I think you all are forgetting something.

Quality over quantity. This "downturn" is just a Darwinian application. The community has had its standards raised for what constitutes a good mod. This means that people are less and less likely to either complete or even bother making mods.

There is nothing wrong with that! There is no rule that says "every modder is a potentially great modder." It's untrue. Look at how many untold add-ons have been created that have sucked and the creator never followed through.

Critical reception doesn't bother the motivated, the inspired, (and lets be honest, the trained and intelligent). Mods being saturated with Lua is not a bad thing. It means that mod makers must be more intelligent, more creative, and more determined to learn.

This has always been something the community leaders have ignored, because Data only cares about volume of sales. I'm not going to beat that dead horse, but just keep that in mind. Quality mods are all that remain. Whens the last time we saw an instagib rifle or a bullet hose?

My standards for the mods I make are higher, and I feel that most that I make aren't fit for 'publication'.
I suspect this sort of thinking is part of the issue.

It's cause of how much we ridicule mods.
Anybody whose listening: Persevere!

Ffff I haven't touched '10 in almost a month <_<
I'm not sure weather it's cause I get less joy from modding these days and more from coding scripting (I'm an interpreted language ladylike at the moment and can't be bothered even getting reacquainted with cpp for a while) my own games, or my hideous lack of time.

I think a large part of any modding downturn present would be a lack of mods from any of the more prominent modders (cricket etc aside, those guys rock and I admire how much they can churn out).
Sure, maybe it's more difficult to get into than say making a soldat skin or something, but really, anyone who's going to be a good modder is going to stick with it or come with some coding knowledge already and get stuck in. We just don't have that many new members and a lot of lazy old ones

Okay this thread has made me need to say something.

Good sprites, good sounds, and good .ini code WITHOUT LUA can be an amazing mod.

God-like Lua, with ♥♥♥♥ sprites, ♥♥♥♥ sounds/no sound, and ♥♥♥♥ copy/paste ini, will be a ♥♥♥♥ mod.


So far everyone who's good at lua, makes well-constructed ini-mods as well. I don't think anyone on this forum knows lua without knowing how to edit ini's well. I agree with the first post on this mater. lua has made it difficult for new moders. There is a solution, and it's not a 'noob sub-section'... its a Lua specific mod making/release board. mod making and mod release are not aloud to use lua at all, and lua would have a mod making/mod release sub-folder. then suddenly BAM noobs and vets alike can post in the Lua-Free-Zone with no worry... huh... LFZ... that abbreviates well... it can even be made as a continuous line with 1 extra bit... perfect for a logo... wow...

I doubt that will ever happen, miles. Why would the admins want to banish just about every large mod to a different forum just because they had scripting in them that's a bit more difficult to get your head around than straight .ini? I think a packs/1hitwonders split could work, but a lua/no lua split would be stupid.

Miles, I fail to see how segregating mods based on Lua content will solve anything besides give us a subforum of mods no one really wants to use (which is that? you decide.)

It would just cause confusion. There's enough sub forums as it is.

If you refuse to look at a mod because it does not use lua, you are part of the problem. The PROBLEM is New users not taking the time for basic spriting and ini mods, because they are expected, nay, DEMANDED to use lua, because they WILL NOT GET NOTICED IF THEY DON'T!.

you yourself saying that "a sub-forum without lua" is a "sub-forum of mods noone really want's to use" which is the cause, and a lack of good mods, is the effect. If we do not segregate lua and non-lua, then the difference between constructive criticism, and a pile of complaints, would be 'who is online at the time'. If it's segregated like this, then the only people replying to the 'non lua mods' are people who care enough to check, who are probably the SAME people who won't complain about a lack of any lua. That means THOSE people will give advice, They will get good, and then they can learn lua.

Its only useless to people like you who consider it useless. but you'll be happy, you'll have a lua forum that you will ALWAYS get 'quality mods with lua'. and you will NEVER have to filter through the 'crap that noone wants'. so there's a benefit for you.


I'm sorry but this is a thread about fixing a problem and every solution offered there's a complaint, this is like politics, it's not about getting your work done, its about keeping others from getting their work done. this ♥♥♥♥ needs to stop. [/rant]

Miles read the thread. I think everyone has agreed that:

-Many good mods do not have Lua

-Everyone understands good mods do not need Lua

-Lua is not affecting whether people release or not

-Any perceived "downturn" can be attributed to an elevated standard of quality

I think the biggest issue is probably lack of polish.
Perhaps making a thread in mod making and asking for critical eyes before release is a better idea than simply releasing it.
This negates the need for more sub forums, and ought to increase the quality of mods that you actually see in mod releases.
That's just a behavioral thing too. (And I would consider it common sense, except it's none too common.)

My useless two cents:

I think there are a few reasons. Some one which are interconnected. The first and most prominent reason is that we haven't had a new build in over a year or so. In my experience, every time a new build comes out, a rapid release of numerous mods follows, testing out all the new content and engine tweaks. That's one reason.

Another reason is that some modders can only turn out so much before they run out of steam or motivation or what have you. I feel like this is also connected to the new build thing.

Thirdly, some modders just run their course and retire, to be replaced by other modders. Now, I haven't been extremely attentive to the mod section, since one of the only things keeping me on this forum right now is grif's hated RtD, but it seems like we have less "big names" out there now. This would normally be counteracted by the constant stream (or dribble) or modders that come every time a new build gets released. Again, this doesn't happen as much because of the lack of a build. That's what I think. Feel free to deconstruct and tear apart this argument.
On a side note, signatures, are we getting them back? It's been quite awhile now. You should keep your promises weasel.

Chiming in to say it's no secret my mods are Lua scarce.

I don't find programming interesting enough to devote time to it to learn. I prefer designing things and spriting them into existence. I have pages of sketches and tons of sprite sheets that probably only Grif has seen.

It's the fun part of modding, for me anyway.

Demotivation.