Sanctioned Mods on officials

Conan Exiles General Discussion Feedback
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There are many mods out there that just add a new set of building pieces or some decoration items.

On official servers there are still no mods allowed, not even an improved chat mod.

Some mods are really well done and I ask myself why those cannot just be put on a list for Funcom to review and if the pass they are available as „sanctioned mods“ on official servers (optional)

I am OK if it is a handful of mods at the beginning. But other games did the same and it was a big success. This does not limit funcom to introduce their own new DLC builing sets and deco items.

At least for PVE and PvEC servers it would make sense and harm no one.

What do you think ?

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I’m not experienced enough or informed enough to know for sure but I’m thinking that if they sanction mods for official it would cause issues. How would it affect ppl not running mods if others on the server are? I know ppl can use and see dlc items in game if they don’t have them as long as someone that does can give it to them, but dlc is already downloaded in the game code, for those that don’t buy it, it’s just not available. Mods don’t work like that. If your placing mod items and I don’t have that mod installed on same server surely that would cause issues. Perhaps @Taemien or @Mikey can shed a bit of light on wether this is feasible at all.

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Every mod author will tell you that he/she develops mod “as it is”. They do not guarantee anything for us mod users. There can be some great bug in sequrity, performance issues etc. Any mod can be abandoned at any time and will cause game crushes after some future game updates. We use mods purely on our peril and risk, that’s why we get them for free. And that’s why no mods are allowed in official servers where there are no Admins who can prevent exploits connected with mods.

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Well the first thing that comes to mind outside of balance issues is what happens when some update renders that mod incompatible? Especially if the author of said mod is no longer active?

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5

You would have to ensure that rights to code are handed over to Funcom so that an update can occur while the mod is also adjusted by Funcom too. Extra work but that might be a solution?

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  1. They are not causing issues on private servers for long time.
  2. Thats the point why a version of the mod has to be reviewed by Funcom staff first before „sanctioned“
  3. official g-portal servers will have all sanctioned mod in place, users who connect will auto-download.
  4. In a first wave this could include mostly cosmetically items (building sets, …you name it) and quality of life improvements such as an improved chat window
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No, because sanctioned mods will be disabled until a new version of the mod is sanctioned by funcom staff. Authors cannot release new updates, if they do it goes through technical sanctioning. If they discontinue, Funcom takes over or discontinued mod will be removed if not maintained by someone else.

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If mod authors add stuff and request the mod to be sanctioned, they automatically give Funcom all rights. This is a commond practise in many other games and steam workshop?

The idea of sanctioned mods is not new.

I can point you do many other steam workshop mods that are sanctioned for officials in other games. :slightly_smiling_face:

At the end Its about Funcom and if they want to go that path and include content created by community as well.

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This is false. As much as I love mods and suggest everyone should dump the vanilla game for them. There are times where mods break due to game updates and can take days to fix.

This is even including Pippi, one of the most developed, stable, and robust mods for Conan Exiles. When 2.1 hit, this put most servers down for about a day before it was updated (among other mods). Meanwhile unmodded servers were up without a hitch. Something players of said servers have gotten used to, accustomed to, and have chosen as their homes.

And as a mod author, I can tell you this, none of us are going to go through a ‘sanctioned’ process. Those are our creations and we will not cede control over when they update. And judging by discussions with Funcom devs, they don’t want to infringe on that anyway.

To put it shortly. We’re not going to go through an approval process (especially for only a small fraction of the playerbase), and Funcom isn’t going to want to subject us to it, even if its voluntary.

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If author discontinues their contribution and new updates, the mod will drop out in the next game patch and will be marked as not sanctioned. Easy :slight_smile:

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Read my previous comments. Who is we. You don‘t support it but other authors do. It is your opinion OK but other authors will ask to get their mods sanctioned and reviewed.

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Such as who? Which mod authors want to go through a Funcom approval process?

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Ah, yet another thread where a mod user gets to decide what mod authors do with their own mods. Love how people always “volunteer” for us to give up on our projects.

Pass.

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14

Before I start, I play on both Official (2) and Modded Dedicated Servers (4, although 3 are mine rented servers)

This would never work at this stage even if mod authors were in favor of it. When ever a mod gets updated, the official servers will have to shut down for a mod update which there is no current mechanism on Gportal to manage that automatically. Two, mods can get updated at various times during the day and even at peak hours of game play. Three, who picks which mods should be selected for the official server and why?

This will cause too many headaches.

I have been running modded server(s) (initially 1) for almost 1.75 years now (unmodded for 4 months) and there is always discussions about adding/removing mods. Imagine that for all the official servers have to have the same set of mods for each play style. It would not be practical.

I like building pieces mods. Some like character alteration mods (hair styles, facial features, etc). Some like changes in weapons and gear. Others like the dungeon mods or harder content, faction systems, QoL, etc.

So many choices but only a few can be picked for an official server.

And when a mod breaks… official servers could be down a day or longer… Can you imagine the uproar on the official servers. We players/admins on modded private servers are used to this fact of life and are willing to have the server down 2 weeks (this occurred with one of the Siptah patches for my server) while we waited patiently for the mod authors to fix the mods to the new Funcom patch. No complaints or issues from my server but I am sure the official servers player base (at least a small vocal portion) would be very upset.

Yes, I stated the worst case scenario but it did occur last year. This would not be ideal for an official server.

Mod Authors are doing this on their free time. They are not paid to create their content. Yes some may obtain donations from players like myself, but donations are not salaries and never will equal to the amount of time to put into these mods.

It would be better if Funcom team implemented player suggested concepts into the game since it will be part of the base game for all to use.

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17

The only realistic way for this to happen is for funcom to compensate mod authors and integrate the mod into the base game. This in and of itself brings up issues from legal to technical.
Studio wildcard, the developers of ark survival evolved did something similar and integrated parts of popular mods into their base game. And a few of the mod authors joined their dev team.
IF funcom wanted to go this route though it would fall on the individual mod authors not funcom to want their mod Integrated.

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Not a single serious mod author will agree to such conditions. They create mods and distribute them free of charge only because they are free to do what they like to do, in the way they want. Funcom devs have to follow different rules - but they work for money. Don’t mix those two completely different ways of making game better.

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Not as simple as you thought huh? Lol
Just play on private’s dude. This feature is already available, why would funcom got to all this trouble when they’ve already paved the way for mods to be used elsewhere. It makes zero sense.

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totally impossible, especially with the mods you suggested. if you remove a mod with a building set, all buildings that use parts from that set will just blow up.

at this point, i’m definitely out with my mods, and so are many of the modders i know. i see absolutely no reason to give my resources away. if that’s the condition, then i suspect relatively few mods are still relevant for such a scenario

…and a lot of bases go up in smoke… the outcry would be gigantic

the complete scenario is completely unrealistic and with so many small details almost unhandleable. apart from that funcom, with the direct access to the c++ classes, can program much more effectively and better than any mod that may only use blueprints. yes there is a lack of time for many things, but then build a complete mod management as described here does not bring more time, but costs additional time.

nice idea, but I’m afraid in reality not feasible

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not possible. you can not play on this server if you do not have the mods installed.

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but i have to agree with him. my sources are not available either. you don’t have to like it, but that’s how it is and I know a bunch of modders with the same mindset. you are welcome to give away the equivalent of hundreds or thousands of hours of your own work if you feel like it. i will keep mine and i don’t care if you like it or not