[WIP] Mod Picker

[Terrorfox1234]

link removed due to potential spam/phishing

Description
Mod Picker is an ongoing project to design a web application for modding similar to PCPartPicker. The goal is to help users in the building of a mod list using crowd sourced compatibility information and mods scraped from the major sites that distribute mods (Nexus Mods, Steam Workshop, Lover’s Lab).


Benefits of Using Mod Picker

• It will be easier to find mods on mod picker than it currently is on other sites due to our extensive and easy-to-use filtering system.
• Mod Picker will have mod reviews, so you’ll be able to determine the quality of mods upon the basis of community feedback.
• Compatibility, install order, and load order notes will help you build a compatible and stable mod list.
• You can participate in the community by submitting reviews, compatibility notes, install order notes, and load order notes.
• All crowd-sourced information will be weighted based on our unique and flexible reputation system. The word of people who know what they’re talking about will be worth more than the word of random users who have no standing in the community. You gain reputation from mods you’ve authored, by contributing to the site, and from other users recognizing your contributions to the community.
• You can make your mod list public on the site, share it with your friends, or link to it for troubleshooting advice.
• Automated download and setup of utilities and configuration files as well as assisted mod installation (you will still need to start the mod downloads yourself).

Meet the Team

Mator - Team Leader
Hi guys. You may know me from my projects Merge Plugins and Mator Smash. I enjoy developing tools for mod authors and mod users. I’m really excited to be leading the Mod Picker team in building a powerful new platform to redefine the modding experience.
Terrorfox1234 - Public Relations
Hello everyone! I am a moderator on the Skyrim modding and Fallout modding subreddits and author of the Beginner’s Guide featured on GEMS. I am always looking for new ways to contribute towards helping the community and make modding accessible to everyone. I believe Mod Picker will accomplish this in a way that nothing has before and I am thrilled to be a part of it.
ThreeTen - Developer, Designer
Hey all, my name is Grant and I am one of the UX/UI Designers on the team! I have been modding skyrim for a few years now, with mods such as Real Shelter and NPC Visual Transfer Tool. I am incredibly excited about what Mod Picker will be able to provide for modders and mod users alike; and strive to make the mod picking process as easy as possible.
Sirius - Developer, Designer
Heyyo! My name is Adam, and I’m excited to be helping out with this awesome project that the community has wanted and needed for a long long time. I’m known online as TheSiriusAdam, but other than a slightly impressive League of Legends profile there’s not much fame to my name.
Nariya - Developer
Hi I’m Nariya, I’m currently working on the backend for the Mod Picker project. I’ve been playing Skyrim on and off since release and I’m excited to contribute to a tool that will finally streamline the modding process since I usually completely uninstall my game and mods when I’m done.
Thallassa - Designer
Hi you guys, I’m a novice designer and mod user who does my best to share everything I’ve learned over the last year and a half of modding. In my limited free time I like to drink tea, knit, and listen to metal. Once in a while I even have time to launch Skyrim!
Breems - Developer
Hi, everyone! My name is Tyler, and I'm primarily working on the desktop application(s) that accompany the Mod Picker Site. After creating ENB Organizer, I was excited to find a community-driven project I could contribute to. When I'm not doing dev work I enjoy mild gaming, playing music, and trying very hard to be lazy.


FAQ

• I’m a mod author, will this drive users away from my Nexus Mods pages?
  No, we will be driving users to your mod pages. Our goal is not to supplant you or your mod pages, our goal is help users to discover your mod and learn about how to use it in a mod list (e.g. help them with finding compatibility patches). We will not be hosting your mod files, have a comments section, or a description on our site. We will be linking directly to your Nexus Mods page from our page, driving traffic to your pages and Nexus Mods.
• Will you be hosting my mod files without permission?
  No! We will not be hosting any mod files at all! All downloads will continue to be served from the locations where you have uploaded your mod.
• Will this replace Nexus Mods/Steam Workshop/Lover’s Lab?
  No, absolutely not. We’re being very careful to not replace functionalities from these sites. We will not be hosting or redistributing any mod files.
• Will this offer similar functionality to LOOT?
  Most likely yes. One of the core services that Mod Picker provides is helping users build a stable mod list. Load order is a big part of that, and as such Mod Picker will have sorting functionality. Mator has talked with WrinklyNinja about LOOT, and the limitations are clear and well understood. It’s mostly a difference in philosophy in regards to the user experience for sorting a load order. We are aware of and deeply thankful for what LOOT has done for the modding community, and are hoping to build a new solution that can continue to serve users in their load order sorting needs.
• Will this offer similar functionality to modwat.ch?
  Yes.
• Will this offer similar functionality to STEP?
  No, this will enable the members of STEP to do what they do more efficiently, and will enable other people to do what STEP has done with minimal effort required. STEP is a guide that focuses around a specific set of recommended mods. Mod Picker is, at it’s core, a utility to make building your own mod list easier.
• Will this replace <insert other tool or website here>?
  Probably not. Our goal is not to replace existing solutions, but to augment them. Mod Picker will work with mod managers and distribution platforms to offer users the best mod list building experience possible.
• Will Mod Picker be open source?
  The core site won’t be, but many modules will be. E.g. Mod dump, and the automated installation script/application.
• What games will you support?
  From day one we will support Skyrim, because it has the largest and most established modding community. Soon after we will add support for Fallout 4, and from there we will add support for Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 3, Oblivion, and (maybe) Morrowind.
• Can anyone change the info on the site, like wikipedia?
  Users with sufficient reputation can edit contributions made by other users on the site under certain circumstances.
• Won’t people abuse that?
  Abuse will not be tolerated. If the abuse is intentional the user may have privileges taken away or receive a temporary ban. Continued abuse will earn them a permanent ban. A public history on every post will also allow members of the community to revert undesirable changes, and members of the community can withdraw reputation from users they no longer trust.
• What if someone submits information that is incorrect?
  We will have a system by which you will be able to submit suggestions/corrections on user contributions. These suggestions are then vetted by reputable members of the community and if a majority agreement is reached the contribution becomes open to editing by users with sufficient reputation.
• Do mod authors have control over their mods?
  Verified mod authors are given reputation for their mods and access to control aspects of the pages associated with their mods on the site.
• How will you verify mod authors?
  We have a plan for a system that works similar to how scraping mods works where we’ll provide you with a verification key on our site, have you post it on your profile page, and then scrape your public profile page. If we find the key in a post on your profile page your account will be verified.
• What are you developing the site with?
  We’re using Ruby on Rails, AngularJS, and MySQL.
• Will you offer an API?
  Yes! We will offer a full RESTful API serving up JSON that you will be able to leverage in your applications.

Development Status
Complete

• Account pages
• Mod upload
• Index Pages
  Articles, Mods, Plugins, Mod Lists, Users, Comments, Reviews, Compatibility Notes, Load Order Notes, Install Order Notes, and Corrections
• User Settings page
• Mod page
• Edit mod page
• User page
• Mod List page
• Home page
• Help Center
• Notifications
• Reputation System

Active

• QA
• Help pages
• Moderation tools
• DevOps & Automation

Planned

• Video tutorials
• Public API Access
• Mod list setup utility
• Notification settings
• Email notifications

Various Links

• link removed due to potential spam/phishing
• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube Channel
• Steam Group
• Progress Report 9
• Progress Report 8
• Progress Report 7
• Progress Report 6
• Progress Report 5
• Progress Report 4
• Progress Report 3
• Progress Report 2
• Progress Report 1

[darkside]

Great project!

 

I have a question about FAQ

FAQ

• Will this replace LOOT?
  Most likely yes.

How can it replace LOOT?

[DoubleYou]

Well, this does look interesting.

[Mator]

I have a question about FAQ

How can it replace LOOT?

That could be a very long discussion, but the short version of it is we crowd-source information on load order, and can make automatic determinations about load order based on other data points. This will allow us to support automatic sorting of plugins AND assisted sorting, where the user sorts the plugins however they want and we display notes about how anything is out of order for them to correct (with automatic correction options).

Edited March 22, 2016 by Mator

[TechAngel85]

So this will be a mod manager as well?

[Mator]

So this will be a mod manager as well?

No, it's a website.  It won't replace any functionalities of Mod Organizer/Nexus Mod Manager - it augments them.

 

Think of it as a tool to build and share mod lists.  Sort of like what STEP is about.  If you want to get a really good idea of what it'll be like, just explore the PCPartPicker site and make a build on it.  Then imagine the same thing, except with mods.  :)

[TechAngel85]

I was asking because of the "with automatic correction options". To do this I assume there would have to be some integration with the mod managers unless it's just done on the website and the user would then have to manually correct the load order in the mod manager of choice. Of course this integration could be possible to do with MO via the plugins (with the right skills) or by adding it as a third-party app.

 

It will be interesting to see how everyone turns out and comes together. That is for sure!

[Mator]

I was asking because of the "with automatic correction options". To do this I assume there would have to be some integration with the mod managers unless it's just done on the website and the user would then have to manually correct the load order in the mod manager of choice. Of course this integration could be possible to do with MO via the plugins (with the right skills) or by adding it as a third-party app.

 

It will be interesting to see how everyone turns out and comes together. That is for sure!

The general idea is you do the full process of selecting mods, sorting plugins, removing mods, adding compatibility patches, etc. from the website, and then download a file which is used to setup the tools, config, and mods for your mod list through your mod manager of choice.

[Octopuss]

What's the point of copying mods from other sites? Also, isn't that borderline illegal? There are (re)distribution permissions I believe.

Aren't you kind of reinventing the wheel? What's wrong with LOOT?

Edited March 22, 2016 by Octopuss

[Kesta]

What's wrong with LOOT?

Look at the number of custom rules that have to be set by basic guides such as STEP or SR:LE, which already includes custom edited versions of a few mods and several built-in conflict resolution. Now imagine what it's like with a heavily modded setup >_

[Octopuss]

Yes, and? The same amount of rules will have to be created for anything else. You can't just magically make mods sort automatically in correct order.

[TechAngel85]

This will only replace LOOT for the users who use the service. LOOT will remain a strong presence in the community. I doubt this will replace any of the STEP process either, though it could be a source for us to use for things like conflict resolution, LOOT rules, etc. We manually check for these things anyway, but this could be a "helping hand", so-to-say.

[Mator]

What's the point of copying mods from other sites? Also, isn't that borderline illegal? There are (re)distribution permissions I believe.

Aren't you kind of reinventing the wheel? What's wrong with LOOT?

From the FAQ:

 

Will this replace or compete with Nexus Mods/Steam Workshop/Lover’s Lab?

No, absolutely not.  We’re being very careful to not replace functionalities from these sites.  We will not be hosting any mod files.

 

We aren't copying mods from other sites.  We aren't reinventing the wheel at all, if you think that then you're probably misunderstanding what the site will be offering users.  Might want to re-read the OP or refer to some of the links in the Various Links section for more information.

 

 

Yes, and? The same amount of rules will have to be created for anything else. You can't just magically make mods sort automatically in correct order.

The discussion about LOOT is a long one.  I can assure you I have talked with WrinklyNinja about it and he acknowledges my perspective.  It's not that LOOT is wrong so much as the user experience is inefficient.  My philosophy is:

 

Instead of having users tune a complex automatic sorting process to get the load order they desire, have the users create the load order they desire and then advise them about mods they sorted incorrectly.

 

Here's a quote from my conversation with WrinklyNinja:

 

It's important to understand the nature of conflicts, and that just sorting a load order is insufficient to resolve most of them.  In fact, I'd argue that sorting a load order to resolve conflicts is invalid.  That problem needs to be solved with conflict resolution patches, not by a load order sorting tool.  A load order sorting tool can assist in creating a load order where certain conflicts in certain plugins win when a conflict resolution patch is generated (e.g. CACO and CCOR), but that's a rule that would be put in metadata, not extrapolated from plugin contents.

What I want to offer on Mod Picker is a tool that can aid users in sorting a load order with crowd sourced data (similar to LOOT metadata), but that also enables users to make a clean intuitive load order with mods organized into logical groups.  LOOT can't do that - it mixes everything up.  I could go on about this at length, but I might just quote my whole message to WrinklyNinja if you still take issue with my stance on LOOT.

 

 

This will only replace LOOT for the users who use the service. LOOT will remain a strong presence in the community. I doubt this will replace any of the STEP process either, though it could be a source for us to use for things like conflict resolution, LOOT rules, etc. We manually check for these things anyway, but this could be a "helping hand", so-to-say.

What I imagine this doing for the STEP community is providing a place for you guys to share the STEP mod list in a way that can then be downloaded and installed by any user without them having to download and install every mod by hand, sort their install and load order, and then do any other additional setup.  You guys would make a mod list on the site, add the mods to it, upload configuration files and links to any custom plugins for users to download (e.g. custom patches), and then our automated setup tool will be able to download and install the tools, mods, and configuration on any user's machine.

 

In addition, whenever you want to add new mods to the list you could do so on the site first, and then evaluate asset file conflicts, record conflicts, and any user-submitted install order/load order/compatibility issues between them and other mods in the mod list.

 

You guys will also be able to share the knowledge you have accrued about mod compatibility, install order, and load order on the site so anyone who makes a mod list with similar mods can take advantage of your knowledge.

 

I honestly can't see how this wouldn't be something to be extremely excited about.  :)

Edited March 22, 2016 by Mator

[TechAngel85]

I suppose I simply need to see it in action. :: From what you just said, it sounds very similar to the automated STEP project that was being developed a while ago.

[Neovalen]

I suppose I simply need to see it in action. :: From what you just said, it sounds very similar to the automated STEP project that was being developed a while ago.

I recall the Nexus not liking the idea of automated downloads. Have you discussed with them at all Mator?

[TechAngel85]

I recall the Nexus not liking the idea of automated downloads. Have you discussed with them at all Mator?

Correct. DarkOne was strictly against it which is why that automatic STEP project never took off.