What is mods? :o

[I-am-murloc]

Hey, I was just wondering what this thing you guys called "mods" are. I've read something about that it's a pack of models of something that multiple mapmakers can use so that you wont have to download all content you already have if two maps use the same mod or something, but Im not sure.

So what is it? And what are the limitations?

 

[shadonavan]

if i remeber correctly a mod for sc2 will more or less be a data pack of your creations up to a certain MB limit. people will be able to download them and that way if they join a new game they havent dled yet it will take less time becuase you already have some/most of the stuff in the game. also i think it helps to increase hosting size as you can just put alot of your map into the mod

 

[Tleno]

Mod is something that is not a map, but contains all the data except for the map terrain based. So shall we say it might have all the stored custom models, all the new custom units and abilities and stuff like that, but it won't hold things like some of map-based trrigers, map terrain and things like it. You can connect map to mod so it would have everything you stored in the map...

 

[viiva]

It's also short for moderators.

 

[gT.ReD]

mods are typically, games that use another games engine. Examples would include:

Zombie Panic Source (HL2 Mod)
Dystopia
Insurgency

they include their own models, sounds, etc but require that the original game be owned to be played.

 

[mrzwach]

Eh, I wrote up a tutorial on mods, explains how they work: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/tutorial-submission-660/creating-using-mods-170915/

Basically, a mod allows for someone to share things like models, textures, or sounds for other people to use in their maps. Since these files are stored externally in the mod file and not the actual map file, this means that you can avoid using up lots of extra space in your map for imported files and such, which was a serious limit on warcraft 3 maps.

Better yet, if you already have a mod file, you don't need to redownload it if you want to play another map that uses that mod. For example, lets say you have created 5 mbs of models, and 20 mapmakers want to use these models. In WC3, each player would need to redownload the models for each individual map, while in SC2 you only need to download it once. Furthermore, you don't even need to be in a game to download mods, allowing for lightning fast downloads.