If you head over to skyrimnexus or steam, you will notice that mods are being uploaded at a slower rate each month. I know this is to be expected, but is it just me or did Oblivion (via the Nexus) feel like it had a ton of mods uploaded every week? I feel like the amount of mods we are receiving is what it should look like 4 years from now, not today.

The navmesh bug and lack of proper export/import tools for 3d modelers is a huge hit to modding. once that is solved and up to par with oblivion, then things will turn around.

I wonder if the navmesh thing is intentional and will be fixed when all of the DLC has been released.

I thought that was fixed with the latest patch. Maybe not, then.

But I am seeing a big increase of time between updated versions of my mods for Skyrim. The latest that one of my mods have been updated was March.

They published a fix in 1.5.2.4 but had to revert it in 1.5.2.6 due to some issues the patch caused that someone else can explain a lot better than me

And a lot of the mods I track are updated very frequently.

Ah I remember now. The .4 patch was causing CTDs when using mods for some and when the beta .6 came it fixed the issue.

Well, isn't it like this: First we try out the new CK by doing some simple mods. Then we learn to understand the tool more and more, and we start doing larger projects.
I released my first mod - a house - for Skyrim very shortly after the ck was released.
But, practically since then, I'm working on one larger project - a Companion Vilja for Skyrim - and it will surely take several more months before it's ready for an upload.
I don't think I will do anything else modrelated until that mod is released, but it doesn't mean that I'm not working...

Theres alot of mods still being updated rapidly but they arent the normal big haul ones Oblivion is known for.

That Navmesh bug really cuts into alot of peoples modding

So does the current TESVsnip muck up that completely destroys mods that use information more than 1 tier down.

Lack of Working Tools that was previlant in Oblivion is bogging down the modding community once Gecko is finished you should see a definate pickup in modding

Nope. The https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23navmeshbug is still alive and well. Unfortunately.

It was actually fixed in 1.5.24, at least as far as navigating. The only catch was that it introduced a CTD that struck when you left a cell with an altered navmesh and then tried to return to it. 1.5.26 was forced to revert that on the game side, but CK 1.5.24 still contains whatever they did for it on the CK side.

Also, some people have exams in summer. I know I'm looking forward to July to start some modding.

Arthmoor, wasn't the original bug that the navmesh broke the second time an area was visited? So if that was swapped for a CTD instead, how did they know if they'd fixed the problem? Or was it just occasional CTD's?

There's also the Papyrus factor. Many people are feeling intimidated by the new language and don't want to get into it because they feel it is too complex for them.

My thoughts: aside from a couple exceptions, there is going to be a fairly large barrier between Skyrim modders and Oblivion modders, much like the one that exists now between Morrowind and Oblivion modders (though that one is starting to shrink). Sad, but that's the way the wind is blowing in my eyes.

It was easily verified as fixed with Open Cities. As long as I didn't step into an interior, I could enter a city, leave, go some distance away, then come back and everything was operating normally. Wash, rinse, repeat, and it was all fine right up until entering a shop, or going into Dragonsreach, or whatever. As soon as that happened, BLAM, CTD upon trying to leave the building.

Navmesh bug in combination with lack of proper export tools for statics (with collision especially ) killed Skyrim modding for me. I like to make new architecture and then make dungeons/houses/quests whatever with it. None of this is possible right now, either not at all or not without bugs. It's really a shame, the game was released more than half a year ago after all. I really thought I could jump right in and convert all my stuff, make new stuff and mod away. Then Beth needed a few months to release the CK and after the wait is finally over all I have are bugs and no exporters.

New weapons and armors are nice, but if all the hot files on Nexus are either that or skimpy dresses then it is very far from the creativity and diversity of Oblivion mods. Reminds me more of the average (not very moddable) game where you can download 'skins' and a few other goodies. Shiny, but boring.

Kinda annoying that we don't hear anything about a proper fix lately. Should we start bugging moderators and PR people again to get a piece of info?

Ah, that makes sense. It's clearly a ridiculous solution, but in theory, would the problem be solved by opening, well, everything? Putting everything in one space? So you have to open shop doors and walk in, etc.
I'd probably find that immersive, rather than loading screens, but I imagine it'd be hell on the hardware. Loading screens exist for a reason, usually.
(obviously this would only work with the old version. And is hugely impractical, compared to waiting for a fix...)

People have started doing it a bit on twitter using #navmeshbug and asking Bethesda people to comment on the issue etc

It is possible to create primitive collision shapes with latest max exporter (373) and create static compressed collision with NifUtils. Though the latter can only have one type of material assigned to it.

Yes, we have, and the more folks who join in, the more likely something is to come of it. Someone also suggested including #skyrim as well to draw in more attention.

Well for me it's real life. I have a dissertation to write, I am away on holiday next week (Florida) and I have been massively busy at work, so its the time of the year. However I have to be honest, Bethesda have not helped things and if they dont sort themselves out they will kiss their own future goodbye. The fact that we have to draw their attention to problems suggests a "got your money, couldnt care less" attitude. That only generally lasts for one game. They wont get another chance. However it is early days yet. You never know they might see beyond the kerching $$$$ and start thinking about how they are going to pay next years mortgage payments as well.

I don't think that the amount of released mods are the "problem", but rather the type of mods. I'm referring to 20 % being skimpy armor mods only, another 20 % translations, and like 30 % more percent very minor house mods or save game mods.
The lack of decent, well thought out and made mods is therefore to me the "problem" of Skyrim's modding.

@hlvr: Perhaps, but to be fair, the CK has only been out since February. It takes months to complete the kind of decent, well thought out mods you're talking about. That's only been 3 months.

I don't think modding is dying out just yet, what I do think is that is has the potential to die out if Bethesda don't move on that Nav mesh bug fix, and if we are not able to get working tools for our modellers.

As regards the complexity of mods, it is just starting to pick up. I can certainly report on the house mod situation as that is my area, because of searching for mods for SKYRE. House mods are picking up and some stunning new ones have been recently released with modified/new architecture and a lot of new resources like paintings/rugs/food containers/potion containers/open books etc...

This situation actually doesn't differ much from the house mod situation after Oblivion's release. We started with a plethora of 'my first shack' mods while everyone got used to the new CS. After about 3 months more complex house mods started appearing and it took even longer before the really good resources started appearing, and therefore even better houses. That is what is happening. Though with Skyrim it will take a bit longer for everyone to get started because we have so much in the way of interior tilesets that need to be explored and learned. In Oblivion the interiors were one boring piece. There is a lot of potential for house mods yet.....but that will not be explored and cannot be fully explored without the navmesh bug fix.


Ooo I wish I had known before, I will ask the folks on SKYRE to join in.

In my humble opinion modding is in no way dying out. Yeah, the CK isn't perfect, in fact it has some pretty terrible bugs, but it's still one of the best modding tools for one of the most moddable games also given that the Elder Scrolls community is absolutely massive, it doesn't seem possible. Heck, I know of games with next to no inherent moddability with a communities of just a few dozen people that are being modded, even years after their release -like Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (the community built it's own SDK to use), or even just look at Morrowind. People are still making mods for it. No way the navmesh bug or a lack of proper .nif import/export tools will kill modding for Skyrim, there's just too much other stuff that can be accomplished with the CK even if a couple of things are a pain to do.

I have done my bit of acting a twit. Seems unlikely the staff would pay more attention to a social networking site than a dedicated forum they run, but twitter has a reputation for this sort of thing, and I guess a different setting might distinguish our requests from general whining.

Is it any consolation that no matter what I'll be here and modding until Bethesda hires me?

No? Okay...