[2021] Update 34 - Modding System Changes

: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page [url=https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/548430/announcements/detail/5077221524956755576]here[/url].

Hello Miners! Thank you to everyone who has played Update 34 on the Experimental Branch and provided feedback on some of the new features. This has been incredibly helpful for us to better understand how these changes affect the game and your experience. We got a lot of feedback on the new modding system and want to let you know of some changes we’ll be making, and why.



We are making the following changes to how playing with mods in your game is going to work:

• The requirement to have a separate savegame for playing modded missions will be removed
  
• There will still be a savegame profile system available to you, so you can manually make a separate savegame just for your modded progress if you want to. But it won’t be a requirement.

Now, some background on why we made it a requirement initially, and why we’re changing it.



The goal for improving the modding experience with Update 34 was to make playing with mods as easy and safe as possible. We want the system we put in place to:

• Safeguard players from accidentally joining a modded game that will affect their savegame in ways they have no interest in.
  
• Place as few restrictions on modders as possible, while adhering to the point above, like removing the need to use a specific modded save to install and use mods - if you are using mods, you have made a conscious choice to do so
  
• Put in place filters that let you actively search for or hide modded servers.
  
• Make modding the game easier, not harder.

We also want to protect the integrity of the progression system. The ranks and promotions in-game showcase the hard work, skill, and dedication that so many of you have shown. And we don’t want that to be diluted by shortcuts provided by modding.



Thankfully, these concerns don’t seem to be an issue based on these first days of playtesting the new modding system. The mods that we see many of you include add new and more difficult challenges*, quality-of-life features, and visual changes to the game. And we love that.

The feedback from you guys is that you want to have these options in your main Deep Rock Galactic experience. And we totally understand that. So we’re changing the savegame requirements in order to let this happen. We are incredibly excited to see what kind of experiences this opens up.

IMPORTANT NOTE: We are letting you guys toy around for now, but we will be monitoring the situation - and we reserve the right to act if things get out of control. The goal is still the same, to make playing with mods as easy and safe as possible.

If you want to get in on all the new features in Update 34, including the new modding system, ahead of time you can play on the {LINK REMOVED}Experimental Branch.

Rock and Stone!

With Love,
The Ghost Ship Crew



*Despite our every effort to introduce more of these ourselves


Edit: Based on all the feedback, we have decided to postpone modding support and release it later in a separate Update 34.5. See this post for more details.