UnReal World forums
UnReal World => Modding => Topic started by: Felis_Citrus on September 10, 2025, 12:12:40 PM
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Greetings! Lately I've been really into URW mods and making mods myself, but after looking at mods and designs in the forum, particularly in BAC, and reading the spirit of UnReal World, the question of realism appears quite a lot. So that begs the question:
Is there an explicit or implicit rule that mods and modders try to stick to realism, balance, and historical accuracy?
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Well, it's a single-player sandbox game. You can be as cheesy-cheatery versus hardcore realist versus magically-inclined as whatever mood fits the session you're playing.
We all have different approaches and play styles for our characters, and it's worth sharing the things that have in some way improved how we experience the UnReal World. There's a niche for just about anything imaginable.
Chances are, somebody else may find XYZ crafting recipes useful or such-and-such graphical edits aesthetically pleasing. And this hypothetical other person might even become inspired to do their own take - which is completely fine.
That said, certain licenses can put restrictions on the redistribution of the results of recursive modding exercises. For the sake of the community, one ought to honor the permissions provided in the documentation. (And when in doubt, please do ask :) )
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My outlook goes something like this: I love the realism represented in URW, how the world operates based on intuitively understandable real life logic. But, I also want to enjoy my time playing the game as the player and not get carpal tunnel as much from repetetive actions that add little to my experience, so I frequently compromise the "technical" realism if that lets me get more enjoyable gameplay flow.
For example, I found that preparing and eating a tiny meal 3-4 times a day as URW character was too much fussing to constantly repeat, and was not enjoyable as the player. So instead I compromised (made more abstract) the technical water content in each cooking recipe to allow them to come out more nutrient-rich and concentrated. Each recipe lost realism in that it now only needed an abstract 1lb of water, instead of the real life measurements needed. It just became a "do you have water? ok good enough, we don't care too much about the amount you have". But in exchange, now you got nutrient rich pots of food becoming possible, and could eat twice or even once a day and be at "abundant" with some of those modded meals, but crucially for realism it still didn't create any nutrients out of thin air, it's still the same realistic nutrients you always had. You just no longer have to fuss as much on the keyboard to do the daily task of feeding yourself.
I feel like making stuff like that more abstract can be a very worthy sacrifice sometimes, where it improves the core gameplay loop & user convenience.
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I have dual forked approach to realism in “modding”
1) I have all cheaty stuff possible. If I have a rock: get salmon in 1min, get 4lbs salt in 1min, get battlesword in 1min. This is for my own mod dev/testing
2) I have realistic, preferably personally tested/timed recipes only. Cook a bread in pot as you would with Dutch oven. How long does it take for me to knead the dough. Ok, and how long to proof it. Do I want single or 2 part recipe, am I splitting the dough prep and proof as 1 recipe, then bake as 2nd. As far as I can tell tell, mods can’t call on ambient temp; so should I allow myself to proof dough during the winter in the -30C, or should I require fire/embers? Now that recipe needs to also work during summer, it’s nice and warm 28C; why would the recipe ask for fire or embers to proof the dough?
So, to agree with Bedlam and Galvana: you do you. If you appreciate the core mechanics’ and the hours Sami and Erkka put in on testing snow crust for skiing/walking fatigue: you’ll likely prefer realistic mods too.
Or for funsies, to go Njerp killing without spending 1-2 years getting armor&weapons, give yourself massive wealth, and go ham.
It’s not like there is global “leaderboard” or “ranking”