Request to all Modders with ModMods

[HeroOfTheSword]

Since the recent fantastic Mods Repository Cleanup, I've been thinking about the different mods a number of us use and I wondered if there could be a universally agreed updating format on the forum?

For instance many of you will makes small changes to your mods and update them with prefixes (v,1) etc and that's great because when I go into my mods folder I can see which versions I currently have and update it from there. The issue arises when some modders don't assign a version (v) when they update or make changes which can get very confusing with the 20 or so odd mods I do use. Like I often miss small updates because they are posted within a thread which isn't a problem in itself but rather it's not obvious unless I go trawling through said thread.

Additionally, some modders will have links from their discussion thread to their update page which is also great whilst others have us go to external links dropbox etc, which isn't a whole lot of hassle but for the sake of continuity I wondered if we could make this universal as well?

These are minor issues but I keep thinking the older I get the more addled my brain is making it harder for me to remember which mods are up to date!

 

[azum4roll]

You can't edit another person's thread, so there will always be updates (by other modder) posted further down the thread.

Civfanatics have a size limit for resources.

 

[Tekamthi]

The issue arises when some modders don't assign a version (v) when they update or make changes

i agree this can be difficult to follow -- afaik modbuddy allows v1-999 idk why it doesnt get incremented for some versions -- idk theres any solution to this though, ie there's no way to enforce version numbering

My pref on the mod admin side is when the built-in CF resource page is properly linked to the thread -- there used to be a way to do this at the forum-user level, but in recent years it seems to be impossible, and I have to instead report my threads and ask admin to do it (see my mod links below that have both 'discussion' and 'download' tab available in the CF UI). Seems like more of a site-issue though rather than just our mod community. Anyway that would be my one suggestion, if mod authors could get take a moment to report their discussion thread so that it gets linked to the resources themselves...

 

[hokath]

Yeah unfortunately there is a max size on CF upload so some mods have to be like dropbox links.
I think we can all probably improve our version numbering though!

 

[azum4roll]

i agree this can be difficult to follow -- afaik modbuddy allows v1-999 idk why it doesnt get incremented for some versions -- idk theres any solution to this though, ie there's no way to enforce version numbering

Because most don't build with ModBuddy. Sometimes you just forget to modify the number on the folder name, or in the modinfo file.

My mod doesn't even use integer versions - it follows the VP version it's compatible with.

 

[Tekamthi]

My mod doesn't even use integer versions - it follows the VP version it's compatible with.

This imo is best practice -- personally I've been trying to use double digits in the mod version to match the forum version number of VP (ie if mod is published while VP 4.22 is current, mod gets v42). This works for me cuz I iterate mod revisions much slower than the main mod... There's some ambiguity whether v42 matches vp 4.2 or 4.22, but it's close enough for my tastes

 

[gwennog]

Personally, I increment by 1 for each new version, whether small or large, so there is no confusion. And I report the increment everywhere it is likely to be visible (but I don't actually use modBuddy).

 

[HeroOfTheSword]

Personally, I increment by 1 for each new version, whether small or large, so there is no confusion. And I report the increment everywhere it is likely to be visible (but I don't actually use modBuddy).

Curious, what do you use instead of modBuddy? I was thinking of getting into the modding game.

 

[jarcast2]

Curious, what do you use instead of modBuddy? I was thinking of getting into the modding game.

Technically to mod you only need a xml, sql and lua editor like Notepad++.
Modbuddy is necessary to create the mod id and the related modinfo file, without which the folder including the mod data is not recognized as a mod and won't show up in game.

More civ modders are welcome, even better if for VP.

 

[civVpSimp]

Use date as version number would be nice e.g. "UI_bc1_2025_09_20".

 

[bahamut19]

Why not just have all the versions made for VP just say (ModMod V4.22)? When VP changes to 5.0, then the next update can be (ModMod 5.0)? That would really simplify things.

 

[hokath]

This is what azum's done, harmonizing his version number with the VP one.

The problem comes if modmods change between VP versions in such a way as to break compatibility between them (or create compatibility). There, you'd really like to use the version number to say "block versions of this mod less than some number".

 

[pineappledan]

As many of my mods that fit onto civfanatics forums are here.
Anything that is too big to fit onto civfanatics is stored on an external fileshare.
I don't assign new version numbers to mod updates if they are bugfixes or adjustments made within 2 weeks of a previous version.

 

[azum4roll]

The problem comes if modmods change between VP versions in such a way as to break compatibility between them (or create compatibility). There, you'd really like to use the version number to say "block versions of this mod less than some number".

The game requires the real version numbers (the ones that are shown on the mod menu) to be integers. Nothing stops us from giving whatever version number we want on the folder and on CivFanatics though.
It does look confusing when you want to check compatibility.