Word of Advice and a Question from a Rookie
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This is coming from a person who is rather fresh to the GTA V modding scene and aimed more at the people who have been around here for years (but I guess this is advice for anyone generally). Please, please, pleeease can people test their vehicle mods before they even bother uploading them? There is no rush nor deadlines and rushing things for a release with numerous bugs only creates more work for yourself (well that is if you're that person who actually takes pride in your work). I'm disappointed that a noob like myself can take pride in work I'm not even showing off to people and testing everything I can think of to ensure my car fits perfectly into the game with no issues yet, people who have been doing this for years and actually share things whether to impress or not, cannot be bothered testing or fixing OR take pride in their work.
Which brings me to my question- Why do some people (even long time experienced modders) upload vehicle mods with a bug or 2 and never bother to fix it? There are a hundred or more vehicles here with little issues such as the common unbreakable window bug. I personally edited and fixed many vehicles, regardless of permission (I don't publish anything myself yet alone other peoples work). It took me ten minutes to watch a video on how to use ZMod and another five minutes to fix a vehicle. So in saying that, if I can do it in my first modding session, there should really be no excuse for vehicles to be uploaded here with bugged windows (especially coming from those who have been modding here for years).
So my other bits of advice, influenced by the minor but frequent bugs I encounter with many mods- before opening your browsers to come here and upload, open your GTA V first, spawn your vehicle with your trainer and test:
The glass (MANY windows, lights and other glass pieces don't break)
The doors (some doors, trunks and hoods don't open and sometimes aren't positioned correctly and even detach)
The textures (some cars don't have dirt mapping and or the liveries are not positioned correctly on opposite sides)
The names (some cars don't have names, incorrect spelling, wrong brands or even no brands)
The shadows (some vehicles, parts and or wheels don't cast shadows)
The interior (some vehicles are missing pieces within their dashboards or don't work at all)
The LODs (some vehicles don't have any or the wrong model is the LOD)In conclusion- if a noob like myself can fix a car in ZMod in less than 5 minutes, I'm sure a seasoned modder really has no excuse to take more than a week (too generous) to fix a window or other minor bug. Sadly many authors cannot be bothered fixing their stuff which is just very disappointing.
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@GTA-Modding-Noob What annoys me the most is when vehicles come without proper LOD models or no LOD models at all. Such vehicles are true memory hogs and are one of the major causes of game crashes. Add to this the usage of 4K textures where it's not even suitable.
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what really annoys me is when vehicle creators upload a vehicle that isn't the best like needs work(interiors being bad quality for example) but can't be arsed fixing it and just keep popping out semi-decent quality models
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Thanks Cyron I added that to the list, knew I forgot something.
I know right Reacon. I found it astounding how people can make broken or buggy things, refuse to fix them and then continue to churn out more, broken and buggy things.
That small list of 7 items should be plastered everywhere in the forums and pop up as a warning before you upload a mod just to remind people to test their stuff before hand.
I wont name authors, but I'm sure many people already know, what upsets me the most is that certain car mods are even corrupt and have been since 2017. If the thing is completely broken and bricks the game and the author knows it and everyone has complained about it, why is it even on the site at all?
Benefactor Streiter [Add-On | Tuning] 1.3 -Corrupt
Weeny Issi Hardtop [Add-On | Tuning] 1.0 -Dashboard is broken
Mammoth Patriot Variant Pack 1.0.1 -Wheels don't cast shadows and people have reported light problemsThis is just a small sample of MANY vehicles I've found that have never been touched as early as 2016 and 2017.
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@GTA-Modding-Noob said in Word of Advice and a Question from a Rookie:
I found it astounding how people can make broken or buggy things, refuse to fix them and then continue to churn out more, broken and buggy things.
Sadly this also applies to script mods. Take a look at page 1 of the script mods section. There are 7 from one and the same author. I know for sure his "Executive Business" mod is bugged as hell. He's even got the nerves to claim it's "the ultimate expansion to Grand Theft Auto 5" (see description). I told him the issues not one but three times. He promised to fix them since V1 but he doesn't. Instead he implements even more things on top of his crap code. This mod got even featured! I don't feel like testing his other mods but quite obviously here goes quantity over quality.
EDIT: Just adding this picture for future reference.
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@Cyron43 I know of a few who do this... I ask for the source to be provided or I look through them and find where the errors are and in return I get the usual 'don't access my property' response. Like dude, can't you at least be grateful I pointed out your issue or fix the damn thing?
Even with the cars, I offer to upload fixed metas or the common busted window but no, no... Don't touch this, don't touch that so I keep the fixed stuff for myself and check back on their mods days, weeks, months... A year... And they cannot be arsed fixing something that took me five minutes.
Seriously, maybe I should start uploading fixed things regardless of what people say... Is it pure laziness or do people do this on purpose...?
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@GTA-Modding-Noob Sage words, indeed!
What particularly grinds my teeth, is that often even the XML files are crap. Either there are syntax errors in them; or, worse -- but no less often -- the car comes with a modkit that isn't even referenced! Hello!? Or a faulty defined animation, that immediately crashes your game on entry of your car.
So, yeah, would it kill ppl to actually spend some minimal time testing their cars before publishing them?!
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@GTA-Modding-Noob said in Word of Advice and a Question from a Rookie:
Seriously, maybe I should start uploading fixed things regardless of what people say
As much as I personally love this idea but the law is the law and such actions would infringe the copyright. I'd rather see the admins lock those mods with a red "NEEDS FIXING!" banner instead of a download button. That would also teach those people with Dunning Kruger syndrome to rethink their attitude.
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Yes, exactly.
We should be able to report a mod (of course regulate it and show some proof of bugs so people cannot abuse the system to troll). With car mods especially "oh its an addon", the files? A car and a texture file with the same name as an existing car with no META files so you're left with figuring out which is the most appropriate existing vehicle to copy info from, which some also end up leading to nasty glitches... Some cars don't even work and are corrupt too...
META files are riddled with errors, have incorrect information etc. Like what do people do? Make a mess in ZMod and then upload it here and expect people not to point out their bugs? (I ask that because some people get mad about it)
I will confess, and... Brag a little... I have almost as many vehicles as the vanilla car pack in MY OWN CUSTOM RPF. I made one, took lots of vehicles from vehicle packs, individual replace vehicles, individual addons and more. I took all the BUG FREE things and almost 30 BROKEN vehicles. I fixed them all, textures, liveries, carcols, handling, variations and vehicles meta. I can always upload them elsewhere and give people fixed things while the authors here can keep their broken junk. Just saying.
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@GTA-Modding-Noob In other words, you're not the n00b you claimed to be at the beginning.
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@Cyron43 Just a fun name I thought of my friend. I was never into modding GTAV until I downloaded my first broken car with unbreakable windows. I got ZMod, watched 1 video, and 10 minutes into my modding career I was already fixing people's junk. Hence why I get so disturbed when long time supposed experienced people are too lazy or don't take pride in their work. Its sad, really.
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@GTA-Modding-Noob said in Word of Advice and a Question from a Rookie:
Hence why I get so disturbed when long time supposed experienced people are too lazy or don't take pride in their work.
Lazy attention seekers, I suppose.
