Is there a centralized resource on map modding anywhere?

[FramFramson]

One thing I've noticed is that for one, everything regarding custom maps is very Discord-oriented (which makes finding discussions and keeping references straight a nightmare), with the occasional spray of youtube tutorials, which invariably are mostly-outdated. Over and over threads on here or questions on Reddit or the various Discords asking for help finding something or trying to address a problem because documentation is inconsistent, incomplete, outdated, difficult to find, or plain non-existent. Got a Terragon question? Off you go to the Terragon Discord. Maptoolz? Their Discord. And so on.

 

Is there nothing like a unified repository of documentation anywhere? I mean, updated tutorials or feature descriptions, rather than a shotgun blast of videos which are mostly left to age poorly? 

 

Not being able to track anything I research is a nightmare, and you see it in the results too. I don't think it's just a problem I face either - when was the last time you even saw custom maps being uploaded? Even before, there were only a few creators doing this, now no one uploads custom maps to mod sites anymore at all. The hurdle right now for assembling custom maps seems like an enormous barrier to map creators compared to other games with custom mapping. Granted 7D2D has a lot more going on than many other games with custom mapping, but not so much more as to be impossible. We've come a long way in terms of tools which can manipulate the terrain, even if it does require multiple programs and a lot of fussing (editing cities, not so much - too much city editing appears to still be purely manual, which is a chronic problem, but that's another thread), but it seems like so few people know about all the tools or how to use them.

 

Is there really no common reference resource out there for map creation which can actually be edited and kept up to date?

 

Then again, even the game's own vanilla wiki is a disaster several alphas behind. I've had friends come in as new players and often there's nowhere to direct them to read up on game features without even getting into modding. Maybe I'm expecting too much.

[Evil_Geoff]

I can tell, from the crickets chirping, that there was a resounding lack of interest.  Guppycur's Discord is the closest thing to a "central repository" of modding, prefab building, and map making there is currently, a lot of the tools, tool creators, and community have their own channels there, and hang out there, at least often enough to get directions to their specific Discords instead of having to Google-fu your way through the internet jungle.  Personally, I have found the community there to be very helpful and generous with their time and knowledge.  But for a map making specific place that has someone dedicated to curating it to keep it current?  I've not found one.

I can only tell you want I was told a while back:

"If you want something, you can guarantee someone else wants it too.  If you can't find it, but you want it bad enough, you'll learn how to do it yourself."

I wanted things I could not find.  So, I started teaching myself .xml modding, prefab building, custom map making, how to run 7DtD servers... I'm not good at any of it, but I'm happy to answer questions if I can, and share what I know how to do.  I'm 62 years old and started this journey a bit over 2 years ago now.  Old dogs can learn new tricks if they want to.

Best of luck in finding what you want!

[FramFramson]

I mean, it's not so much being unable to learn, it's that we have an environment where every 7D modder has to reinvent the wheel, and that is a HELL of a lot of wasted time.