Bay 12 Games Forum

I ask this in all honesty: Screenshots of what, exactly? The code? The .csv files? The tables represented by a third-party spreadsheet editor? The results of a modified table shown in Starbound even though it wouldn't be representative of what the utility/mod does out of the box? I really don't know what I could show that would be informative and not misrepresentative of what my work does, with respect to the typical Starbound mod user.

They're encouraging everyone to log in Saturday at noon EST to break their 'global beta record'. That's what you read.

Walking around and fighting feels like it does in EQ or WoW, albeit with some welcome embellishments.

Eh? It really is more like recent games in this regard, with the active blocking and dodging, and the limited number of skills you can have available during a fight. Standing in place running through a predetermined sequence of skills isn't going to let you win a fight against anything bigger than a mud crab. The holy trinity is in place, but that's probably a good call after Guild Wars 2's failed attempt to undo it. Also, not sure there are too many ways a game can represent walking around.

Skinner box mechanics...

I haven't noticed many of these. There're junk filled containers and the usual level up fanfare, but it's nowhere near as bad as theme park MMOGs like Guild Wars 2. In this respect at least TESO is more like the single player games. As far as the lore goes, treat this like some alt-universe and hope BethSoft doesn't shoehorn any of it into TES VI.

The "play as any race in any faction" thing has a lot of people concerned, considering how heavily Zeni is pushing their factional PvP end-game. Lore aside, I'm not sure that it'd make much of a difference. The racial skills are all simple passive boosts as far as I've seen, so while min-maxers may be able to fully exploit those, they won't make a significant difference for the typical player, hence there wouldn't be a lot of difference between factions other than flavor. But if they're intending this as a cash shop perk as some people are speculating, it'd be a strange and not-good way for them to go (i.e. selling functionality in a pay2play game is bad).

A few things to add to Sensei's review: They've split weapon and class skills, i.e. anyone can be a healer by equipping a healing staff, etc. Class still matters a lot in how a character plays, but it doesn't completely pigeonhole that character into a single role. I think what they're trying for is a system that's supposed to add the versatility Guild Wars 2 was after but without destroying the trinity. Of course, in Elder Scrolls fashion, you still have to use each skill a lot to be any good at it, and getting quality equipment for multiple roles and constantly respecing adds cost, so it still takes effort to have a character that's good at many things. I don't know if I like it yet, but it sounds a lot better than grinding a whole new character because my guild is running low on a given class/role or because I want to try something different.

There's also a research system within the crafting system that let's characters learn how to apply various enchantments to the gear they make. It looks extremely grindy, complete with real-time countdowns that measure in days, but it'd be nice to have some say in what I craft rather than being stuck with boilerplate recipes.

Don't expect Elder Scrolls style magic. If you want destruction spells, you equip a destruction staff. Healing spells, healing staff. Soul Trap is an ability everyone knows. Some class abilities are spells. That's all there is to that.

The worrisome part is that there are still unimplemented systems so close to release, like player guilds and daedric invasions. I'm still more excited than not for this game, but they've yet to trigger my buy impulse, and I'm finding more things to be hesitant about with each news release.

The __merge command only works with .config files for now.

Sappho, the "name" line in the .modinfo file doesn't need the angle brackets (<>), but it won't hurt anything unless you try adding content (and even then it still might not hurt anything).

If someone can explain to me how to make a mod...

Mods require no packing whatsoever, but you will want an unpacked assets directory so you can copy the appropriate paths.
1. Starting with an empty directory, create a text file called <your mod name>.modinfo. Fill this with the following:
{
  "name" : "<your mod name>",
  "version" : "Beta v. Furious Koala",
  "path" : "."
}
2. In the directory, create the subdirectories that trace the paths to the files you modified (in your case, biomes/surface/forest, etc.). Place your modded files in the appropriate locations.
3. Place the directory into Starbound/mods.
4. For uploading purposes, create a readme.txt and compress the directory into a .zip file.

If needed, you could download that mod I linked and follow it as an example.

The real problem with modding at this stage is that you'd have to update the mod with each new version of Starbound released, at a minimum changing the "version" line in the .modinfo file. You'd also need to check their .surfacebiome files each time to see if they changed anything, and modify those files if they did. Otherwise, your mod's users would unwittingly be updating their games but not their biomes. Basically, maintaining the mod takes work, and with the game still in active development, you'll end up updating it often. Alternatively, give people permission to modify your mod without your consent and hope someone else decides to take up maintaining it.

Not that I'm trying to discourage you or anything; modding's great, but there is a little responsibility that goes along with it.