Mods, Stats, Rewards - The last year at Nexus Mods

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Happy (belated) new year everyone! For most people around the world, 2021 was still very much a year affected by the pandemic, so it probably won't make its way into any "Top 10 Best Years Ever" lists anytime soon. Looking at our site usage data and overall statistics, however, 2021 was indeed a very good year in terms of site growth. We're happy to say we're now serving more users and hosting more mods for many more games!

A significant project we completed in 2021 was the total overhaul of the Premium membership system - gone are the days of having to go through the forum in order to sign up for Premium. We reached a major milestone in our mod rewards programme and last year also marked the subsequent (albeit still not official) roll-out of our Collections system which recently entered the Open Alpha stage as well as several optimisations to our server infrastructure. And let's not forget about the fact that in 2021 our site celebrated its 20 year anniversary - that's two whole decades of modding!

With that out of the way: a picture says a thousand words, so here's a visual recap of last year to guide you through the main growth stats and site improvements in 2021. Enjoy and have a great 2022!

For accessibility (if you're using a screen reader) here's a PDF version of the graphic.



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  1. popvirus2
    popvirus2
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    The rate of growth is amazing....job well done...

    With that being said, I am now 72 and have been a member for a little over 5 years...I never in a million years would have believed that I would put right at 12K gaming hours during that time (yes, I work it like a job seeing as there are 2080 work hours in a year)...however, since I joined this website (and supported Nexus right off), the amount of mods that have been developed is simply amazing....

    I will say this, I am an old diehard Nexus Mod Manager user and simply refuse to learn a new mod manager....heck, by the time I was to learn a new system, I'd probably be dead...

    I an not a modder, rather a simple, humble user....

    The way I look at it is the more members, the more mods...I have  used literally thousands of mods over the past years and probably could be seen as a "mod tester"...I am not a hardcore gamer in that I start new games frerquently....read "if I see a new mod I like, I have no issue starting a new game to use/test it....with that being said, I have used mods that made me think "what were they smokin' ?", but who am I to complain since it is the developers free work...

    Best wishes for continued growth of the site...

    V/R, <===(for those that don't know, V/R = Very Respectfully), Grandpa always said you catch a lot more flies with honey than you do vinegar.....

    pops
    1. UhuruNUru
      UhuruNUru
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      Big mistake, while I understand the convenience of having one manager to rule them all, the reality is a drop down in quality to lowest common denominator status, and your age should be no barrier, all mod managers essentially work the same way.
      I may be younger, but I'm still no spring chicken at 58, and this old dog, will never give up on learning new tricks.

      NMM (Vortex as well) is a Jack of all games, but master of none, as you're a NMM user, I'll focus on that, but most of what I say applies to all such "Do It All, but "It" does so little" managers, from Steam Workshop, to Vortex.

      NMM was originally a port of FoMM (Fallout Mod Manager), itself a port of ObMM (Oblivion Mod Manager), and was released just 4 days after Skyrim. This can be seen to this day (even in Vortex) as the automated installers still bear the original Name FoMod (Fallout Mod).

      Even in merging just for the same base engine, functionality for each game was lost. BGS Engine (Bethesda Games Studios: 32-bit=BGS32, and 64-bit=BGS64), and modding engine wide is the only multi game methodology that can share anything more than the very basic download to designated folder that Steam Workshop does so well (sarcasm it's total crap), that little more for is deciding which mods overwrite which files, Called Install Order in NMM, not Load Order that's reserved for just the BGS games,

      The two good, and more advanced BGS managers, are old school Wrye Bash, and my preferences for BGS32, original MO (Mod Organizer), and for the BGS games there's definitely a big UNLEARNING curve, forgetting the "bad habits" of the old manager is really the hard part, and once that's achieved the Learning Curve, isn't too difficult, whichever one you start with, so I get why switching for BGS games is daunting,

      Rant at BS (Bethesda Softworks) Still salty nearly 5 years later
      I was going to spoiler this, but seems like you can't do that now
      I started with MO, and only learned how NMM worked because I was providing MO User Support for several years, until Bethesda Softworks shoehorned a Microtransaction Cash Shop into games I bought without such trash. I removed both BGS64 games from my Steam Account, and reliquished ownership forever, the very day the Creation Club appeared, because Microtransactions,

      Tell me Starfield will have a Microtransaction Cash Shop before launch, not two years later, I still won't support it, but I will do that the same way I don't support any microtransaction infested games, by simply not buying that game. Say it will never have microtransactions, or I wait 4 years before I feel I can trust BS not to do that again.

      I've pretty much given up on all BGS modding, Enderal excepted, but I play the stand alone Steam version of that, and have all the 32-bit BGS
      games on GOG, in case it returns, but nearly 5 years later, it's still not started to itch. I have lost all the BGS enthusiasm I once had, due to BS's BS.

      Rant over, lets get onto to the meat of this topic, games that use other engines
      I mod games as enthusiastically as I always have, lots of games, on lots of engines, and with lots of managers, but no Jack's allowed, I want the manager that masters each game/engine, not a mediocre second best Jack.

      This is where your objection makes no sense, because there's so little Mod Management, to unlearn, outside the BGS games, except the bare minimum basics, all managers must have, and thus no unlearning is required.

      Maybe because I learned this before Steam Workshop led to the knee jerk mass expansion of games on Nexus, only a few other games even existed here back then, and Dragon Age was the first non BGS game I looked at.
      I did the same as when I chose MO towards the end of 2012 as a noob. I reviewed the manager options, and again went the dedicated best in class route, while it was nowhere near MO's level.

      DAOMM (Dragon Age Origins Mod Manager) has two features that put it far above the competition
      Installation, and creation of DAZip mods (Also used by the games DLC), and a simplified type of automated installers for the Override folder, Override mods, which are easy enough to learn that, so I could create them myself, and massively simplify the installation of multi part mods that are loose files, plus though an official release was never actually made for Dragon Age II, it's exceedingly simple to redirect a separate install to mod that game as well.

      That's the second advantage, you learn new ways to do things, some of them a far better system than BGS uses, the modularity of MO was a major improvement for me, and many newer game have that modularity built in. Which Ironically makes the Jack's job easier, as the games done most of the heavy lifting for it.

      So it went on, every new game/engine I mod, I look at what's available, and refuse to ever go the jack route, as in my experience, jack's can only operate on the lowest common denominator basis of download to designated folder, decide mod install order. I don't even need a manager for the bare minimum any more, it's what the manager can do that's specific to that game/engine that makes it stand above the Jacks.

      Then there are games that no other manager can work with, for example;
      Frostbite 3 games, the "Unmoddable" engine, according to the Dice devs, that EA foisted on the BioWare modding community. It took a while but that community broke open that engine so widely, that now every game made on that engine is modded, but only using FMM (Frosty Mod Manager).

      Similarly newer Capcom games, Including Resident Evil series, require FM5000 (Fluffy Manager 5000) to mod them.

      Plus the many, many games, where you have no easy jack option to hold your hand, you must roll up your sleeves, and get  your arms deep into the files and folders, and learn the dark arts of manual modding

      By slavishly sticking to a Jack, you are missing out on so many awesome mods, leaving many games a bland vanilla flavoured sameness.
      Expand your horizons, by all means stick to NMM for BGS games, but the more you step outside your comfort zone, the more new tricks your old brain will master, keeping that mind active, keeps it working, and as a huge bonus you get some more great games to mod.
    2. HazakTheMad
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      I don't see what any of that had to do with popvirus2's post.
      Was your point supposed to be that things get worse as time progresses?
      I never really get the whole "new is bad" or "everything is dumbed down" or even the reverse "new is best", in the end
      all those are fallacy.
    3. steelpanther24
      steelpanther24
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      Or your V/r shows a military background as that is where I learned to use it every time I needed to submit a (paper based, I am old too) special request chit (or slip or paper).

      Vortex does simplify life, but, as with any new system, it does require a change in how you approach modding, as you know.   How many mods do you run in a game?   My top modded game (FO4) is now at 263, with assets used from another 22 mods.   NMM would have been a challenge at that mod level.  

      V/r
      Steel Panther  (from the SSI PC game "Steel Panthers", had this moniker long before an awesome hard rock cover band took it  "Death to all Butt Metal' rules!)
    4. neurovx
      neurovx
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      Sheesh UhuruNUru, leave Pops alone. That was some bitter aggro you spewed out there. Good for you for your advanced skills.
      It just depends your level of comfort doing it the hard way. So, you're a master modder. Most PC gamers aren't like you, nor do they want to be like you. Vortex, and NMM have given the general PC playing public a chance to enjoy thousands of mods they may otherwise have passed up.
      Have empathy for the general gamer, lighten up, and stop your bragging.

      (And a very long life to you, Pops!)
  2. SkandarGraun
    SkandarGraun
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    I am happy to be with you since 2011 :-)

    Happy Anniversary :-) 
  3. Sexyowl
    Sexyowl
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    Very late to this but, as a member for the last 7 odd years...thank you for what you do. The site works well and I can get most (if not all) of what I need to mod the games I have in one place.

    Happy New Year Nexus and Happy Anniversary!
  4. illuminati3213
    illuminati3213
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    I'm a month late but thanks for everything. I wish you all a healthy and successful new year.
  5. Duciyavi
    Duciyavi
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    Awesome job!!! My only wish: Make pictures load faster :) Maybe you could use a compressor for mod images. 
  6. HazakTheMad
    HazakTheMad
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    A toast to another twenty years!
  7. Brumbek
    Brumbek
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    A huge congrats to the whole Nexus team. You deserve all your success! As someone who was very active in modding for 10 of your last 20 years, I am indebted to Robin and all the rest of the good folk who keep this site going. I especially appreciate the mod donation system, which has allowed me to benefit for years now on my hard modding work. And thank you to all the mod users who support and encourage mod authors. Here's to even more years of modding to come!
  8. KyleAustin85
    KyleAustin85
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    here's to 2022 being a hell of a year as well
    1. TheVoidKnight
      TheVoidKnight
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      Dude...
    2. ArngrimEinherjar
      ArngrimEinherjar
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      That sounds just like a wish for the monkey's paw.
    3. HazakTheMad
      HazakTheMad
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      Well, I guess it was hell, I wouldn't wish for next year to be that.
  9. AngryTexian
    AngryTexian
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    Lets bump those numbers up EVEN further this year!
  10. Ashes2Asherz
    Ashes2Asherz
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    no joke, that was a fun read.
    very nice. :)