Article link: List of Faulty Mods

Hello. As you know, some mods are not what people would consider 'good' mods. I'm not referring to what they offer, but instead they cause problems with even the best of computers.

Whenever I experience problems I go through the list of mods I've recently installed. That's usually the answer when a person asks this question on the forums. However, some mods take a little while before imposing their particular brand of problem.

What is needed is a comprehensive list of mods that cause these sorts of problems. With this, a player who suddenly has a crash, conflict, or whatever can consult this list of mods and check to see if they have these particular ones downloaded. This beats the other process of going through all mods painstakingly one at a time.

Yes, I know of downloads that can help you go through the mods, but this is still consuming time better spent on playing the game.

This list should include:

1- name of the mod
2- problems the mod is causing
3- possible solutions a person has found(to those on the list)
4- number of players complaining of the particular mod(for example: Mod 'x' has had 'x' complaints) This way we know just how much a risk downloading the mod is in the first place.

Another benefit to this is that the person who created the mod that showed up on this list can go back through it and fix it. OR, a person who has a lot more experience with mod designing can fix it, thus earning kudos for doing so.(Their should be a way to auto earn some for doing an altruistic task like this)

Another result of this type of list could/should be that these particular mods can be 'flagged' with a warning type icon that they may be risky to download.

Right now, I will personally start compiling a list of these mods on my own computer in the hopes this list can be an officially pinned addition to the forums.

To contact me about potential mod problems or ideas for implementing this email me at

Shadowcran@aol.com

Since how the thread (not signed) and where (this isn't an article) is placed, one can think in extending the proposition to postings too. The idea isn't without merits, though.

You need to be careful how you present this list.

Mods using excessive "PlaceAtMe" commands and causing serious savegame bloat is one thing. Mods that are not compatible with other mods is an entirely different can of worms.

Please make sure this list does not contain compatibility issues between other mods as this is not the fault of the mod creator nor should they feel "forced" to make changes.

The stated problem should be verified to exist even if no other mods are installed. I would also make sure that the problem is tested with a "clean" savegame and not one that has had numerous other mods enabled and disabled in it.

The testing and verification process is a daunting task but necessary to be fair to mod authors and players to avoid the situation of your list being nullified due to a single mistake.

LHammonds

Great idea !
I was hoping such list will show someday,
Can you present it to us? even if its not finished, it would help .

Personally i would also like a list of performance destroyer mods

i can even contribute with one: "CitiesAliveAtNight" this one for example gave me -5 fps all the time... and i spent few hours finding the bug (i have 200+ mods loaded)

That sounds more like a limitation of your gaming rig than a problem with the mod. You can not point blame at the modder/mod because you have a weak machine.

I think you can, and should, for not giving advance warning in the readme.

How many folks can afford a true gamer's rig?

If it's an exceptionally FPS hog, it should warn in the readme. Sifting through mods that can help with graphics without destroying gameplay is simply a pain in the ass. It would be great if we could segregate mods by recommendations for say Low-end or Midrange machines, vs recommendations for Gamer Rigs.

If I had a gamer rig I'd want all the good stuff on it, since I have a midrange pc I tend to baby her with stuff appropriate for the low end box.

I don't think you meant to come off like your post above made you sound, because that really sounded pompous.

Just how exactly is a mod author supposed to know about these things? And is there any real definitions to those 3 types of PCs you described? If so, how often do they change? If a mod author said it required a high-end PC when it was created, does that description still apply 2 years later after its release?

If a person happens to have a high-end PC and the mod runs well on it, how are they supposed to know how it runs on other PCs. Game developers might have a budget for having various PCs in a wide assortment of performance levels but modders are likely to only have one PC.

I think it is asking way too much from a modder and this really needs to be the decision of the person using the mod.

And like I said, even if the modder bent over backwards to collect all this performance information, it wouldn't apply any more as time goes on.

I think this kind of request is right up there with testing their mod to see if it is compatible with other player-created mods.

LHammonds