Nexus Mods, one of the world’s most popular mod sites, will no longer allow modders to delete mod files from the site.
The news was announced via a blog post, where the company explained that the move would help facilitate the implementation of its new collections system.
Mod files will be archived instead of deleted from now on, which will make them “inaccessible unless directly requested, e.g. via the API.”
It is our core belief that making modding easier is a noble goal, so more people can enjoy our joint hobby. We are convinced that our collections system, a project we have spent almost two years and many work-hours on, is the way to achieve this goal.
According to Nexus Mods, the goal of this collection system is to have more people spending time playing a modded game and less time worrying about all the conflicts born from the creation of mods.
So, instead of requiring users to manage load orders and resolve file conflicts between mods individually, Collections will help modders “build a mod list/mod setup locally on their machine, export a metafile with all the information about the mods/files/conflict resolution, etc. and upload that file to the site.”
This list or “collection” can then be added to Vortex, allowing the modders to automatically retrieve, download and install the mods on the list.
Currently, Nexus Mods is planning to make this feature available for all users.
However, Premium users will get to enjoy “one-click installation,” while free users will have to “click and open the download page for every mod in a collection they want to download manually.”
The company itself acknowledges the fact that many modders might not be happy with this move. But it also said that disallowing modders from deleting files was necessary as one deletion could potentially bring down an entire collection.
No matter how much care and effort has been put into curating a collection of dozens or hundreds of mods, as soon as one or several files in that collection are deleted by a mod author – for whatever reason – the collection is essentially and immediately ‘dead in the water’ until the curator can replace or remove the particular file
Nexus Mods
Recognising these problems, we made the difficult decision to change how file deletions work.
Therefore, modders will now have the option to archive their files. When a file is archived, it will disappear from the files tab, but modders will still be able to download it via a Collection, and the metadata about the file will remain in the database.
It is unclear how effective this move will be in bringing more accessibility to the modding community.
But luckily, for modders who are deadset against this feature, Nexus Mods is allowing a one-month grace period to delete all files for good before the archiving begins.
About Nexus Mods
Nexus Mods is a site that allows users to upload and download “mods” (modifications) for PC games. It is one of the largest gaming modification websites on the web, and, as of February 2021, had twenty-five million registered members.
Founded in 2001 as a fan site, Nexus Mods was modified into the website TESSsource in 2007. The Nexus Mods network supported 1261 games as of February 2021, with a single forum and a wiki for site and mod-related topics.
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