New Mod Portal!

[SupSuper]

https://openxcom.mod.io/

The fine folks at mod.io contacted us regarding our portal issues, and after a bunch of back and forth, we decided it was just what we needed. They're the same people that have been running Mod DB all these years, so, you know, they know their mods. The idea of mod.io is to provide similar capabilities to something like Steam Workshop without the platform restrictions. They even have an open API so you could build your own mod manager around it... wink wink nudge nudge.

Exciting New Features

• Search that actually works!
• Links that go places! Wow!
• Staff that actually answer your bug reports!
• And so much more!

Salty, me? Never

Now before you go rushing to upload every old mod into the new site, I have some suggestions so we take this chance to start with a clean slate and provide the best experience for modders and players alike:

- Don't just upload any random file. Mods should all be playable and use the "2.0 mod format" (self-contained folders with metadata) so player can just extract the ZIPs into their mods folder at will (stuff like Piratez not withstanding), and in the future, have the game do it for them. No point in supporting 1.0 anymore. Yes, I said it.

- Likewise, anything that is of little use to players should probably be left to the forums. That means random resources, helpers, utilities, etc. I'm not sure where tools and forks like OXCE fit into this, let me know what you think.

- Use tags smartly. They're there to help players find the mods they want, not to get you more attention. Your total conversion could be tagged with everything, but a player that's just looking for "Craft" probably isn't interested in it. Likewise, a new item might involve new graphics, audio, research, etc, but the "Equipment" tag should suffice. Again, open to feedback.

Equipment - Battle equipment like weapons, armor, etc.
Craft - Includes crafts and craft weapons.
Base Facility - Includes X-COM bases and facilities.
X-COM Unit - Soldiers, HWPs, etc.
Alien Race - Alien units, crews, UFOs, etc.
Battlescape - Maps, terrains, deployments, etc.
Geoscape - Countries, regions, cities, etc.
R&D - Research, manufacture, Ufopaedia, etc.
Audio - Alternate music and sound effects.
Graphics - Reskins and sprite swaps.
Total Conversion - It's not about X-COM anymore.
Megamod - It's still about X-COM but so big you wouldn't wanna mix with anything else.
Balance - Focus on rebalancing existing stuff (either to make it easier or harder).
?? - Something missing? Let me know.

- Even if your mod is a total conversion, always indicate the Base Game (UFO/TFTD) required to run it, as not everyone may own both games.

- You can use the Homepage field to link to your forum thread.

Now go forth and mod away! You can even write guides, share your wisdom.

[ivandogovich]

So i went to that mod portal, afaiac, it does not have all of the mods from the old portal.<snip>

It takes time and effort for Mod authors to populate the Mod Portal.  The previous Mod Portal was up for 2 or 3 years, and this one has been up for only a day.

You might want to give it a little more time for authors to upload their mods, or dial back your expectations.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

Excellent!! I am so happy about this!!


I decided to read through the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy so you all don't have to. Here I will list anything you might be concerned about and/or may be interested to hear:
- - - - - - - - - -

* They collect basic personal info (email, country, birthday, gender) and will use it to solicit you with offers unless you unsubscribe from those offers. They will not share your information to marketing companies.
* They collect your usage data (IP address, cookies) in order to provide services such as stopping forum spam. They share this info with data collection entities such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and StopForumSpam allegedly for the purposes of providing those services, however you would need to consult their own privacy policies to confirm that.
* Individuals in Europe, Canada, and a few other places have enhanced rights in these areas and can enforce in some cases that your data is not collected or used, however it may negatively affect your browsing experience. Everyone can deny cookies however it will negatively affect browsing experience

* The mod portal is for users age 13 and over.

* DBolical Pty (the mod.io team) does not take responsibility for posted content. Download at your own risk and be wary of executable files!
* You retain all rights for content you submit, and are responsible for maintaining those rights.
* By submitting content, you give DBolical Pty the right to publish or distribute the content anywhere.
* By submitting content, you agree that it is not stolen, illegal, malicious, or advertising content, and will not look unfavorably upon mod.io.
* DBolical Pty reserves the right to modify or remove your content at any time.



Everything else I read seems pretty mundane and generic, with nothing objectionable, surprising, or particularly interesting. There is also a typo under Legal Requirements in the Privacy Policy.

[intenscia]

Hey all Scott here from mod.io - happy to answer any questions you may have. A few things to cover:

1. Joining mod.io is optional. You can browse and download mods without an account - submitting a mod will require you to join. The API can also be consumed in a read-only anonymous manner too, if you wanted to use your own user-system for example.
2. Thanks for reviewing our ToS/Privacy The Reaver of Darkness. If there is anything you believe isn't pro-user i'd be happy to review it (what was the typo?). It is also worth me saying we run no advertising or marketing of any form and will always give users the tools needed to permanently delete or download their account.

Looking forward to seeing creations from the OpenXcom community.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

2. Thanks for reviewing our ToS/Privacy The Reaver of Darkness. If there is anything you believe isn't pro-user i'd be happy to review it (what was the typo?).

It looks pretty decent to me! I didn't find anything particularly negative in there. The item I marked in red was from the part in the Privacy Policy where it says: "We may use your Personal Data to contact you with newsletters, marketing or promotional materials and other information that may be of interest to you. You may opt out of receiving any, or all, of these communications from us by following the unsubscribe link or instructions provided in any email we send."

The typo is where it says:
Legal Requirements

DBolical Pty Ltd may disclose your Personal Data in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to:

    To comply with a legal obligation;
    To protect and defend the rights or property of DBolical Pty Ltd;
    To prevent or investigate possible wrongdoing in connection with the Service;
    To protect the personal safety of users of the Service or the public; and
    To protect against legal liability.

It says "to" twice, if you read the first line and then any other line.

[efrenespartano]

Awwww yeah! This is great! I waited a long time to see another mod portal.

Excellent!! I am so happy about this!!


I decided to read through the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy so you all don't have to. Here I will list anything you might be concerned about and/or may be interested to

Thank you, Reaver.


Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

[intenscia]

Thanks, i'll get the typo fixed. Regarding that paragraph, we have an opt in newsletter which only we use to send site related information, so I can probably get it tightened up.

[Starving Poet]

Looking forward to the mod integration API in 2.0 

I think we definitely need an oxce/+ tag moving forward and potentially a Quality of Life tag, but I'm not 100% sold on the last one.

[SupSuper]

I think we definitely need an oxce/+ tag moving forward and potentially a Quality of Life tag, but I'm not 100% sold on the last one.

I've added a OXCE tag, though it might become obsolete once mods can just reference it as a Dependency instead.
I've been thinking of having two separate tag categories, one for content (Craft/Equipment/etc) and one for theme (Balance/Difficulty/Quality of Life/etc), but the latter is very open to interpretation. Inevitably every mod makes the game bigger and harder.

Since I don't consume mods, I have to count on the community to tell me what type of stuff you're making / searching for. It'll probably become clearer as the portal becomes more populated.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

I think the tag choices are pretty good as far as covering the bases.

I've been thinking of having two separate tag categories, one for content (Craft/Equipment/etc) and one for theme (Balance/Difficulty/Quality of Life/etc),

I could go for that. I might also go for separating the scope of the mod from the content it includes, ie. Megamod or Total Conversion would go in a separate category.

I have also noticed there is some confusion over whether or not you should tag up your MMs/TCs. I feel only the most important tags should be chosen but clearly not all agree with me. My mod and The X-Com Files have very few tags while Area 51 and Tech-Comm have most of the tags ticked. So there's an inconsistency there.

I also like that you have placed OXCE+ into its own category. I'd like to see something like this:
Base Game: (dropdown selecting UFO or TFTD)
Base Version: (dropdown selecting vanilla, OXCE+, possibly OXCE, any future versions, maybe one day a proper milestone?)
Scope: (dropdown selecting minor mods, major mods, megamods, total conversions)

A minor mod would be one that changes very few things and has a small footprint such that it is usually safe to combine with other mods. Example: Hazmat Armour
A major mod would make a big change to some part of the game, perhaps it completely transforms one segment of the game. It's probably safe to combine with other major mods which affect a different part of the game. Example: Terrain Pack
A megamod would be one that makes major changes to many different parts of the game and is likely to cause conflicts with other mods. Example: Area 51
A total conversion would be one that completely transforms the game experience such that it is very nearly a different game. TCs typically have their own standalone install. Example: Tech-Comm

[Yankes]

I agree on Reaver MM/TC split.

TC could in long run drop even requirement of original data because it replace mos of this.

[Solarius Scorch]

Can we change "alien race" to "aliens"? Sectoids is an alien race, a Large Scout obviously isn't. It's not about formality, it's about clarity.

[efrenespartano]

Can we change "alien race" to "aliens"? Sectoids is an alien race, a Large Scout obviously isn't. It's not about formality, it's about clarity.

It's a nice idea, makes this tag very useful and widespread to future mods.

Mostly because I think alien race tag could be a very different Race, like Gazer mod.


Enviado desde mi iPhone utilizando Tapatalk

[SupSuper]

I agree on Reaver MM/TC split.

TC could in long run drop even requirement of original data because it replace mos of this.

The Base Game tags aren't supposed to be a requirement, just descriptive, though they fulfill both purposes in most cases.

Can we change "alien race" to "aliens"? Sectoids is an alien race, a Large Scout obviously isn't. It's not about formality, it's about clarity.

Done. It was supposed to be "Alien Units" but I forgot about UFOs.

I've moved OXCE to a Dependency and rejigged the tags around based on feedback, though I think most just add complexity. When does a mod go from Minor to Major? From Work In Progress to Playable? Etc. While it's unambiguous what is a "TFTD mod" or a "Craft mod".
Tags are just a search auxiliary, they should be extras, not a spec sheet, specially since we can't enforce them (any tag can be left blank). If you check most other games they just have a handful of them.

Case in point:

A minor mod would be one that changes very few things and has a small footprint such that it is usually safe to combine with other mods. Example: Hazmat Armour
A major mod would make a big change to some part of the game, perhaps it completely transforms one segment of the game. It's probably safe to combine with other major mods which affect a different part of the game. Example: Terrain Pack
A megamod would be one that makes major changes to many different parts of the game and is likely to cause conflicts with other mods. Example: Area 51
A total conversion would be one that completely transforms the game experience such that it is very nearly a different game. TCs typically have their own standalone install. Example: Tech-Comm

Currently we have 5 "megamods" that span everything from "lots of additions" to "collection of mods" to "completely different campaign". I don't think quantity is a good threshold. Whether a mod is safe to combine with other mods depends entirely on what it changes, not the quantity of changes. And standalone installs are purely because of OXCE.
As a (admittedly very vanilla) player, I think the only significant difference between mod scope is "does this just add to the X-COM experience" or "is this fundamentally an entirely different campaign". After all this is OpenXcom, there's only so much you change. But if I try to play Piratez like I would X-COM, I'm gonna have a bad time.

[The Reaver of Darkness]

Problem with the mod portal: the dropdown menus don't work when trying to browse mods. When you click it, it shows the options. but if you move your mouse cursor or do anything else to select an option, the dropdown options disappear again.