3 ms·

It doesn't have as big of a modding ecosystem as Minecraft, simply because it doesn't have even a fraction of the community, but apart from size, I don't think

by Sylos 10y ago

It doesn't have as big of a modding ecosystem as Minecraft, simply because it doesn't have even a fraction of the community, but apart from size, I don't think I would agree on its modding ecosystem being less amazing. Minetest has for one a stable modding API, meaning that mods generally don't break left and right with each release. If you find a mod, chances are that it's going to work, even if it hasn't been maintained for a while. The whole game content itself is also built using this modding API, meaning that there's nothing stopping you from making mod-content, which has just as high quality as the built-in content. Or you can write your own game completely from scratch. Or you can create mods which have then again other mods as dependencies. Minetest also has what's probably best described as "Modpack as a Service". When you connect to a server, your client downloads the mods that the server has installed and applies them. This means that you can play on a modded server without making any changes to your client. You can just connect to random servers to take a look at the different mods that exist, without any hassle whatsoever. This also works in singleplayer, i.e. you can play with different sets of mods on different maps, again without hassle. You just use the built-in mod manager to enable the mods that you want on a per-map basis.

qwertyuiop924 10y ago
Those are all advantages, but MC's unofficial mod support is very good, and has much of that. The real problem isn't MT's hypothetical mod support, it's that people aren't building the kind of mods that you get in MC: There's no BC, IC2, AE, TC5, TE4, CC, Ars Magica, Blood Magic, TConstruct, Forestry, FMP, RC, EE3, and so on. Those mods are a big part of why MC is what it so great, and MT can't get away with just copying them: It can copy, sure, but it should also have its own mods, and they should be good ones, because otherwise there's no reason to play it over MC. It doesn't matter how good your mod support is. It matters how good your modding scene is. And MC has one of the best since HL.
ryukafalz 10y ago
>When you connect to a server, your client downloads the mods that the server has installed and applies them. From a security perspective, this is concerning.
- Pxtl 10y ago
  Most mod-heavy games support that, going back to the classics like Unreal Tournament 1. Generally using Lua or some other embedding-oriented language, and minimal security audits. Anything else has a prohibitive workflow, and players won't exactly be auditing the mod-packages they run. Lua is well-sandboxed for this, but I doubt devs are auditing the entire API they present to Lua. And no, there are no security audits on engines like this. The only reason the mods havent installed a cryptolocker is because nobody has mad a really concerted effort to do so.
- greenfire 10y ago
  The server doesn't send code to the client, all mods are executed by the server. Server then send textures, models,etc to the client.
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    ...No. The code is actually sent to the client. It has to be, in order for interfaces to work properly.
    - greenfire 10y ago
      It isn't code is ran by the server and the client only sends information to the server about the current state of the client. This of course is sub-optimal as it can introduce a lot of lag to a game with mods that add vehicles or mobs
greenfire 10y ago
Minetest doesn't send mods to the client it only sends information like a list of blocks registered by mods. The client doesn't execute any code sent to it by the server.

by Sylos 10y ago

qwertyuiop924 10y ago

Those are all advantages, but MC's unofficial mod support is very good, and has much of that. The real problem isn't MT's hypothetical mod support, it's that people aren't building the kind of mods that you get in MC: There's no BC, IC2, AE, TC5, TE4, CC, Ars Magica, Blood Magic, TConstruct, Forestry, FMP, RC, EE3, and so on. Those mods are a big part of why MC is what it so great, and MT can't get away with just copying them: It can copy, sure, but it should also have its own mods, and they should be good ones, because otherwise there's no reason to play it over MC. It doesn't matter how good your mod support is. It matters how good your modding scene is. And MC has one of the best since HL.

ryukafalz 10y ago

>When you connect to a server, your client downloads the mods that the server has installed and applies them. From a security perspective, this is concerning.

Pxtl 10y ago
Most mod-heavy games support that, going back to the classics like Unreal Tournament 1. Generally using Lua or some other embedding-oriented language, and minimal security audits. Anything else has a prohibitive workflow, and players won't exactly be auditing the mod-packages they run. Lua is well-sandboxed for this, but I doubt devs are auditing the entire API they present to Lua. And no, there are no security audits on engines like this. The only reason the mods havent installed a cryptolocker is because nobody has mad a really concerted effort to do so.
greenfire 10y ago
The server doesn't send code to the client, all mods are executed by the server. Server then send textures, models,etc to the client.
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  ...No. The code is actually sent to the client. It has to be, in order for interfaces to work properly.
  - greenfire 10y ago
    It isn't code is ran by the server and the client only sends information to the server about the current state of the client. This of course is sub-optimal as it can introduce a lot of lag to a game with mods that add vehicles or mobs

greenfire 10y ago

Minetest doesn't send mods to the client it only sends information like a list of blocks registered by mods. The client doesn't execute any code sent to it by the server.