[WARNING] Please read if you use or intend to use mods.

Mod Checklist

A: Disclaimer
B: Copyright Infringement
C: Broken Mods

A: Disclaimer
Please be aware that Space Engineers is an Alpha stage game. For more information on the stages of game development check out this Wikipedia page. What this means for you, is that the game may or may not break at any point. Saves may need to be wiped, content might drastically change, mods will break, etc.

It sucks, but it's not something to get too fussy over. You bought an alpha game.

B: Copyright Infringement
This is a tricky subject, but hopefully this can alleviate some of the misunderstanding. If a mod author uploads content, that is their content (assuming they're not using copyrighted content). As a result, they own the rights to it. If an individual takes that content, changes it ever so slightly or not at all and then reuploads it under their name, it is technically Copyright Infringement.

Do not however, just immediately flag a mod that is a reupload. They may of received permission or have tried their best to get a hold of the original authors to update old mods. I suggest either talking to the reupload author or going to the original authors page and messaging them of the workshop page in question and let them handle it. This will prevent allowed reuploads from being accidentally removed.

C: Broken Mods
If you have an issue with a mod not functioning, typically after an update to the mod or SE, and especially if there are no other reports, please do the following first, before reporting a broken mod. Time to time Space Engineers will improperly download a mod from the workshop and can cause weird issues. The following is the only way to resolve those issues regularly.

Step 1: Locate the mod ID in the URL of the mod workshop page. (Info below)
Step 2: Locate C:\Users\YOURPCUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\Mods
Step 3: Delete or move the 9-digit sbm file out of the mods folder.
Step 4: Relaunch Space Engineers and load the original or new world with the mod again.
Step 5: If it works, issue resolved. If it doesn't, report the issue. (Info below)

Step 1 Info: Mods in the SE Mod folder that are downloaded from the workshop have a 9-digit number followed by .sbm, IE 123456789.sbm

The 9-digit number comes from the workshop page that the mod is uploaded from, IE https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123456789

Step 5 Info: Please try your best to describe the issue to the author on the workshop page. If there is nothing to describe but a crash on launch or no accessible block, not even for placement, then provide to the author the log located here: C:\Users\YOURPCUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\SpaceEngineers\SpaceEngineers.log

 

Thanks for this, as sad as it is that this even had to be done.

 

Stickied.

 

I knew it was going to happen. It's the nature of the beast. I just hope we don't start seeing intentional maliciousness arise, instead of just ignorance to understanding how things work.

*edit*

Thank you RedPhoenix

 

Mods should have the NAME of the creator, and any 'Business/Faction identity' displayed. There are some popular name brands for mods.

There should certainly be some clear images of the Mod, both for the downloader, and for the ability of 'original creators' to find clones of their work.

Firstly, so there can be some accountability.

Second, so if there is a 'cloning', the owner can verify its status (His/hers or not, and actions can then be taken to remove the mods).

There are lots of Mods getting dumped onto Steam that look good, but I have no idea who made them, and that should be a no-no.

 

I think the mwm should have an embedded value in it.

So say that there is a file with the Mwmbuilder.exe there should be a Mwmconfig.xml or something with a tag that states...

DeadWeight4U<\Mwmauthor>
xxxxxx<\ModdevID>

Then we could serialise the data, and we could cross reference the serialised data against the one in the mwm.

Hell, you could even include a function in the Mwmbuilder to verify the author.

Tools> Mwmbuilder.exe -vo mods\xxxxxx.zip

To which the output would be.

Verified mod author: DeadWeight4U


Just an idea

 

I think the feature is a lot less useful, especially if they encrypt or lock the file that users download from the workshop. Especially since most mod authors have moved away from sharing their mod files directly. I should probably remove the mediafire link from mine.

 

Locking it does make sense.

 

They don't encrypt anything. You can rename the downloaded SBM to .zip and extract all the files.

But, you can add a raised watermark somewhere only you know, on the model, so that the thief cannot just retexture it and call it theirs.

 

The developers actually said that on their video shao.. that is why I was talking about embedding a value in the mwm. Something that only the builder can read and only the builder can set.

Refer to my first post.

 

https://creativecommons.org/choose/
Deep breaths, goosefraba. Steam has workshop moderation so push for further subsections of the workshop and have some folks go through once a week.
https://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2856815
Oh my, what a panic over such a simple fix.
If they want to steal it bad enough, they'll figure it out. It doesn't matter how well you encode it. These little panic attacks don't actually solve anything or get anything accomplished; you might think they do but in reality: the harder the lock the harder people will try to get in. Simple observational science, tell someone under you (or whoever) that they can't do something - you know what's going to be in the back of their head all day? How to get away with it.
"Trust the people and they will do no wrong." ~ Lao Tzu
Example, get a gun safe, put a million dollars in it, tell everyone there's a million dollars in there, wait.

 

*Line redacted due to deleted post making this portion irrelevant*

Alright here's three questions for all who contribute:
1. Why do you contribute?
A. For all the users, for the game itself, and for my portfolio
B. For fame or attention
2. Name one game with closed / locked mods that could not be reverse engineered that lasted more than two years while still being as enjoyable and having the same vibrant community that it had in it's first six months?
3.If you were to fall into a volcano, have 3,000 babies, or get shipped to the moon by mistake and no one is capable of reverse engineering your work, do you think your mods will be functional in six months? Do you think that users will not abandon your mod(s) when they break? Will this game survive the two year mark?
A. Yes.
B. No.
Hint: The answer to number 3 is entirely dependent on your answer to number one.
Hint2: The answer to number 2 is a reminder that your concept here is not original, it just doesn't work how anyone plans it to.

 

Can this discussion NOT be held in this thread? It's not for petty discussions. I ask that a moderator delete the posts not related to the thread, unless the users in question delete their own posts. This is a place for people to report malicious or fraudulant mods on the workshop.

 

report them on steam, im pretty sure they have a policy against people uploading other peoples mods.

i down vote every mod i see that wasn't posted by the authors

 

If you intend to use mods, extract the .sbm to a folder in your mods directory, as not doing so leaves you subject to the whim of mod authors who may or may not respond rationally to EULA changes, real or imagined.

 

I feel inclined to report your post as the full story has not yet been made clear and I know that this is direct reference to Embershard removing his mods from the workshop. If you're going to continue to harass Embershard, along with all the other individuals harassing, keep it to his thread or PM's.

I also would like to point you towards the forums rules page:
https://forums.keenswh.com/post/forum-rules-guidelines-6483624?pid=1279175391

Allow me to outline a few rules for you and all who care to continue to harass Embershard about his current choice:

===>Piracy and Pornography! All messages that include linking, mentioning or promoting piracy and/or pornographic content will be deleted immediately and the member will be banned! (Taking Embers mods and uploading them under your name or someone else uploading them is a form of piracy.)

===>Any kind of violence, vulgarity, using abusive, bad or offensive language, calling names, threatening or insulting other members, is not accepted and messages will be deleted immediately! This includes posting links to websites containing such content.

===>Respect other user's opinions. Don’t criticize or deride what other members believe about the game.

===>Try to keep all messages in a constructive and polite manner. Posts that don’t include any arguments neither provide any suggestion on how the game can be improved will be considered as spam and will be deleted. For more information of what is Feedback and Constructive Criticism, please read below.

 

It's a real issue. Using any workshop mod leaves you vulnerable to the author pulling it with no explanation or justification, no matter how big/popular they are. There is no extra security in "legitimate" mods.
Unless or until the way this game interacts with the Workshop is changed, the only completely reliable way to use mods is to extract a local copy.

 

user abuse of the mod creators has picked up. this is not surprising. steam has no control over content comments section.

 

Other than deletion of the comment but they just spam you till they are satisfied.

 

Hello,

I'm representing SEModder4 and his works/contributions to official mods. Because of this travesty of official modding works being botched, he has decided to create an official thread to link his works and contributions. I've made an unofficial quick thread on some of his works. Until the official thread goes up I'd like to refer everyone inquiring about his mods to this thread:

https://forum.keenswh.com/threads/uncle-stes-ramps-read-here-if-you-use-them-please-3.7366144/

This does contain official workshop links to said files.

 

lol, it does remind me of early days in Minecraft, exactly the same helpless explanation on how to deal with mods... (no offense meant Shaostoul, i see the necessity)

First i like to see that Keen get rid of Steam !!! (Maybe use a different service like Curse or Nexus, which is in my opinion much more responsive and far better organized then the Steam-disaster, my 2 cents)
Gathering the Mods under control of this Forum would be much more trustworthy and useful.

2nd. Is there no decent logging possible ? (except the crippled SE log ?)
It would be easy, concerning the loaded Mods to show which Mod makes problems and why...but we rather spend time to get wet over Planets ;-)

 

Updated original post to reflect the current state of Space Engineers and mods.

 

Sadly, just had this happen with a planet mod I made. Someone tried to make an "HD" version of it by taking my heightmaps, doing some minor tweaks in Photoshop. Ah, Mercury HD... I can only hope you get removed.

 

Flagging works, it just takes a little time. I've had to report several mods via the Steam Workshop flagging system and it worked out. I also have friends that are rather zealous and report stolen content as well, so, I'm not sure if it helps or not but, you could try asking some friends to flag it as well and reference the original that it was stolen from.