These mods (1) actively impact the game for other players because the users do not shut up about them, and they trivialize the game, and (2) “top” players that use them provide biased or error prone balance feedback.
The old VT2 mod greenlight program kept gamebreaking mods like the ones that currently exist for darktide out of the “normal” queue, and that was a very good thing.
There are mods that add lights to lights out, mods that make pox gas and fire clear, mods that warn you about everything from blast radius to where specials spawn, and of course mods that solve some cogitator puzzles for you.
These mods are not good for the game or the community, and if the mod users are the loudest voices when balance changes are called for, we will get a feedback loop not unlike MMOs experience where the game is eventualyl designed with those mods in mind.
I can only hope FS stops that before it happens.
Some very interesting comments, and OFC the usual ones from the usual suspect(s).
these rather describe “quality of not sucking” aka cheating and despite my dislike for reddit being a place for the talkative casual crowd this aint nothing that adds “quality” but circumvents stuff the user isnt able or willing to pull off himself.
a quality increase is finally seeing what shtty connection the server has with latency numbers instead a licked thumb in the wind.
scoreboard to see who killed what.
the ability to turn that atrocious UI down to an immersive minimum and not “play” a game.
anything that adds info or warns of stuff an experienced and player of worth should know by heart and inside out aint a “mod”
As someone who uses two of the mods listed (Spidey Sense because I’m tired of silent Trappers/Hounds/Bursters and Danger Zone because in the middle of an Auric hoard I’d like to know where the barrel a team mate accidentally hit is) I can see the argument on the clear pox gas/fire, auto solve for puzzles, and lights being on in a condition called Lights Out. My own opinion make the mods that would be considered “accessibility features” (ie Numeric UI, Spidey, and Danger Zones) actual settings people can turn on and off in the game. Granted thats just my two cents on the matter
Thanks for the correction but I dont see the contradiction in my thought. I lost count on how many times a good mission ended abruptly because a silent trapper spawned or because we all got wiped by a barrel no one called out that it got hit. I’m just stating my own opinion on the matter that I honestly see those two mods more QoL because they dont highlight trappers/bursters/hounds, its just like a hit marker that pops up when the specific thing moves and danger zone doesnt tell you exactly which barrel is about to explode unless you’re looking at the floor
(2) “top” players that use them provide biased or error prone balance feedback.
This isn’t specific to mods and can happen with anything. Mods are on the bottom of the list of things that cloud players judgement on health of the game balance wise.
if the mod users are the loudest voices when balance changes are called for, we will get a feedback loop not unlike MMOs experience where the game is eventualyl designed with those mods in mind.
This is just insane cope. The most recent update nerfed bursters to do no damage because they can’t fix their sound engine nor can they fix dead pushes on Poxbursters. No, Fatshark isn’t intending for you to play this game with Spidey Sense, Danger Zone, Healthbars and special tracker. They’ll just make the game easier over telling you to download a mod.
All that guy does is cry about Mr E’s ugly hud and ugly healthbar mods. These mods just make the game look like sh*t poop and ultimately makes you a worse player. I’d still rather have the current modding situation than ever play this game modless.
More like out of context. That isnt stripping away an intended hazard, it tells you where the blast radius is, just like any other game that has it implemented in the first place. That isnt the same as pressing one button and having a puzzle solved for you or being able to see in a place that isnt supposed to have lights on.
Honestly, it sounds like you’re trying to make an argument about all mods that you just dont like even though I am agreeing with the majority of people about the auto solver and being able to see through conditions that are meant to be a challenge. Being able to see a blast radius doesnt trivialize anything, I’d agree with that statement if there was a timer and a big flashing warning about the barrel about to explode on the screen but in any intense situation such as Auric or Havoc theres times where people who have those mods installed still get caught by the barrel.
And if you dont like mods, then good continue to not like them, no one is forcing you to download them or use them.
The game already shows the barrel burning and usually plays a voice line when someone hits it. Learning the blast radius is just a skill you develop from playing the game.
I’m not in favor of changing to a greenlight system because of the number of unfixed bugs and design issues in the game, and I have limited confidence that FS would approve appropriate mods in a timely manner. Restricting certain mods would also likely require them to use some kind of anti-cheat software, which comes with its own set of issues.
However, I do think a number of the mods give an unfair advantage and I’ll look down on someone who uses them. Using cheesy mods isn’t necessarily worse than abusing cheesy OP builds though. I’d rather have someone with Spidey Sense and Danger Zone on the team than a Smyker or Rumbler spammer TBH.
EDIT: Just to clarify, I’m not saying using “cheat” mods makes someone a bad player. I’m just more impressed when someone can perform without them, much like using the strongest possible build vs off-meta builds. It’s just one factor in demonstrating skill at the game.
There are already so many cheat mods running rampant that the experience between mod users and vanilla users has become completely different. Console players, in particular, have it especially bad.
And when I say “approval,” I don’t mean that Fatshark’s developers themselves need to handle it. They could simply entrust the process to trusted testers or volunteer players who can at least clearly distinguish legitimate mods from obvious cheat mods.
Even a handful of people would have more than enough time to check everything, and even if something slipped through the initial review, it could easily be disabled later if players reported it and it became a problem.
At the very least, Fatshark should quickly implement some kind of system where trusted testers or volunteer players can monitor and review mods to a certain extent.
Fatshark has made it clear that, no matter how much people complain, they have no intention of doing anything about cheat mods themselves.
I don’t use most mods anymore, only ones like loading screen tip remover, but I unabashedly use the one that gives some light to Lights Out maps, because otherwise they give me painful headaches. If it comes down to “I can’t play this map and I have to back out of ones I get randomly put in or I am in literal pain” I feel it is completely justified.
People are so obsessed with what other people are doing, though, I’ve occasionally seen people using mods - like so obviously it’s clear that they are - and I just shrug my shoulders. It’s a game. It’s not a competition. There’s stuff in the base game that trivializes it so much more than any mod, like Flame Staff, which is absurdly common in games (and the bright blue/white flames against total blackness in Lights Out is so much worse, visually).
If they implement this, they should also implement a build veto so I can not have to have my eyes seared because of a Psyker player.
I’d hope at least making the mod guidelines a bit more explicit and fleshed out would be uncontroversial. There’s an awful lot of grey area for certain mod authors to wriggle around within currently.
“Cheating” is a spectrum, really. Unquestionably this information gives you some advantage, letting you edge the blast radius in a way that would require substantially more skill/spatial awareness otherwise.
Of course how much of an advantage this confers in the full context of the game is dubious, so most (myself included, despite being relatively hard core anti mod compared to most on this forum) wouldn’t even have it on their radar.
Hopefully we can all agree to that much and avoid an escalation that completely derails this thread.
Circling back around to where I started, more explicit guidelines please. This would be a very nice start to tackling the issue.
Yeah, and spidey sense/custom UI setups aside, I’d hazard a guess that it’s mostly QoL
Basically this. Sanctioning never worked because it’s evidently such a waste of time for FS to review mods that they never do it.
Community policing could work better (imho), but it would need firm guidelines (as mentioned) and a meaningful adjudication process so that bad mods could actually be recognised as such. Which also suffers from lack of giving a damn.
