If you make a “Private” mod, will it still generate a thread in forum? If so, why? That defeats the purpose somewhat of wanting to mark it “Private”. Also if you mark it '“Private”, can you still point friends to it so they can download it? What about marking it as “Unlisted” instead of “Private”?
The page is pretty unhelpful with explaining the purpose and outcomes of marking Private or Unlisted, and gives no clear way or option to ‘not’ post a thread in the forum, which should be our right.
2
1, but you can’t find it in mod browser in-game, you have to log in on the website via Steam (or Xbox depending on where you own the game) and access it via a shared link
Think of private as just a cloud storage of your local mods.
Thank you! So Unlisted is the route to go if you want to get a mod to friend without making it available to the general public, then?
Will Unlisted auto-make a forum thread?
1
That’s the “allow discussion” toggle, independent
That part is confusing, though. Right above the checkbox it seems to state, unequivocally, that a forum thread will be created whether you like it or not. It looks like a statement of fact. And then the checkbox is simply giving you the choice to allow ‘discussion’ or not on that newly created thread; as in the thread will be locked upon creation if the checkbox is disabled. (We seem to have no choice in the thread getting created or not. The way things are worded and presented, it will get created.)
So, two different things.
You’re positive/sure that disabling “allow discussion” will result in the mod ‘not’ getting posted in the forum as a new thread?
1
I agree it’s a bit confusing
@DodoNotDoDo Your help is needed here for clarification.
Private = Only the person that published the mod can access it.
Unlisted = Anyone with the link to the mod can access it and subscribe but it won’t show up in search - so yes, appropriate for sharing with friends.
Allow Discussion - If selected, it will create a forum thread for the mod but only if it’s set to public visibility. If not selected or private/unlisted are selected, no forum thread will be created.
Thanks! Good info
I know a lot of AoE2 private data gets publicized through 3rd party API connections and such. Like, you play games that you think are private but then later find out some 3rd party API has somehow data on your Wins/Losses, who you played against, recorded games sometimes, and so on.
Mods are not the same, right? I just thought of this added wrinkle and was just wondering. Would be nice if private mod details are not made available on some server for 3rd party APIs to tap into and publicize on some sort of ‘AoE2 insights’ type of web page. I bet that mods don’t fall into this realm, but thought I’d double-check since nothing can be assumed these days regarding privacy
I’ve always found it odd that gameplay data and match recordings in a Microsoft game can be queried and aggretated by non-Microsoft 3rd parties, whether you like it or not (i.e., no ‘opt out’ ability or defaulted setting)
The stats/match apis are publicly available where the mods api requires authentication. A reference to the usage of a mod might appear in match data, but our access permissions would still apply. I don’t know if that would ever happen for a private mod, but if it did, someone discovering its mod id wouldn’t allow them access.
