EA’s Policy on Mods [Discussion]

[Damien]

Decided to open a thread where users can discuss EA's Policy on Mods.

This is a continuation of the discussion in this thread.

Please be civil otherwise warnings will fly out.

 

[Harry BullZak]

It's against the rules of the forums

I have to say, I don't think it is.

Rule 2, which I think you might be citing, relates to those users who take content from others, without asking and without credit, and then share it as if they 'own' it or created it themselves. It explicitly refers to those who try to sell it or put it behind a paywall. This behaviour is rife on YouTube and Discord groups. Which is scummy. That isn't what this person did; otherwise, they would be banned.

In this case, the user who shared the link is only making available what should have been made available by the original creator, as outlined in Rule 10. Which is also in line with EA's official stance on modding.

The fact is, EA could put a stop to us at any time, so creators would be wise to stop being so greedy. I know we spend a lot of time on these mods, but none of us owns the mods we create.

The only thing we own is our time. Maybe the community could be more willing to donate to their favourite creators, and a nice balance can be had, but flat-out selling mods could kill the community if EA ever enforced anything. At the moment, EA leaves us alone as it's only small mods that are being sold. That could change though.

 

[FIFERMods]

I have to say, I don't think it is.

Rule 2, which I think you might be citing, relates to those users who take content from others, without asking and without credit, and then share it as if they 'own' it or created it themselves. It explicitly refers to those who try to sell it or put it behind a paywall. This behaviour is rife on YouTube and Discord groups. Which is scummy. That isn't what this person did; otherwise, they would be banned.

In this case, the user who shared the link is only making available what should have been made available by the original creator, as outlined in Rule 10. Which is also in line with EA's official stance on modding.

The fact is, EA could put a stop to us at any time, so creators would be wise to stop being so greedy. I know we spend a lot of time on these mods, but none of us owns the mods we create.

The only thing we own is our time. Maybe the community could be more willing to donate to their favourite creators, and a nice balance can be had, but flat-out selling mods could kill the community if EA ever enforced anything. At the moment, EA leaves us alone as it's only small mods that are being sold. That could change though.

Maybe you are right, but I think the rules need to be clarified. A rule about "Content Theft" seems to suggest to me you shouldn't be be able to share someone else's work without permission. It also mentions "We value and protect the work of modders and content creators." which doesn't seem to actually be true (they do value it, unless your mods are paid. this should be mentioned). Regardless, should it not be against the rules to share another modder's work without permission? If I share a free mod here, and someone downloads it, re-uploads it, and shares their own link somewhere else on that forum, should that be allowed?

You mention rule 10 but this thread wasn't created by the mod creator. It was created by someone asking for the mod, so I don't think that rule applies (the original thread from the mod creator was locked a month ago).

I also see the new "EA’s Official Policy on Mods" which to me seems like a wishful interpretation (to align with the forum's existing values) of the linked source. The post says "EA supports the use of mods in its games" but the linked source to support this says "In general, EA does not allow any modifications to our games". The "Not for sale" aspect is referring more to fan art and videos.

I agree with the forum policy to ban modders from sharing their own paid mods here (although I disagree about letting anyone share them without permission), but I don't think it's accurate to say this is "EA's Official Policy on Mods". Unofficial maybe (because of course, EA doesn't care about FC25 mods, as they increase game sales), but EA's "official" policy would require this forum to be shut down.

 

[Damien]

Maybe you are right, but I think the rules need to be clarified. A rule about "Content Theft" seems to suggest to me you shouldn't be be able to share someone else's work without permission. It also mentions "We value and protect the work of modders and content creators." which doesn't seem to actually be true (they do value it, unless your mods are paid. this should be mentioned). Regardless, should it not be against the rules to share another modder's work without permission? If I share a free mod here, and someone downloads it, re-uploads it, and shares their own link somewhere else on that forum, should that be allowed?

You mention rule 10 but this thread wasn't created by the mod creator. It was created by someone asking for the mod, so I don't think that rule applies (the original thread from the mod creator was locked a month ago).

I also see the new "EA’s Official Policy on Mods" which to me seems like a wishful interpretation (to align with the forum's existing values) of the linked source. The post says "EA supports the use of mods in its games" but the linked source to support this says "In general, EA does not allow any modifications to our games". The "Not for sale" aspect is referring more to fan art and videos.

I agree with the forum policy to ban modders from sharing their own paid mods here (although I disagree about letting anyone share them without permission), but I don't think it's accurate to say this is "EA's Official Policy on Mods". Unofficial maybe (because of course, EA doesn't care about FC25 mods, as they increase game sales), but EA's "official" policy would require this forum to be shut down.

I see that you are very fixated on rules lately for someone who is not very active around here. I wonder why...

The specific rules you pointed out do not apply to any of your concerns as nobody is stealing, claiming or re-uploading materials for profit or otherwise. Asking permission for something that should not be sold and locked permanently behind a paywall in the first place is a bit redundant isn't it?

If you actually took the time to read EA’s full policy, including the appendices, you’d see there’s no "wishful interpretation" involved as it's all detailed here and here.

The only wishful interpretation here is yours Lewis and we both know the reason why. While I know you would be delighted to see this forum shut down, I can't stress enough that EA is aware of this forum and EA is here and they do care about FIFA/FC mods.

They have have chosen to tolerate this community and its activity under clear conditions outlined in their official modding policy. Reason why we ban every member that promotes links with paid mods that are permanently locked behind a paywall.

While they do have the power to shut it down, they won't because of the aforementioned reasons.

Bottom line, is it really that hard to follow these policies and post a mod on Patreon or BMC and release it publicly a week later? Why can't that be possible? You can still earn while respecting the rules and contributing to the community, as EA expects.

However that is a big why for someone like you, isn't it?

 

[FIFERMods]

I see that you are very fixated on rules lately for someone who is not very active around here. I wonder why...

The specific rules you pointed out do not apply to any of your concerns as nobody is stealing, claiming or re-uploading materials for profit or otherwise. Asking permission for something that should not be sold and locked permanently behind a paywall in the first place is a bit redundant isn't it?

If you actually took the time to read EA’s full policy, including the appendices, you’d see there’s no "wishful interpretation" involved as it's all detailed here and here.

The only wishful interpretation here is yours Lewis and we both know the reason why. While I know you would be delighted to see this forum shut down, I can't stress enough that EA is aware of this forum and EA is here and they do care about FIFA/FC mods.

They have have chosen to tolerate this community and its activity under clear conditions outlined in their official modding policy. Reason why we ban every member that promotes links with paid mods that are permanently locked behind a paywall.

While they do have the power to shut it down, they won't because of the aforementioned reasons.

Bottom line, is it really that hard to follow these policies and post a mod on Patreon or BMC and release it publicly a week later? Why can't that be possible? You can still earn while respecting the rules and contributing to the community, as EA expects.

However that is a big why for someone like you, isn't it?

On the contrary, I'm very happy that Soccergaming has undergone a transformation, and that's why I have been vocal about clarifying the rules. I think you have done a great job with the new UI and I hope many modders also share their mods, knoweddge, and questions here alongside Discord, it's good for the community. I also have been quite active on here since I joined, I'm always lurking and when I see a question I have the knowledge to answer, I answer it.

The two policies you linked are for the Sims 4 and Command & Conquer. Both games using a different engine, developed by different teams, and extremely different in every way to FIFA/EAFC. Again, the main article you linked says "In general, EA does not allow any modifications to our games", and the user agreement says similarly. Therefore, I'm not sure how you can disagree with me that "EA supports the use of mods in its games" is not their "official" policy. I think it would be more accurate to update the post to say that officially, no modding is allowed, but EA "unofficially" supports it, as it increases their game sales, and that paid mods should be avoided as they increase the chance of EA taking action against modding as a whole (and that yes, in two other EA games where they have defined an actual policy regarding mods, they do not allow paid mods).

Regardless, I agree, and always have agreed, that fully paid mods are a bit of a slippery slope and shouldn't be allowed on major forums/Discord servers, etc. I think the policies here (other then being able to share mods without permission, but I get your reasoning) are fair, and a week early access is how I've always done things (and always will).

The past few weeks I have been working on FET for every hour in the day my time allows, working on the biggest modding revolution in FIFA/EAFC Frostbite history (hopefully!), and I'm excited to share that with everyone here on Soccergaming alongside other platforms, when it's ready.

 

[Emran_Ahm3d]

The past few weeks I have been working on FET for every hour in the day my time allows, working on the biggest modding revolution in FIFA/EAFC Frostbite history (hopefully!), and I'm excited to share that with everyone here on Soccergaming alongside other platforms, when it's ready.

Off-topic but I am excited to know what it is.

 

[Damien]

On the contrary, I'm very happy that Soccergaming has undergone a transformation, and that's why I have been vocal about clarifying the rules. I think you have done a great job with the new UI and I hope many modders also share their mods, knoweddge, and questions here alongside Discord, it's good for the community. I also have been quite active on here since I joined, I'm always lurking and when I see a question I have the knowledge to answer, I answer it.

The two policies you linked are for the Sims 4 and Command & Conquer. Both games using a different engine, developed by different teams, and extremely different in every way to FIFA/EAFC. Again, the main article you linked says "In general, EA does not allow any modifications to our games", and the user agreement says similarly. Therefore, I'm not sure how you can disagree with me that "EA supports the use of mods in its games" is not their "official" policy. I think it would be more accurate to update the post to say that officially, no modding is allowed, but EA "unofficially" supports it, as it increases their game sales, and that paid mods should be avoided as they increase the chance of EA taking action against modding as a whole (and that yes, in two other EA games where they have defined an actual policy regarding mods, they do not allow paid mods).

Regardless, I agree, and always have agreed, that fully paid mods are a bit of a slippery slope and shouldn't be allowed on major forums/Discord servers, etc. I think the policies here (other then being able to share mods without permission, but I get your reasoning) are fair, and a week early access is how I've always done things (and always will).

The past few weeks I have been working on FET for every hour in the day my time allows, working on the biggest modding revolution in FIFA/EAFC Frostbite history (hopefully!), and I'm excited to share that with everyone here on Soccergaming alongside other platforms, when it's ready.

The entire linked page regards the use of EA's IP as whole, including mods with the word "Policy" very much clear in the title. The appendices for those two games are an overall of how EA views the use of mods by the community.

EA clearly states that they acknowledge the existing of mods and how the mods must be used and shared, so that makes it pretty official. You are correct that EA "unofficially" supports the use of mods so that was an expressive error on my part in the announcement which has been rectified.

Now I don't know if you're gaslighting here, but you never had an early access release to the public ever of your realism mod, except when the next edition of the game is released. The whole alpha/beta tactic does not apply here if you were counting on it as that's simply an exploitation of EA's policy.

So really looking forward for your mod as it's well overdue for a public release.

stfu nobody cares

Yeah, stfu Lewis, unless you are posting links to your full Fifers Realism mod for free to us, your words aint jack buddy.

Please watch your language, you can disagree without negative comments. This is not Discord.

 

[FIFERMods]

The entire linked page regards the use of EA's IP as whole, including mods with the word "Policy" very much clear in the title. The appendices for those two games are an overall of how EA views the use of mods by the community.

EA clearly states that they acknowledge the existing of mods and how the mods must be used and shared, so that makes it pretty official. You are correct that EA "unofficially" supports the use of mods so that was an expressive error on my part in the announcement which has been rectified.

Now I don't know if you're gaslighting here, but you never had an early access release to the public ever of your realism mod, except when the next edition of the game is released. The whole alpha/beta tactic does not apply here if you were counting on it as that's simply an exploitation of EA's policy.

So really looking forward for your mod as it's well overdue for a public release.

I appreciate your agreement, although as far as I can see the post has not been edited.

The FIFA 20 Realism Mod had 10 public releases, the first in October, 2.0 in March, 3.0 in July, and he FIFA 21 Realism Mod 5 public releases, the first in March. So your statement isn't true.

Now, it's true the FIFA 22, 23, and 24 mods had their public release far later then I would have wanted. But to imply this was by design is completely untrue. FIFA 22 was the next "generation" of the mod, doing things very differently (I wrote 36k words about this), and for the better, using the new Lua system I developed (which took a lot of time). The mod also ventured into new areas and did many things that have never done before, some which of have never been done since (like the Dynamic Youth System mod, which made youth players evolve their appearance over time). FIFA 22 was also released in late 2021, when the pandemic was quieting down, which meant I had far, far less free time.

The start of FIFA 23 also marked me taking over development of FET, which was a steep learning curve, and has been one of my biggest time commitments ever since (if not the biggest). I spent a lot of time learning, and then working on the tool, at the start mainly just for UX stuff, and then slowly larger backend changes. It has been very difficult to balance working on the largest mod, that only gets bigger and more complicated each year, and the tool we use to mod the game, alongside my personal life, which has also got more hectic and busy year to year. Finally, this year my personal life has cleared up a bit and I've been able to commit more time to modding, and anyone who has used the FC25 Realism Mod will tell you things have been much quicker this year, with more frequent releases featuring more content then ever. Now, I was planning on releasing the mod in April, but my personal life picked up and that came and went. And since May 1st, I've basically been spending 80% of my time on FET, and 20% on the mod, as there were some elements of FET I had neglected for quite a while that I needed to really understand and improve. The Beta of FET I recently released contains a large amount of improvements including a gamechanger for how EBX can be edited, which will hopefully allow lots of mods to become feasible that previously weren't. Now for the past ~3 weeks, it's been more like 95% of my time on FET, as I have been working on redesigning the tool in my aspects, to be far more performant and efficient, and to support, like I mentioned before, a massive, gamechanging thing that has not been possible in the FIFA/FC Frostbite Era.

Therefore, I don't think it's fair for you to tell me my mod is "well overdue". When should I have released it? Should I have released something buggy, or missing key features that are a known standard for the Realism Mod? Or should I not have been working on the tool most of the community uses to make mods?

There is a reason that no other mod does many of the things the Realism Mod does. It's incredibly complex, expensive and time consuming to develop. For the past three years, it's taken about 11 months to become stable and complete enough for my standards. This year has been better, and I would like to release it soon (right now we are over 3 months from FC26 being released, so I don't know how that's long overdue), but it still has bugs, and missing features (like the Brazilian league which is what I'm working on right now). And my work and discoveries on FET have made my mod take a backseat, right now I'm fully focused on the tool.

I feel like I have contributed a lot to the community, though FET, through my Realism Mod, through knowledge I have shared, through tools I have shared (more coming soon). I have never not released a mod for any other reason then it not being ready. And my next contribution (if all goes well), will be the biggest.

Big mods take time, and I'm not sure what the policy is or what constitutes "long overdue", but it doesn't seem very fair or accurate to me.

 

[Damien]

I appreciate your agreement, although as far as I can see the post has not been edited.

The FIFA 20 Realism Mod had 10 public releases, the first in October, 2.0 in March, 3.0 in July, and he FIFA 21 Realism Mod 5 public releases, the first in March. So your statement isn't true.

Now, it's true the FIFA 22, 23, and 24 mods had their public release far later then I would have wanted. But to imply this was by design is completely untrue. FIFA 22 was the next "generation" of the mod, doing things very differently (I wrote 36k words about this), and for the better, using the new Lua system I developed (which took a lot of time). The mod also ventured into new areas and did many things that have never done before, some which of have never been done since (like the Dynamic Youth System mod, which made youth players evolve their appearance over time). FIFA 22 was also released in late 2021, when the pandemic was quieting down, which meant I had far, far less free time.

The start of FIFA 23 also marked me taking over development of FET, which was a steep learning curve, and has been one of my biggest time commitments ever since (if not the biggest). I spent a lot of time learning, and then working on the tool, at the start mainly just for UX stuff, and then slowly larger backend changes. It has been very difficult to balance working on the largest mod, that only gets bigger and more complicated each year, and the tool we use to mod the game, alongside my personal life, which has also got more hectic and busy year to year. Finally, this year my personal life has cleared up a bit and I've been able to commit more time to modding, and anyone who has used the FC25 Realism Mod will tell you things have been much quicker this year, with more frequent releases featuring more content then ever. Now, I was planning on releasing the mod in April, but my personal life picked up and that came and went. And since May 1st, I've basically been spending 80% of my time on FET, and 20% on the mod, as there were some elements of FET I had neglected for quite a while that I needed to really understand and improve. The Beta of FET I recently released contains a large amount of improvements including a gamechanger for how EBX can be edited, which will hopefully allow lots of mods to become feasible that previously weren't. Now for the past ~3 weeks, it's been more like 95% of my time on FET, as I have been working on redesigning the tool in my aspects, to be far more performant and efficient, and to support, like I mentioned before, a massive, gamechanging thing that has not been possible in the FIFA/FC Frostbite Era.

Therefore, I don't think it's fair for you to tell me my mod is "well overdue". When should I have released it? Should I have released something buggy, or missing key features that are a known standard for the Realism Mod? Or should I not have been working on the tool most of the community uses to make mods?

There is a reason that no other mod does many of the things the Realism Mod does. It's incredibly complex, expensive and time consuming to develop. For the past three years, it's taken about 11 months to become stable and complete enough for my standards. This year has been better, and I would like to release it soon (right now we are over 3 months from FC26 being released, so I don't know how that's long overdue), but it still has bugs, and missing features (like the Brazilian league which is what I'm working on right now). And my work and discoveries on FET have made my mod take a backseat, right now I'm fully focused on the tool.

I feel like I have contributed a lot to the community, though FET, through my Realism Mod, through knowledge I have shared, through tools I have shared (more coming soon). I have never not released a mod for any other reason then it not being ready. And my next contribution (if all goes well), will be the biggest.

Big mods take time, and I'm not sure what the policy is or what constitutes "long overdue", but it doesn't seem very fair or accurate to me.

That’s a lot of words and excuses for not releasing a mod that was never meant to be locked behind a paywall in the first place.

Nobody is denying your contributions to FET, but the public release of your realism mod has consistently been delayed with a series of excuses that have become a pattern.

Once again claiming a mod is "buggy" yet continue to charge for it and release it only before a new edition of game frankly doesn't fly here.

The mod should already be available, buggy or not. If it truly is faulty, then asking for money makes it even worse. And honestly, I doubt anyone wants to pay for something that doesn’t even work properly.

Time to get in line with the policies and rules Lewis. Delaying it won't do you any good.

If you release it publicly while following EA’s guidelines and our forum rules, you’ll be free to share and promote it here as much as you want.

P.S.: The EA Policy thread has already been updated: "EA in general doesn't allow modifications to their games, however they tolerate and permit it as long as they’re..."

 

[Eyzord]

That’s a lot of words and excuses for not releasing a mod that was never meant to be locked behind a paywall in the first place.

Nobody is denying your contributions to FET, but the public release of your realism mod has consistently been delayed with a series of excuses that have become a pattern.

Once again claiming a mod is "buggy" yet continue to charge for it and release it only before a new edition of game frankly doesn't fly here.

The mod should already be available, buggy or not. If it truly is faulty, then asking for money makes it even worse. And honestly, I doubt anyone wants to pay for something that doesn’t even work properly.

Time to get in line with the policies and rules Lewis. Delaying it won't do you any good.

If you release it publicly while following EA’s guidelines and our forum rules, you’ll be free to share and promote it here as much as you want.

P.S.: The EA Policy thread has already been updated: "EA in general doesn't allow modifications to their games, however they tolerate and permit it as long as they’re..."

Hi Damien, i don't agree with your opinion on this.
"a mod that was never meant to be locked behind a paywall in the first place."
How is FIFER supposed to get content like Faces in realism mod without buying the files?

You've been here long enough to know the current state of modding.
You know that most of the facemakers now don't give their files for free.
So i don't find that surprising that FIFER puts Beta and Alpha of Realism mod. I assume that the money he makes with it also helps to pay us modders for our work to be included in Realism mod.

"Once again claiming a mod is "buggy" yet continue to charge for it and release it only before a new edition of game frankly doesn't fly here." You do realize that if a mod is in a Beta or Alpha state it's expected to be buggy? No mods are perfect as far as i'm aware. If he didnt charged for his mod, then there would be no more new faces.

I also think that all of this shouldn't polute this thread.
This thread is not about FIFER neither Realism mod.

 

[Damien]

Hi Damien, i don't agree with your opinion on this.
"a mod that was never meant to be locked behind a paywall in the first place."
How is FIFER supposed to get content like Faces in realism mod without buying the files?

You've been here long enough to know the current state of modding.
You know that most of the facemakers now don't give their files for free.
So i don't find that surprising that FIFER puts Beta and Alpha of Realism mod. I assume that the money he makes with it also helps to pay us modders for our work to be included in Realism mod.

"Once again claiming a mod is "buggy" yet continue to charge for it and release it only before a new edition of game frankly doesn't fly here." You do realize that if a mod is in a Beta or Alpha state it's expected to be buggy? No mods are perfect as far as i'm aware. If he didnt charged for his mod, then there would be no more new faces.

I also think that all of this shouldn't polute this thread.
This thread is not about FIFER neither Realism mod.

You clearly skipped on the whole discussion of EA's policy.

You are talking like there is some sort of obligation to "buy" faces here. That's a very polluted and wrong mindset. That content should not be sold, the end.

 

[Eyzord]

You clearly skipped on the whole discussion of EA's policy.

You are talking like there is some sort of obligation to "buy" faces here. That's a very polluted and wrong mindset. That content should not be sold, the end.

I'm gonna be honest, I don't care about EA Policy, they tolerate mods but they do their best to make it as hard as possible to mod their game.
The day they will deliver a proper game then i'll start to actually care.

"You are talking like there is some sort of obligation to "buy" faces here. That's a very polluted and wrong mindset. That content should not be sold, the end."
Sure my mindset is polluted and wrong, thanks.
Now go work on a face for over 12 hours, release it for free and tell me you won't say yes to someone offering you money for the files?

 

[Damien]

I'm gonna be honest, I don't care about EA Policy, they tolerate mods but they do their best to make it as hard as possible to mod their game.
The day they will deliver a proper game then i'll start to actually care.

"You are talking like there is some sort of obligation to "buy" faces here. That's a very polluted and wrong mindset. That content should not be sold, the end."
Sure my mindset is polluted and wrong, thanks.
Now go work on a face for over 12 hours, release it for free and tell me you won't say yes to someone offering you money for the files?

Once again you are writing like there is some sort of obligation here for someone to mod and charge money. Nobody asked anyone to turn modding into a business and not face consequences of selling illegal IP content.

If you don't care about EA's policy then it's pretty obvious where you stand and there is no reason to entertain anything further. Take care!

 

[Emran_Ahm3d]

Now go work on a face for over 12 hours, release it for free and tell me you won't say yes to someone offering you money for the files?

I agree with this. We all spend an embarrasing number of hours to make something small yet satisfying. And of course, anyone would say yes if someone offered money for the work.
But should this always be the case?

 

[Kvbx]

I agree with this. We all spend an embarrasing number of hours to make something small yet satisfying. And of course, anyone would say yes if someone offered money for the work.
But should this always be the case?

A fool would reject an opportunity to earn income.. People have bills to pay and if a hobby can bring in extra income to support one in their lives they should take advantage of it.. It is useless arguing wether something should be paid or not.. If a creator made a product and believes there is a price attached to it then theres simply a price.. there is nothing wrong with it.. That is life, nothing worth value is free.. also about following EA's policy, i have wasted hundreds of euros when i was 11/12 years old on FUT back in Fifa 11-14.. can i even access my account? No because these imbeciles shut the servers after 2 years.. So now what do i have to show for my spent money? The answer is nothing...The difference is when you buy a mod you will have lifetime access to it... Funny enough even activision keep their servers alive for their games that where released in 2007.. even though they are hacked to the core they still keep them alive... So all in all you really want to follow an invisible policy set by the most cash grabbing gaming company thats ever existed instead of using their product to improve it and earn financial reward for the disgusting amount of work you put into it?

 

[Dmitri]

Therefore, I don't think it's fair for you to tell me my mod is "well overdue". When should I have released it? Should I have released something buggy, or missing key features that are a known standard for the Realism Mod? Or should I not have been working on the tool most of the community uses to make mods?

Wait, you released a buggy version of the mod for your patrons?
And you didn't release it to regular folks because you didn't want them to suffer from the bugs?

I have to admit - you’re a true knight of our time.

The start of FIFA 23 also marked me taking over development of FET, which was a steep learning curve, and has been one of my biggest time commitments ever since (if not the biggest). I spent a lot of time learning, and then working on the tool, at the start mainly just for UX stuff, and then slowly larger backend changes. It has been very difficult to balance working on the largest mod, that only gets bigger and more complicated each year, and the tool we use to mod the game, alongside my personal life, which has also got more hectic and busy year to year. Finally, this year my personal life has cleared up a bit and I've been able to commit more time to modding, and anyone who has used the FC25 Realism Mod will tell you things have been much quicker this year, with more frequent releases featuring more content then ever. Now, I was planning on releasing the mod in April, but my personal life picked up and that came and went. And since May 1st, I've basically been spending 80% of my time on FET, and 20% on the mod, as there were some elements of FET I had neglected for quite a while that I needed to really understand and improve. The Beta of FET I recently released contains a large amount of improvements including a gamechanger for how EBX can be edited, which will hopefully allow lots of mods to become feasible that previously weren't. Now for the past ~3 weeks, it's been more like 95% of my time on FET, as I have been working on redesigning the tool in my aspects, to be far more performant and efficient, and to support, like I mentioned before, a massive, gamechanging thing that has not been possible in the FIFA/FC Frostbite Era.

It's so sad you're spending such a lot of your valuable time to create all those amazing mods.
At the same time, we can be happy for the creators of free mods - they crank them out in minutes, as fast as cannon fire!

 

[Gobza]

I appreciate your agreement, although as far as I can see the post has not been edited.

The FIFA 20 Realism Mod had 10 public releases, the first in October, 2.0 in March, 3.0 in July, and he FIFA 21 Realism Mod 5 public releases, the first in March. So your statement isn't true.

Now, it's true the FIFA 22, 23, and 24 mods had their public release far later then I would have wanted. But to imply this was by design is completely untrue. FIFA 22 was the next "generation" of the mod, doing things very differently (I wrote 36k words about this), and for the better, using the new Lua system I developed (which took a lot of time). The mod also ventured into new areas and did many things that have never done before, some which of have never been done since (like the Dynamic Youth System mod, which made youth players evolve their appearance over time). FIFA 22 was also released in late 2021, when the pandemic was quieting down, which meant I had far, far less free time.

The start of FIFA 23 also marked me taking over development of FET, which was a steep learning curve, and has been one of my biggest time commitments ever since (if not the biggest). I spent a lot of time learning, and then working on the tool, at the start mainly just for UX stuff, and then slowly larger backend changes. It has been very difficult to balance working on the largest mod, that only gets bigger and more complicated each year, and the tool we use to mod the game, alongside my personal life, which has also got more hectic and busy year to year. Finally, this year my personal life has cleared up a bit and I've been able to commit more time to modding, and anyone who has used the FC25 Realism Mod will tell you things have been much quicker this year, with more frequent releases featuring more content then ever. Now, I was planning on releasing the mod in April, but my personal life picked up and that came and went. And since May 1st, I've basically been spending 80% of my time on FET, and 20% on the mod, as there were some elements of FET I had neglected for quite a while that I needed to really understand and improve. The Beta of FET I recently released contains a large amount of improvements including a gamechanger for how EBX can be edited, which will hopefully allow lots of mods to become feasible that previously weren't. Now for the past ~3 weeks, it's been more like 95% of my time on FET, as I have been working on redesigning the tool in my aspects, to be far more performant and efficient, and to support, like I mentioned before, a massive, gamechanging thing that has not been possible in the FIFA/FC Frostbite Era.

Therefore, I don't think it's fair for you to tell me my mod is "well overdue". When should I have released it? Should I have released something buggy, or missing key features that are a known standard for the Realism Mod? Or should I not have been working on the tool most of the community uses to make mods?

There is a reason that no other mod does many of the things the Realism Mod does. It's incredibly complex, expensive and time consuming to develop. For the past three years, it's taken about 11 months to become stable and complete enough for my standards. This year has been better, and I would like to release it soon (right now we are over 3 months from FC26 being released, so I don't know how that's long overdue), but it still has bugs, and missing features (like the Brazilian league which is what I'm working on right now). And my work and discoveries on FET have made my mod take a backseat, right now I'm fully focused on the tool.

I feel like I have contributed a lot to the community, though FET, through my Realism Mod, through knowledge I have shared, through tools I have shared (more coming soon). I have never not released a mod for any other reason then it not being ready. And my next contribution (if all goes well), will be the biggest.

Big mods take time, and I'm not sure what the policy is or what constitutes "long overdue", but it doesn't seem very fair or accurate to me.

hear me out, where is fc 25 full free release then? All honesty I appreciate the peeps doing the modding, it's made the game a whole lot better for me. Including you bro, I played the cut down "Free version" on fc24 and I loved it. but I to subscribe and wait 10 years for a fc25 full free mod to be released when fc56 is out naaah bro. EA can shut you guys down anytime, you at the mercy of EA and not releasing the full free version of your mod after certain number of days is just bad bro seeing that that is what's going to help us all keep the modding going.

The entire linked page regards the use of EA's IP as whole, including mods with the word "Policy" very much clear in the title. The appendices for those two games are an overall of how EA views the use of mods by the community.

EA clearly states that they acknowledge the existing of mods and how the mods must be used and shared, so that makes it pretty official. You are correct that EA "unofficially" supports the use of mods so that was an expressive error on my part in the announcement which has been rectified.

Now I don't know if you're gaslighting here, but you never had an early access release to the public ever of your realism mod, except when the next edition of the game is released. The whole alpha/beta tactic does not apply here if you were counting on it as that's simply an exploitation of EA's policy.

So really looking forward for your mod as it's well overdue for a public release.




Please watch your language, you can disagree without negative comments. This is not Discord.

Sorry broskie

 

[Vndrew]

wish we had Damien admin here back in 2020

 

[The Wizard]

wish we had Damien admin here back in 2020

Yes, that would be great. Honestly, I thought this forum will be dead soon but with the changes in the management and the design I'm much more optimistic now.