[WIP] The Most Hardcore Mod Pack EVER

[ruPal]

For those who are interested, the project is still WIP. You may try a test build (v.1.0) here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1974926499
For easier installation I recommend to install Rimpy Mod Manager. The mod pack may be installed manually also but you will have to move config files manually. There are no DRM-free version of mod pack for now, since it is still a lot of work to be done.  Rimpy already has functions to create such modpacks so that is not a problem. That can be done in less than 5 minutes. But the real problem is reduce CPU and GC pressure, add new compatible mods and test all of that stuff. Takes a lot of time.

Mod pack do not add a lot of basic resources, actually only coal. But it overhauls a lot of base gameplay mechanics, so may be too hardcore for newcomers. You will have to find new ways to survive. If you find bugs or want to make suggestion, you may do that here but Steam is a more convenient way for me.

For now modpack contains over 170 mods and provide good performance on my PC for less than 15 pawns on speed 3 (stutter free, except combat scenarios). You cannot remove GC spikes you know, but I tried to remove most garbage heavy mods from mod pack. All of the mod are as vanilla art-style, there are exceptions in Combat Extended mechanoid weapons that I personally do not like. Things that may you scare are Fog of War, No raid alerts and No weapon looting. Second one is better balanced in v2 that is not released yet. So in this version you can use TACS to detect raid (with some false positives) - late game, in v2 loud speekers added in mid game that will notify about raids  but not enemy position, their strategy or hostiles count.

[RicRider]

In my experience you're going to encounter a lot of entrenched resistance in the modding community in general; people have invested a lot of time into their hobby and some have even made Patreon bucks off it and believe they are breaking into programming and game development, so they become a bit aggressive whenever someone new appears on the scene. A lot of them don't understand that what they perceive as 'being helpful' is often really intimidating for people out there. It's like being checked by hall monitors as soon as you step into a building. Sadly, they don't see this a lot of the time even when pointed out. They don't understand how intimidating and aggressive they actually are for new modders who might feel like they are constantly being checked by other coders instead of interacting with their users. I was always of the thought that if you're a coder and you need help you'll go and ask for help. Otherwise you learn by trial and error through user feedback. In the modding community however it seems like there's a lot of people out there who believe they should be policing every project that comes along. I dunno how to fix this... maybe we should invent some holy water that we can throw at them so they run away?

I can tell you that as soon as I started posting on these forums, I instantly had my threads 'visited' by some of the people that visited your thread. It's the nature of the Internet; communities fill up with people who value their own online reputation above everything else in life, even at the expense of others; and we're left to sort through who's who and who's worth taking advice from.

Regardless, there's good people out there who will be happy to not just throw meaningless, negative advice designed to keep you cautious instead of adventurous at you on a forum, but actually give you ideas. I mean there's mods out there that virtually rip every asset off major franchises and people are not worried about 'copying' but oh my god you took code from another modder now bow down and submit to my DMCA takedown request. Arrogant and hubristic is what I call it.

/rant over

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Have you thought of using mods like Dead's Dense Biomes so forests look like forests? These mods will also allow you to adjust the predator count on the maps so that they represent real life a bit more. I use this mod and checked data from wildlife sites to see what kind of animal population actually exists in these zones in real life and adjusted accordingly.

Also did you think of Realistic Darkness? I haven't played RimWorld for years without this one and I can't imagine otherwise.

How about Wild Cultivation? Combined with Seeds Please this is awesome as it lets you get a lot of the starting seeds from your biome and you can even travel to other biomes to get seeds.

How about some of the mods that make trading more realistic, like Tradeable Meals, Tradeable Stone Blocks, or even the additional trader mods like Let's Trade?

How about Locks, Trading Spot and Better Spots?

I've got lots of ideas for a modpack like this because essentially I've just been doing it myself since I played RimWorld - making it as realistic and like a survival game as much as possible.

[Canute]

RicRider, you need to differ between Modpack and Mod collection.
Even when ruPal call it a Modpack, it is just a mod collection and for a collection he don't need any permission since he don't modify any of these mods.

[RicRider]

Canute, if I'm ever looking for a PR person to fill in for my busy days I'll be sure to ask for your CV. Until then keep hustling.

[ruPal]

Thank you, RicRider. I really appreciate your support. I know there are more good people than bad. Till I like modding this game I will keep going on that. I am doing that for myself at first point and if others like that stuff, well, that is even better  . I understand that most people like casual gaming and hardcore changes may not be welcome. And that some modders may not like that stuff, that is not a big deal (till I don't use their mods, that is fine).

I have tried Dead's Dense Biomes but found that it overwrite defs, so may be incompatible with other mods that modifies biomes. But found another one that fits perfectly - Better Grassy Biomes, that uses patching and makes forests more natural.
Realistic Darkness good enough and I plan you use with some patching, don't like pink tint at the morning and at the evening.
Wild Cultivation is too OP for my taste. It gives you too many crops on the map, so you are able to plant mostly everything at the beginning. Balancing it will take more time, so for now it is out of scope.
SeedsPlease is already in with custom patches to other stuff. 
Lets Trade has conflict with pack, so I use Metal Traders mod + Zoological Orbital Trader + Orbital Transponder + More Slaves + traders from bigger mods like TechSales, Rimatomics and other mods
Didn't look at Locks, Trading Spot and Better Spots, will try them.

The bad thing is perfromance, it is hard to add stuff and have good performance. I have doubts about Locks, but will try. For now I am at 210 mods and twice better performance than in version 1.0. I was able to spawn 25 pawns without FPS drop lower than 75 on speed 3. Of course all of that is conditional, but I was surpised. Dubs Performance Analyzer helped a lot. I recommend you to try it too.

P. S. Version 2.0 is coming. It must be better than 1.0.

RicRider, you need to differ between Modpack and Mod collection.
Even when ruPal call it a Modpack, it is just a mod collection and for a collection he don't need any permission since he don't modify any of these mods.

I don't need permission since I use original mods distribution methods. I do not need to reupload mods anywhere since I use custom installation software that works with SteamWorkshop. If you think that if you "pack all stuff and move it on github" magically rename collection to pack... that is your choice. I am able to pack all that stuff into one pack in 5 minutes with the same software and install/uninstall it the same way, not a big deal. I test hard for compatibility, use patching and don't need to modify assemblies, use mods settings heavily and add mods perfromance wise. There are more than 20 patches for different mods. You may consider it as collection because it is well modular, actually that doesn't matter.

P. S. Maybe someday I will add support for HSK to Rimpy Mod Manager, so people can install it more easily next to other mods and switch from vanilla, other mod packs and HSK on the fly on one Rimwrold instance. Don't know why they haven't already done that.