====== Forging Ahead: To Mod or Not To Mod? ======

We all like Minecraft, but sometimes the game has those little, niggling annoyances that just won't go away. "Maybe, if they just changed one line of code somewhere, it would all be better." Enter Mods, which can do everything from cleaning all the rotting flesh out of your fridge to letting you [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rewvqQaP88M&feature=youtu.be&t=6m56s|travel to the moon]].

As a community, we have never thoroughly addressed the existence of Mods or come to an agreement on what kinds of Mods, if any, that we want in our game. Chibi would like to propose the following guidelines for the use and installation of mods on ''theparadox.us'':

  * Mods should be in the spirit of SMP. As per our [[:start#player_guidelines|player guidelines]], we're a Survival server, and that means there's no free lunch. Mods which give you Totally Free Everything, or Awesome Cheese-tastic Powers that an epic-level D&D character would find unbalancing, are probably not in the spirit of SMP.
  * We're all playing Minecraft here.
    * Any Mod which totally changes the look-and-feel of the game is probably not something we want. 
    * The world will not be re-generated or reset in order to support a Mod.
  * No Mod should be server-critical. We must be able to stop using a Mod and revert to vanilla Minecraft, at any point, without adverse effects on the world.
    * Mods may be abandoned by their creators; abandoned Mods will eventually stop working.
    * We will not elect to stop receiving updates from Mojang to support **any** Mod.
    * Mods that add new blocks are discouraged, particularly if they do not degrade gracefully to vanilla Minecraft. New blocks may be okay if they are obtainable only in small quantities.
  * A Mod shall be discussed, vetted, and generally approved of by the community prior to installation.
  
Our [[https://mojang.com/|benevolent creators]] have not yet delivered a stable API for mods, although this feature has spent [[http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Plugin_API|some time]] in development. For now, mods remain the realm of reverse-engineered binary "hacks" on top of the original Minecraft .jars, usually with a Mod Framework to tie them all together. We have been considering adding a Mod framework, such as [[http://www.minecraftforge.net/wiki/|Minecraft Forge]] or [[https://bukkit.org/|Bukkit]], to ''theparadox.us''. Either of these frameworks would allow us to access a variety of community-contributed mods, with the following caveats:

  * Frameworks rely on reverse-engineering. Since this [[http://www.minecraftforge.net/forum/index.php?topic=13353.0|takes time]], a framework won't always have the latest and greatest Minecraft.
    * Minecraft 1.7.2 was released **25 Oct.** 2013
    * CraftBukkit for 1.7.2 was released in //beta// on **18 Dec** 2013, and builds continue to be labeled as "beta" even today.                                                             
    * Forge for 1.7.2 was released **26 Dec.** 2013    
    * Interim periods mean either doing without the framework or doing without the updates from Mojang.
  * If we use Forge, everyone would have to install Forge. [[http://www.minecraftforge.net/wiki/Installation/Universal#Post-1.6.1_Minecraft_Forge_.28using_installer.29|The process]] is much improved from their earlier days.
  * Mods themselves have to be maintained. If their contributors abandon them, they will quickly pass into obsolescence.


With the above in mind, we've got the following questions for you, our players:

  - What is your position on Mods? Do you absolutely want them? Do you absolutely //not// want them?
  - Do you agree with the Mod Guidelines presented above? If not, please propose changes or revisions.
  - Creations such as the [[http://www.theparadox.us/dokuwiki/_media/technology:team_center.png?t=1388301817&w=500&h=261|Team Center]] are the result of Command Blocks. Would you like to see more Command Block-based Mods on the server?
  - Do you want to use Forge? Bukkit? If so, what do you want us to do when Forge/Bukkit cannot be used with the current release of Minecraft?

Feel free to write your responses in the space below. Put each response in its own section, labeled with your alias.

===== Responses =====

==== ManaLocke ====
While some of the Forge mods would be interesting, many would obviate several things we've already built, and I do concern myself with the server no longer working because a mod fell into Abandonware.  Mods that add additional dimensions would be interesting, such as the moon, or linking books.  I would be willing to endure some risk of lost effort there, as long as the world was not irrecoverable afterward.  Some added recipe mods would be nice, such as the rotten-flesh-to-leather crafting ability.  These further have the benefit that we would be unlikely to lose anything, should the mod be abandoned.

I am, however, in total favor of Bukkit mods, as they only require server-side (and ergo cannot cause a borked environment).  I have seen a few by SethBling that were interesting--in particular, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6qx7f0G0Ik|Bling Combat]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnXXNbu0Q_Y|a Grapnel Hook]] (not a hookshot, a hook-and-line grapnel, but still cool.
In addition, I am interested in doing more command-block-based mods.  Examples of this include [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xn-6c0E0lg|Pokeballs]] (though I'm not sure how difficult it would be to expand this to SMP), and exploding arrows.

In particular, I am hesitant to suggest mods that require us to wait to install updates, especially as it is immediately after updates when I am most eager to play.
==== RigilG ====
I've got a lot of the same feelings as ManaLocke.  If we're keeping away from adding new blocks, then things like TreeCapitate (cuts the whole tree down by cutting the base, but takes longer to cut the tree) or new recipes for existing items would be fantastic (uses for rotten flesh and saddles, I'm looking at you).

As for more advanced mods?  I think alternate realms (Like the linking books of MystCraft or the planets of Galacticraft) would be tons of fun, and require only a minimum amount of extra blocks.  I'm not sure how much effort they would be, but I think they'd be fun, without rendering much of the work we've done pointless.

Oh, and I'd kill for a good airship mod.  But that's just me.
==== Chibi ====

It has been some time since anyone has commented here, so I figured I would take the opportunity to weigh in. My primary concern with regards to mods is, and has always been, the smooth and stable functioning of the server. While idle, the Minecraft server consumes 75% -- 80% of the virtual machine's memory. With a single player connected, that number grows to 85% of the memory, minimum. When the server is under heavy load, memory usage can spiral out of control, particularly if many chunks are being loaded and unloaded.

The server occasionally has difficulties keeping up as it is: heavy usage can and still does result in jerky performance, slow dimensional transit times, and rubber-banding. Modding frameworks can have deep hooks into gameplay mechanics, and this translates directly into more CPU cycles spent per tick. Others have demonstrated, [[http://www.sk89q.com/2013/03/improving-your-minecraft-servers-performance/|using profiling]], that mods such as FTB and Tekkit can add lots of tile entities. These are expensive to process. Some mods also [[http://wiki.bukkit.org/Bukkit.yml#database|require a database]] server, which would add yet more load. 

I am very reluctant to add even more demands to an already-stressed system. There is a mod known as Spigot which claims to improve SMP server performance. Unfortunately, it was recently served with a DMCA Takedown Request and is [[http://www.spigotmc.org/threads/our-dmca-response.28772/|not currently available]]. In addition to slow release cycles and abandon-ware, which I specifically mentioned above, we might also have to contend with legal issues which make our mods unavailable.

That being said, I think that command blocks have good potential for simple, maintainable, reliable mods. The [[:team center|scoreboard system]], which is controlled in the Nether, has proven quite popular amongst our players. Other proposed command-block ideas include:

  * an enchantment shredder
  * a system which periodically eliminates slimes which have spawned above a certain height
  * automatic announcements at dawn

While I don't want to do anything which greatly alters game mechanics, or requires a lot of site-specific installs, there might be other things we can do with command blocks which will make the game even cooler. For now, enjoy version 1.8, which we have up and running right now!


==== Your Alias Here ====