Now see what moding does for a game and company!

[T}{OR]

Originally Posted by Whacker

Modding never destroys a game, ever. Blaming modding for lack of interest in a game is like blaming car enthusiasts for declining interest in their particular make and model over time. If it weren't for the mods, I would have shelved IL-2 a long time ago. It has everything to do with how you enjoy your games, which should always be how you want, not how others tell you.

It destroys certain aspects of it, every time. The offline community is the one who profited the most from mods. Online community in return, got decimated. Period.

[CWMV]

What? There are lots and lots of people in spits v 109's mid depending on time.
You could even make the argument that those who want stay with the inaccurate, anemic and obsolete version of the game are the destroyers, refusing to move on with the rest of the community.
More choice for the end user is always a good thing.

[Whacker]

Originally Posted by T}{OR

It destroys certain aspects of it, every time. The offline community is the one who profited the most from mods. Online community in return, got decimated. Period.

Sorry, no. Period. Modding never destroys games, it only enhances them. There's far too many reasons that argument is old and busted.

[csThor]

European Air War ... Panzer Elite ... for me modding killed sims already. If I had been into online flying in 1946 at the end it would have done the same. It does fracture the community into groups, sometimes these groups get along fine, sometimes it degenerates into ego-driven flamewars. IMO modding is less about enhancing the gaming experience for the end user but about fiddling, experimenting and ultimately receiving internet adulation.

[KG26_Alpha]

Well as an online user via Hyperlobby I can say only what I see.

Mods definitely affected the online aspect of IL2 1946 for the worse.

From an average @ 1000 users to 350 the decline was obvious what they had done.

Mod users will say that natural decay of user interest will be the reason, but after 10 years watching IL2 build its online community that just isn't the case,
there was a exodus due to the mods from squads and individuals across the board.

v4.11.1 has seen a rise in Hyperlobby activity with the most popular Dogfight servers split approximately 50/50 between stock and various mods.

CooP pilots are flying stock v4.11.1 more than before.

As a mod user myself in the past I appreciate there's been some good work done, but also at present there's some bad things that have been done especially the mod that allows users to force thier way into CRT=2 stock versions.
This is the base of the mistrust between the community when mod creators allow back door hacks into the stock version of the game.

v4.11.1 has no protection from the mod hacks so once again stock users are at the mercy of pilots bringing altered aircraft into a stock version, this also creates problems for the stock users that low level bomb as they instantly explode as soon as thier bombs are dropped, this then leaves the v4.11.1 user confused as he flying stock and cant get his bombs to arm correctly.
The modded users are causing this problem possibly due to the new synchronization of the bomb effects between clients.

The confused stock user then install a mod pack to get around the bomb problem compounding the problem further for stock users, as the mods are the cause of the problem in the first place.

So some stuff good some bad, mostly bad in my opinion as it is at the moment.






.

[ECV56_Guevara]

I m a mod user, I really like some of them, I hate others. And of course them disgregate the comunity. What Caspar and Alpha said it s true. Offline activity maybe increased, who knows...but the hiperlobby it s a desert now. And it is not only about a 10 years old game, disgregation, confusion, made the comunity smaller. The only shelter are squads, the ones big enought to still be attractive to coop or FoF players.

[RPS69]

Mods could kill the community, yes, but cheats have been going on in il2 far before the modding started.

There are bad attitude modders, and there are well intentioned ones.

Some MODS are absolutely fantastic, some are just crap. But anyway, it shows at least many things that were called not possible as a reality.

I have witnessed cheats with MODS, but I also witnessed that long before they were released. Some squads were well known for their cheating capacity, well before the MODS become open.

So, there is a large confusion about MODS, but hardcore people are still on it, with better missions than before.

And also the tendency to join squads and play private campaigns was there far before the MODS appeared. It was the only safe haven from cheaters online.

The only damage MODS could really be blamed, is the different versions available, and the risk of destroying your own il2 install with singular MODS.

The last patch from TD, have got many people back to official patch release, instead of modded ones. Mainly because of their better management of planes and AI behavior. Those are the things that really makes a difference in this game, not one more variant of a 109 or a spit.

Now, make the ships engage evasive maneuvers, better their wrecks, and the same for moving ground objects, and it will be a better move than adding any more planes into the sim.

This sims, needs better playability, not more objects to play with.

[sniperton]

Originally Posted by RPS69

Those are the things that really makes a difference in this game, not one more variant of a 109 or a spit. ... This sims, needs better playability, not more objects to play with.

Agreed. But some selected objects/planes/maps, better sounds and visual effects wouldn't hurt either, provided they are of high quality. Now the problem is that TD goes one way (e.g. AI -- that's good), while the modding community goes another (more effects, more this and that -- and that's not bad either). Both approaches have produced some really excellent stuff, but they hardly overlap: it's better to fly the stock game, while it's better to look at, and to listen to, the mod games.

There should be a compromise IMHO, on TD's side as well. The mod community should accept that TD is serving as a 'quality filter', while TD should implement much, much more from the high quality part of mods. Sounds and some visual effects are likely candidates IMHO, as well as retextured stock objects and some new ones. And I simply can't understand why we couldn't have at least a fraction of the new maps made by modders. I don't beleive they are all just crap...