninpo[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/71159323?tab=user+images&BH=0]TheNumbersMason[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/68770683?tab=user+images&BH=0]TyOnNexus[/url], [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/users/1417653?tab=user+images&BH=0]Xilandro[/url]

I hope you all enjoyed this event and we are looking forward to seeing you back for the next one. Until then, happy modding!

Today we are talking to Abstract Era Entertainment and the team behind [url=https://www.secondsfromsilence.com/]Seconds from Silence[/url], an upcoming, moddable MMORPG due for release in 2020. Seconds from Silence will take you to a medieval fantasy world reminiscent of Skyrim and Witcher 3, paired with MMO mechanics, factions, race-relations, empire-building and managing, and more. As of today, the team is recruiting alpha testers, so if you are interested, feel free to read through the interview and apply to become a tester (see below). 

[center][youtube]iuE3DKWth6w[/youtube][b][/b][/center][b]
BigBizkit: Thanks for joining us today. To start this off, why don't you, David, introduce yourself and the team.
[/b]
David Wilson: My name is David Wilson and I am the Director of Marketing for Abstract Era Entertainment. Today I have with me our Lead Art Director, Jack Wayne, along with a member of our Character Creation Pillar who is well known as a mod developer in the Nexus community, who we will introduce a bit later in the interview. We here at Abstract Era Entertainment really appreciate the chance to tell your members about our title: Seconds from Silence. We’re sure they’re going to love it and they are specifically the type of gamers that we want to hear from during our ongoing development. Thank you for having us!
[center][/center][b]Could you tell us a bit about Seconds from Silence? What kind of game is it and what made you want to develop it in the first place?[/b]

David Wilson: Seconds from Silence is a moddable MMORPG being developed for PC and consoles. In Seconds from Silence players will embark upon their travels and decide what they want to be and what they want to do. Gameplay will simulate, but not be limited to, living a life in a medieval fantasy world where the laws of the land are governed by the players that own them. There are no specific roles that any player will be locked to but instead, players will decide what role they want to play within the world. Any player can choose to be a king or a commoner, mercenary or thief, adventurer or pirate, blacksmith or alchemist, vampire or vampire hunter, sorcerer or priest, trader or bandit, holy paladin or an assassin for hire… or whatever they want to be… that’s just to name a few. There will also be several epic storylines and endless adventures to embark upon.

We here at Abstract Era Entertainment believe that the best games are the ones that make you feel like you can make choices without limitation. Two good examples of this type of game model would be games like The Witcher 3 and Skyrim. These titles did have main storylines but they also gave players a sense of freedom. It is this sense to freedom that we wish to expand upon and take to the next level.

Take for example that in Skyrim, when you first step out of the cave, escaping the headsman’s axe and dragon’s attack at Helgen, there is this somewhat unexplainable feeling of awe and adventure that hits you. There were these chills that you got once you realized that you’ve really been set loose and were free to do whatever you wanted. To be able to choose to follow Hadvar, or Ralof, or neither of them! We loved that feeling of freedom of choice, to explore the unknown and dive headlong into an epic adventure, to do whatever you wanted to do and not be stuck into any linear storyline.

If that wasn’t great enough by itself, later, you discover that you can even create mods and share them with a community of passionate gamers on mod sites such as Nexus Mods to truly personalize the adventure. Now imagine being able to have that entire experience and much more, including mods, with your friends in an MMORPG. Our decision to develop Seconds from Silence wasn’t a decision at all; it was made as a result of that vision.

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563458840-144342882.png[/img][/center][b]
Without spoiling anything, what sort of setting and story are we to expect from the game? What were some of your inspirational sources?[/b]

Jack Wayne: Seconds from Silence is heavily inspired by Skyrim and The Witcher 3, however, we have taken care to ensure that gameplay is new and unique while maintaining a sort of familiarity for those who loved these aforementioned titles. You might consider Seconds from Silence as a hybrid of the two titles but developed in a manner such as to complement them rather than be a continuance or copy of either. If you enjoyed the gameplay of either of these titles then we are certain that you will feel right at home in Seconds from Silence.

The setting for Seconds from Silence occurs within a medieval fantasy world known primarily as the Shifting Continents. Players will set out to explore vast lands spanning several miles and even set to the high seas to explore strange new islands and even more continents. Daring adventurers will venture into the dark depths to bring light to caverns, dungeons and long since lost ancient civilizations hidden deep under the ground. Whether across the ocean, around a mountain or beyond the horizon, there will always be adventures and quests to undertake.

David Wilson: I’d like to add that as Seconds from Silence is non-linear, players will go wherever they want to go and do whatever they decide to do. For those interested in a great story, they can set out to investigate a rumor of what evil they heard of from the local folk. If conquest is their ambition then they can establish a kingdom, battle their aggressors and lay claim to their divine right to rule over the lands. If they are more nefarious in deeds and have an eye for riches and plunder then a thieves guild, bandit camp or pirate vessel will be more fitting for achieving their goals. Through interaction with one another and with the NPCs within the world of Seconds from Silence, the adventure is truly never-ending.

[b]What would you say are the core mechanics of Seconds from Silence? What sets it apart from other MMORPGs?[/b]

David Wilson: Gameplay in Seconds from Silence will allow players to build the world around them. Players will build many different types of structures from cabins up to and even including entire kingdoms. If you are a king and you own lands, you can build whatever you can defend on them. As a king, you can also allow other players to build their homes in your villages, cities and even allow other players to farm on your lands, provided they agree to pay the king’s tax of course. But beware as other players can also establish thieves guilds in your cities and rob your people of their goods as well as stir up trouble. Otherwise, they might put together a raiding party and attack your villages to take whatever they want. As such it’s important for kings to defend their lands and that is where the guard and King’s law systems come into gameplay.

One key factor that is an issue with most freeform games is that anyone you encounter tries to kill you without warning or reason. This type of kill or be killed environment that is often the typical result of poor planning is due to there not being any consequences for such actions. That is why we are designing Seconds from Silence with two key factors in mind: The first is that due to how progression works, players will value their character and they won’t want their character to die. The second factor is that the actions you take in Seconds from Silence will have consequences and players won’t break the King’s laws without first carefully considering how to escape the King’s justice.

We are also designing the game so that attacking a city or village will not be an easy thing that just one or a few random new players will be able to do, provided the city has proper defenses set in place, its people will be able to defend themselves. Players will be able to establish city guards when founding any new city or to request the ruling king set in place some of his Royal Guard to defend the city from any attacks (guards can be NPCs that you hire or require your subjects to provide). Players can also assign guards to patrol and protect the lands they reside on.

In Seconds from Silence, you will have guards and soldiers that you can assign to patrol your lands. If someone breaks a law and anyone sees it, they will report the lawbreaker to the guards, they will, in fact, RUN to do so. As soon as the guard is notified they will do a few different things based on what the captain of the guard or king has demanded them to do upon such a report. If they are unable to capture the lawbreaker then a bounty on the lawbreaker can be set as a reward for anyone who brings them to justice, dead or alive (or required to be alive or dead specifically, as these are also options). Once a bounty has been set on a player, anyone with the means to do so, through alchemy, magic or tracking skills (among other methods), can use these methods to find the lawbreaker.

We could go on for a long time discussing the many unique elements of gameplay within Seconds from Silence but one of the big ones is that there will be King’s Law and depending on the king, it will be feared and well respected. When traveling in Seconds from Silence, be sure to respect the laws of whoever owns the dust beneath your feet, lest you become part of it.

[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563521050-1340809767.jpeg][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563521297-1368482503.jpeg[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563521170-187510315.jpeg][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563521300-1741748206.jpeg[/img][/url][/center]
[b]Seconds from Silence will feature several different races and a friend-or-foe system based on race. Can you tell us a bit about the more obscure races and classes in the game such as Skin Walkers?[/b]

[quote]David Wilson: Just before he took our gold he swore he saw a mirror, but there was no mirror in that cabin… we killed Fredrick for his greed but then I saw him once more on the morrow… a Skinwalker had gotten the best of us! Oh, poor Fredrick, how will you ever forgive us now? - Anonymous[/quote]
Jack Wayne: The idea of the Skinwalker race came from Celtic, Irish and Native American lore of a mythical creature that could steal the appearance of those unlucky enough to cross their path. Skinwalkers are beings that take upon themselves the physical appearance of those they come into contact with. All a Skinwalker needs do is simply look upon another creature and by focusing on their prey they assume their form. A Skinwalker is considered a natural chameleon of sorts, however, it takes skill for a Skinwalker to take upon certain forms and maintain such foolery. It is wise to carry runes and also etch warding runes in place else you too become quite not yourself.

Pure blooded races are not the only options for players to choose from as they can also choose to be a mixture of two different races. In the world of Seconds from Silence, these half-bloods are known as Halflings. A Halfling could be either an Elvish Human or a Goblin Orc to point out a couple of examples. Racial enemies are typically incapable of producing off-spring and this - among other reasons within the lore behind each race - is why such creatures are considered abominations hunted and killed by all who become aware of their existence.

[b]In one of our earlier conversations, you pointed out that modding will play a big role in Seconds from Silence. What aspects of the game will people be able to mod and how? Do you plan on releasing mod tools?[/b]

David Wilson: It is our intention to make modding an entertaining and desirable activity in Seconds from Silence for anyone who wishes to truly personalize the whole experience. Knowledge of Unreal Engine will be helpful, however, it will not be necessary. Modders will be provided with the "SFS Modder Toolkit" to prepare their mods for integration in Seconds from Silence as well as for sharing on sites such as Nexus Mods. We are looking into setting it up so that modders will be able to use the Nexus Mods very own Vortex mod manager to install mods developed using the SFS Modder Toolkit. As we wish to promote modding in Seconds from Silence, the SFS Modder Toolkit will be easy to use and will have all the necessary functions for modders to develop mods compatible with Seconds from Silence.

We are developing Seconds from Silence to support three different general sections of modding:

Replacing skeletal aesthetics - This section covers the visual appearance of skeletal models as well as animations. Modders will be able to change how an existing skeletal model appears during gameplay. For example, they may develop a new model that replaces the "Leather Boots" model or a breastplate, etc. They will even be able to develop their own hairstyles and even replace the body model if they so choose. Modders will be limited to using existing skeletons within Seconds from Silence, however, this should not be an issue as there are different skeletons, each with their own hierarchies to choose from.

Replacing static aesthetics - This section covers the visual appearance of static models. As players will be able to build many different structures within the game, there will be walls, foundations, stairs, and so forth that Modders will be able to replace with their own models and textures. The SFS Modder Toolkit will allow Modders to import their custom asset and check the mod to make sure it meets the requirements of the asset they are replacing (this will be described in far more detail through the SFS Modder Toolkit documentation). Additionally, this section will allow modders to replace the visual appearance of existing weapons and shields, as these are considered moveable static meshes in Seconds from Silence.

Curation submission - This section covers assets that are submitted to our team to be provided as a new asset within the game. If a modder wishes to add an entirely new legendary sword within the game that other players can find and use or a completely new asset in general that is not a "replacer" of an existing asset, they would submit the asset through the SFS Modders Toolkit for review by our Curation Team. If the asset is approved then we will program the "asset slot" into the game, however, players must download the asset from a mod hosting site such as Nexus Mods and install it. Please understand that we will not host nor include the new asset in the default installation, however, we will add a slot for the asset to be installed.

[b]Regarding Abstract Era Entertainment as a studio, what can you tell us about your team and your various backgrounds in gaming and modding?
[/b]
David Wilson: Abstract Era Entertainment consists of people that not only enjoy working in the gaming industry but also enjoy playing whatever games they can get their hands on. Having just under 30 positions filled by highly devoted developers, we consider our team to be a fairly tightly-knit group. Developers working on Seconds from Silence oftentimes play games with one another and have worked together on past projects for other studios. Our studio may be small compared to some other indie studios, but we are always looking for talented additions to our Development Team and we intend to expand our team as often as development requires.

One key requirement during our hiring process is that any candidate that we consider must have a minimum of three years of experience having worked specifically on an MMORPG title. Our developers were also required to have a minimum of one year experience working within the Unreal Engine. Yet another matter that we consider a plus when adding any new member to our Development Team is that they have had past experience with developing mods for another game (like Skyrim), which did present some challenges. The majority of our developers have all had a love for modding the games that they play. It was, however, to our surprise, somewhat challenging for us to find developers that met our minimum requirements and also had experience not just using mods but also developing mods.

We were very excited when we were able to acquire a known modder in the Nexus Community who fit the bill for our team. Some of the members on the Nexus may be familiar with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3076419?tab=user+files]Nightasy[/url] as he has developed and shared mods on the Nexus Mod sites for several years now. Nightasy has worked in the gaming industry for over five-plus years, using a variety of different engines. Luckily for our team, Nightasy also has been able to connect us with other talented mod developers who he has worked with in the past. The input we have received from Nightasy with regards to the development of the SFS Modders Toolkit has been quite innovative and we consider him an invaluable member of our Character Creation Pillar.

[b]What was the process of going from modders and video game enthusiasts to developers like (for those among you where this would apply)? What lessons did you learn from modding that you are able to apply now?[/b]

Nightasy: It was actually modding Bethesda titles that made me want to work in the gaming industry in the first place. I didn’t even know mods existed prior to that and one day I was just browsing the web and came across a link to Nexus Mods. It straight up floored me, completely changed my gaming interests and I haven’t stopped modding ever since. For me, a game that can’t be modded just doesn’t quite keep my interests anymore. Heck, I’ll still pick playing FO4 and Skyrim to this very day over a game that can’t be modded.

I was so passionate about developing mods that at one point I even wanted to teach other people how to do it and made an entire video series about modding. I was nowhere near as educated as I am now but I loved modding so much that I just wanted to help other people learn how to mod. It wasn’t too long before I found myself developing mods as well as teaching people how to mod, far more than actually playing games. One day I just decided that since I spent all of my free time making mods for games that I might as well go to college and do it for a living. So I did the whole college scene and set myself to task to learn everything I could about game development and I haven’t looked back. It was the best decision I ever made.

Modding is a challenging task for anyone to undertake, especially since most games do not support it. It requires a lot of testing, a lot of dedication as well as a ton of trial and error (and a hex decoder or two along the way). It taught me that where there’s a will, there’s a way and it taught me how to go about solving problems. One of the most important things that I learned from modding is that I love it so much that I hope everyone will someday get to experience the joy of creating mods themselves. There’s a sort of accomplishment that you can’t get anywhere else when you hear from other community members on the Nexus that they love using your mods.

[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563521806-163953238.jpeg][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563522839-485993843.jpeg[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563521802-20231811.jpeg][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563522835-2025583883.jpeg[/img][/url][/center]
[b]How are you planning on coping with the balancing act between providing a fair and balanced MMORPG experience as well as the ability for players to freely mod their games?
[/b]
Jack Wayne: Rest assured that we have taken careful consideration during our development to ensure that mods will not provide any player with unfair advantages. Mods that are installed are visual only to the player that installs them. Player's will be able to request that other players also install the same mods so that they can see them in their game as well. Upon approving such a request, the mods will only replace the visual aesthetics on the original player’s lands and assets that the other player owns. The beauty of that is that this will allow players to create their very own unique culture and other players will be able to see it without having it affect their own lands. There are some restrictions in place for mods and we are taking measures to ensure that mods will not be capable of conflicting with fair gameplay.

David Wilson: To point out one example of what Jack is referring to is that we predict that certain concerns may arise in the community of people that will play as thieves or assassins. Asset materials (also referred to as “shaders”) have strict rules set in place to prevent mods from making your character glow on another person's client, there are also size restrictions and so forth. No worries, you will still be able to hide in the shadows. The SFS Modder Toolkit will provide a checklist for any asset that a modder wishes to customize. In order to export the mod from the SFS Modder Toolkit, the mod must meet those requirements. For example, if a wall doesn’t have a hole in the center of it, then the mod that replaces the wall can likewise, not have a hole in it.

Any new asset that is approved by our mod curators will be balanced within the game. The modder will be able to select from a list of defined options that will determine how the asset will be integrated once a player decides to install it. For example, if a modder releases a new legendary sword of old and this mod is approved, the modder will have to select whether this sword can be crafted at a forge or if the sword must be found within the world.

If the sword can be forged, the strength of the sword would be determined by what is required to craft the sword. The more resources the sword requires in order to create it, the more powerful it will be and so forth. If the modder selects that the weapon is unique then it will have a soul in Seconds from Silence.

If a player finds the sword in a dungeon and then another player finds another one of them in a buried treasure chest, one of the swords is considered a reincarnation of the first. As a reincarnated weapon it will begin to drain the first one anytime they are near one another until one of them is destroyed.

Jack Wayne: The modder will select an existing model to be used as the default appearance of the new asset. Any curated asset will need to be installed by a player in order for the player to see the modder's visual version of it.

David Wilson: We will also be providing a server kit for modders that wish to make game mechanic changes. The modder will be able to host their own server, make changes to game mechanics (such as damage multipliers, arrow traveling speed, running speeds, unique skill trees, etc.) though players will still need to have an active account with Abstract Era Entertainment. Additionally, any characters and assets that exist on that server will not be transferrable to the official servers.

[b]You mentioned that your development process is based on a “four pillar” approach. Could you elaborate on that?[/b]

David Wilson: The Four Pillars of development are as follows: Character Creation, Combat, Building, and Ruling.

Developing Seconds from Silence is no small task and contains a ton of unique and interesting things that players will be able to do. As there are so many different elements of gameplay in Seconds from Silence we divided them into what we refer to as “The Four Pillars” of development. Each Pillar Team is dedicated to completing that pillar’s elements of gameplay. This allows our team to stay organized as well as focus on their dedicated tasks. The Four Pillar approach also allows our team to separate the various elements of gameplay into unique pillar testing clients for individual feedback.

Jack Wayne: The Four Pillar approach is essential in our efforts to complete the overall game and ensure that every aspect of gameplay is provided with equal attention to detail during development. All aspects of gameplay within Seconds from Silence are divided into the Four Pillars and overseen by our most experienced developers. As such, we ensure that tasks are always completed and quality standards are well maintained within the art direction guidelines that have been set in place.

[b]Regarding one of the pillars “Character Creation” in particular, is there any way for people to help you guys out with testing?[/b]

David Wilson: We are glad that you ask that as a primary goal for our having reached out to the Nexus is to recruit alpha testers for each of the Four Pillars of development. Each pillar maintains its very own alpha testing client for alpha testers to test that specific pillar of gameplay. We have just launched our alpha testing sign up page for members interested in testing Seconds from Silence. Anyone that wishes to participate in alpha testing and in doing so assist our team with user feedback may take the following steps:


[list]
[*]Visit [url=https://www.secondsfromsilence.com/register/]www.secondsfromsilence.com/register/[/url] 
[*]Register an account. (The account you log into the site with is the same account you’ll use to log into the alpha testing client if you are selected for alpha testing).
[*]Visit [url=https://www.secondsfromsilence.com/four-pillar-testing/]www.secondsfromsilence.com/four-pillar-testing/[/url]
[*]Sign up to test in each pillar that you wish to be considered for testing!
[/list]
[i]Note: It is possible to be selected as a tester in multiple pillars at the same time.[/i]

Alpha testers will be randomly selected once enough members have signed up for consideration. Upon being selected as an alpha tester, you will be instructed via email on how to begin your participation in our testing process. It is important to note that all alpha testers will be required to agree to the terms and conditions for testing Seconds from Silence prior to downloading any alpha testing client.

Upon being selected as an alpha tester, in any pillar of development, you will be given access to download and login to the alpha testing client released for that pillar of development. As an alpha tester, you will continue to have access to that pillar’s testing client until all alpha testing has finalized and the game is ready to be launched. You will be able to not only play Seconds from Silence but also provide us with valuable feedback during development!

[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563458525-869597026.jpeg][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1563458584-1403694385.jpeg[/img][/url][/center]
[b]Last but not least, is there anything else you would like to say to our community?[/b]

David Wilson: We here at Abstract Era Entertainment wish to thank all of you for your time and interest in our title, Seconds from Silence. As Seconds from Silence is officially being developed to support player modding, we highly value any feedback we can receive from the Nexus Mods community! Again, thank you and we hope many of you will join us in alpha testing for Seconds from Silence!

[line]
Thanks a lot to David, Jack, and Nightasy from Abstract Era Entertainment - the indie studio behind Seconds from Silence. As always if there are any mod authors or mod projects you'd like to hear about, don't hesitate to send a message to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url].

We've noticed an increase in support tickets recently related to payments failing when attempting to purchase Supporter or Premium Membership on the site. This issue seems to have only affected a small subset of people who have purchased membership through Pay Pal, but it's important I get the word out so these users are not out of pocket or out of membership they legitimately paid for on the site.

The issue was caused by a communication error between Pay Pal's services and our services. We've put a fix in place and will be monitoring the situation closely over the coming weeks.

If you've purchased Supporter or Premium Membership from us over the past two weeks, please verify that your membership is working properly. Similarly, if your payment "failed" for whatever reason, and you tried to purchase the membership again, please double check to make sure you were not double charged. If you find any issues or anomalies related to your purchase do not hesitate to [url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?app=nexus&module=support§ion=new]contact me[/url], providing any pertinent details, and I will get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. If you already sent in a support ticket over the weekend, I'll be taking a look at them right now.

Our paid memberships are extremely important to us and the continued existence of the sites, so please rest assured any issues will be looked into seriously, reimbursed where necessary and compensated accordingly.

We've been chatting with the team behind Blade & Sorcery about the official modding support included in update 6 of the game and are pleased to announce full Vortex support for Blade & Sorcery. 

To start modding the game with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/about/vortex/]Vortex[/url], you'll need 0.18.11 or above and Blade & Sorcery 6.0 or above. Then you just need to click the "Download with Manager" or "Vortex" buttons found on the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/bladeandsorcery]mod pages[/url].

[center][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/2295/images/26/26-1561995385-995026695.jpeg[/img][/center]

Vortex allows you to easily install and uninstall your mods, create profiles for different mod combinations and quickly check for updates. We've put together a [url=https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Modding_Blade_%26_Sorcery_with_Vortex]guide on the Vortex wiki[/url]. If you're having problems getting started, you can also watch the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/bladeandsorcery/videos/1]tutorial video[/url] by [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/63592656]TheBaronReviews[/url], Blade & Sorcery's Community Manager. 

For mod authors who want to make their mods compatible with U6, you will need to use the [url=https://github.com/KospY/BasSDK]Blade & Sorcery SDK[/url] to repack the files. Please ensure you mod also includes a manifest.json file to make sure it can be loaded by the game and detected by Vortex. 

[center] [youtube]3-90-BE8uq8[/youtube] [youtube]2JtNUPs0bqs[/youtube][/center]
If you've not heard of Blade & Sorcery, it's a really cool VR hack and slash game created by former Fallout New Vegas modder, [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/337717]KospY[/url]. The game sees you take on waves of enemies using an assortment of weapons and magic powers. We've had a lot of fun with it in the Nexus Mods office while testing modding support and if you want to give it a try it's available on [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/629730/Blade_and_Sorcery/]Steam[/url], [url=https://www.oculus.com/experiences/rift/2472374902778951]Oculus[/url] and [url=https://www.viveport.com/apps/a0ef3810-169c-4b13-ab62-22168842a918/Blade_and_Sorcery/]Viveport[/url]. 

A big thank you to the Blade & Sorcery team for working with us on the mod support! 

Do you like memes? Do you like the idea of winning one of 3 GOG keys for a game of your choice? Then we have great news for you: submit a fresh modding and/or gaming related meme and one of the three game keys could be yours!

With our last [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/13986]Community Screenshot Event[/url] having been a great success, we thought it’s time to run another enticing event, this time centred around humour and fun in the form of modding memes!

[b][size=3]Modding Memes[/size][/b]

What we mean by that is, essentially, images depicting modding and/or gaming related content garnished with a humorous caption. 

Here are a few examples of what we are looking for:

[center][url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1561628168-184118888.jpeg][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1561628609-1969476490.jpeg[/img][/url] [url=https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1561628172-227586564.jpeg][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1561628612-744700389.jpeg[/img][/url][/center][center][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/edit/?id=93729&game_id=110&step=media#lg=3&slide=94][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1561628172-46441003.png[/img][/url][/center]
These, however, are just examples and you are invited to get creative. You can use freely available tools such as [url=https://www.google.com/search?q=meme+generator&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB796GB796&oq=meme+generator&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l2j0l3.1367j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8]meme generators[/url] or [url=https://imgur.com/memegen]imgur[/url] to create your memes from a template or from your own image (preferable).

[b]Please note[/b]: while we understand that there is a time and place for “edgy” or political memes, this event is not it. All submissions need to adhere to our site rules and be appropriate for all audiences. In other words: the memes would need to be something you could show to your grannies, little brothers, nieces etc.

[b][size=3]Prizes[/size][/b]

Our friends over at [url=https://www.gog.com/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA]GOG.com[/url] are running a "Created with Passion" sale (starting today 03:00pm CEST) with amazing discounts for loads of great DRM-free games and we got some pretty neat prizes from them to give away to you guys!

[center][url=https://www.gog.com/?pp=a120fe5cad51f0d0942d7c283478628047d6cfceA][img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1561977453-1086085678.jpeg[/img][/url][/center]
In total we will be giving away three game keys for [b]a game of your choice on GOG.com[/b] (excluding preorders). One key will go to a random participant, while two keys will be given away to two randomly drawn memesters from the jury selection consisting of 10 memes that our Nexus Mods jury will be choosing.

[center][img width=500,height=250]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1561919855-1079657691.png[/img] [img width=500,height=250]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/93729/93729-1561919860-1250779917.png[/img][/center]
[b][size=3]Jury Selection[/size][/b]

Humour is, of course, very subjective, but we will try our best to judge based on the following criteria:

[list]
[*]Humour
[*]Creativity
[*]Aesthetic appeal
[/list]
Bonus points if...

[list]
[*]the meme is related to modding in particular
[*]the meme is showing off mods
[*]the meme is extra dank
[/list]
[b][size=3]How to enter the event[/size][/b]

[list=1]
[*]Create at least one meme i.e. an image or collage of images depicting (ingame) modding/gaming content with a humorous caption.
[*]Upload your meme to the [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/images/add]public image share[/url] ([url=https://help.nexusmods.com/article/28-file-submission-guidelines]site rules[/url] apply). Please use the "Funny" category - where applicable.
[*]Fill out the event entry form here: [url=https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-kzBqgBfFldMqDCk-BD4Ocu30Cbtc91QgrZcu7Q6IRmKl3g/viewform]Click here to enter for a chance to win one of 3x Winner's Choice GOG keys.[/url]
[*]Make sure to provide your email, Nexus Mods username, and the URLs linking to your memes on the image share.
[/list]
If you do not fill out the Google Form, you are not eligible to win a prize!

The event will be running for [b]two weeks[/b] from today Monday, 1st July until Monday, [b]15th July 04:00 PM (GMT+1)[/b]. Make sure to submit your entries before the end of the event if you would like to participate. 

Please take note of the rules of participation as well as the general terms and conditions below.

With that all being said, we are all very much looking forward to seeing what memes you can come up with. Best of luck to all participants and feel free to share your thoughts and links to your memes in the comments below! If you would like to provide additional feedback, please post it in [url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/7779713-meme-mania-feedback-thread/]this dedicated feedback thread[/url] so we can keep track of it.

Best of luck, all!

[b]Participants - Entries - Memes[/b]
[spoiler]
[list]
[*]Participants are required to submit at least one (1) meme (i.e. an image taken in-game with a humorous caption) relating to gaming and/or modding in order to enter the event and become eligible for winning a prize.
[*]Submitting several memes is possible, however, only one (1) meme per user will be featured in either the jury selection or the community selection.
[*]All entries must be submitted between Monday, 1st July 2019 and Monday, 15th July 2019 04:00 PM (GMT+1).
[*]Within the context of this competition, a “meme” shall be defined as an image or a collage of images paired with a humorous caption.
[*]Memes must be uploaded to the public image share, and participants need to fill out the contest entry Google Form.
[*]Memes may depict game and/or mod content in combination with a caption and/or another image (e.g. reaction shot etc.).
[*]You must be the copyright holder i.e. creator of the image or be otherwise authorised to distribute it.
[*]Images must not include artwork from other creators without explicit permission.
[*]Images may be edited with external tools (GIMP, Photoshop etc.), or “meme generators”.
[*]Images must not depict content that would not be permissible to be hosted on Nexus Mods e.g. armours that were illegally ripped from another game.
[*]Featured content must conform to our site rules (inappropriate content) and must not feature adult content such as nudity, swearing, sexualised content, extreme violence and gore.
[*]Entries must not be provocative, divisive, discriminatory, or abusive towards any real-world individual or group, nor relate to the topic of real-life politics, religion, gender identity, sexuality, or social class. 
[*]Entries found to be in violation of any of those rules and/or our general terms and policies will be disqualified.
[*]Disqualified entries will be removed from the final selection and any awarded associated prizes will be revoked.
[/list][/spoiler]

[b]Prizes - Jury Selection - Community Selection[/b]
[spoiler]
[list]
[*]In total, three (3) “Winner’s Choice”* GOG keys will be given away as prizes during the event.
* A GOG.com key of your choice valued at $60 (or currency equivalent) or less, excluding pre-orders.[*]One (1) Winner’s Choice GOG key will be given away randomly to one (1) user who submitted at least one meme as a valid entry, and who entered the draw via the Google Form.
[*]One meme per user will be displayed in a final news post concluding the event.
[*]Ten (10) memes total will be picked for the “jury selection” by a jury made up of site staff / the Nexus Mods team.
[*]Two (2) Winner’s Choice GOG keys will be awarded to two (2) randomly picked users represented in the jury selection.
[/list][/spoiler]

[b]General Terms and Conditions [/b][spoiler]
By submitting a competition entry, you are agreeing to be bound by these terms and conditions.


[list]
[*][b]Promoter name[/b]. Black Tree Gaming Limited incorporated in England and Wales with company number 06360077 of 10 Southernhay West, Exeter, EX1 1JG  (referred to throughout this terms as the “Promoter”, “we”, “us” and “our”).
[*][b]Deadline[/b]. All competition entries must be received by the Promoter by no later than the Closing Date displayed on the Google Form. All competition entries received after the Closing Date are automatically disqualified.
[*][b]How to Enter[/b]. You may enter through the Google Form by entering your email address (for contact purposes). 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.
[*][b]Eligibility[/b]. 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.
[*][b]Prize conditions[/b]. 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 or the email that you provided on the Google Form. 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.
[*][b]Excluded participants and entries[/b]. 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.
[*][b]Selection of winners[/b]. The winner will be chosen at random. If you did not provide a valid email address when entering we will choose a new winner. If you did not complete the mandatory "Leave a comment" action, we will find a new winner.
[*][b]Ownership of competition entries and intellectual property rights[/b]. 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.
[*][b]Data protection and publicity[/b]. 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.
[*][b]Limitation of liability[/b]. 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.
[*][b]Social media.[/b] You acknowledge that the competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Google, Facebook, or Twitter. You agree to release Google, Facebook, and Twitter from any responsibility to you in relation to the competition.
[*][b]General[/b]. (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]