Site news 45

Due to the events of recent months...
I am gradually coming to the realization that I am doing something wrong... I associate this with the popularity of the site. When the site was small, almost no one cared which mods were uploaded and where they came from. But the more popular it becomes, the more dissatisfied mod authors there are.
Some don’t like that their mods are taken without permission and altered or that add-ons are used in other vehicles. Others don’t like that mods are uploaded by other people who, it seems, are doing a good thing—delivering the mod to players as quickly as possible (and yes, receiving a small reward for it). I don’t understand these authors—they have every opportunity to do this before anyone else (if it’s important to them), but they don’t use it, and then they complain... And what’s most interesting—I’m sure that with other similar mod sites, authors either don’t make claims or no one even contacts the authors (I’ve heard this in comments)—and in my opinion, that’s the right approach.
Recently, we changed the site’s policy in favor of the authors, but clearly, it was done too late. Many authors are already justifiably upset, and players unfairly don’t see some mods.
Closing the Spintires sections was foolish—fortunately, I realized this quickly and the site users quickly made it clear to me. Thank you, it was nice to hear so many words of support! But sorry if I upset you again.
Personally, the site is already lost to me. I have made too many mistakes.

If anyone plans to create a similar site, allow me to give a few pieces of advice:
- If you collect mods on a site, you need to collect as many as possible that are freely available—regardless of the authors’ wishes. The faster a mod appears on the site compared to others, the more players will visit the site, and the more popular the resource will be.
- It is highly advisable to register the domain and hosting so that no one can find the owner to file a lawsuit (this is exactly what prevents me from returning to the old site policy now—and I don’t want to go to court). And yes, it’s better to register in another country.
Maybe I’m still wrong, but if I were making a new site now, I would do exactly that.
- When I started publishing pirated versions of games on the site, I thought that if problems arose, it would be because of that—I did not expect such actions from modders.

To players: the site was made especially for you, but due to certain reasons (mentioned above), it is not possible to maintain this resource at a decent level. But you will never be left without mods for your favorite game (details below).
To modders and map makers: you sink one site, and tomorrow others—better prepared for real life—will take its place. And you will either try to sink it, accept it, or stop making mods. If you stop, others will take your place. But players will not be left without mods—good mods will always be distributed (and used or made into other mods) by any means, regardless of the author’s wishes. And the sooner you understand this, the better for you.

In summary—the site remains, but over time some mods will disappear due to authors’ complaints. New mods will most likely not be uploaded or will be uploaded in much smaller numbers. This definitely concerns the Spintires sections, but will probably affect the sections for other games as well.
It may sound loud, but I predict that the departure of such a player from the Spintires world will affect the popularity of the game series itself. I will be glad if I’m wrong about this... Other games definitely won’t be affected.

And yes, don’t look for someone to blame if you are upset by this message. It’s not some Vitargan, Psych, or Mr. Boss—no. We are all to blame—everyone who makes and distributes mods. Even those who play are to blame :) If you didn’t download these mods, there wouldn’t be such a fight for your attention =)

Someone will say this is just another rant from the site admin and they will be right. But believe me—my nerves have been on edge for a long time. Messages saying this is some kind of PR stunt only make me smile (a nervous smile).

With this message, I express my thoughts and won’t be surprised if I’m wrong again. Moreover, I have no intention of offending or upsetting anyone with this message.

Peace to all, thank you for being with us.

Hello, friends!

Whether you upload materials to the site or only download them, you have probably noticed that file hosting services can be very similar yet so different.
If you upload material and want to earn at least a small reward from downloads, you will face the question: which file hosting service should you use?
Specifically for you, we have been collecting statistics for half a year on the top five most popular user file storage services to find out which one is the most profitable to use.

Over the past two months, there have been no significant changes in terms of income, and we initially planned to summarize the results only after the end of October, but we unexpectedly noticed important changes at ShareMods.com — the administration of this file hosting service has started actively promoting the sale of premium accounts (the cheapest is €9.99 per month - https://sharemods.com/premium.html). The point is that the free download option remains, but now you must view an additional advertising page (the third one — previously there were at most two), and then wait 5 seconds before downloading (thankfully, not 30 or 60 seconds). We have always had a warm attitude toward ShareMods, after all, it was the first file hosting service used in our project, and we know how accustomed users are to it. However, we believe these changes may strongly discourage users. There is an idea to completely stop using ShareMods links, but it would be better if you, our users, decide what is best. Therefore, we are launching a vote to decide whether to continue working with ShareMods.com.


voteInit(12);
The voting will last until October 15. Thank you for your opinion!

File Hosting ServiceDownloads on STModsDownloads in Hosting AccountRatio of Downloads on STMods to Downloads in Hosting AccountPayment per 1000 Downloads (from hosting account) for the periodActual Payment per 1000 Downloads on STMods (adjusted by ratio)ModsFire.com59144175%$1.67$1.25 ~ €1.08modsBase.com (formerly UploadFiles)68458185%€1.13€0.96Ur-Files.com (formerly YourFiles)57449686%$1.20$1.03 ~ €0.89ShareMods.com79871990%€0.71€0.64ModsFile.com54534263%€0.94€0.59
Based on the test results, it can be said that currently the most profitable file hosting services are ModsFire.com, modsBase.com, and Ur-Files.com — in descending order of income.
The STMods.ru administration maintains close contact with ModsFire.com and Ur-Files.com — they are the only ones among the five with Russian technical support, and representatives of these hosts have indicated that they will do everything possible to remain the most profitable services in their niche.

We understand that the situation may change over time, and we plan to continue collecting statistics to summarize similar results every month or two and keep you informed.

If you still don’t have an account on a file hosting service, now is the best time to register:
https://modsfire.com/register?utm_source=pp&rf=79
https://ur-files.com/free2.html
https://modsbase.com/register.html
https://www.sharemods.com/?op=registration&next=payments--
http://modsfile.com/free332.html
Some links are referral links — if you register through our links, we will receive a small reward.

Know other worthy file hosting services? Write in the comments, but don’t forget the requirements these services must meet:
- file downloads must occur without waiting (no countdowns)
- no more than two advertising tabs (windows) may open per download session
- files must be stored indefinitely
- payments must be made via WebMoney or Yandex.Money (PayPal alone won’t get you far in Russia)

Thank you for being with us!

#EarningFromFileHosting

Hello, friends!

An important event has occurred in the life of the STMods project – a change of ownership. The site is passing into the hands of another person, but this does not mean at all that the new owner will ruin the project. On the contrary, he intends not only to maintain the project at its current level but also to continue developing it – plans include adding sections for new games, expanding the site’s functionality, and more. By the way, suggestions for the further development of the project can be written in the comments to this news.

The new administrator’s account – https://stmods.ru/user/admin/
Contact information in the “Feedback” section will be updated soon.

From this day forward, all issues will be handled through the new administrator – I will only assist him if needed.

Sincerely, Khan.

Thank you for being with us!

Hello, friends!

While we are preparing and considering future functionality updates for the project, several important topics have come up for discussion. All system updates that Khan planned to implement in the near future have been taken on by us and will definitely be completed, as well as new ideas that have arisen at this stage of work. Feel free to write to us in private messages if you have any suggestions for improving the site’s operation; we will gladly consider them.

Below, please participate in 2 polls. The new section will be created immediately (or almost immediately) after the voting on October 27. The site’s language version is more complicated; at this stage, it is important to understand whether it is needed at all.

I also want to inform you that VK comments will, most likely, be removed from the site. The reason is simple: there is no way to properly moderate messages, which causes many unpleasant problems. This will happen sooner or later, so I ask everyone who has not yet created an account to register.


voteInit(13);


voteInit(14);

Please leave any suggestions or wishes in the comments.

Thank you for being with us!

Hello, friends!

In honor of the upcoming New Year, our team is announcing a contest:
1) Share a link to this news in any social network from the list: VKontakte, Facebook, Odnoklassniki, Twitter, Instagram
2) Post the link to your post in the comments to this news (Attention! It must be posted in your own comments on the site, not in VK comments!)

Requirement for the social network account: the account must be active and registered no later than December 25, 2018. Activity is determined by the presence of posts on the wall, friends, etc. If there is not a single post on the page in the last year – such an account is not suitable.
It is allowed to post the news link in several social networks; in this case, post several comments with different links, and your chances of winning will increase!

There will be 2 winners in total! Prize: an amount of 500 rubles on Qiwi or WMR.

Winners will be determined randomly on January 3, 2019, at 12:00 (noon Moscow time) among those who left a link in the comments.

Winner determination: all comments to the news (except VK comments) will be counted, and two random numbers will be generated, which will determine the numbers of the winning comments. If a comment turns out to be without a link to the post or the link is incorrect, or both winning comments are from the same person – the prize will be redrawn!

We also inform you that work on the site continues, updates are coming soon. Along with it, VK comments will be removed, so it is advisable to register to be able to comment on materials.

Happy New Year!

Thank you for being with us!

UPD: Comment number 4 and 34 won, chosen using random.org, broadcast below.

Hello, dear friends.

I believe many of you noticed that our website was down for several hours. This happened due to an unpleasant situation related to the hosting where our site is located. It exceeded certain limits, and restrictions were imposed on us. To lift the restrictions, we were required to disable comments, as they supposedly create a "high load."

P.S. It is worth adding that the site is operating normally; only the comments are unavailable. You can still add and download mods. Information about the transfer will be announced in advance, everyone will be warned, and file uploads will be stopped. The transfer may take several hours.

We ask everyone to be patient and understanding. We are working on this issue, and soon the site will be moved to a dedicated physical server where no one will interfere with us, and the capabilities will increase many times over.

Thank you for your understanding and for staying with us.

Follow the news; I will answer any questions in private messages.

Hello, dear friends.

UPD (February 4): Screenshot uploads are working again (mods, comments, private messages), you won’t be logged out too quickly from your account, and overall the system has been optimized.

If you see this news, it means your DNS has updated and you are viewing the current version of the site, which is now on our server rather than on hosting as before.

Please note that the server is not fully optimized yet; optimization will proceed gradually with the full transition and DNS update, so bugs and occasional incorrect behavior are still possible. Please report any such issues to the administration.

This move has been inevitable for quite some time, but circumstances pushed us to do it now. As the site grows, the load and limits increased (this was due to our former hosting). Now there are no technical limits to development, so soon we will delight you with a series of updates that we have been preparing for quite a while.

All the functions that existed before are working here. Performance is many times better than it was before the move.

WE KINDLY ASK YOU TO WRITE SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVING THE SITE (FROM A TECHNICAL POINT OF VIEW) IN THE COMMENTS; WE WILL CONSIDER ALL COMMENTS.

Follow the news, leave comments and your questions.

Thank you for your understanding and support!

P.S. Some screenshots in the latest added mods (no more than 30) may not display; don’t panic, within 1-2 days we will transfer all remaining information.