Will we ever get a version 2.7 with more modding options worked into the game?

Mistercurious

My ideal scenario about the future of these games would be that the developers come together with at least the more prominent mod authors and incorporate these mods into a future version 2.7.

This way, we could choose mod content to install or simply toggle it on and off from the game's options menu much in the same way we choose graphics or other gameplay setttings today.

Authors who wrote mods could be paid a little sum for their contributions and it could be marketed on GOG and other gaming sites.

It would be much more convenient than having to manage hundreds of mods manually and check for conflicts, install order and so on every time a new one is added. I know project Infinity can handle some of these tasks but it is still a task to set up a heavily modded game, espescially for newbies.

One point I find very promising in this regard is the work that has recently been done by Red Chimera Group with Icewind Dale II EE. It seems that such projects are still considered worthwile, although I have to admit that I do not know how that particular one was funded.


Anyway - these are just my ramblings - let me know what you think...

GraionDilach

TLDR; this makes absolutely zero sense.

How would this work internally? Would the game change assets on the fly? The whole reason install orders are important here is because due to how the system works, mods can only be prepared to handle things installed before themselves and can't assume what gets installed after them, so each mod must assume a generic position in an install and ensure that the earlier ones won't throw it off nor would it massively nuke stuff coming after.

If we throw arbitrary mod "options" to the base game, that also means that modders who wouldn't be part of this elite circle would need to go through this checkbox code multiple times to ensure that all variations are covered.

Also, long-running mods can get very shaky when it comes to monetization, due to the muddy terms of who owns what (f the mood went through multiple maintainers by that point and/or it's a massive teamwork like BG1NPC).

I agree that megamod install orders are hard. I tend to help others with it on multiple platforms. But II also think that it's only hard because people don't want to wrap the basic logic around their head, and don't imagine it as the onion layers as they should. I find a proposal to introduce tiering as a solution to that borderline offensive, because it would massively bloat the maintenance costs of the second-class citizens and effectively would ensure the scene's (not-so-sure-if-)slow death simply because of this burden. Also, this would also mean that the game also needs more patches to ensure that the mods cannibalized are still the cream of the top, that all the checkbox combinations are tested, etc.. It literally wouldn't help anyone.

IWD2EE can do a lot without worried about install orders simply because one can count the IWD2 projects in two hands, maybe even one. There's nothing more than that.

Mistercurious

Ok so maybe there are technical issues preventing this form being done.

One fact that made me think it would be possible:

The enhanced editions themselves incorporated a lot of tweaks that were fromerly only available through mods and it didn't seem to matter back when Beamdog decided to make them nor did it prevent further mods from being made.

I know on the other hand that pre-EE mods are no longer compatible - so I can see why it is a problem.

jastey

it didn't seem to matter back when Beamdog decided to make them nor did it prevent further mods from being made.

Just a quick chime-in from a modder: I spent at least more than a year full time all in all to make my already-working mods compatible with the EE, including undocumented changes from game updates. EDIT: In my modding "career" from now ~18 years.