I Want to Make a Custom ModPack for my Server

[nikkolaus]

I know what you're thinking ... "Custom ModPack...? Is this guy nuts?! That's really complicated and tough!"

Well, that's why I'm here...
I want to bring the BEST experience to the players of my Server...
I would like to build them a custom modpack so that they can have a super-fun time without getting bored so easily ...

One of the main things i wanted to incorporate into this ModPack was the Flan's Mod and some aspects of the Voltz mod, I love the weaponry and Missles of those packs, while keeping the modern feeling of IC2 and BuildCraft with their Power systems and Windmills and such... But without outfitting players so heavily that they use 20 quarries to dig up all the materials they need, build everything, get bored and quit the server (has happened many times before).

So, basically what I need is a person who knows a ton about the different modpacks, how to integrate them together for use on a Server, and also how to fix any Conflicting Item IDs ...
I need a helper, and advice, in this great quest of mine... Will you please help me, for the benefit of my players?

 

[Tristam Izumi]

The hardest part of putting a pack together properly is (in my opinion) balancing the mods' configs.

Fixing Block IDs: http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/guide-resolving-block-conflict-ids.30682/

Fixing Item IDs: similar to above, but no nice and short list; look in the FML log for "overwrit" and "conflict", then resolve the item IDs like you did the block IDs. Some mods like MFR and Railcraft do intentional overwrites to implement some features.

Tweaking the configs and testing for weird inter-mod compatibility is really just an exercise in reading the configs, changing the configs, play test different stages and combinations of mod interaction, then starting this part over again until you're happy with the finished product. Mods like MineTweaker are good to change/remove recipes you feel need to be changed/removed.

 

[nikkolaus]

The hardest part of putting a pack together properly is (in my opinion) balancing the mods' configs.

Do you mean just figuring out what you want out of each mod's config -- Like, certain stuff enabled/disabled?

 

[Tristam Izumi]

Do you mean just figuring out what you want out of each mod's config -- Like, certain stuff enabled/disabled?

Basically. This also includes tweaking worldgen, like enabling/disabling biomes in BoP or the ore vein size/quantity/spawn heights in mods that allow such (TE3 and Metallurgy3 have such configs, with TE3 being able to accept control over additional block types).

For example, in a pack I put together for personal/private use I have both Metallurgy3 and TE3; I've used both of their configs to make it required to mine at many heights to be able to acquire the full range of metals needed to build much of the tech in the pack. Since I also have TiC in my pack (and thus ExtraTiC), I also made it so many of the ultra-high tier fantasy and nether ores only spawn very rarely and at no set height so they're not easy to find. Related to oregen, it also meant I had to go into some other mods' configs and disable some of their oregen so I wasn't spammed by multiple versions of the same ore in the world (some of which I have no control over their generation rules).

You also have to think about how different mods interact with each other. For example, let's say you're adding Blood Magic to a pack you're making. Blood Magic requires a fair amount of natural regen for efficient self-sacrifice, or a consistent and constant flow of animals/monsters for sacrifice. What other mods you're using can fill these needs? Do these mods trivialize the collection of LP for Blood Magic, or is there some balance/cost to those actions that make it a fair tradeoff? If it's not what you want to promote, how do you fix it? Change a recipe to make it only later in someone's playthrough? Disable a key block/item from a mod that allows the unintended interaction? Or perhaps replace the mod with a similar-but-different mod that provides the features you want without the cross-mod interaction you don't want?

I'm not going into specifics here since this is the kind of thought process I think needs to go into a good modpack. In my opinion, three examples of this are the Magic Farm 2, Ultra Hardcore Survival 2, and MadPack modpacks. Each aim for different visions, and accomplish it by not just throwing mods together, but by tweaking and retweaking their configs until the desired effect is reached. In comparison, my own pack is very incomplete compared to the work JadedCat, WyldStein, and JonBams & Keehan have put into their packs, which is why after each world, I tweak the configs a bit more.

 

[Algester]

before we go into balancing its best you first make sure that the block IDS work together
so I assume your basic mods will be like

Tech
Universal Electricity
ICBM
BC
IC2
(if your going to war I do suggest protection such as MFFS Minalian or Calclavia's version)
MFR?

Toys
Flan's mod core
Flan's planes and cars
Helicopter mod?
Archimedes' ships
Weapons
your call (Tinker's, customizable guns, Balkon's weapons, metallurgy, and so much more, Battlegear)

Esthetics
Chisel
Natura
BiomesXL or BoP
Forestry (if your players are into bee and tree breeding)
Bibliocraft
Mariculture
Carpenter's Blocks
Skycraper and City blocks (adds pavement and painted roads and other building materials)
Underground biomes

Majority of Japanese mods actually fall under esthetics but I will leave the research to you
Bamboo
Pillars

Utilities
Openblocks
Extra Utilities
Little Maids? (Don't take my word its said its broken on SMP despite being ported to 1.6.4 and runs on forge)
CoFHCore (Ore gen controller that I can trust)
Computer Craft
mob talker 2
Red Power 2 or sticky redstone your call on what kind of redstone control utility you want
Sync
Hats
Morph (well I leave the decision to you people say its OP I say its fine)

Magic
Witchery
Thaumcraft (Thaumic Extra's, Thaumatic Tinkerer)
Blood Magic
Ars Magica
Magical Crops

Transportation
Railcraft
Steve's carts
Traincraft?

Mobs
Grimoire's of Gaia
Mo's creatures (I know Dr Zhark doesnt like it to be in a pack)
Soul Shard?

Dimensions
Myscraft
Twilight forest
Galactic craft?
Tropicraft

Adventure
Battle towers
Ruins
Rougelike Dungeons (correct me if im wrong)
Better dungeons

Storage and management
JABBA
Applied Energistics
Iron Chests
Steve's Factory Manager
Logistics pipes
Pipes
Denpipes

 

[tedyhere]

Like the others said a Good modpack takes many things into consideration. First, what is the theme of the pack? War? Will you allow Tech and Magic? Do you want players to advance quickly or slow them down to extend their playthrough?

Now depending on the theme you start adding mods that fit these themes... once you have the mods decided on, start up a world. Fix all ID conflicts found. Now you start balancing ore generation, this will greatly effect how fast players can get through tech trees if you start making certain ores more rare.

There are a number of mods which can change ore gen. Custom Ore gen, CoFH core, Metallurgy are the first that come to mind. Now depending on which mods you have, you could have duplicate ores such as copper and tin, so decide which mod you want to control those ores. I myself go with Metallurgy for most ores and CoFH for other things like Applied Energistics Certus Quartz. CoFH allows you to add ores into it's ore gen so you can control other mods ores through it.

I use Metallurgy because you can even limit certain ores to certain dimensions, I have all Fantasy ores spawn only in the Twilight Forest for example.

After doing this, playthrough your pack yourself and have good testers do the same to find odd interactions like infinite power loops or item duping and to see how the pack feels to you.

I know I tweaked my pack for over a week to get it to where I felt it was good enough.

 

[SatanicSanta]

Just make sure to not limit players, and listen to their mod requests. The majority of modpack dev time is fixing IDs, which really isn't hard since in 1.6.4 it gives you a range of free IDs.

 

[nikkolaus]

Thank you to everyone who contributed information to me.. I have read each reply and will take it all into account ...

Yes, my modpack is War overall but with a little magic thrown in for the players who like that stuff... But, my main focus is guns, planes, and cool electronics and such.. and also space-launches with GalactiCraft

Also, if one of you could answer this question I would be most greatful ... Do i have to Private Message each and every mod developer to get permission to use their mod in my pack if i'm going to be using the pack only on my server??

 

[Golrith]

If using it only privately (i.e. for yourself and a few friends) you don't need permission. It's only if you want to make the pack public some modders require permission.


I would suggest first add in your world gen mods (example, BoP, natura) and make sure there are no block ID conflicts.
Then add one or two mods that add a bit of gen (such as ores), make sure no conflicts.
Then a bunch of the smaller mods, check for conflicts, repeat until all the small mods are in.

When buildilng my Omega Dawn Pack, i don't think I had any conflicts until after 30-40 mods downloaded.


One other thing to be aware off, the game will crash on Block ID conflicts, but not Item ID conflicts. Check the recipes, if anything looks odd, it's most likely an Item ID conflict.

 

[nikkolaus]

If using it only privately (i.e. for yourself and a few friends) you don't need permission. It's only if you want to make the pack public some modders require permission.


I would suggest first add in your world gen mods (example, BoP, natura) and make sure there are no block ID conflicts.
Then add one or two mods that add a bit of gen (such as ores), make sure no conflicts.
Then a bunch of the smaller mods, check for conflicts, repeat until all the small mods are in.

When buildilng my Omega Dawn Pack, i don't think I had any conflicts until after 30-40 mods downloaded.


One other thing to be aware off, the game will crash on Block ID conflicts, but not Item ID conflicts. Check the recipes, if anything looks odd, it's most likely an Item ID conflict.

I cant possibly know every recipe of every mod i want on the server ... what do you mean "if anything looks odd"

 

[tedyhere]

I cant possibly know every recipe of every mod i want on the server ... what do you mean "if anything looks odd"

For example a steam dynamo having a ic2 high voltage cable as part of its recipe instead of a conductance coil.

 

[Golrith]

I cant possibly know every recipe of every mod i want on the server ... what do you mean "if anything looks odd"

Well, it's only when you start playing that you'll really notice item ID conflicts.

One example that I had was it was possible to craft Naquadah ore (from stargate mod) drops by crafting some things from Project Red. It's not that bad, and only becomes more apparent when you have a lot of mods.

 

[SatanicSanta]

I cant possibly know every recipe of every mod i want on the server ... what do you mean "if anything looks odd"

You can also tell by opening up the Forge-modloader-0.log file and searching CONFLICT, it'll tell you every conflict there is, including items.

 

[nikkolaus]

I've started to assemble my modpack, I've gotten about 4 mods done and am on the 5th when I have run into a bit of a confusing point...
I would "ASSUME" that Forge is back-compatible with the previous builds, but I must ask this question because in modpack-making you can never "assume" anything...
So here is my question....
Calclavia Core requires Forge 9.11.1.964 ... is 9.11.1.965 okay?
Most mods want the .965 ... but this Calclavia Core, for Atomic Science Mod, says that it requires Forge 9.11.1.964.. Am I okay just leaving .965 enabled and On, or do i need to do something special ?

 

[Tristam Izumi]

I've started to assemble my modpack, I've gotten about 4 mods done and am on the 5th when I have run into a bit of a confusing point...
I would "ASSUME" that Forge is back-compatible with the previous builds, but I must ask this question because in modpack-making you can never "assume" anything...
So here is my question....
Calclavia Core requires Forge 9.11.1.964 ... is 9.11.1.965 okay?
Most mods want the .965 ... but this Calclavia Core, for Atomic Science Mod, says that it requires Forge 9.11.1.964.. Am I okay just leaving .965 enabled and On, or do i need to do something special ?

Once upon a time I heard about an issue where using a newer version of Forge caused an issue, but I think it was a myth used to scare new pack makers. Out of building dozens of private packs for myself, I've never yet had such an issue.

Also, please leave your font the default size, it's disconcerting.

 

[gardenapple]

I cant possibly know every recipe of every mod i want on the server ... what do you mean "if anything looks odd"

Twilight Forest and Metallurgy have some really weird itemid conflicts. Steeleaf tools have replaced one of Metallurgy ores(its dust is a steeleaf hoe and the ingot is a steeleaf axe), meaning I could smelt this hoe to get an axe and a Blah-Blah-Blah crusher now uses 8 steeleaf axes. Just sayin'
Also when I made a modpack(its private for now) my method was: let players choose between mod A and mod B, but try not to make mod A "overpowered" thus making mod B useless. Like, if you add TConstruct and Metallurgy ( maybe even ExtraTiC) its good, but when you add Iron Chests and Multi Page Chest, the second one is way chepaer and stores 10 times more stuff than a Crystal chest.
Its a good decision that you are implementing magic features for people who like them.

 

[tedyhere]

Download the latest Universal Configs from FTB, it will solve *most* ID conflicts. You will still need to go through configs to fix item ID conflicts for some things and adjust Ore Generation. Trust me the configs work.

 

[gardenapple]

Download the latest Universal Configs from FTB, it will solve *most* ID conflicts. You will still need to go through configs to fix item ID conflicts for some things and adjust Ore Generation. Trust me the configs work.

Oh thanks!