Hi Creation Kit forum,

I've started on my own mod this weekend, after years of using mods but never really making them.

I'm curious what experienced modders would consider "best practices" for things like backing up, version control, changelog maintenance, etc. I come from a web design/project management background, so it would be nice to see the tricks and tools everyone uses.

Are you working on the mod yourself or with a team? If your working by yourself, then, none of this matters really. If your working with a team, and handing parts off, that is different and should be addressed so no one steps on each other's toes. There is a thread in this section that talks about Drop Box and version control, search for that, there was some good discussion in there. I will see if I can find a link.

However, documentation of changes between versions is key for me. Sometimes I want to know if I want to update a mod, or if an update fixed an issue that I had with a mod. Or, I can troubleshoot a character save issue if I know what a mod has done differently than before.

To that end, a good Readme with special install instructions, if needed, possible mod interaction issues (if any), whether or not I can modify your mod freely or need permission, a small walkthrough or at least a place that tells me where to go and who to talk to to get things started. If you borrowed other mod assets (with permission) then give credit to the originals, if you were inspired by a mod but decided to make it different, then note your inspiration and reasons for making it different (to reduce the appearance of plagiarism, we all borrow mod ideas, just nice to give credit to those who thought of it first)

I think there are even a couple of Readme templates floating around, as most readme's I see follow a format.

Here I found that thread, I thought it had more responses in it, but then maybe it said all it needed to about keeping versions straight:

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1470960-modding-teams-how-do-you-work-on-the-mod-together/