Nexus Mods has announced that mod authors will soon be unable to delete mod files from the website, a change being made ahead of the introduction of its new collections system.
The news was announced via a blog post, where the company explained that the change was necessary for the implementation of its collections system. From now on, mod files will be archived instead of deleted, which will make them “inaccessible unless directly requested eg. via the API.”
“It is our core belief that making modding easier is a noble goal, so more people can enjoy our joint hobby,” Nexus Mods said. “We are convinced that our collections system, a project we have spent almost two years and many work-hours on, is the way to achieve this goal.”
The new collections system is a feature Nexus Mods has been working on for some time, and is intended to make mod installation easier for the average user. Instead of requiring users to individually manage load orders and resolve file conflicts between mods, someone could “build a mod list/mod setup locally on their machine, then export a meta file with all the information about the mods/files/conflict resolution etc. and upload that file to the site”. This list or “collection” could then be added to Vortex, allowing the mod manager to automatically retrieve, download and install the mods on the list.