Opinion - Mod or Not to Mod?

[Alvaro de la Orden]

I have been very happy using official and modders stuff with AC for 6 years, and also I'm very happy using limited but quality content in ACC. Best of both worlds

 

[BernL]

Quality mods , not half baked.

 

[michelforest]

The only mods I stay away from are those that rip off work done by others. Otherwise, I'm game.

I pretty much neglected sim racing in the early 2000's, with the exception of NR2003. Modding is the reason why I bought rFactor 1, in 2006, and that got me back into sim racing. It even made me discover racing series I didn't know, like V8 Supercars and Formula Nippon.

With new games becoming more and more complex and demanding for our computers, I have the feeling that modding will be more difficult. Also, there's the question of licenses, etc. It's a complex issue for sure. Right now, my two favorite sims are ACC and R3E; neither allow mods and that's fine with me.

 

[carlsenth]

If a mod looks interesting, i will give it a go regardless of the mod maker. You figure out very fast if it's good or not

I just find it amazing that someone can buy AC today (A title made for circuit racing with mostly racing spec cars) Just to, for example, play around with japanese production cars on downhill/hillclimb stages. The game can be played with plenty of fantastic quality content without ever even touching the original tracks or cars. And i still find graphical upgrades, cars and tracks for this title every week!

 

[Copef1]

I started sim racing in the 90's. To me mod makers are the best thing that ever happened to sim racing. They took us from a time when you only had the choice to race NASCAR, modern F1, or 1967 F1, to a time where you can race almost any racing series on earth. I remember when SImbin made the first GTR mod for EA's F1 series. Finally we could race sports cars. If it were not for mods, I would have grown tired of rFactor 1 very quickly. Mods keep me playing AC. Sure, I've downloaded mods that have broken the game, but reinstalling stuff on a very rare occasion is a small price to pay for the diverse and plentiful amount of different kind of racing we enjoy now. Mod makers who do skins have made it so I can enjoy the latest teams and cars in my sims. To me mod makers are essential, and I hope they never stop.

 

[motorinellaleggenda]

and thanks to the amount of work of the independent modders that this game has lived up to now if it was for kunos we were still there waiting

 

[Ricoow]

What kind of question is this even? Ofc you gonna have mods.

To be brutally honest, I currently only drive in ACC and still learning a lot and enjoying every lap in it. So not everybody is going to want mods

 

[mantasisg]

lol... what's at stake here? You download a mod for free, you try it out, it sucks and you're out what, 10 minutes of your life? If that's an amount of time you absolutely can't afford to waste, please stop simracing. Your life is far too important for games.

I thought this was going to be a thread posing a question to modders about their craft... I was all ready to strongly advocate for "not."

Haha, exactly !!! I even relogged to RD to quote you

I as a modder also immediately thought that it is about if it is worth to create mods or not. But I just found out that actually "modding" means downloading and installing mods.

I was also about to suggest "not". But I'd say that it is worth personally, and perhaps sharing just with those who really appreciates and has precious time available for mods and aren't against ruining "integrity of their pure simulator" as mentioned in article. So in general there might be few people in the world that it is genuinely worth modding for, including yourself. Otherwise if about to go as best quality as you can to please others, not only yourself, then perhaps it is worth to do it for money, at least it will be so in the future as the standard will rise even higher. Or will it ? Because ripped and half assed content does seem to have quite a bit of userbase. But it generally seems like true scratch made content usually is judged way higher than ripped stuff. Unless it is not for free, something that cost money immediatly is more valuable and better - thats a pattern I have noticed as well.

 

[Nick Gregory]

Speaking only about the AC modding scene, there are some gems in there, but you have to go through piles and piles, and more piles of garbage to find them. Some of that garbage is even found here, and often gets overwhelming praise.

 

[kk08]

A game without mods, is a game without future!

 

[mantasisg]

For actual modders who actually make stuff: Do it as long as you are happy, and in the way you are happy.

For "modders" that download and install mods: No one cares.... Unless you are actually interested in the stuff for real, and you actually are going to use it or perhaps even help modder, by proper criticism, or just few nice words. Then you are part of the team, and I as a modder want to thank you.

 

[RichardHessels]

Without the modding community in hardware and software i would visit this website a lot less.

 

[ExA_Lupo]

Which mini mod is the first photo ? Thank you

 

[Highbank]

Content is King! I applaud Kunos for ACC, one sim that features a single series that is complete in its tracks and car models. I'd love to see more of this with attention to COMPLETE Series focus.

With that said...Many series would never see the light off sim racing without modders putting them into sims. So modding is very necessary for those of us who follow anything but the very big major series (ie..F1, NASCAR, and GT3 in its various series) not to mention older series.

Myself being a Trans-Am and Can-Am fan have to wait for modders to give us what we want to enrich our sim racing experience.

 

[Isaac Chavira]

Personally I believe IMO that if not for the MOD Community, the SIM's we have now would have died ages ago. Assetto Corsa could in no way survive on it's own without MOD's or Skinners like myself. They would have not have sold nearly as many copies of their game.

ACC was a huge let down in that department. I was very excited about that SIM thinking it would rival iRacing and that we could create our own teams and such. It seems that is never going to happen even after they openly said they would support Skins. That isn't even a MOD so why restrict it? I'm sorry to say the current livery system is a joke. A 13yr old Forza II has more of a livery editor than this SIM does.

rFactor seems to understand that MOD's are needed. And I'm sure then can go another few years without releasing another title and still make sales.

 

[Isaac Chavira]

Content is King! I applaud Kunos for ACC, one sim that features a single series that is complete in its tracks and car models. I'd love to see more of this with attention to COMPLETE Series focus.

I'd love to see an IMSA SIM Complete with the LM, GTLM, GTD and GT4 series.

 

[Brownninja97]

I think both have their place, accurate and well done mods bring that quality that a lot of people here want but lesser quality mods come way faster and in a much higher density attracting larger masses and providing longevity for years or even decades.

Just looking to other games, Fallout new vegas still reguarly gets mods, some is scratch made, some are rips from other games.

GTR2 has the same story.

So many games and devs teams can thank mods to their longevity and extended cycle of sales.

 

[hal4000]

 

[Ruy Horta]

Between trusted and role the dice.

If trusted as in previous experience, I use a mod without second thoughts even if has just been released - even as beta.

The rest I check available info, popularity, comments etc.
I’ll role if it seems to be legit.

Prefer to use something like JSGME - if not ready I’ll prepare the mod to be installed as such. It is great if a game has inbuilt mod support.

(Steam and RD are a great source for mods, adding to the reputation and level of information).

 

[Constantin Grimminger]

I'd rather have a really complete sim of a good series.

So you'd say we should need to buy a different sim for each real-life series replication we wanna compete in? And what if my favourite series just doesn't exist in any sim, but, et's say, as mod?

edit:

To be brutally honest, I currently only drive in ACC and still learning a lot and enjoying every lap in it. So not everybody is going to want mods

Fair enough, haven't even thought about that. If you're happy to race one series and don't care about other series it's absolutely fine to go ahead without mods. Also said towards Loren Thomas, as he surely means something similar.
However my point was rather that devs should at least keep the option to mod their games available, simply because not everyone is happy with one or two series per sim only. From my personal experience I'd say that the majority of sim racers want to race a bit more then eg. F1 or GTs only.