Being a modder sucks balls

[Ducimus]

Since im sitting here with a few minutes to kill because i can't leave work until these last two employees vacate the freakin premises, figured id vent a little since this subject is fresh in my mind.

Being a modder sucks balls. Several reasons

- untold amount of time spend on trial and error. Sometimes stuff works, most of the time it doesn't. I think what ive produced only represents 50% or less of the total effort spent in "research and development"

- "Modder politiics". Seems like you always have to watch your P's and Q's around other modders, constantly, 100% of the time, regardless of what community your in. It's always a concious effort to not inadvertantly step on someones toes or ruffle feathers in some way shape or form. This is almost as tiring as....

- implied "user support". Publish a mod, and everyone expects you to provide technical support. The larger the mod, the more users, the more its implied. Also, documentation doesn't really help much. Seems like half the people don't read it anyway. Not to mention the people that expect or demand you answer their every question, or cater to their every whim, as if your obligated to by some contract you signed.

- downtime on your personal life. Be it something youd rather do with your PC such as play another game, or working on the mod instead of doing something outside, or even cutting in on your sleep to have more hours in the day to accomplish what you want.

- kills the game for yourself. Want to spoil a sim? Learn or find out how everything works behind the graphics.

Im sure i can rant more, but, meh, im outta gas. Im glad to be nearly done with it all.

And yes, id like some cheese with that whine. Thank you.

[kiwi_2005]

But, but, we will still be getting TMO 2.0 right? :oops:

:D

[TLAM Strike]

Yea being a modder can be hard.

You know how much time I've played Dangerous Waters this year? About zero...

Any time I start it up I'm either testing this or making sure this doesn't crash.

All my time seems to be spent in 3dsmax and photo shop. Up side is I've gotten good...

R&D? Thankfully 90% of the stuff we tried to add in to LWAMI 3.10 worked, a few things were a real pain, the CTD with the Poti and Parchim was a pain, the C-803 never turned out exactly as we wanted. The Research side of it, damn it feels like I'm working for the CIA some days.

Politics? Never had a problem. The LWAMI team is very small and we all get along.

User Support? RTFM! Come on its only 40 pages long! :O:

Oh yea an LWAMI 3.10 is out... :salute:
...and yea we've started work on 3.11. ;)
... and NO >insert name here< will not be playable! :arrgh!:

[Weiss Pinguin]

And yes, id like some cheese with that whine. Thank you.
Sounds like you need a good volley of the stuff :arrgh!:
http://preparednesspro.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/cheese-wax-controversy.jpg

[Zachstar]

*Whip crack* BACK TO WORK!!! :rock:

Modding is a big double edged sword. Especially when a sim publisher forces you to basically hack the game to mod it. Lack of SDKs patches that break crap. Its got to be a pain in the ass at time but is it not worth the loyal followers that cater to your every whim? :cool:

[Buddahaid]

You still here? I thought you were leaving California. :O:

Anyway, your sentiment applies to just about anything one gets their teeth really into. That's just human nature and thank your stars your not a famous entertainer. Good-bye privacy, hello terror!

[Castout]

- kills the game for yourself. Want to spoil a sim? Learn or find out how everything works behind the graphics.



Aww a modder pain . . .

For gaming yea ignorance is a bliss :O:

[Fincuan]

Very true, except for this part:
Also, documentation doesn't really help much. Seems like half the people don't read it anyway.

In my opinion you're overestimating the amount of people who actually read documentation by a large margin. You also forgot the lovely PMs dropping into the inbox once in a while :D

[Jimbuna]

I must protest!!.....you make no mention of the mega financial returns your endeavors bring or the constant joy in sending disc copies around the globe for those who are unable to download it for free.

I haven't done the sums....my physician warns me it could be detrimental to both my sanity and health.

You can have the cheese and I'll take care of the fluids http://imgcash6.imageshack.us/img233/9779/party0036mk6.gif

[ReallyDedPoet]

Yeah but I am sure you'll miss this :yep::D:D

We're not worthy!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FucbvoFFy0)

[Reece]

I know how you feel, after having done many mods (5 pages on Filefront) I know what it is like, I don't know how many times I have had to empty my PM box! but since FF had a take over and deleted them all I decided to throw in the towel and didn't bother to upload them again.:yep:
Over all though it was quite an experience and rewarding at times but also very draining, I have it lucky since I am retired, a little more time up my sleeve that most have, but age is catching up and I'm slowing down, the situation is a little more reversed now and I'm the one annoying others with my whims!:oops: Jim has a fair idea!:D
So don't let it get to ya Ducimus, like I said, put it down to experience!!:up:
BTW, most thank you for your efforts but some, on occasion, have actually told me my mods suck!! That's life! can't win em all!!

[Jimbuna]

Yeah but I am sure you'll miss this :yep::D:D

We're not worthy!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FucbvoFFy0)

LOL....no doubt all the cheques are in the post :D

I reckon the greatest pleasure I derive is not simply making friends of folk in this community but actually getting to meet some of them in person once in a while :yeah:

[AVGWarhawk]

What is a mod :06:

[ReallyDedPoet]

LOL....no doubt all the cheques are in the post :D

I reckon the greatest pleasure I derive is not simply making friends of folk in this community but actually getting to meet some of them in person once in a while :yeah:

On that I do plan to get to a SS Meeting one of these years :yep:

[Reece]

What is a mod :06:

Ask them:
http://www.chezgrae.com/modsquad/images/indexbluesky.jpg

[frau kaleun]

No, ask these guys:

http://bp0.blogger.com/_49WAa1FYWbo/SHf7GOivhwI/AAAAAAAAAps/efS0UzW6rrU/s400/The-Mods+01.jpg

[Weiss Pinguin]

I thought this was the MoD :hmmm:
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00400/ministry_of_defence_400656a.jpg

[Oberon]

Perhaps you should try being a rocker? :hmmm:

[krashkart]

:hmmm:

So, in that one mod you did awhile back, you know? Um, that one. How do you open it? It's the README.TXT, and WinRAR won't open it. :O:


Okay, I'll shut up now... heeheehee :D


If you've ever played any of the Battlecruiser and BC-offshoot games, the first thing any self-respecting game tweeker will notice is that Dr. Smart encoded all of the .ini files. Why, you might ask? Because he doesn't want any stupid questions on his boards like; "I edited blah blah in assets.ini and now the game crashes should I reinstall?", etc. :doh: That's good for him, but very bad news for folks in my shoes who know how to make a backup. :stare:

Anyway, back on topic... um, what should I say that would help assuage your pains? Hmm... Ah! *gestalt*

Thank you, modder dudes (and dudettes)
You rox ballz0rz! :rock:

[SteamWake]

Well I for one thank the Mod's for their efforts and have never 'busted chops' over a mod.

I'll never understand the whiners whom complain when they dont get 'expected results' when applying a mod and rush to the forums to cavetch.

But yea I know where your comming from I used to mode a long long time ago for Train Simulator and burnt out very quickly for nearly every reason you listed.

Oh hope you got out of work eventually... I know what its like awaiting the stragglers to gtfo :O:

[NeonSamurai]

Heh I understand your pain, I had more than a few popular mods back in the day. Now I mostly mod for myself and don't go too crazy with it. But then I am a number cruncher modder mostly. I also prefer to work with games where I don't have to hack the stupid thing to mod it.

I will say this though, I sure don't miss all the politics and other crap that goes with the territory, and of course all the users who can't read and can barely turn their computers on successfully. A lot of my personal mods incorporate other public mods, which is a key reason why I don't release much any more. But I do mod the game now for my own personal enjoyment to make the game play better the way I want it to.

Oh and If you don't want to kill the game so badly, I suggest less modding and more playing the game. The testing/fixing grind is what kills the fun more than anything else imho.

[Sailor Steve]

Perhaps you should try being a rocker? :hmmm:
"Me, I'm more of a 'mocker'."
-Ringo Starr

[Rilder]

Don't forget game companies who seem to go out of their way to make it so you can't mod their game. (http://www.totalwar.com/) :nope:

[Oberon]

"Me, I'm more of a 'mocker'."
-Ringo Starr

:yeah:

[Weiss Pinguin]

Don't forget game companies who seem to go out of their way to make it so you can't mod their game. (http://www.totalwar.com/) :nope:
Not that you need to :p2:

[msxyz]

Since im sitting here with a few minutes to kill because i can't leave work until these last two employees vacate the freakin premises, figured id vent a little since this subject is fresh in my mind.

Being a modder sucks balls. Several reasons (...)

Add to the list:

That great idea didn't work because of:
-a bug
-a game engine limitation
-I can't figure how it works.

I spent from 1995 to 2004 as a hardcore modders of several games. Thanks God, I grew tired enough to leave that hobby. I did not even keep a copy of my past works. Maybe some of them are still floating around the net in some obscure server. More than once I saw my work stolen and reused by other modders so I'm not even interested in knowing if my maps/mods/meshes/textures/etc... are still around.

[Admiral8Q]

I'm impressed at what you and the other modders have done. If you need a break, then take one. Everyone else will still either be here or not...:smug:

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7281/ducimusinpain01.jpg
:up:

[Wolfehunter]

I understand your stresses.

Try to have a positive outlook and let them work at there own levels. Don't force anyone to do things they don't want to do.

Each member has different levels of skill and adapt your expectations based on those levels.

RL plays a big factor and moral. Be supportive.

Its hard because times there is great ideas and these can get off track from the main objectives. You may need to put these ideas on hold till a way can be met.

Sometimes if your stuck go outside the envelope and ask a freelance modder for help.

Technical support is one of the most stressful part of the job. Fans expect you to be god and have all the answers. Make a FAQ on the common questions so this way you can easily direct them there. This will help remove the more mundane requests for the more serious issues.

All I can say is make is as much as possible dumb proof. This way its easy for the fans to install it...

Having 200 plus pages people on a thread will scare the readers hehehe.. So you will get repetitive questions... There is no cure for it.. Its the side effects of been a modder... :yeah:

So take it like man, you'll feel better when its all done and finished. :|\\

[Molon Labe]

And add to the list that the original creator of the software (or whoever happens to buy the rights from them) can decide to appropriate all your work and make a profit off of it without giving you any attribution.

[Platapus]

Im sure i can rant more, but, meh, im outta gas. Im glad to be nearly done with it all.

And yes, id like some cheese with that whine. Thank you.


Yeah, but think of all the money you make with the mods....... Oh :oops:

Well I can, of course, only speak for myself, but I truly and sincerely appreciate the work that the modders do on my behalf. They really make the games more enjoyable. You are doing a job I could not do and probably would not want to do. So thank you

It would behoove some of us not to forget that these modders are volunteers not only giving us the benefits of their skills, experience, money, and time, but giving them to us for FREE.

Key words to take away

Volunteer
Working
My benefit
Free


A pretty nice deal from my end. :salute:

[limkol]

You are appreciated guys. You sacrifice a lot and sometimes get very little back.....sometimes get ingratitude instead of thanks.

But please, 'keep up the good work'....not just on the modding front but also in the fact that you are willing to devote so much energy and give for free to people that don't even know your real name. A bit like Batman but without the wierdo sidekick Robbin and whatever they've got goin' on.... but I digress. Sorry, medication about to kick in.........:88).

PS:
what's a readme again?:yawn:

[Jimbuna]

On that I do plan to get to a SS Meeting one of these years :yep:

So you should....there's nothing better than meeting in person :up:

[Ducimus]

Add to the list:

That great idea didn't work because of:
-a bug
-a game engine limitation
-I can't figure how it works.

I spent from 1995 to 2004 as a hardcore modders of several games. Thanks God, I grew tired enough to leave that hobby. I did not even keep a copy of my past works.

I hear you there loud and clear. It's not uncommon for me to have hashed something out, for a week or two, only to toss it all away because of bugs or limitations. Some things i never did figure out how it worked.

I also can't wait to uninstall one game in particular, and i won't be keeping any files related to it. It will no longer exist on my system, in any form. Im kicking that bastard child to the curb. :rotfl2:

[Admiral8Q]

You need to, like when my windowsXP crashes every several days and I have to figure out the damn problem for hours.
http://shegeeks.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/smiley-angry-256x2562.png

[longam]

Reminds me of why I stopped web development. Even if I only did a few sites, the last one was a never ending request from the owner to the point where he was trying to rebuild it all over again.

No more for me.

I feel your pain.