Your Favourite Mod "Packages" or Collections

[Navigator Black]

Long time site reader and Banished addict here.

That you guys keep this game vibrant and captivating through continually modding is spectacular, thank you!

I'm at the point where I'm getting overwhelmed with the mod bounty, and my installation is seeing a lot of different versions of buildings and such, so I'm asking if you have a particular favourite "package" or selection of mods you use.
For the most part I use CC as my base and add mods from there. I like CC for its toolbar organisation, I know where things are and don't need to click through multiple separate mod toolbars. And as mentioned I'm starting to see a fair bit of variants and the toolbar structure doesn't allow for side-by-side comparisons as some mods are in the main toolbar, others in multiple separate mod toolbars. Basically I'm confused and overwhelmed!
CC has a lot, you guys have a lot that often is a better interpretation, but then I end up with 5 different versions of the same basic building on 4 different toolbars. And my brain falls apart. The in-game mod manager is really bad when there are a lot of mods so I get turned around easily in there. The stand-alone mod manager can't (that I see) direct load order.

So I'm asking if you have suggestions for mod selections you like that might help diminish that confusion for me. I usually don't play Banished games to build large cities, one of the reasons I love Banished so much is that it's a "village or town builder" rather than just a "city builder", so mods like EB's Village and Tom's The North appeal a lot, while the modular construction kits don't get a lot of use or even comprehension on how to use them.

Basically, I'm seeking help with streamlining my Banished world and if anyone can help, it's you guys

Thank you!

[brads3]

the tool bar has a community icon button that most modders now use. under this,mods are catagorized by the modder.generally, each modder will have a tool bar similar to the main plus a theme icon.so under the "people" icon, you will see a button for KID,EB,RK or RED,,etc. under each of these will be another toolbar. there are still some mods that will alter the vanila start buidings or use the main toolbar.

     mods give each player a way to build their own game. we are all different with totally different play styles and ideas. what i recommend to new players is to sit still. play the vanilla game and write a list of what you feel is missing. as you have found it gets overwheming fast. a list helps keep you focused on what your original goals are.what processors and landscape do you want to see or have? what style of houses? or do you want a variety from time to time?

    the mod manager does have a button to save to game. you can move the mods in the order much easier and save different orders for different setups or game as well. it is very useful and a huge time saver.

     you mention CC which can be complex. the RK EC does similar but has less  complex processing chains.it also has expanded the wild and pasture animals. you can add to either 1.

      i have a collection of mods. most games i use over 100.sometimes it might be just one piece from a mod. you can check out my village blog pages for pics and ideas. under the tips pages you will find  helpful hints to organizing mod load orders also.  feel free to ask questions along the way. look around and have fun.

[Navigator Black]

the tool bar has a community icon button that most modders now use. under this,mods are catagorized by the modder.generally, each modder will have a tool bar similar to the main plus a theme icon.so under the "people" icon, you will see a button for KID,EB,RK or RED,,etc. under each of these will be another toolbar. there are still some mods that will alter the vanila start buidings or use the main toolbar.

Right. It's those separate "people" icons that I find problematic. I don't take mental stock of who created what, I'd far prefer to have them grouped as the standard toolbar does, by function. The people icons result in a lot of clicking through as compared to the way CC does it which is by function (as you say, altering the vanilla start buildings or use the main toolbar). Is this possible for the mod-user to change in any way?

     

mods give each player a way to build their own game. we are all different with totally different play styles and ideas. what i recommend to new players is to sit still. play the vanilla game and write a list of what you feel is missing. as you have found it gets overwheming fast. a list helps keep you focused on what your original goals are.what processors and landscape do you want to see or have? what style of houses? or do you want a variety from time to time?

And that's why I love mods, for that personalised experience, and that's what I'm looking to enhance for myself, to create a more intuitive experience as well.
I've been playing Banished for a long time so I've been through the process you speak of and I've a good idea of what I want accessible in the game. My question seeks opinion on which mods, or even versions of mods, people find the most satisfying. For example, say I know I want to build oil presses, wineries, dairy farms, potters, and apiaries; there are multiple mods for each, implemented in different ways with different looks and different integrations into the toolbar (CC adds some to the functional groups of the toolbar, others are under the "people" icons). What I'm getting overwhelmed with is inadvertent duplication!
So I thought I'd ask what collections or "packages" people here like the best.


   

the mod manager does have a button to save to game. you can move the mods in the order much easier and save different orders for different setups or game as well. it is very useful and a huge time saver.

Really, you can change the order in the stand-alone manager? I didn't see that functionality, but I will look again!
Edit: Ha! Figured it out. Now, is there a way to sort alphabetically?

     

you mention CC which can be complex. the RK EC does similar but has less  complex processing chains.it also has expanded the wild and pasture animals. you can add to either 1.

I was looking at his mod collections, as well as EB's and Discrepancy's, and this is what spurred me to post my questions. For instance, Discrepancy has two lists, one is a suggested list of which of his mods to use as a set, and one which suggestions of what to use with The North. So I thought perhaps people have similar recommendations of collections to use together that meet their specific needs.

   

i have a collection of mods. most games i use over 100.sometimes it might be just one piece from a mod. you can check out my village blog pages for pics and ideas. under the tips pages you will find  helpful hints to organizing mod load orders also.  feel free to ask questions along the way. look around and have fun.

My Banished WinDate folder has about 250 files in it, not all currently active in any of my games. But this is why it gets so overwhelming - If I saw a mod I that added a building I like, and another that adds that building plus some others, I forget which version was which in-game and end up playing navigate the toolbar more than build my town.
I will take a look at your blog page, thank you for pointing it out, and thank you for your reply!

[Jewelz]

I'm in the same boat, Nav. I'm returning to Banished after a break, and I'm also feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the mods.

I see that Red Ketchup has a neat bundle of his mods, but it appears that Discrepancy's are still individuals?

[brads3]

at the moment yes. DS is always working to upgrade thou and has started an expansion with the health and happiness controls having ore influence to the game.

[gatinho65]

I also have recently returned to the game and have had to relearn it in lots of ways, which has actually been a lot of fun. Luckily, I was smart enough to have handwritten some notes from a few years ago, which gave me a head start in how to tackle the whole mod situation again, load orders, all the things that can feel daunting after memories fade and the learning curve seems steep again.

But actually I think it is easier now, there are some of the unified mods which make it much simpler, the conflicts between mods seem far less and easier to identify, and there have been improvements made on all the mods I used before and use now again. I think it has been so well worth getting back into the game.

I think one of my favorite combos has been necora's maritime mods, with the addition of a few other smaller mods to expand on options for housing and trading, I love combining the colonial sets and Boston row houses with these maritime mods.

For the first time I've been able to play with DS mods, they are fantastic once I take the time to figure out how the production chains work. I probably spent more time hovering over the menu buttons than the game at the start, hours of reading buttons lol, but now I have all those amazing Bryggen houses in a town, I managed to get the systems in place to build all their necessary parts. There are still a lot of production questions I am having to learn, but this is part of the fun.

EB Unified mod is also fantastic, I used all the different parts before, now this one mod makes it so simple to enable.

I am now playing The North and really like it as well, more demanding and I find that I'm glad I added DS and EB mods to that game for some expanded options, plus kid's tiny workplaces, especially at the start when it feels impossible to build the required buildings. I love DS tents and production chains, really useful in the North.

I have yet to play RKEC and will start that today, I also want to try a red desert scenario with the mexican and moroccan collections, I've never played with them before, only a few attempts with the Mission and Tequila.

I think there are multiple packages that are all really worthwhile in different ways, I would hate to have to only choose one tbh. Since I have the memory space, I'm using the option of just copying my GOG version of the game and creating different buttons to load different mod folders/packages, so I don't have to figure out how to move things in and out or up and down in just one game. All the towns still appear on the load menu at the start, so I have to keep notes on which towns go with which version of Banished lol, not load the wrong one. That is still pretty easy.

[Navigator Black]

Yeah, I didn't mean choosing one set over another. More which mods or mod sets do people like using together to create a comprehensive gaming experience. For instance if you look at Discrepancy's list he has two "collection" suggestions, one with just his mods and one to use along with The North. Since mods like CC or The North add in a lot of content one doesn't necessarily need stand-alone mods for some things. But different modders have different implementations of the same buildings, so people may prefer one over the other, and I'm curious about those preferences and why (for instance there are a few Apiary mods, and different versions of resource gatherers).

Right now I'm using CC+RKEC+EB Unified and it's lovely, though I'm struggling with Log collection at the moment.

As a side question, is there a particular reason a lot of housing mods don't include upgrade options? Is that a tricky function to mod around or is it just personal modder choice? EB and RK have some great house models but they're not upgradable which dissuades using them.

[brads3]

housing upgrades are the odders preference.sae as players. RED has upgrades but instead of it being each house is is done with materials. you start with wood options,logs. then later expand to lumber and windows.

i use many different mods together. each brings something that is useful and different. for instance, i seldom build RED's houses. the medievil style doesn't fit the colonies. however i like the multiple eat pocessing options. due to the wild animals this is usually my main base mod.KID has a far or garden mod that is an addon for the castles. i use the beekeeper from this a lot. it is a handy filler or park type piece plus gives apples and honey. i have select pieces of the EB mod,the western style houses and the leather processors.

   every now and then, i have to go thru the list and weed stuff out.this computer will get close to its memory limits with new mods.