The developer of hit city-builder Manor Lords has urged players to "have fun with mods," but asked them to please not tell him about it if they break the game.
Last week, Manor Lords' burgeoning modding scene issued forth a Shrek mod that saw 'solo' dev Greg Styczeń admit that "you can't deny the potential" of official mod support for the game. 'Potential', however, does not equate to full-fledged, functioning mod integration, and now Styczeń has asked players not to come crying to him if mods break their games.
In a tweet earlier today, Styczeń said that players should "feel free to experiment and have fun with mods," but asks that they "please don't report bugs if they use them."
- "There are mods that could shock some players": Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director agrees mods "breathe life" into games like Fallout and Skyrim, but says please keep it clean
- After 2.5 million sales, Manor Lords publisher says it "would almost be arrogant" to not be surprised by the city builder's success - but "you cannot count on it to repeat"
That's because today, Styczeń says he spent time trying to fix a reported bug where the model for the game's granary building was missing. That bug fixing process came to an end, however, when the developer discovered that the issue was caused by a mod that grants extra storage to certain buildings, and isn't the fault of his own code.
Feel free to experiment and have fun with mods but please don't report bugs if you use them. I spent time today checking a "missing granary model" bug only to learn that it's caused by a "storage plus" mod.May 13, 2024
The push and pull between modders and developers is nothing new. In 2024 alone, Fallout 4 modders were caught out by the new-gen update to their game, and Baldur's Gate 3 devs have made requests similar to Styczeń's when it comes to the modding community. That might be frustrating for Larian, but at least there's some extra support that comes from being part of a larger studio - for Manor Lords, there's really only one person behind the scenes, which makes dealing with extraneous bug reports like this one extra frustrating.
Despite those frustrations, however, Styczeń remains in an enviable position. Manor Lords sold a million copies in its first day - little surprise after all that pre-release hype, perhaps, but an amazing achievement for a team as small as this one.
