mods on vb3.6 suck

[Marco van Herwaarden]

Let's all please stick to the topic: Are there enough modifications available for 3.6?

Please do not let this thread turn into flaming.

[hambil]

Originally Posted by Marco van Herwaarden

Let's all please stick to the topic: Are there enough modifications available for 3.6?

Please do not let this thread turn into flaming.

A lot of mods never got moved from 3.5 to 3.6. Part of that is because many simply continued to work. But I can see where it creates confusion for new users.

I wasn't around in the 2.x and 3.x days, but I know when I look at those mod lists a lot of what was offered is now built into vBulletin core.

As for not turning into a flaming thread, perhaps not starting off with 'suck' in the topic would have helped

I've said before, and will say again, I believe a large part of the problem with people thinking there are 'not enough mods' is the disorganization and difficulty in finding mods. I always search for mods before creating one, and on more than one occasion I haven't found the mod until someone points out I've written a duplicate.

[deezelpope]

You're right, Hambil. As a noob 3.6.4 user, how would I possibly know that mods for 3.5 work unless I try them, of course. Which I am learning slowly that they do...but I'm still hesitant to use more because I don't want to chance messing up my board.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the number of mods for 3.6.

The thing about the search is, when you try to search for anything, so many irrelevant topics are produced as a result. And multiple word searches, let's say for instance "profile enhancements"...the search separates the words, so any thread with the word "profile" comes up, and any thread with "enhancement" comes up...it quite frustrating, especially if you're new.

[RedTyger]

I've just started playing around with Wordpress and the quality of the plugins just do not compare to the ones available for vBulletin. There's some really excellent stuff out there.

Originally Posted by hambil

I've said before, and will say again, I believe a large part of the problem with people thinking there are 'not enough mods' is the disorganization and difficulty in finding mods. I always search for mods before creating one, and on more than one occasion I haven't found the mod until someone points out I've written a duplicate.

I agree with that, I do some seriously extensive searching before even thinking about creating a modification. And even then I half-expect a previous one to turn up. And of course 3.5 and 3.6 modifications are unavoidably separated when in most cases there's no need. Nor is there any way to mark a modification as 3.5+ compatible using the vBulletin Version option even if the separate forums weren't a problem.

Cross-forum threads in vB4.0 please.

[The Geek]

It may be worth pointing out that feature wise, 3.6 has so many more features than 2.0 that it needs a lot less 'hacks' for it. It is also worth mentioning that modifications have matured with vB and there is a lot steeper of a learning curve for people wanting to accomplish simple modifications to the site. This is good and bad. It is bad because you see fewer numbers of modifications, but good because they are generally better, require little to no file modifications and far more sturdy overall.

So, there may be fewer modifications, but IMO they are generally better and simpler for users to maintain (remember the good ole days of upgrading a heavily hacked board before the plug in system!). Show me something you could do in a hacked board in 2.0 that you cant achieve in 3.6?

[no mods]

I think there are plenty of mods for the 3.6, and so far they have all been easy to install, something I like. Coming from an Ipb 2.2, were everything was a pain in the wazoo to install. The best thing I like is the rep system that comes preinstalled. Have you ever tried installing one for Ipb? Its one of the most complicated and longets mods I have ever tried. So thank you vb coders, for making everything so simple. Keep it up.

[Amiga Harrison]

I completely agree with these points. The core install of vB is now so advanced that most small mods and hacks seen in previous versions are now rendered obsolete and not needed as they are built in features of the core install.

The plugin system removes (on the whole) the need to actually physically hack main board files so the danger of completely rendering a board inoperable is no longer such an issue and it also makes the upgrading of plugins when a new version is released so much easier.

As for there not being many 3.6 mods available, I do agree that it can sometimes be hard to locate exactly what you are looking for, but I have pretty much always managed to find a mod to suit my requirements. Only on a couple of occasions have I not and those were quite specialist requirements that would not be in mass demand.

[jackstraw01]

I am new to Vb, so can't speak for previous versions.

I would say that there needs to be some organization implemented for the mods. Generally, doing a search for a mod or almost any topic, is a waste of time, perhaps because of the number of posts on this board I'm not sure. So unless a member takes the time to scroll through pages and pages of threads in the mod section, yyou won't find the mod you are looking for.

Could they be indexed better, perhaps by category. The current system of mods being released in a thread to me isn't working when it comes to finding them. Or, a better search function, but again, I don't know what you could do there because its the number of pages and threads on this board that make searching hard.

I have come across some great mods here and am always amazed at how coders come up with some of the stuff, keep it up. Now lets get the organization part fixed, lets all put our heads together.

[Amiga Harrison]

I think the only way you could organise it better would be to completely switch to a directory style system with mods grouped by type. A good example of this would be the Joomla extensions site that is easy to navigate and find extensions you are looking for. If the vB mods were arranged like this it would definitely make life much easier for members, but would require a complete overhaul and recoding of this complete site to make it work correctly, which would be a huge undertaking, especially as this site has only just undergone a complete redesign and update anyway.

[jackstraw01]

Not neccessarily, it could also be setup so there was a directory style page, broken up in release version, then in each version you would sub-cats. In each sub-cat, mods would be listed, perhaps most recent first, each mod would be linked to the corresponding discussion thread already in place on vB, they could also give a brief description of the mod.

As new mods are added to the, a link from the dir page would automatically be created or added.