I don't play Mods

[Demonocracy]

I should play with Mods.  After all, it offers a whole new experience.

But I enjoy the game at its most basic, per-determined form.  It almost feels wrong to modify it for gameplay.

On the other hand, I see all of these neat things being created.  Part of me wants to have a taste at it.  The other part?  The other part is scared.

I'm not familiar with mods.  I don't know how to install them, use them, disable them, or if they might not work at all and end up with some terrible situation wherein I lose my save files or something.  I'm not sure if the mods are just visual or game-effecting or how I'd adjust to either. 

So... I'm hesitant.  I'm a bit jealous too.  I'm a conflicted Banished player wishing that all of the greatest mods were just incorporated into an update by the developer as option settings rather than individual mods.  Let the modders mod--they're brilliant, after all, but I would love to see some baseline updates to add them all in!

The work you folks do--those who modify the game--it's incredible.  I'm truly awed by the skill, time, and talent possessed.  You're amazing!

[RedKetchup]

go ahead, do a city without mods. and when you ll get to start your 2nd city... ask yourself back if you want to try mods

[A Nonny Moose]

Well, installing mods for this game is pretty easy, but you should follow the published instructions carefully.  I use only a few that I consider necessary for good play.

Don't be afraid of mods, but be aware that they will change your attitude.  In another game (SimCity 4) that I've played for many years, some of the early mods were actual bug fixes, and there is one big fix that repairs a broken main algorithm in the game. 

You can tiptoe into the mods and choose one that has a minimal effect such as Better Fields which removes many of the restrictions on farm fields.  I found the arbitrary limits a little too restrictive, and now I am able to create some very nice equivalents of the Holland Marsh (central Ontario).

[rkelly17]

@Demonocracy, I don't know whether you should play with mods, but I do find some of the mods add some interesting aspects that don't radically change the nature of the game (If you do want to change the nature of the game, there's always Colonial Challenge). I'm thinking of mods like @RedKetchup's two-story houses and @slink's specialized markets. Also decorative mods by both of them allow you to make your towns much more aesthetically pleasing without being out of character. Those are some good places to start and see what you think.

Installation is as easy as putting the mod's .pkm file in your ..\Banished\WinData folder and starting up the game. You then get the option of turning mods on or off before you start a new town. You should have the latest version for this to work (mine is version 1.0.4, build 141123, which is a Steam download). It does occasionally crash with certain mods loaded (mostly the ones that alter the map-generation routines), so save your town before you quit or exit.

[JimmiG]

I'm a conflicted Banished player wishing that all of the greatest mods were just incorporated into an update by the developer as option settings rather than individual mods.  Let the modders mod--they're brilliant, after all, but I would love to see some baseline updates to add them all in!

Colonial Charter kind of does that. It's not officially sanctioned by the developer of Banished, but it's a single mod backed by a team of very talented modders that contribute to the project. The mod's development team have tried to balance all the different new resources, buildings etc. that the mod introduces, so it feels like a coherent overhaul instead of just a random collection of mods. I'll admit it's still not perfect - it's too easy to produce and sell some things, while a few other things are way too hard to make - however on the whole it adds a whole new dimension to Banished.

Installing mods is easy. If you have the Steam version, I believe you can just subscribe to them in the workshop. In other versions, you just place the .pkm file in the Windata folder under your Banished installation folder and activate the mod. If you change your mind, just delete the .pkm file again. Just remember that it's usually best to start a new town when enabling mods.

[Demonocracy]

With the help from @rkelly17 and this thread encouraging mod use, I decided to give it a try since I've not tried before.

I must say, this was a very easy process.  One file, one copy, one paste.  It was very easy, but I wouldn't have figured it out if left to my own devices--even as simple as it turned out to be. 

I started with just one mod:  2-story houses.  The impact to the game has been incredible.  I always pick the grey-black roofs and the brown roofs to keep it approximately in line with the rest of the colouring, but the functionality of housing two families in a smaller space has been mighty swell!  The amazing part to me is how much of a difference something relatively small can make.

Now I keep looking at my storage sheds and wish that there were a mod to make them hold more or make the weight of each item less so that I don't have to litter my landscape with storage shed upon storage shed--though that very well be a dilemma only I face because I'm quite the hoarder in these games.  "I have 30 people?!  Better hoard 235701938410938095710 food!"  (Exaggerating, of course.  But still.)

Is there a mod for that?  If not... why not?  It seems like the sort of thing that would be so useful to have!  But maybe it'd be a game-breaking sort of thing.  I'm not really sure of its impact.

Are there any other highly suggested mods I might try that are functional (not aesthetic-only types)?

Anyway, thank you all for your responses and help.  It brings a whole new element to the game.  At first I thought it might make it so easy that it might feel like cheating, but it really doesn't since supporting a larger population can also be incredibly difficult.

[RedKetchup]

i made 2 mod on this but yes , i agree , that game breaking. so what i did try is to give a unique purpose to my mods to compensate :

1. Grain silo : you can only store 'grains' inside : wheat, corn, and ?? i dont remember lol

2. RootCellar : only Vegtables or Fruits. the hic is you need to find a little hill or mountain to place it

instead to store just 6000 for vanilla barn, you can store 20k, 25k, 30k... around that.

[Chon Waen]

You incorporated a different silo in with your grain silos that store wheat and corn. You added a coal silo to that one as well.
Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing you make an icehouse for meats but I believe I know why.
Meats are lumped in with proteins and it would seem a bit silly to store walnuts in an icehouse!

[rkelly17]

With the help from @rkelly17 and this thread encouraging mod use, I decided to give it a try since I've not tried before.

. . . .

Now I keep looking at my storage sheds and wish that there were a mod to make them hold more or make the weight of each item less so that I don't have to litter my landscape with storage shed upon storage shed--though that very well be a dilemma only I face because I'm quite the hoarder in these games.  "I have 30 people?!  Better hoard 235701938410938095710 food!"  (Exaggerating, of course.  But still.)

Is there a mod for that?  If not... why not?  It seems like the sort of thing that would be so useful to have!  But maybe it'd be a game-breaking sort of thing.  I'm not really sure of its impact.

Are there any other highly suggested mods I might try that are functional (not aesthetic-only types)?

. . . .

Always happy to be of service.

I have seen mods for specialized storage yards (e.g., stone only, logs only), but I have never used any of them. I do use @RedKetchup's silos in connection with @slink's brewery. I build a bunch of wheat fields and put the silo and brewery in the middle.

But, then, like @irrelevant, I'm a barn-buildin' fool, so storage is seldom an issue.

My favorite mods are the decorative pieces: @RedKetchup's "Decorative Items" and @slink's revisions of "Mathieuso Decorations." Both are incredibly useful for making a village square or park look good. I also use the stone walls from Red's "Decorative Items" to surround my hospitals at a safe distance (don't forget to leave one little opening).

[irrelevant]

@Demonocracy there also is @RedKetchup's Warehouse and @slink's Specialized Markets, both of which I recommend.

The warehouse is like a TP without the dock, so you can build it anywhere. You assign a crew to it and they will put into it anything you specify, just like loading up a TP. Cap is 30,000. Bannies can't take stuff from it, so you have to actively manage it, but it makes a very nice reserve stock of anything you feel like putting in it.

The specialized markets are just like they sound, a selection of markets (all smaller than the vanilla market) that each just stock a few items. There is one that just stocks wool and leather (good for supporting tailors) one that just stocks iron, logs, and coal (for blacksmiths), one that just stocks fruit (for taverns), etc. These are all quite useful.

[A Nonny Moose]

I've found that one of the ways to build up your storage is to add Markets.  Markets are very important with respect to housing.  All housing should be in range of a market, and it is not bad policy to have a Storage facility right next to the Market with a Stock Pile.

Another goods sink is a Trading Post, except that in this case the goods are withdrawn from general availability.  I use my TPs to enforce my prohibition of alcohol by snatching up all production  and using is as a trade item (has a multiplier of .

For shortening the paths to work sites, especially farmers, I lay my housing near the fields, and place storage in these areas as well.  I like to have a barracks (boarding house) for around each 100 adults in the village.  This gives me an overflow facility to enable accepting of nomads without causing a housing crisis.

[Dookie]

...
Is there a mod for that?  If not... why not?  It seems like the sort of thing that would be so useful to have!  But maybe it'd be a game-breaking sort of thing.  I'm not really sure of its impact.

Are there any other highly suggested mods I might try that are functional (not aesthetic-only types)?

. . . .

Well, there is the Storage Mod.  I have it in the folder, but don't usually have it enabled.  It does exactly that: increases storage space of the vanilla storage buildings.

All the mods of this nature are kind of game-breaking.  For example, unlimited mines/quarries and flatten terrain tool both break the normal constraints of the game.  Others like road speed increase tests how useful roads are.  Then, there are a few that modify the behavior of workers that may or may not be game breaking.  There's "Better Harvesting" which has the laborers do the transport of crops yields instead of the farmers.  There's also a similar mod for miners.

And then there's mods that add entire new things to the game like apriary (beekeepers and honey) and the aforementioned smaller market alternatives (e.g. general store, carts with vendors). 

I don't have a problem with "breaking" the game.  After all, sequels and expansions are commonplace in gaming.  However, some mods make playing too easy by modifying the normal intended constraints/limitation; I avoid those mods.  It's sometimes tricky figuring out what was an overlooked game mechanic and what was meant to be challenging/frustrating.

I think the storage constraint was meant to be played, and the only way I alter it is by adding other storage facilities, ones which I think are somewhat balanced.   Everyone already mentioned many of those market/storage building mods.

[Bobbi]

If you are looking for non-game changing, just go with the decorative mods, MOD: Decorative Items Pack v 1.3 Beta - RedKetchup (fixed bug) or the colorful little houses. Some might consider the two story technology as game changing, because you can get more people into a smaller area. I personally don't think that, but some might, in which case you could just use the first floor, which is really cute.