Hi all,

I am curious why we see the release of small patches for mods as opposed to having the fixes implemented in the original mod and re-released. Is this because permission for this has not been granted by the mod author?

As of late, I have seen some folks take on the task of moving landmasses and combining patches with the original mods (Wizards Island and Sea of Destiny to name two). It appears that this work has been greatly appreciated by the community as evidenced by the fresh attention on these great mods. There are still other greats that could use this same attention. A couple that come to mind include Havish and BlackMill. Is there a tutorial out there to walk a layperson (such as myself) through the combining process? I would very much like to contribute and have reasonably good skills with many of the common utilities, but need some help walking through the process for the first time. I wonder if there are others out there in a similar place.

As people continue to bump their heads on the 255 mod limit and while the TR project continues their fantastic releases, it would seem that a group of people dedicated to combing through the content and tweaking and updating the excellent content already in existence would be useful. Another example of this that comes to mind involves older mods that provide NOM compatibility. Though the recent NOM release would not appear to 'break' these older mods, I would guess that the older mod might benefit from some of the new content. Is there a group dedicated to this type of activity?

Thanks for reading,

Beryl

alot of patches for mods are made by other authors not the mod creator. The main reason why a new mod isnt released is down to respect to the author of the origional mod (unless permission has been gained to merge everything)

how would you like someone re-releasing you mod with updates, gaing all the credit for the hard work etc.... so its more of a moral rather than practicle issuie.

Its pretty simple for a mod user to merge patches and them od themselves. I feel that there is no "need" to have a group of modders dedicated to proving complete mods. espcailly since TR isnt even finished (TR is just an example)

SOD and WI have been done because of major conflicts that would arise from the patches after the landmass has been moved. Also permssion (I know for WI maybe not SOD) was also recieved.

Dont get me wrong, I like the idea your throwing around but I think it needs to be thought out a bit more where work, credit, compatibility, older mods becoming redudant etc.....concerned

I think reviving classic mods is great as long as you respect the originators work AND get permission if possible. Sometimes the original modder has long left the community and is unreachable (as with SOD and its author Clone). In this case, some have taken to posting it (at least in the forums) and if the original modder pops up and objects they pull it/cancel it.

In the case of SOD, I attempted to get permission but the author (Clone) didn't leave any contact info. After searching for awhile, I did find his old forum account and tried to send him an email. After a month or so, no reply. I eventually decided to proceed but only as an ESP replacer. For the next few I have planned, I have already obtained permission. But IN ALL CASES, I never take primary credit for the mod. In the readme, on the forum, and on PES, I list the original author first as creator and add that I mearly tweaked their mod...not mine.

At bare minimum, one should seek permission if possible and must credit the original author appropriately. Best case is the author gives full blessing to do whatever, but they should STILL recieve major credit even if the final product ends up dwarfing the original.

I would not mind having someone step up and correcting errors in a mod that I submit as long as I am given credit for the work I did (in the release notes and readme) and the original work is still available as originally submitted.

Though not explicitly stated in my post, I complete agree with you both, Midgetalien and Pinkertonius, that such work would have to be done thoughtfully and carefully. All effort should be exhausted to get permission from the original author before submitting an altered mod. If those efforts fail, however, I can't see an issue with submitting the mod with updates and corrections, giving all due credit to the original creator. Pinkertonius provides an excellent example about how this can be done respectful of the original author.

I recently saw a thread regarding a nordic island that was submitted some time ago as the author's first submission. By everyone's account, it was a remarkable first submission. However, all seemed to agree that it was not 'finished'. In fact, the OP was asking if anyone was willing to take the mod on as a project. This is exactly the need I was referring to in my original post. Maybe we don't need a group of people coordinating efforts to update, fix, move, complete existing works of excellence previously submitted. That said, I greatly appreciate those that are working on projects like this as it draws my attention to content that I might have passed before. Honestly, it inspires me to jump in and try to contribute in a like-same manner.

Beryl

ha! Nice example.

But adding to a mod and combing patches as a re-release are two completly diffrent things. Taking a mod and working on it to improve/add to it is completly diffrent from taking a whole bunch of mods, combing them all then releasing it as a super pack.

You see, combing everything is a good idea but it doesnt work with compatibility. For example the new WI one is great - but it doesnt take into account the patches for Golden dragon, balmora expanded, various other dialogue and quest patches. So we are limited to the ultimate patch or uses the patches we actually need - which dfeats the point of having a super patch.

customization is key - once people have the ESP's they need/want then if it bothers them that much they can combine them themselves. The only other solution would be to have diffrent super patches which cater for everyones needs which only means more mods meaning more esp's..... meaning the idea is flawed.