Opinion - Mod or Not to Mod?

For me mods are really important. Back when I started sim racing I used to just drive alone mostly. The base content was kind of enough. But I quickly learned you can download mods online. And I quickly learned there are really bad mods and fewer good mods and even fewer great mods. So I naturally wanted good sites where I could find good quality mods. I think I found some gpl mods just by following links from one site to another. Back then people had to set up their own personal sites to share mods! I had quite of a few of those sites I checked somewhat regularly. Mostly it was texture updates and such minor things but there were cars and tracks too. So even at this stage I was already into mods. I could not even open a text file to edit it but I could at least enjoy the works of others. It made the sim better.

Then I learned how to adjust the setup. I now wanted a site where I could download setups. Then I started racing online. I wanted good servers and then later leagues. Then I learned to make skins. Now I wanted a game that supports car skins. I had always wanted to make a track but couldn't do any 3d. So rfactor came out and then bobs track builder came out and then I could do it too.

I had always thought modding was not for me. I simply could not even dare to think I could make something in 3d. I thought the most I could do was use a crutch like btb. I was still making my own track but I could not do all of it. And I was right I couldn't do it back then. I don't want to spend hours and days and weeks trying to reverse engineer something. I don't get any enjoyment trying to learn a 3d software just so I can hack and fiddle something together that eventually works in a game. I wanted to make content and not solve a modding puzzle. Modding should be 90% content creation and 10% problem solving. Not the other way around. And back then even rf1 was a modding puzzle. Only through crutch I got through with it. I have massive respect to those who back in gpl and n2k3 era actually started from 0 and made car and track mods with no support at all.

Then ac came out and ac documentation and tools were so good I could literally start from 0 and make something. It had a clear set of targets of how to make things. As long as I was willing to learn that 3d software I could make stuff. It wasn't a modding puzzle. I was not trying to reverse engineer a pig though square hole without knowing whether my animal was even the right species and what does square mean. It was about making content and not solving a puzzle. It was doable and it was great. So next thing I wanted was modding forum where I can read more info and share and download mods.

The thing in this is that I drive a lot less than I used to. I mostly do some modding on free time. So naturally I want a sim that supports modding because for me that is the thing I want to spend majority of my time doing. Naturally this makes me hesitant about ams2 for example. I just wonder how well it can hold my interest when chances are even skinning support might be poor. With modding I'd be much more eagerly waiting for it.

Also I'd say I use mods really often. I drive less but I'm far more likely to pick a mod car when I drive my tracks for example. Not to mention the modding discussions adds a whole new dimension to the community aspect of a sim. And for me modding has allowed me to do something I have always wanted. Create my own race track. How cool is that? I remember drawing tracks on paper and then later on computer for at least 20 years. "This could be cool but I can't do 3d so I can probably never do this". With modding it is possible.

I still think racing is super fun and online racing is always better than ai racing but when I don't feel like putting the wheel on my desk I can just start blender and make something for the game. If a game doesn't support that then the chances are I will play it a lot less often. I'll read the forums less often and the game is interesting less often. In ac I can check the forums weekly and have new things to try. And because I don't like gt3 cars, formula cars and prototypes and other super fast modern stuff chances are sim developers generally make very little content that interests me. Only modders can give me my historical race cars dosage. Without modding I'd be stuck with driving very few cars and tracks all over again. There are even whole sims that don't have anything I care about. And without modding that is what they will be forever.

The other-side of the coin is that releasing a modifiable platform to compete with your previous modifiable platform is likely to fail as all the mods (and the user base) are already on the old platform.

As a prime example I believe RF1 continued to outsell RF2 for a long period, and I doubt RF2 even now has reached the success of Rf1.

An AC2 wouldn't have done much at this time unless it bought something revolutionary to the platform rather then just being a base for mods.

Just my opinion, But devs need to allow a modifiable platform to live out its lifespan before attempting to replace it.

I don't believe that is the case. I'd say it is a good thing to have some time between the products so the older game has sort of slowly died out enough so that there is room on the market for something similar. But like any new product the new one needs to be better and superior. Generally this means that most things should be better. A new sim should be an overall and clear improvement. But firstly and more importantly it needs to be a good game that can stand on its own. Not just being a sequel to something that was good.

Rf2 made the right move that it came out nice time after rf1. It did kind of okay as rf1 successor but it made too many mistakes and failed more as being a good standalone product than it did fail being a sequel to a modding platform. Even though it has clearly failed at that too.

Ac2 can fail as well. Ac did things exceptionally well at being a modding platform. So many things are just great and I won't make along list here. Great documentation, great tools, well written ini files and definitions and a package that "survives" the modding process extremely well. If ac2 comes out like rf2 came out with awful documentation, poor tools and mindset of whatever then it will fail too. Considering how well ac did modding I'd be surprised if ac2 can massively improve. Naturally the successor can look better and drive better but being a better modding platform is really difficult. In that department it set a very high standard.
 
I vote for no mods. It divides the playerfield even more. I am racing ACC now and the grids have never been fuller. Also physics are very important. Not saying that modders can't make beautiful or good stuff but lots of crap you have to weed through as well. ACC is right up my alley (I would have preferred tcrcarsbut hey) so I voted for the first option.
In AC I never tried modcars but I tried lots of modtracks though. Quality varied greatly but the vanillacontent almost always outshines it.
 
I will speak firmly for AC as its my main Modding content and all i can say is that Modding just brings a game a LIFE!
P.S. I use Mods from content creators that are trusted plus good! I dont want content that is not in quality physics wise as its a sim abd that matters above all
 
If its from a source I know and respect RaceDepartment for one of them, I trust it fully but I hate badly made mods theres another game I am involved with I wont name it on here for some reasons, dont wanna advertise it you know, but its got a nasty habit of getting poorly made "Russian" mods which are really horrifically made and barely work and they are from other sites around the place the worst offender is worldofmods which just avoid at all costs its pure cancer there...
 
Mods can be quite the double-edged sword...
On the one hand, games like AC seem to have done exceptionally well. with little to no 'intrusion' to things like multiplayer.
Every track with the name Fat-Alfie attached, Phoenix' LA-Canyon, SOL, CSP, RSS' cars, etc...have greatly extended the life of that simulation software.
Mods have enhanced RF2 as well but not been so kind to the multiplayer aspect.
Trying to join most multiplayer events are frustrating to say the least...unless of course you belong to the league or group running the event.
Ac will simply tell you you don't have the content.
RF2 will in most cases try to download the missing content, then fail after a lengthy time frame.
That's the disadvantage to allowing mods, if the servers are not set up properly and with everybody having the same content.
 
Mods are great and I have hundreds of mods for both AMS and AC. Also some for Wreckfest.

But they are not just all-sunshine. Having lot of overlapping mods creates sometimes very inconsistent and spotty experience.

For example, Custom Shaders and SOL for Assetto Corsa are phenomenal, they upgrade the graphics into those of modern title. But then, some old, less popular track mods look terrible with it.

Mod tracks will not always look consistent, like they are from same title. Different saturation values used. Some base them on original AC color values, some into some modded PP filter/weather color values. In AMS, track pack by Patrick Giranthon is faithful to original AMS art design, and uses same assets. But that's not common, usually they are bit of this and bit of that (understandably)

Assetto sound mods have different volume levels to them, some cars are too loud and I have to adjust volumes, to still hear Crew Chief. Thumbnails and loading images people use vary a lot, and some look totally different than the game's original UI design. That's not a big deal, but another example.

In a way, titles like ACC are nice. There's no temptation of modding, and the game is unified, complete and cohesive experience. Seems AMS2 will also be like that.

Mods are sort of never-ending temptation, you're never happy, but always searching for new mods. And it often leads into not appreciating the content that is already there. Not focus on improving laptimes in for example Imola, because you have like 200 tracks to choose from. For me sometimes, collecting more mods has become more important, than actually driving them

Still, I very much appreciate mods, and both AMS and AC have certain high quality track mods, that are simply a must have... and expand the quite limited track roster of those sims. Same thing kind of goes for cars, for AMS you need to have a least the CART Extreme. For AC there's some great car paymods (RSS)
 
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I tend to stay away from modding simply because most every attempt I make at it completely trashes the game I'm modding.

As a singular example I tried 4 times with AC and content manager and 2 times it completely killed the game in that it would not in anyway launch. 1 time it would not detect any wheels attached and showed all in game cockpits as luminous purple, and the final time it would work, but the sky was completely black.

In each case the only solution I found that cured the problems was to remove all trace of AC and reinstall it.

Honestly given my experience It's more trouble than it's worth.

I also might add that I don't have the time to explore most of the original content anyway so I don't feel I'm missing out much.
 
I tend to only really install mods when required for online play. I do love modding, but I've had too many cases where I just kept installing more and more mods until my games collapsed under themselves. Nowadays I stick to vanilla when I can.
 
I find it much easier to accept new tracks than new cars for this reason:
Nothing can be 100% accurate but if a corner isn't quite right, e.g. if the camber is wrong or it's missing a bump, it doesn't bother me that much because the challenge is to take the corner as it's presented and try to get through it as fast as possible.

With cars it's different. If something claims to be a real car, how do we know it's accurate? If the author has made a reasonable attempt to get the info then that's fine, but if they've just copied and pasted from a similar car we may end up with something that's not physically possible.

It may not be a coincidence that I've released a couple of (fantasy) tracks but no cars. :p
 
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I probably would have stopped using AC already if there were no mods. On the other hand that doesn't mean that mods keep a sim alive. Just take a look at rfactor 2: imo this sim is nearly dead to me although it has mods (but lots of bad mods). Of course that's a matter of taste.

If a sim offers no modding it has to convince me with good content. Raceroom does that really well, especially the historic content keeps it alive for me. Only downside is DX9, which has its limitations in VR. ACC might be an impressive modern sim but it just offers GT3 cars in which I'm not interested at all.
 
to become a trusted modder you have to start modding.
if we'd only trust trusted modders there won't be any new trusted modders.

I trust every modder, test his work, if it's good he becomes a trusted modder otherwise thanks anyway for the time he spent building it and for sharing it.

I have to say I trust more 'trusted users' that proved over time to judge mods without prejudices.
 
I've been driving in AC for around six years now, and it is definitely the never-ending supply of mods that keep me coming back. I have tried other sims during that time, but have returned to AC time and time again. Chances are, without the mods (keeping in mind that AC only has a handful of stock tracks), I'd have uninstalled AC a long, long time ago.
The mods also bring people together and, for AC at least, there are several great modding communities out there.
The one negative I can think of is, with the sheer wealth of choice, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of spending more time testing mods than actually driving for the sake of driving. But that's not a bad problem to have really.
 
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As someone who's dabbled with mods and modding since the days when you'd type in some lines of code from a magazine to add a new room to Jet Set Willy I feel it's something that's always added an extra level of enjoyment to the games I've played, from Quake to Half-Life to Stalker to Cities Skylines.

AC is the first time I've ever gone so far as to release my own mods but even if I was just enjoying other people's creativity it's still the thing that keeps me coming back to the game, it's constantly refreshing itself, constantly offering something new, and sometimes even improving on the original. I think most of the content I drive now is modded content, without it I probably would've lost interest and found another title that suited my tastes.
 
Its easy - go to tracks/cars/apps etc - hit the RATINGS filter, apply, and select from the top ...

Well that works for the most part, but the RD rating system is flawed.

People can rate a mod before actually testing it for example.

For me, as a general rule, sources other than RD are a no go.
The big exception to that rule is CSP.

AC is pretty much public domain now, its owned by the people.
Modding on AC will continue as long as the sim is continued to be developed from the back-end, (CSP) content will follow.
 
When a game NEEDS mods because it's missing basic and important stuff....to hell with them. Why? Because they become the perfect excuse for a developer to go lazy.
Do we need more vehicles? Nah it'll be fine, modders have already made a few dozen new ones.
Do we need better physics? Nah it''ll be fine, modders have already overhauled those too.
What about textures and lighting? Nope, no need to improve those either, modders have everything they need to do it themselves.

And here we are...actually paying for mods that make the game playable and enjoyable. I guess it's the next big thing after the DLC madness. Now some give you DLCs for free, but you have to play for the mods anyway otherwise you're playing the same old crappy game for 5 years.

I say no to mods. I'd rather pay extra money for the game to have everything it needs to be GOOD right from the start. Not to mention that every time the game gets updated, i have to redownload every single mod. That alone gives me a headache just thinking about it.

That being said, when a game has all the features needed for even the most hardcore player....a few mods that take it a step closer to perfection are welcomed.
 

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