Question for All Modders Out there

[Able72]

First, let me thank all the modders out there who have devoted countless hours creating the mods that have added so much enjoyment to this game.

Ok, that said I'm new to the community and I'm poking around trying to decide what mods to dl and use.

The question I have is, why in their post or in their Readme file do most modders never include a brief description of what the mod itself is intended to do?

Even a short one or two line description would be helpfull. "Makes SH3 graphics more historlically accurate" or "changes default crew uniforms" etc. would be helpful, but I don't find any of this. More often than not I dl a mod, install it, and run the game to try and guess what changes it made.

i believe it is because they are thinking the title of the thread post or the name of the mod itself is description enough to understand its purpose.

[Able72]

Ok, I can see that, to an extent, but as an example (forgive me I have not dl'd the mod so I don't know if you actually included this in the readme file for your mod or not)

"Torpedoe damage fix" is rather vague. How does this mod 'fix' the torpedoe damage? What was broken? Does it decrease the stock damage? Increase stock damage? Is it an effort to make the Damage more historically accurate (by taking the damage either direction)? In otherwords, in a 'thumbnail sketch' (only one or two lines needed probably) describe how this fixes the damage.

Example:

"Decreases chance to damage vital ship systems in an effort to more closely reflect historical accounts of actual torpedoe damage" or if SH3 uses a 'Hit Point' model for ship sinking:

"Decreases total hit point damage range caused by torpedoes from x-y in stock to z-w"

*edit*

Hmmm.....perhaps I should consider writing a guide for modders to writing a readme.txt file?

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Able72

Ok, I can see that, to an extent, but as an example (forgive me I have not dl'd the mod so I don't know if you actually included this in the readme file for your mod or not)

"Torpedoe damage fix" is rather vague. How does this mod 'fix' the torpedoe damage? What was broken? Does it decrease the stock damage? Increase stock damage? Is it an effort to make the Damage more historically accurate (by taking the damage either direction)? In otherwords, in a 'thumbnail sketch' (only one or two lines needed probably) describe how this fixes the damage.

Example:

"Decreases chance to damage vital ship systems in an effort to more closely reflect historical accounts of actual torpedoe damage" or if SH3 uses a 'Hit Point' model for ship sinking:

"Decreases total hit point damage range caused by torpedoes from x-y in stock to z-w"

*edit*

Hmmm.....perhaps I should consider writing a guide for modders to writing a readme.txt file?

You could start with the Torpedo_Damage_Final mod because it's got nothing to do with what the title suggests

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Able72

First, let me thank all the modders out there who have devoted countless hours creating the mods that have added so much enjoyment to this game.

Ok, that said I'm new to the community and I'm poking around trying to decide what mods to dl and use.

The question I have is, why in their post or in their Readme file do most modders never include a brief description of what the mod itself is intended to do?

Even a short one or two line description would be helpfull. "Makes SH3 graphics more historlically accurate" or "changes default crew uniforms" etc. would be helpful, but I don't find any of this. More often than not I dl a mod, install it, and run the game to try and guess what changes it made.

Seems a simple request, but...

OLC GUI (a mod I released) has a readme, a user manual, and a 40 minute video tutorial. To see how many poeple didn't read/watch them, check the OLC GUI thread (over 1000 posts, many of which are questions which are answered in detail in said documents).

[Able72]

wow, now thats what I call a readme. I love the documentation.

I've worked in Tech Support. I can't tell you the number of times I've wanted to tell the guy on the other end of the line RTFM.

However, I don't really think that a lack of someones basic willingness to read the manual should be a reason not to write 3 lines giving a most basic description.