That would be a great way to enrich the game experience, even if it may lead to quite a bunch of work (for mods that are more then just skins or some small changes in numbers). Mods need to be tested, altered, debugged, … But by imagining to get stuff into the game on this way just made my nipples tickling ;D
In time, would it be possible to have an official Oort mod workshop be provided? Similliar to how the world builder is provided? 
In Space Engineers when you join a modded server it seems to very quickly automatically download those mods even if you haven’t picked them up on the steam workshop. Makes playing on modded servers very easy. Just mention of a workshop brings that to mind for me.
Being able to assemble mods in a modular fashion for your server, heehee
Would be nice!
Some good ideas there. Automatic mod installation - seems like an obvious win. Server tells the client what it needs. Interesting that how OO is currently setup. When you connect to the game, all the required assets and code are downloaded. As a player you don’t really notice this happening. All the assets are then cached for the next time you play. The game is bigger and changes more than the updates + downloads from Steam would suggest.
2 Likes
I really like this idea. I’d spend most of my time in the main game, progressing my character but i’d also spend a lot of time playing minigames and screw around in the modded universe.
I would love the option for auto downloading. Also loved it at Unreal or Half-Life back in the good old times, which also downloaded all textures and maps if you joined a server with a new map. May be you add a option setting which allows ppl to chose if they want to auto download or to be asked if they want to load it or not. That would help those ppl with less disc space or some kind of paranoia 
Alright, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a crack at it. So here I go!
-
After creating a mod a player will submit it for review as a pending-mod in an official mod workshop.
-
Whithin this workshop other players can upvote or downvote pending-mods. This will ideally filter out copy-cat mods, offensive mods, inappropriate mods, etc.
-
The mods that recieve enough support are then added to the workshop with other “official” mods.
-
Players can then select their desired mods from the workshop when setting up a modded environment and the desired mods are applied.
-
When a player first joins a modded environment it will automatically pull from the workshop the list of mods the owner chose when setting up his/her environment then download and activate them.
-
It will then create a copy of the players character, apply the mod to the copy character (whether this is changing the appearance of an item in the characters inventory, increasing walk speed, changing the character model, etc.) and transfer it to the modded environment.
-
The original copy of the character is left behind in the normal (normal as in un-modded) environment to be used again when the player rejoins the un-modded environment. There will need to be a separation between modded and un-modded environment. This is because a character with exposure to mods has an unfair advantage over a player in an un-modded environment. (For Ex. If a player in a modded environment has a mod provided item that lets him dig extremely fast or a mod provided item that will point him/her to treasure, it is a clear disadvantage to the player who does not have access to these items)
-
If the player decides to leave the modded environment the modded character data is left behind in the modded environment and the player then assumes control over the original non-modded character.
Mods are then de-activated, and to avoid a substantial build up of installed un-used mods, if an Installed mod has not been used in a set period of time it is automatically removed. Or can be manually un-installed.
well yeah basically, its just kinda stupic in some way, i undestand the idea of allowing you to pull your char from official to modded servers and ofc you need to lose the stuff you got in the modded world when you leave, but what happened to the modded character? will that data just completely disappear rendering what you used your time on completely useless?
Its data stays in the modded environment. Then if you choose to re-enter the modded environment after you have left it, it will simply copy the un-modded player then compare it to the existing modded character copy that would still be saved in the modded environment and merges them.
so you want to save all of the data serverside, having maybe 50 copies of the same character split over different servers, and if you let your character join and you get a savedata, and then you leave and maybe level up and get better gear and stuff. just how in the world would you compare to the other modded worlds?
Yes.
And modded servers wouldn’t need to communicate with each other. Modded servers are one way only, nothing goes out. Only in and that’s from the un-modded environment. It’s the same concept as not letting a character who has been playing in a modded environment play in the normal world because he would have an unfair advantage. Some modded servers my have it adjusted where precious ores are harder to find, so if you were coming from a modded server where ores were adjusted so they were easier to find It would be unfair.
I’m not fan of the idea of player being able to import data from the official worlds to the modded world. I guess we should let admins choose if they want their players to start from scratch or not.
Adding a mod validation process would require a lot of work from the staff, and this could cripple the process of releasing mods. In my opinion, we should be able to install “validated” mod (in the same way Wordpress’s plugins or Debian’s packages works) as well as “non-validated mod”.
1 Like
i would also love to have server specific characters, especially if they make mods that would remake the entire process from level 1 it would kinda suck to come in as level 30
Well the idea is that it would be quick and simple for the client to automatically pull, download, and install mods from the same list that the owner chose from.
Oh, yeah, we shoud add a Mod Center so that non-developpers can easily make their own modded servers.
But I think if a developper wants to release the mod he has just developped, it would be annoying to wait for the mod to be validated before being able to test it or let users play with it. Maybe we can let everyone publish on the Mods Center, and then warn users when they join a server that contains non-validated mods.
So still allow owners to use non-validated mods. But warn players that the server uses non validated mods until it does become validated? It’s a neat idea. My idea obviously isn’t set in stone, it was more of an idea I had with the intention that people could build off of it. So I dont see why not.
that is a terrible idea, im sorry. this is how you could make something that is completely gamebreaking like giving infinite money and when it gets denied and put down you can put it back up and it will take 2 or 3 days where they can use it, repeat forever.
Well if there was an infinite money mod it would only apply to the modded environment. Basically the modded environments are quarantined to where no information goes out. So even if you did have infinite money on a modded server it would not affect the normal non-modded environment. If you left the modded environment you would leave behind the modded character data and assume control over your original character. So cheating mods would not affect any game play except for on the server that it is modded on. So it wouldn’t really be a problem,
I have a thought on this subject.
If there happened to be mechanics that would allow a private server to be recognized as following the rules, through various checks and possibly registration, it would then be safe to push data back. Such mechanics can be found on many VAC secured games on Steam which provide the ability to host a private server. Once modifications have been made, official servers will stop accounting for the activity which occurs on the private server.
I know that this would take quite a bit of work. However, it should allow the main server cluster to branch out to a large extent, giving enthusiasts the power to contribute to the cluster.
I think the simpler solution is better.
Separate worlds into 3 categories (Official, Personnal/Private and Modded), don’t allow Modded worlds to change the data of the Official and Private worlds, and maybe let Modded worlds retrieve the data from the Official and Private worlds.