Good day to everyone!

You might remember previous discussions that were held a few months ago about a the possibility of distributing mods through the BitTorrent protocol for faster download speeds and lowering bandwidth costs for modding communities. Out of these talks was born the initial idea for GameMods, which spawned even more discussion and a bit of hype over here. At that point, instead of focusing on taking action and getting a prototype up, I decided to publish a nice and shiny preview page that only promised incredible features and an eventual beta. That was a mistake which later proved to be fatal for the project. I got stuck in an infinite planning stage, never got anything done and the interest slowly started to drift away. Simply put, it died.

Truth actually is, I never really accepted the fact that i gave up on such a promising idea... and recently I decided to give it another go. Only, I was going to approach it differently this time! I first took the decision to keep it a secret until I really had something special to show the community. Only then would I announce it to the world! Second, I would forget about all the dream features and only focus on the initial concept: mod distribution.

Well... I'm here! And I'm telling you about it so I think we can deduce that the second attempt went a little better than the first! Kidding aside, this approach has proven to be a miracle! I actually was always looking forward to code for GameMods, and poured my heart and soul into it! The end result is something that looks like a simple website, but don't be mistaken, it is a true beast when it comes to distributing mods! The platform that backs the website is also the most intricate piece of technology I have ever developed!

So it is with honor that I present to you:

GameMods.info
Fast & Easy Game Mod Distribution
http://gamemods.info

Mission statement
Here is the mission statement, as per the site:



Usage
Here are the current things you can do with an overview of how they are achieved on the site:

Upload a mod to our servers
Mods can be uploaded to the distribution server by literally anybody. The site has a web-based uploader (Don't fret... This one is amazing!) where you can pick a file of up to *1 GB* in size and transfer it to our hard drives at extremely high speeds. Regardless of your connection speed, you will max your upload bandwidth, guaranteed! I tried it on our 100mbps full-duplex complex at work and uploaded a 100MB test file in under 15 seconds. When's the last time you saw this performance out of a web-based upload tool? This also effectively means that there is no need for FTP or other technologies to get your files to us!

Just because everybody can upload a file doesn't mean that they are available on the website for users to download. In fact, in our effort to offer only high quality downloads to our users and to respect modder rights, we will only publish files once have been approved by the original authors. The only exception to this procedure is for older games where the modding effort has generally greatly diminished. In these cases, we will generally not contact the author, but files will only be added by us. This might look a little counter-productive in this age of instant gratification, especially for a site that's just starting out, but I see it with a different eye... I actually value community respect more than the number of files on my site.

Download mods
Once a file has been approved, it will automatically show up on the site for users to find and download. Up to this point, I wouldn't blame you if you told me this sounds exactly like what you would do on any other website! That is because the beast I was referring to and that sets GameMods apart was not the website itself but rather the platform behind it. Allow me to explain! Once a file is approved on the website, a torrent file is automatically created and made available for download, while the server starts seeding the uploaded file, all this in a matter of seconds! This means that your files are always seeded 24/7 regardless of the actual activity on the torrent by users. And not by any server! Each of our file servers have a 1 gbps connection which means they can push roughly 110 MB/s of download speed at any time! Trust me when I say that you won't find any faster site to download your mods, especially when you consider that the speed will increase furthermore when additional people start downloading/sharing the file.

My hope is sincerely that this community will be mature enough and take pleasure in sharing back the mods they download with others. It is a nice indirect way of saying thank you to the modder and it takes very little effort: All you need to do is to leave your torrent client open when you are on the computer. This will only consume 100 MB to 3-5 GB of your upload bandwidth per month, and you will be helping the site in a way you can't even imagine! If everyone just downloads then close their torrent client right after the transfer is done, my servers will end up doing all the upload and I will be bankrupt after 1 month, which means the site will have to close down. But that will not happen! I know it!

And THAT'S IT! See! I told you the site only focuses on one aspect!

A demand for mods
This platform sure sounds sweet, doesn't it? My only problem right now is that I have no mods to serve you guys! Also, seeing that the rules also apply to me, I can't just start publishing mods that are not my own. So this is where I politely ask for your help! If you would like to distribute your mods via GameMods, regardless of if they are big or small, old or brand new, for Oblivion or any other game (Bethesda preferred ), either let me know in this thread or send me a PM, I will make sure that it is added in a timely manner. Also, give me a shout when you are making a RELz thread for your new mod, I will gladly publish it to GameMods for you!

If you are a player, please, by all means start downloading and sharing mods once they start appearing on the website!

What the future holds...
While it might be foolish to talk about the future of the site on day one, I still believe it is pertinent to share my vision with the community and shape expectations a bit. In terms of development, my objective is to have a weekly release cycle, meaning that I will push at least 1 one feature every week. These could be small or major additions and they will always be inspired by your feedback and requests.

Besides development and community management, my other job is to make sure that operating costs are sustainable. Even though running something the size of GameMods will get pretty expensive quick, I will never ask for any donations whatsoever. I believe there are a lot of other ways to contribute back to the site that do not involve money (did I mention sharing back the mods you download? ) and i would much rather have everybody contribute in those ways. I'll gladly pay out of my own pocket whatever the ads don't cover every month... just as long as the amounts don't go out of control!

So really, if the community and development are doing good, and the costs are covered, I predict a nice long life to GameMods and that download speeds will be up in the near future for everybody!

Thank You!
I sincerely hope you will enjoy the experience and the convenience the site provides. Let's get some mods on this baby!
If anybody is interested in learning more about the technical details behind the site and what makes it all work, I will gladly provide them. I figured I would keep my opening post free of geeky stuff!

As usual, I will answer any questions/feedback you might have, consider your suggestions and actively participate in any discussion generated by this thread.

Keep on modding!
Nick

i'll admit now that i didnt read the whole post. however, distribution through torrents definitely appeals to me (since Hammerfell is getting big). my only worry with torrents is outdated files, since to my knowledge torrents never really go away.

This is a great idea , but most people will stick to sites like Tesnexus and PES. It is going to be hard to get people to start using torrents for mods.

You should find a way to get the idea around :read:

Anyway aren't torrents files being phased out by magnet links?

Hehe, I didn't realize my post was this long until I saw it in the actual thread. I just composed it throughout the day and it just grew out of proportion!

Glad to hear you could be considering using it for Hammerfell. It might be a funny way to put it but you really have nothing to lose by doing so! Just upload your file to the site and add a link to your release thread... I don't see what could go wrong!

I understand why you could be worrying about outdated files spreading, but it really is a non-issue. I intend to only keep the latest versions of mods on the server at all times (less confusing for the players) and the second I remove an older version, the tracker stops serving it. The link you put in your release thread will point to a mod page which will contain a download link, not to a download page specific to that version.

As to why I chose BitTorrent as the distribution method, there are 4 main reasons really:

1) It lowers my bandwidth usage bill tremendously, allowing me to provide faster servers for the same price
2) It will get larger mods out much faster... A file server pushing the full file to 50 people individually vs. 50 people + 1 server all sharing bits and pieces; guess which one wins
3) It allows people to share back the mods they love with everyone else
4) Downloads are resumable for people with lower connection speeds

Thank you for taking the time to reply.


Thank you.

I understand that people will see no reason to add their mods to the site at first, especially knowing how the Nexus and PES are pillars in this community. Most don't see a reason to change unless they are forced to and in this case they aren't. But, and maybe I didn't communicate this correctly, I am not asking for people to change. I just believe I have an infinitely superior distribution method! Just that, nothing else! Everybody, including me, loves TESNexus! Personally, I always go there to screen mods and choose what to install. When I'm ready to download them though, I always shrug knowing I will be capped at 150 KB/s. I also don't like that I have to be logged in to download files bigger than 2 MBs. On PES you also have logins and long queues on top of that. Of course both sites offer premium accounts but I am talking for free which is what 90% of users will want. I just figured that there was room for a site that offered no hassle, very fast mod downloads for free!

I trust that by being patient, the idea will get around by itself. Once there are a few mods, it will grow slowly!

well quite a few people said that GameMods.info had died... but I didn't think so... I thought you sounded like the kinda person who can complete something; even with RL getting in the way as it always does.
I'll be uploading some of mine very soon... and pushing in a few private forums for uploads of big mods.
Pacific Morrowind

submitted a small one... gonna have to put my bigger ones up later.
Pacific Morrowind

Alright, a quick update before I go to bed...

- MAJOR UPDATE: All files under 10MB will also be available as a direct download from now on.
- Uploaded a 5MB dummy file so you can appraise the server speed by yourself... Try it http://www.gamemods.info/mod/3... WARNING: Extremely fast!
- Already got a few mod submissions
- Added some poll options

Here is some feedback I got already which I will be implementing tomorrow:
- Clarify instructions on the upload page... the asynchronous upload is confusing.
- Rewrite my first post in a way shorter, more concise format.



Thanks for the support! I really really appreciate it! You were actually one of the people I knew was still going to be behind this.

wow that is fast!

Poll forces me to vote in the modder category even though I have no mods to upload! (so I voted Yes)

This would be great for downloading large files.

gothemasticator

It could be just me, but the dark background kinda remind me of the "underground" and dubious websites, perhaps tone the colors with something more shiny?

I'm very glad to see this project alive and thumping, make no mistake - Just as I'm to see that you're too I'll get around to upload my stable mods tonight.

Nicb, that seems like a cool idea and site. While at present I have no requirement for it for uploading as I'm practically only using mods, it certainly can help downloading big files. I love Tesnexus, like all of us I guess, but downloading bigger than 50MB can be a pain there (haven't tried a Premium account though). So I hope the modders will use your site frequently o it will become a good alternative and complement to Tesnexus. Well done!!

You had me at 'demand for mods'! I've uploaded my newest file to start off. Good luck!

How do you know what files are "old"? I cant imagine you taking the time to check each mods version status daily, weekly, or even monthly.

See! It's not just hype after all!




Sorry for the poll, I don't make them very often! :facepalm:
I agree with your choice!



I'll add this request to my weekly TODO list. My eyes have always preferred darker backgrounds for readability but I understand there is demand for lighter themes. I will design one have the ability to toggle between light and dark in the top bar.

Thanks for the feedback!




Thanks! Glad to see you are planning on using it!




What you just said summarizes really well what gap I intend to fill with the site and the way I hope everybody will welcome it. Oh and don't just hope the modders will upload their stuff on it, ask them to!



Published on the site! I was going to post in your official thread but you haven't talked about 0.1.2 Beta yet. Feel free to add a link to your mod page in that thread. I also added Pacific Morrowind's.



For now, I'm not the one that uploads mods to the site... It's up to the modders to upload their latest files.

However, perhaps a little indirectly, this brings up an excellent point! If the modder uploads their cutting edge mod on GameMods and doesn't do it for the next version, I am stuck serving old files. This is something I definitely don't want to happen... and it probably will for the first month or two if I don't upload the new versions myself.

I agree it will take a lot of my time to manually add new versions if the author forgets, but for games that I follow a lot like Oblivion, it is perfectly doable. Once it becomes 'accepted' in the community as a download site and modders think of uploading there just like they do at TESNexus and PES, my guess is this problem will go away. The real challenge for the site is starting... after a little momentum is generated, things will be fine!

Does anyone know if Quarl is still around? We could ask him for permission to upload his texture pack.

Will downloaders have to register on your site before they can download files?

I'd use it, yes. I'd upload any large mods to it too, my WIP Unique Landscape mod might be a great candidate depending on how many custom meshes and textures are used in the end.

Haven't seen Qarl post at any forums in a long time, but I could just be misinformed.

Anyways, since QTP3 hasn't been updated in more than a year, I'll take the liberty of uploading it since I'm pretty sure the final version is out. It will make a perfect test case for torrent distribution.



Not at all! I am not a big fan of mandatory registrations and logins...

The only accounts I will maybe someday offer are verified modder accounts. These accounts would allow a modder to upload their mods and automatically publish them to the site, effectively skipping the file approval process. I don't ever see myself forcing logins downloaders though. I don't see a point in doing that, since the only thing I do on the site is distribute!

If you want to work out a partnership between TES Alliance and GameMods, just send me a PM, we can talk
I'm actually totally open to talk with current site owners! As I have said it before, my goal is to provide the best platform for distribution. I have no intention of copying your features and stealing your communities. I am really a complementary service!

In any case, let me know what's your opinion on this.

Aaugh! Be careful of the amount of type you put in the description, there is a hard limit and it mercilessly cut me off mid-paragraph, mid-sentence.

Do you mean in the search results and on the front page or on your mod page?

If it's the former, it's normal! I truncate long descriptions at 150 characters and add ...
Maybe I should add [continued] instead of ...

If it's on the mod page, I simply must have missed a part when publishing the mod! It's not a bug
Let me know what's missing and I'll correct it. There are no limits.

Maybe you could contact http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showuser=57725 to ask if he could index your site for his http://search.yacoby.net/.

I'll be uploading my mods when I get home next week.

Overall it's a nice idea, but I don't really need it myself as a modder. Kragenir's Death Quest, despite being a very large mod content wise, is only a 2 MB download. Having it on Nexus and PES is good enough for me. And it's easier to keep track of things when they're only available from two places.

Still this thing has quite a lot of potential.

Alright, this thing is slowly starting to gain some momentum! The very first mods have been uploaded and there are already a few downloads for each of them so that's encouraging. Kudos to Reneer for giving RGO's new update a small period of exclusivity on GameMods before making it available elsewhere. It is really appreciated! If anybody else is game to help create awareness like this, I would be very grateful!

If you have used the site and have some feedback for me, good or bad, please, by all means, share it with me. I am very open to ideas, and will most of the time implement them if they make sense!

I also have what I believe to be amazing news for everybody, but especially for the torrent haters out there. I have just found a service provider that, if combined with my current infrastructure, will allow me to offer ultra-fast direct downloads for bigger files too (right now it's for 10 MB and lower), or even offer them for any file size, all that in a rather affordable way!!! I'm pretty sure this is a game changer right here!

Here are things that will be in this week's release cycle:

- Simplify the upload process by giving better instructions and improving the flow of actions that need to be completed by modders. (done!)
- Add icons for games so the site is a little less heavy on text.
- Investigate and do some tests on the new bandwidth provider.
- Create various RSS Feeds, including game specific ones as well as an experimental torrent feed, which would allow you to set filters in your torrent client and automatically download mods meeting them without even visiting the site!
- Create a Twitter Bot that will announce new additions to the site to all followers.

Also, I am starting development on 2 other projects while the community gets acquainted with GameMods:

- A site where modders can create a bug tracker for each one of their mods. Players will be able to report issues they have, suggest features and request support. Should make it way easier to support your mod in comparison with the forum. It will be free and easy to use.
- A community link blog. It's not what it sounds like and I am not revealing anything for now!

I will close by once again inviting you to upload your mods to GameMods! The future is looking bright!
Thank you to all that support the site.

Nick