Honestly, I'd like to see...or make, if/when I get the time and inclination, a tool that makes configuring mods a hell of a lot simpler for everyone, from your know-next-to-nothing users to your advanced users. It'd solve a lot of this bullshit; just pack it in with the FTB Launcher, or have it as an aside on the site in a "Useful Tools" section or something.
I second this notion
so much.
I cannot emphasize how much I support such a utility.
I mean, heck, a sub-menu under the options menu or main menu would be more than enough. Simple, intuitive, and, I hope (plenty of experience in coding but next to no experience in Java) easy to code. (Disclaimer: I have no idea if it would be possible to actually edit the configs while the game is running, even if no world is loaded; if not, it should be relatively simple to warn the user that Minecraft will have to be re-started to apply the changes, and/or close Minecraft directly when the user saves the changes to the configs.)
Well yes, but not to that extent.
The word missing from the end of this statement is 'yet'.
In all honesty? I like the fact that GregTech exists. It is a thing, and if I want to use such a thing (and sometimes I do), GregTech allows me to do so. That part is good. If I want to do something different, however, GregTech essentially tells me 'no, you must do things my way instead.' That part is not good. Plain and simple. (Note that the same would apply if I wanted to create my own mod--some of the things it adds (like iridium, the centrifuge, etc.) are useful resources and ideas that other mod-makers can build off of in a positive way, perfectly demonstrating the good that comes of collaboration...but when GT FORCES the mods and the players to do things "only my way", then the whole experience is soured for everyone involved.)
A lot of the defenders of GregTech miss/ignore the fact that the vast majority of the people who are exposed to GregTech DON'T choose to use it and DON'T have the ability to edit the configs to their liking--even disregarding multiplayer, few people downloading the pack for the first time would have any clue about GregTech and its changes and configs. People turn to FtB because they AREN'T experienced in downloading and installing their own mods, and are looking into a way to experience Minecraft in a new way without having to spend a week browsing the Minecraft forums downloading mods and ironing out conflicts and bugs. To put it bluntly, if I had been manually putting together a bunch of mods back in the days when I first discovered Feed the Beast, I would not have installed GregTech, and I'm sure that many others feel the same way. Am I thankful that I've been exposed to some of the ideas of GregTech? Yes, but that doesn't change the fact that it wasn't my choice, and that I didn't have the choice to configure anything about GregTech until months later when I finally stumbled across USEFUL information about the subject--note that the config itself is needlessly cryptic and pretty much unreadable without outside assistance.
I'm sad that I can't trust GregTech not to burn me--I actually liked the change to steel in the electric tool recipes, and despite my initial trepidation, I've warmed to the idea of Iridium, the Industrial Centrifuge, and some of the other elements Greg has added. The problem is, Greg goes too far in other areas, and with malicious code included in his mod I simply can't risk keeping it installed. He's proven he doesn't care about the end user, nor about any sort of casual Minecraft player who's not into his personal brand of ultimate hardcore experience.
Bottom line: GregTech caters itself to a very specific audience. FtB, on the other hand, tries to cater to a widespread audience. They've parted ways--either GregTech needs to have a dedicated pack (which I would probably love to death, given how much I enjoy the pack dedicated to DivineRPG!), or else it needs to leave FtB entirely. Regardless, GregTech has clearly lost its place in the packs that are dedicated to a more mainstream audience.
