This wouldn't make any sense, as the devs always talk about how much longer it takes Humble Bundle buyers to get an update. I'd imagine that Humble Bundle also hosts a few games in-house, including BeamNG.
Probably takes humble buyers as long to get an update as it takes to release a mod update on the repo, I mean what..
Humble Bundle has a standalone version of the game and a steam key for BeamNG.drive. I know this because @NOCARGO uses humble bundle and he sometimes has to wait nearly 2 months before an update (finally) drops on Humble Bundle.
I think my honest feedback is this. yes a platform that you can use to distribute paid mods with ingame support is very much needed. Because I do want the repo experience of Click and forget when it comes to paid content. I will always pay for content I want if I want to support the platform. the picnic was like 3 euros and I like LBE. It's the price of a sandwich. Not a problem. Any attempt at DRM is pointless. what I mean by that is the universal experience of DRM management in software is that the process becomes more onerous and the software gets pirated regardless. It's not simple to implement DRM, when I was cracking games for a hobby in my early teens the means I used most often was to trick the installer into doing the decrypting for me. then I had the game data all to myself. and in most cases where I do engage in downloading things for free it's because I find the process of copying and downloading cracked archive files to be more convenient than the nonsense you get around license management. If it's less efficient to install a paid mod the legit way than it would me going to Victor Kilo dot Com, downloading a zip file and copying the contents into the game folder then you can guess what I'm going to do. so yeah, I support the spirit of what you're saying but be careful about it. You are going to find your content is pirated regardless. just try not to overly inconvenience the people who want to support you but can't be bothered with jumping through a process more inconvenient than getting your mods the naughty way. Not everyone has the same view of ethics you do. I'm in a subset of people who doesn't view data as property because of the fact it's infinitely copy-able (if it's not scarce it cannot be property. If it's a copy it didn't deprive you of the original version and is therefore not theft) and have no ethical hang-ups about it. sorry if that upsets you but I am being honest about the way I view the situation. However it means if I'm paying it's because I like what you do and fancy throwing you some support. The worst thing you can do in that position then is erode that good will by making the means to offer support a negative experience.
With this you are saying that a copy has a value of zero while the original version is worth what it was sold for. How does that make any sense? --- Post updated --- Just because you copy it does not mean that it doesn’t carry the same value as an original. If a copy carries the same value as an original, creating a copy is stealing.
While I don't post much anymore, I feel it might be worthwhile to add my 2 cents here. I feel as though high-quality paid mods definitely have a place in the community I don't feel an official repository is the right way to go. I feel like making modders quasi-developers could be a bad move mostly because of quality issues and the official developers being associated with unofficial content they are allowing others to sell. To prevent this, mods could be quality tested however this would take away from other development or other duties they are performing. Also, I could see some unforeseen legal issues with copyright of models/brands and other things like taxes. I guess a way to get around this would be using Paypal or some other service to handle funds however they do take a percentage. I would argue that something like the way that the Assetto Corsa modding community functions may work better. Setting up alternative websites (I know this is somewhat taboo with the idea of "russian mods" but practically every other game has quality mods hosted on other websites) might be the easiest avenue outside of something like Patreon. Stealing intellectual property is something that has always happened and plagues almost everything. Hosting mods somehow over the internet instead of having them downloaded would make it more difficult however this comes with a lot of other problems. All in all, paid mods probably aren't going anywhere however I feel like an official avenue would be a mistake because of the difficulty of implementation and other problems it would bring to the community.
I'm saying no such thing because I would never assert that theft logically entails anything about value. I respectfully disagree with what you are saying.
I know I'm a bit late but I support this. It would be more organized to have a specific paid mods category within the repo, like how theres categories for "mods of mods", maps, sounds etc. It would make popular paid mods like Cherrier Picnic easier to find for those who want them, and separate paid mods from free ones for people who are only looking for free mods. People could check or uncheck the paid category to see those mods only, or not to see them. Maybe they could even go as far as having an area where modders can post links to their patrons, Kofi, or other selling platforms.
im just a skin maker (currently making my first fully made car based on pessima), but it would be nice having paid repo, count me in as one the creators who are down for it
I'm honestly missing a dev response here.. it's been a few days... A official statement would be great.
I don't mean to offend you but I don't think skins should be allowed as paid mods, neither should cars based on other cars, so far the paid mods socially accepted on this forum have been only full cars and maps that are mostly or fully scratch made, a skin can be made in 1 day while a full car or map can take over a year
The average skin takes a few hours or a day, however some artists for other communities can spend days, or even weeks designing a singular skin. However we've yet to really see that happen in our community. If someone made a pack of exceptionally high quality skins I might disagree, assuming they weren't asking some utterly stupid price.. I would set this standard very high though. Even then time isn't a measure of quality, some artists could create a dozen skins that are all great in a week, however those skills are valued too. IMHO it's about quality... and... not having spammed garbage skin factories with high prices. I also think unique mods shouldn't be disregarded as unworthy either... if something has had time and dedication put into it.. and it reflects a measure of quality, why should it be disregarded if it doesn't contain copyrighted works outside of BeamNG? Quality and Copyright should be the only basic factor in deciding limits on payed content, no? --- Post updated --- - Just think if someone went out of their way to create a library of custom graphics, fake/sudo branding and logos for fake racing teams, or drift skins and fun stuff like that which someone spent a whole dang month on. Someone could do something this massive, create a dozen or two very high quality skins with it across numerous vehicles. Theoretically that'd be of exception quality if done right with extreme attention to detail. Graphic design has potential too. If it's quality nobody should be gatekeeping on things of this nature. I am no skin modder, not yet at least.. I plan to combine it into the overhaul mod I've been working on for a while now to give my mod an added angle of unique content way done the road, extra flare if you will. I've been practicing varing types of graphic design for 13 years, skinning is something I'd like to get into for this application of creating yet more unique content for my massive overhaul mod.
im not saying i would sell it there, i just support his idea, i am also not only a modder for BeamNG, i do mods for other games too and those ones are actually paid.
Its up to the individual to sell or buy. I think this issue should include the devs. As BeamNG is one of the few rare games where mods and modding are also included in the main game(content), so the presence of Paid mods will indirectly affect the sales of the game. If this method (encryption) can be successfully, modders who do not make Paid mods can benefit greatly by applying it. But IMO, I don't think we should start this project at this time. Since it is still early access, the devs should focus on the main game and that is where the time and funds from game buyers should be spent. Therefore, the best time would be after Early Access is finished and the full release is available. But well, my way of thinking is that whatever you do, you do it all at your own risk.
I'm sorry, but all types of mods should be eligible for monetisation - it's only the quality of the mod should effect that. ^This^ I spend several days working on a single skin sometimes - not including the extra hours of research into whatever livery it was based on and the various team sponsors that I have to remake to avoid copyright, and even when it's "finished" I'll still end up going back to it a couple of times to fix little bits here and there. Take for example the updated Super Touring pack I'm working on (which I've unfortunately had to put on hold for a while because life things got in the way), I've parodied over half of the grid for one particular BTCC season so far - the project is far from finished, but so far I have spent the best part of half a year just on skins alone. The plan is; when it is finished (this year hopefully) I'll have two seasons worth of race liveries for 3-4 different cars - and I'll release a folder of all the logos I've made should anyone want some quality copyright free "lore-friendly" logos. I think that would rightly qualify for monetisation - even if I myself am against the idea, and wouldn't charge people for it simply out of principle (as I've stated a few posts back).
I know that my opinion really does not matter in the grand scheme of things, but I don't think an official paid mods repository would be that good. Now, this has nothing to do with whether or not paid mods violate rules or whatever, I personally don't think they do, but I do admit I used to think that in the past and that many other people still do. For one, we have the fact that a paid mods repository would require a whole multitude of new things to be added to an already buggy piece of forum software. Namely the addition of an add-on to add a payment function to the site, which I don't believe exists for xenforo as of now. In addition, you would have to pretty much take a copy of the code for the repository as it is and somehow merge it with the custom add-on in a way it wasn't designed for. They would also have to implement this into the game, which would take up time, and could also possibly be extremely buggy This would mean that there would have to be an entire other part of the staff who provide support for the paid mods section and its bugs. This could also mean that there would have to be a "commission" for beamng for hosting the mod. Both driving up the cost of the mod with no real promise that enough mods will sell to even ensure that said workers get paid. Second, there is the issue of the content being submitted. Arguably, there is no real applicable standard that could be applied to mods to be accepted to the paid repo. Also, I can't imagine it would look good for the paid repo if someone who spent months on a new car was told that their mod isn't worth any money. On the other end, it could also mean that someone charges thousands of dollars for a automation mod, when it is all pretty much personal preference as to how much money someone's time is worth. Finally, there is the possible scenario that it will be uploaded to different sites more because it is offered on the official site, which could be viewed as the company endorsing these particular mods. When that inevitably happens, people will ask themselves why they would pay the original creator if they could get it for free elsewhere. Personally, I think that a paid mods repo would be a good idea, but not on this site, and not with the support of anyone at beamng.
