What's the deal with private mods?

[wabi-sabi]

I occasionally come across the phrase "private mod" from time to time so I thought I'd ask.

 

What is a private mod? Or, perhaps a better question is why are there private mods?

 

I get that a private mod is something a modder built for themselves that they don't want to share but... is that really it?

 

I'd like to believe the reason private mods are private is because of "X" logical reason. This thing I've created could get me in trouble in my country, is really buggy and I don't have the time or inclination to fix it, etc.

 

Am I to believe some people just don't want to share? (not that they are obligated to do so...)

[Guest endgameaddiction]

I have never seen this before. I don't think anyone will upload mods to LL only to not share them. That makes no sense.

 

Are you getting some message saying you are not allowed there?

[mybrainhurts]

I get that a private mod is something a modder built for themselves that they don't want to share but... is that really it?

That's really it.

I'd like to believe the reason private mods are private is because of "X" logical reason.

The logical reason is that the author of a private mod does not wish to share it.

Am I to believe some people just don't want to share?

Yes.

 

Anything else on your mind?

[Kendo 2]

I occasionally come across the phrase "private mod" from time to time so I thought I'd ask.

 

What is a private mod? Or, perhaps a better question is why are there private mods?

 

I get that a private mod is something a modder built for themselves that they don't want to share but... is that really it?

 

I'd like to believe the reason private mods are private is because of "X" logical reason. This thing I've created could get me in trouble in my country, is really buggy and I don't have the time or inclination to fix it, etc.

 

Am I to believe some people just don't want to share? (not that they are obligated to do so...)

The reasons you listed are apt and I can think of two more.

 

The modder has been burned by mod thieves too many times so they no longer mod publicly.

The modder was mistreated by internet assholes and they no longer share because the headache simply isn't worth it.

[Guest endgameaddiction]

This is regarding Nexus mods.... go figure.

[JadefireHellcaller]

Some mods have too many assets from other mods to get enough permissions to make them releasable. Or perhaps a mod author is no longer available to contact, and requires contacting for permissions.

There is of course the huge drama that went on 2008-ish on the official bethesda forums, involving some prominent nexus modders, that caused a modder to make all their mods private and denounce the elder scrolls fanbase. But thats just that - drama.

[PsychoMachina]

Copyrights, Copyrights, Copyrights.

 

Some devs/publishers forbid using assets from their game for other games, even if game A and game B are made by the same people.

So if I want to add Mothership Zeta from the FO3 dlc to Skyrim using the assets from the dlc, I can't publicly share or else I'll be hit with a C&D from Zeni or Beth.

 

 

[wabi-sabi]

Ahhh.... interesting and informative Brainhurt, kendo, jadefire, Psycho. Thanks all.

 

I had just come across an "exchange" of opinions on another thread a little earlier and I didn't understand how to properly contextualize the mini drama.

 

 

[DoctaSax]

Bah, people make private mods all the time. You merge a couple of clothing mods into a compilation of your own, for instance. Pick & choose from a variety of body mods in a beauty comp of your own. Things like that. You can download mods that only change a single game setting, so why would you have those individually in your game: merge that shit. Of course they're private... not enough reason for me to want to release my own compilations, be responsible for them, deal with people reporting bugs that can't possibly be mine, let alone going through the trouble of obtaining permissions for using the assets. Then there's stuff you're simply still working on, wouldn't want people to bug you with 'suggestions' and what not. Or stuff you just make for yourself using things you're not allowed to re-release. All of them very valid reasons to keep it private. Of course you have a certain subset of downloaders who get so upset that there's stuff out there they just can't have, that they make a big stink out of that, making it out to be an anti-social decision, so they feel justified in nagging about it.

[Loogie]

I have a private mod. It changes how a bunch of female companions from the base game, mods and TTW look to better suit my tastes.  The reason I don't share it is it's dependent on over half a dozen mods other people may or may not have and I don't want to get into constant discussions of "This crashes my game!" because people didn't read the OP for the requirements or constant requests to tweak looks to suit other people's whims.

 

On the flipside where everybody DID read the OP and had all required files, I'm sure a mod with so many requirements and those specific looks would be wanted by very few people.

[Kendo 2]

And then there is 'I don't feel like sharing'.

I make mods for myself now FIRST and I share some of them.  I only have a handful of Skyrim mods uploaded, that doesn't mean I haven't modded the game.   And there are a select few members I do share with privately.  They are people I trust and I know they won't give the files to someone else or upload them publicly. 

[RitualClarity]

Also ...

 

There are private mods from sites that require you to have a membership to belong. Some require number of posting and approval from the community to get admittance to that site (full access). Some of these sites have rips that cannot be released outside under normal distribution systems. They are "behind door" i guess is the best way to describe them. The companies do know they exist and where sites are but don't seem to do anything about those assets being used so long as they remain "community" based and not widely distributed like from Nexus.

 

The nature of these mods make it so that they CANNOT be distributed through normal means and if the member if found out.. they will be banned quicker than a Nexus moderator in heat. And we will all laugh our asses off  if someone was stupid enough to post one of those mods on the Nexus.. 

 

 

Ahhh.... interesting and informative Brainhurt, kendo, jadefire, Psycho. Thanks all.

 

I had just come across an "exchange" of opinions on another thread a little earlier and I didn't understand how to properly contextualize the mini drama.

 

Think of it as something you have that is private. You don't want anyone to know or get access to it. If you wanted that .. you would have already allowed that. This is basically what is going on when someone mentions a "private" mod.. Nothing bad.. just something that for whatever reason the author or user don't want it public.

 

Hope that helps you contextualize it.

 

Also a very good question that really needed to be covered for members here. Most don't "get it"..

[Spyder Arachnid]

Most people claim it is cause the author is selfish and just wants to show off what others can't have. Which, while not entirely untrue, is not the main reason.

 

 

If you look at a lot of the stuff that is claimed as "private", it is mostly ports from other games or from other creators (daz for instance). These assets that they use are copyrighted and can be subject to legal action if they are used publicly for others. For private use, it is fine. But when you release those assets to the public, claiming it as your work, then it becomes a whole lot of trouble you don't want to deal with.

 

Other times, it is work made by someone else. Sure you changed the color or altered the mesh a bit or even mashed it up with other mods to make it unique. The problem is, if that author hasn't given you permission to use their assets, it becomes a hassle. Say a site like Nexus (or even LL some times) will respect the original author's wishes and have your mod removed. So it was a wasted effort. I know most modders have an "honor code" of sorts to not use other author's mods without permissions.

 

Then you got the bugs to deal with. A lot of "private" mods are buggy and have some major issues that only the author really knows about. When they take pictures and show it off, they use the right angles and such so you don't see those bugs. Thus why a lot of private modders keep their stuff to themselves, cause they know it is buggy and not suitable for public use. But not all private mods are like that.

 

And that leads us to support. Some authors just don't want to deal with the troubleshooting or support required to maintain their mod on a public display. When you release a mod, you're expected to fix bugs and keep it up to date for those that use it. And while you made the mod for yourself, you're going to get tons of people telling you how it "should" be and making "suggestions" for you to change it. It gets tedious and nerve wracking dealing with that every day, and some people just don't want to deal with that. And then their mod gets uploaded to tons of other sites, making it hard to troubleshoot it when different versions are all over the place. Not to mention people who steal it and call it their own as well (mod thieves).

 

 

Thus, they just keep their mod private. To avoid all that hassle. So next time someone says a mod is "private", just say "okay, thanks" and be happy and move on. Admire what they've done, but don't act like some of these entitled people who think they should get everything and that those modders are selfish for not giving them their mod. There is tons of mods out there for Skyrim. I'm sure a private mod here and there isn't going to end the world.

[Coopervane]

Most people claim it is cause the author is selfish and just wants to show off what others can't have. Which, while not entirely untrue, is not the main reason.

 

I think that critisism is very specificly aimed at a small number of people, who have a long and storied history of posting screenies of their private mods all over the place, dangling them infront of people with vague promises of maybe releasing them to the public some day (only they never do), and even using it goad people into giving them likes on facebook or whatever, again with false promises that maybe they will release this stuff if they get enough attention.

There's a couple such attention-whores that comes to mind, and i'm very certain that this is the cause of "private mod" having a bad ring in peoples ears.

 

I think most of us have private mods, even if it's just something basic like merging two esp's to free up a mod-slot, or a quick'n dirty Nifscope mashup. I have plenty of them to be sure, but most of us have the good sense to not flaunt them at every oppertunity. Most of us don't actually like having to tell people "sorry, that's a private mod".

 

 

A few bad apples and all that rot..

[Nixea]

 

Most people claim it is cause the author is selfish and just wants to show off what others can't have. Which, while not entirely untrue, is not the main reason.

 

I think that critisism is very specificly aimed at a small number of people, who have a long and storied history of posting screenies of their private mods all over the place, dangling them infront of people with vague promises of maybe releasing them to the public some day (only they never do), and even using it goad people into giving them likes on facebook or whatever, again with false promises that maybe they will release this stuff if they get enough attention.

There's a couple such attention-whores that comes to mind, and i'm very certain that this is the cause of "private mod" having a bad ring in peoples ears.

 

I think most of us have private mods, even if it's just something basic like merging two esp's to free up a mod-slot, or a quick'n dirty Nifscope mashup. I have plenty of them to be sure, but most of us have the good sense to not flaunt them at every oppertunity. Most of us don't actually like having to tell people "sorry, that's a private mod".

 

 

A few bad apples and all that rot..

 

 

That's very likely what sparked that drama the OP mentioned. I myself have a "mod" that's essentially an armor piece from Project Brazil because I'd rather not have such a huge mod installed on my load order if I'm only going to use it to wear fancy clothes (I've played through it a bunch of times and I loved it, but one can only handle so much of the same) but it would be pointless to release it.

[Kaz Aanh]

I not a big modder , just a simple porting and converting stuff from various games.

 

I follow this pattern. If people like my work  , I will continue to share them.  I don't release everything of course , with a more problematic *games* where copyright is very tight I only keep it to myself or I share it with a friends I can really trust.

 

Also when it comes to character aesthetics mods, presets , textures etc its the only thing I'm not going ever to share with anyone. Its private as heck. I like to have a little something for myself to be unique.

[Rayblue]

I made some stuff I would like to upload, like modified armors, but the problem is that some of the resources I used came from Japanese modders, who aren't exactly known for English proficiency and thus it would be difficult to communicate with them electronically, especially as far as asking for distribution and/or alteration permissions are concerned.

 

So I don't upload some of them because of this barrier and I have to abide by an unwritten rule.

[27X]

Context is king.

 

Not every private mod is or should be available due to various outlined reasons, but by the same token people whom are rather obviously attention baiting with content should be called on being a 10th dan douchenozzle.

[Rayblue]

Context is king.

 

Not every private mod is or should be available due to various outlined reasons, but by the same token people whom are rather obviously attention baiting with content should be called on being a 10th dan douchenozzle.

 

Oh, I remember -- her baiting through screenshots are still fresh in my memory. I don't want to bring up the name again, though... might cause a shitstorm.

[Kuunkulta]

Reason why I have/had a whole bunch of private mods is the Nexus users. As others said there you have to deal with people whining about everything. People who don't have a released a single mod themselves telling you what how why and when you should or should not do something with your mod. Then you got those who don't have a clue how to manually install a mod and can't bother to google it. Bizarre bug complaints about things that are usually caused by some other mod, some random conflict or by failing to read the description (let alone the description of required mods!) Too much trouble dealing with that.

 

Though I have to admit that in my case it's my own fault for having released stuff on the Nexus in the first place... Will release my future work here and hope it'll be a more pleasant experience. Sorry for ranting

[RitualClarity]

Reason why I have/had a whole bunch of private mods is the Nexus users. As others said there you have to deal with people whining about everything. People who don't have a released a single mod themselves telling you what how why and when you should or should not do something with your mod. Then you got those who don't have a clue how to manually install a mod and can't bother to google it. Bizarre bug complaints about things that are usually caused by some other mod, some random conflict or by failing to read the description (let alone the description of required mods!) Too much trouble dealing with that.

 

Though I have to admit that in my case it's my own fault for having released stuff on the Nexus in the first place... Will release my future work here and hope it'll be a more pleasant experience. Sorry for ranting

 

You will find most here are a bit more "evolved" .. than the average Nexus user. I agree with much of your statement. I haven't created a mod however I do understand the issues and troubles. I just have been too busy (in other words.. lazy.. lol) to do a mod. I have made small changes to some I use for personal use (also private since it modified the original . yet another reason for private mods). some like changing hairs, eyes and such. Kiddy stuff really but you gotta start somewhere.

[Shadowscale]

Reason why I have/had a whole bunch of private mods is the Nexus users. As others said there you have to deal with people whining about everything. People who don't have a released a single mod themselves telling you what how why and when you should or should not do something with your mod. Then you got those who don't have a clue how to manually install a mod and can't bother to google it. Bizarre bug complaints about things that are usually caused by some other mod, some random conflict or by failing to read the description (let alone the description of required mods!) Too much trouble dealing with that.

 

Though I have to admit that in my case it's my own fault for having released stuff on the Nexus in the first place... Will release my future work here and hope it'll be a more pleasant experience. Sorry for ranting

 

Its bound to happen on all mod sights. Just here instead of people flaming each other we're apt to help out users fix an issue if we can since it'd help out later users that experience it.

[Kuunkulta]

Yeah I've stalked the site and participated in random conversations for a good while now so I get it's very different kind of community here But just haven't gotten around to moving my mods here or releasing new stuff. "I'll do it tomorrow, I need to finish this quest.." "I'll just finish this quest and then I'll- ooh shinies!" "Fire alarm? I'll just finish this quest real quick..."

[GSBmodders]

I get that a private mod is something a modder built for themselves that they don't want to share but... is that really it?

 

I'd like to believe the reason private mods are private is because of "X" logical reason. This thing I've created could get me in trouble in my country, is really buggy and I don't have the time or inclination to fix it, etc.

 

Am I to believe some people just don't want to share? (not that they are obligated to do so...)

 

Those all play a part of it and sometimes a mod is intentionally labeled as private to garner interest in it so that when it finaly go's public it dosen't flop, instead it gets loads of thumbs up and votes and the author gets to feel all god like. You also have the mods that are private because the author used either textures or parts of meshes that belong to someone else and they dont feel comfortable sharing because of that

[Rayblue]

Reason why I have/had a whole bunch of private mods is the Nexus users. As others said there you have to deal with people whining about everything. People who don't have a released a single mod themselves telling you what how why and when you should or should not do something with your mod. Then you got those who don't have a clue how to manually install a mod and can't bother to google it. Bizarre bug complaints about things that are usually caused by some other mod, some random conflict or by failing to read the description (let alone the description of required mods!) Too much trouble dealing with that.

 

Though I have to admit that in my case it's my own fault for having released stuff on the Nexus in the first place... Will release my future work here and hope it'll be a more pleasant experience. Sorry for ranting

 

In most cases the userbase there are mostly less than knowledgeable than you, or that some of them are first-timers who saw something they thought to be awesome but barely read (or unable to comprehend if English is a lesser language or not spoke) before installing and configuring. Or that there's the loremongers who even judge your mod based on what tags you used or if you're using, um, "lore-friendly" resources.

 

But still you're the author, you have to have the bigger person and they have to understand why and what you can do and can't, and remind them that your mods are meant to be shared rather than to be made to pander a certain userbase.