It's obvious from the posts that I have seen here that Mods are somewhat of a mystery to many people. An enormous amount of confusion seems to exist on where to get them, how to install them or so forth. I am about to dig deeply into the knowledge base and exterpolate the proper procedures to follow.
Where to get Mod FilesCurrently, there is no one location in which Newly created Mods for YaBB SE are kept. For the present the only way to find them is to look on the Forum and the best place to look is
The Completed Mods Thread on the Dev Board. Later on this will hopefully change and then will be a central location that mods will be downloadable from.
How to get the ModsOnce you have found the web address of a Mod file (ie:
http://www.somewebsite.com/YaBBSE/Packages), usually called a Package server by the Mod writer, you will now need to go to your admin section by clicking on the button in the top menubar. You should see the following or something like it.
What you need to do is click on the Package Manager link (opposite the red arrow in the above picture). The next screen you will see will be like the following or something like it.
The top part gives you a list of all files currently in your packages folder. The bottom section lets you:
1 - create New packages
2 - download new packages
3 - browse installed mods
For the purpose of this tutorial we want to 'Download New Packages' so you need to click the link opposite the red arrow. The next screen you will see will be like the following or something like it.
The top part of this screen lists the personal package servers that you already have addresses for. The bottom section allows you to enter the name of the Package Server and the web address. This is where you would enter the web address you found in the 'Completed Mods' thread. Once you have done this you will be able to browse the Mods on that package server and download the mods you want.
How to Install ModsOnce you have entered the information to identify the name and location of the package server, you need to go back to your 'Package Manager'. Once again the screen will look like the following or something like it.
The area you are now interested in is the area (circled in red in the above pic) that lists the packages that you have in your packages folder. As you will see, with each package you have choices:
1 - apply mod
2 - list files
3 - remove mod
To install your newly downloaded mod, all you need to do is click on 'apply mod' and then follow any onscreen instructions. If you are curious as to the files that make up the package, then you click on 'list files' and if you decide you don't want the mod afterall then click 'remove mod'.
I hope that this will clear up the confusion that seem to exist regarding finding, downloading and installing Mods for YaBB SE.
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