Mods: opinions, preferences, etc.

[Cowboy Maxwell]

I've noticed mixed reactions to mods being used here while browsing general discussion. Some of it aimed at character mods; which is understandable. My questions are: what are the opinion of certain QoL mods, certain cosmetic mods, and tool mods? Which do you use; if any? And does anyone use character mods? I'll mention the mods I use as examples, and keep in mind I'm a filthy casual that usually plays alone since my friends are often too busy to play with me.

Geometric placement, combined status, simple health bar, insight. All for obvious reasons. Imperishable thermal stone and smarterer flingomatic (not a typo btw, it's really called that), because I hate that there's a life limit on thermal stones. And last but not least, Gorge Victorian HUD. Because I like the HUD from that event.

The only character mod I use that adds new characters is Reign of Runts. But enough about me, what about you?

[Cheggf]

I don't use any mods if I think they give me any advantage (e.g. seeing my temperature) with the exception of a mod to automate tilling into perfect 3x3s, just because tilling is really annoying and I don't like it. It also comes with a minor drawback of creating a 3x3 whether or not I want all 9 spaces filled, so it's at least not strictly better 100% of the time.

[me real life]

The DS/T community used to be really purist about using mods but thankfully people seem to become more and more accepting of them all the time! I mostly use small things like the Nautical Hud and Seasonal Color Cubes mods for visual variety, however I've been trying to play with larger content mods like Feast and Famine or Tropical Experience lately, and I've been meaning to try Legion and that Black Death mod. Character mods I've had trouble getting into in the past but I should definitely try more, anyone got any recommendations?

DST's modding community is super creative and I love seeing all the new ideas people come up with and the cool art that comes along with it!! I've been here through a lot of projects that fizzled out, like Unnatural Selection and Creeps in the Deeps, so it makes me happy to see so many projects getting started and making it to a workshop release over the past couple years!

[Kur0u]

It really depends, I think mods make people lazy, and by people I mean everyone involved. Mods are here because quality of life is not being done from the developer part. If the game is so good why make a mod for it? is it because your preference is not integrated in the base game? you could just ask or shout for an update but why bother when someone will make a mod for it... Mods keep the community alive but kills base game development.

[Guille6785]

1 minute ago, Kur0u said:

If the game is so good why make a mod for it?

I think you're missing the entire point of what modding in general is

[Kur0u]

3 minutes ago, Guille6785 said:

I think you're missing the entire point of what modding in general is

Feel free to explain, I'm all eyes.

[Guille6785]

7 minutes ago, Kur0u said:

Feel free to explain, I'm all eyes.

mods don't always seek to add "things that they think the developers should add to the real game"; some do, for example quick drop (which was actually added into the base game), but in general modding is often about incorporating your own creativity and ideas into something that is different and from the experience the original developers intend for their game; look at mods that change the base experience of the game like the black death or really any character mod for that matter, nobody is arguing that any character mods should be added by the developers, the entire point is that they're unique and created by the community

[Kur0u]

3 minutes ago, Guille6785 said:

mods don't always seek to add "things that they think the developers should add to the real game"; some do, for example quick drop (which was actually added into the base game), but in general modding is often about incorporating your own creativity and ideas into something that is different and unique from the experience the original developers work on; look at mods that change the base experience of the game like the black death or really any character mod for that matter, nobody is arguing that any character mods should be added by the developers, the entire point is that they're unique and created by the community

As I said it depends, unique mods as new characters or difficulty aspects are something completely different. How many characters mods do you use? Or is it just quality of life mods? Majority is quality of life, new look, duplicates or changes of already existing things. I think that express something the base game is missing but people are okay with it because some player will make a mod for it day one. Who said anything about character mods being implemented into the base game? Irrelevant.

[Terra B Welch]

I like playing worlds with mods if I want a new experience, as of late I've really been enjoying a modded world where I am the budding chef, using a combination of my own mods as well as other mods. I've played vanilla enough to understand how to survive and just otherwise get bored after too long.

I decided to share the mod list for Culinary Archipelago in the spoiler below, for anyone who cares.

Spoiler

Additional Equipment(Fixed) - By Tosh, adds some neat little niche items to the game.

Gem Core - By Zarklord, This is just here for global pause to be honest.

Global Pause - By Zarklord and hmaarrfk, I have to frequently take breaks, so not having to leave and reload the server every time is nice.

Bland Flavors - By Sho, One of the mods used to enforce budding chef rules, it adds the Warly Food memory mechanic to other characters.

Cherry Forest - By ADM, a new biome helps keep the playthrough interesting imo.

Do Your Map - By ADM, I use this mod to break the mainland up into archipelago-esque islands, a nice change of pace from the usual constant.

Hamlet Hats Rebalanced - Originally by Kyno, this version is maintained by me with Kyno's permission.

Singleplayer Armor Durability - My own fork, since the original is abandoned and doesn't support some new armors such as the cookie cutter hat.

My Handicaper and Crockpot Patcher - By me, it adds a bunch of settings to either enforce handicaps, tweak some crockpot recipes, or enforce other restrictions, I use it to enforce the crockpot eating restriction, but also to tweak some crockpot dish recipes and also give myself the 4 day food memory, 90/day hunger rate and ability to use the portable crockpot.

Crops Config - By ADM, I only really use it to make crops take a little longer to rot, I can grow giants in vanilla fine enough, but I thought it would be nice if they didn't rot so quickly in the event I get sidetracked for a day or take too long harvesting.

Crow's Nest - By Hornet, Another mast addition, I like it and feel it fits well in the game.

Dark Butterflies - By Hekateras, I like the idea of this mod, a means to decorate an area with evil flowers without killing yourself or relying on bees to somehow place them in the right spot.

Sprinkler - By GG2015, I like the idea of a sprinkler for watering crops, even if it's a little overpowered, I like not having to manually water crops with my giant pile of watering cans every two seconds.

Fish Farm - By Afro1967, A classic, but in Culinary Archipelago I have an option in handicaper and crockpot patcher that actually locks its recipe behind bringing items to the celestial altar, I've yet to get the recipe in the playthrough.

Hamlet Turfs - By Magic, I just wanted the stone roads, I like how they look.

Heap of Foods - By Kyno, A whole lot of crockpot foods to fill out the cookbook with! I find filling the cookbook to be really fun, so mods like this are fun to me, being the budding chef, it only makes sense i want an entire cookbook tab to fill!

Moon Rock Idol recipe tweak - By me, one of my restrictions in Culinary Archipelago requires me to ask Master Warly for help with specific recipes(like volt goat jelly), this is to make it take more effort to call on Master Warly, and make it so I want to make each swap to him meaningful.

New Boat Shapes - By Cuikui, a nice breath of fresh air from the usual cookie boats, the fact they rotate when you turn is a nice touch too.

Ocean Currents - By Hornet, Makes the ocean feel a little more lively by adding in a current, around the map.

Re-Troubled Waters - By Peterwander, a couple extra items and drops to make it a little more rewarding for dealing with all the ocean's shenanigans.

Rot Begone - By Chocasaurus, This mod just deletes any rot on the ground after a couple ingame days, to reduce lag and server load.

Sea Salt Lick - By Hornet, an upgraded salt lick, I like the thought of it, so I added it to this playthrough.

Sweet House - By uhh... chinese modders... This is the only chinese mod in the pack I guess. I wanted a home to live in and decorate for this playthrough.

There are also two other mods in this playthrough, one that gives myself(the budding chef) unique quotes, and another mod that allows me to change season lengths to values not normally available with vanilla settings, in my case I made all seasons have 5 extra days.

I like playing modded not because I need to make the game easier, but because I find it enjoyable.Sure I could attempt vanilla world #876843923876345927235 but how long would the fun last in it?

 

[WintersDoor]

Well, you guys should be really glad DST actually has mods. The game I came from didn't and everything relied on the developer. In fact, my avatar is from the game. It's called Lost Saga and it was one of its kind. I mean the game was really fun and everything with intensive fighting techniques and combos, but it really sucked that the community couldn't make a character of their own. It was all done by the Korean developers who then relayed the development of the character to the American developers. We did at one point get a contest that allowed us to create our own character and it could potentially be created into an actual character if you won the contest, but this was once in like the 10 years the game was out and you couldn't use anything that was copyrighted. And that's just the American version of the game.

With the ability to have mods, you can potentially bring your own character to life without having to go through that kind of frustration like the LS community did.

As for the question, I use the [Tips]Show attack time for hounds and bosses and Zoom+. The Tips mod is really good at giving me a time of when the next boss or hound wave comes. That allows me to prepare for them when I have time. The Zoom+ allows me to see far so I can go to that area faster.

[Cowboy Maxwell]

1 hour ago, Sunset Skye said:

 Character mods I've had trouble getting into in the past but I should definitely try more, anyone got any recommendations?

 

I recommend Reign of Runts. It adds chibi versions of the four seasonal bosses from RoG. They each have their own pros and cons, unique voices and lines, and some skins. It's also configurable. The best part is, the artstyle fits in.

Reign or Runts mod

[LinknAllie]

I try to play as vanilla as possible but I'll use mods like Global Positions.  The only other mod I usually ever use is the Hamlet Characters mod since that's the only way I can play Wagstaff.

My only real opinion on mods are for the millions of overpowered anime character mods.  Why make a character so overpowered that it breaks the game?  

[Souper]

All of the good quality of life mods. Believe it or not, I don't like holding down space bar for every task that I do. I don't like monotonously lining up structures to the best of my perception because the game doesn't have a built in snapping system. I like for there to be specific hotkeys for the items I want to use. I want to be able to repeat crockpot recipes without tediously clicking sifting through each ingredient one after the other. There's SO many QoL mods out there, and for me they vastly improve the experience of the game.

I also like mods for things that I believe should be in the game at this point. For instance, I believe the lazy forager is pretty much useless as it is, but there's a mod that makes it refuelable, which I think actually makes it something I consider building. Or the mod that removes thermal stone durability. You could argue all of these things make the game easier, but I believe these mods just improve the overall experience of the game. I click/hold down spacebar less than I did before, and I don't get frustrated when placing structures or opening/closing ice boxes & crockpots over and over again -- all thanks to mods. I love them!

[Yuuko]

I use:

Geometric placement.  I think its the most common mod in use lol Its so satisfying to have things placed properly.  idk why the game dev's don't just build this in as a feature you can turn on / off, but since the mod is always available I'm fine with it.

Combined status.  I could play without this one and it wouldn't change much.  It lets me see numbers without mousing over my stat bubbles.  It exposes other things like moon phase and tempurature but I don't think these are as important to how I play.  Very nice for newer players.

Action queue - Yeah, like I want to have to click on every tuft of grass, twig, flint, blue mushroom, gear, wire, lol w/e  Its a mess in this game and this helps me get the resources I want and not waste time.  Total win.  I kinda hate it when I accidently bump the button for "auto craft" or "auto pick up" and lose control for a moment but its k

wormhole markers - simply color codes the wormholes so I don't have to do something else to remember where they go.  I've done things like placing the same number of traps, or something next to matching wormholes and it always looks stupid.  Without this I just wouldn't use wormholes ever.

I forget the name but a mod for placing statues - super good if you want to place statues in any sort of design, whether for asthetics or function.  Lets you place them in a straight or curved line with different spacing options.  Very good, even though I don't use it very often since I'm obsessed with playing the first year-ish and committing suicide.

I love mods and always think I should get into making them.  I've modded other games before and had a blast doing it.  Lua is just weird tho lol

[BezKa]

If someone added some specific mods to my server, I would accuse them of cheating. Extra Inventory slots, marked wormholes, healthbar etc I consider mods you put on a server you're not really serious about. Not one I would be serious about, I mean. 

That said, if you use them yourself I have no problem with that. You will have no way to complain if you enter my server that is without these, and I have no right to complain if I enter yours that have them. As long as you're having fun. It does not make your accomplishments in that server invalid either. 

I used to use some mods that broke the game in my opinion, as the simple healthbar was helping my completely noob self get hang of stuff. After some time I noticed I don't need it anymore and anytime I play on a server with one it feels like less of a challenge. Did the same with a mod predicting crockpot dishes. The worlds I used them on are long gone anyway, and the mods were helpful at the time. 

My only mods right now are the basics- geometric placement (bc I like immersion but a bit less than my want to have everything put in even lines), gesture wheel, and server side Beefalo no Poop. The sfx were making me insane irl. 

I am not against other mods that I can dedicate servers to- I like hopping on online playable pets servers, if only to get oneshot killed by admin with commands. Forge is obvious, and I had fun with Reign of the Runts. 

Mods are made by people for other people to use, so who am I to tell you what you should do. The biggest thing that can happen is I join a server, don't like it, and leave. 

 

[.]

Here is few cool almost-unpopular clientside mods.
Seed Names: I can't remember seed names every time, soo.
Entity Indicator: Shows entities location when they are near. I configured it, so it will only show bosses. Otherside it will show hunts, clockworks etc. too! And that feels like a cheat.
Character Indıcators: Shows characters with their skin, so you will be able to figure out Willows without skins and kick them.
Sanity Volume Limiter: Use it if you don't want to lose your ears soon.
Auto Rowing: Didn't use, but I keep it active everytime.
Show best seasons for seeds: Don't want to look like a cheater, but I really have a bad memory.
Keep Following: Makes player follow another player automaticly.
Color Adjustments[Client]: A better alternative for color cubes.
Rotate Character Model: A cool mod to see your skin in different positions and states. Specially good for checking wormwood skins before geting it.
Auto-Unequip on 1%: Automatically unequips your clothings upon reaching 1% durability to prevent it from breaking.
Wormwood Flowers Extender: Just why Klei don't add this to the game?
 

 

[minespatch]

Ganja.

[GetNerfedOn]

having created the Princess Rosalina mod i main it like the simp i am, and constantly look out for bugs and improvements. Apart from that, in normal gameplay QoL mods are fine by me, although in recent times i've been going through solo playthroughs to sharpen my deteriorating skills, because i've grown way to reliant on rollbacks and qol mods

 

[Well-met]

Gesture Wheel / Announcements

Realistic Placement

Beefalo Info

and of course my own personal set of improvements/fixes

[JosePapp]

I use a combination of QoLs like geo placement and automatic health adjust,  completely useless mods like the gramophone mod and meme mods 

[Captain_Rage]

I have never used any mod, for any reason, except for one. The game is fine without them. This is my honest belief. The exception was a mod for removing the pig crowd in The Forge, since the dual core 1.0 GHz processor / netbook I was stuck using at that time struggled with drawing entities on the screen.

[Hornete]

I like content mods, I think they're pretty neat.

[thegreatJash]

Client mods are ok, some are pretty good, like geometric placement and combined status and all that stuff, but others kind of draw a line between what's considered cheating and what's not. Content mods are where it's at imo, cool new items that change the way you play the game are nice, plus it brings out the creativity in people. 

[Lennard]

I think my problems with most content mods is the awful balancing in most of them. Sometimes they are too powerful, too useless, too cheap, too expensive, doesn't fit the game, they feel absurd... etc. etc.

Also a lot of them just tend to be outdated or obsolote due to newer updates.

It's kinda rare to see a content mod that adds a character, item or structure that is totally reasonable and could be added into the actual game.

So yeah I just mainly use QOL mods that sometimes gives some extra info and makes things slightly better and easier here and there. However I don't mind it if people use mods that add content into the game. I admit some of them can be kinda good. And if they are stupid or broken, than that's fine also. Just have fun with the game however you like.

[SinancoTheBest]

13 hours ago, Slagger said:

Here is few cool almost-unpopular clientside mods.
Seed Names: I can't remember seed names every time, soo.
Entity Indicator: Shows entities location when they are near. I configured it, so it will only show bosses. Otherside it will show hunts, clockworks etc. too! And that feels like a cheat.
Character Indıcators: Shows characters with their skin, so you will be able to figure out Willows without skins and kick them.
Sanity Volume Limiter: Use it if you don't want to lose your ears soon.
Auto Rowing: Didn't use, but I keep it active everytime.
Show best seasons for seeds: Don't want to look like a cheater, but I really have a bad memory.
Keep Following: Makes player follow another player automaticly.
Color Adjustments[Client]: A better alternative for color cubes.
Rotate Character Model: A cool mod to see your skin in different positions and states. Specially good for checking wormwood skins before geting it.
Auto-Unequip on 1%: Automatically unequips your clothings upon reaching 1% durability to prevent it from breaking.
Wormwood Flowers Extender: Just why Klei don't add this to the game?

Great list, thanks! I'll add some of them. But why do you need Seed Names? Registering them to your plant registry once in your lifetime will forever reveal their names. Same with the Seed seasons; displaying them on your curser might be convenient but all the info is just one gardeneer hat right click away