Well, I figured I'd add my two cents to this thread.
But before I do, thank you to Giants and those who have obviously noticed this thread, and made some of our ideas come to life. As a leader of a mod team myself (SMW Modding, my username on all other forums is seriousmods: I started those accounts after this one), I realize that there are often many more ideas than people with skills to put those ideas into practice, so it is nice to see good ideas become reality.
Anyways, on to my ideas. These are all for FS 2015 if there is a such thing, so these are really not mod ideas more than game improvements for a future version of Farming Simulator.
1. String Maps.
All of the maps for Farming Simulator up to this point are built off of a square platform, be that platform 1x, 2x, 4x, or 16x of the original Hagenstedt map size. The problem with that is, for mappers who want a more irregular map shape, their only choice is to not use a large swath of land around their maps while making the size of the square larger and larger.
My proposal is for a string map style of mapping platform, similar to the one used by some of the driving simulators and many train sims. The way it works is very simple: the map maker has a default block of a certain size that he can work with, and around these blocks, the mapper can add additional blocks.
So if for example, a mapper wanted to make a map 10 kms long and 1 km wide, he wouldn't need to make a square map of more than 10 kms on each side, and place his map in the middle of this. He could simply create a string of blocks that since they are connected, would function as one extended map.
Not only could this save a lot of space in map i3d files, but it could also open the door for new types of modded maps that are not possible at this moment.
2. Improved Camera Action.
The main activity I enjoy in Farming Simulator 2013 is not farming itself, but taking screenshots. In fact, as of today, I've likely taken over 3,000 screenshots, and posted about 700 or so for the modding world to see. My gallery on FS-UK is 25 pages long with 20 pictures per page, so on that site alone I've posted at least 500.
My point with this story is that screenshots are the main reason why I play FS. One of my greatest tools as a screenshot artist is camera mods, and as I have looked around various modding sites, I have downloaded a number of camera mods, including my latest version which turns the player in-game into a movable, zoomable camera.
For a future version of FS, it would be more than awesome to see some of these features in the default camera of the game, especially a free-roam camera mod.
I'd love to be able to simultaneously drive a vehicle and move the camera to get passing shots and so on that I can't currently get at this moment.
3. Pedestrians with collision
One issue I've noticed with the pedestrian splines is that the men and women seem to be able to walk through machines, AI cars, and so on. If pedestrians had collision and hitting them gave gamers some kind of fine or penalty, I think it would greatly improve realism in the game.
4. MR as Standard Physics Engine
With credit to dural, it would be a pleasure to see Giants Software use Dural's More Realistic mod as the default game engine. Not only would farming be more realistic, but everything related to the work done in FS would gain an extra level of realism.
5 through Last.
Improved Dust and other Particle Systems.
We've already seen how great the Titanium's fruit particle systems are. It would be nice for smoke particles and dust particles to also gain this realism. Personally, smoke that lingered a bit longer in the air like the real exhaust LUA would be a great improvement to the game.
In addition to heavier clouds of dust behind plows, cultivators, and seeders, some kind of washable feature for all standard game vehicles would be great as well if possible.
Closer Integration of Giants Editor and Blender.
For those of us who can't afford an expensive 3d modeling tool in addition to our game, it would be great to see Giants work more closely with Blender on FS 2015. One other game maker, SCS software, the maker of most currently produced truck simulators, is working on a Blender toolkit for modders, and it looks very promising for the gaming community as a whole. It might not be possible to get FS and Blender that closely partnered, but it would be a benefit to modders with limited income.
In addition, it would be really nice for Giants Editor to allow users to export the 3d models of mods with textures (the MTL file that goes along with an OBJ file), instead of having to remap the textures onto an edited mod.
Crisper Graphics.
It's probably impossible to make FS 2015 have the graphics of Euro Truck Simulator 2, but crisper graphics would be a definite plus, especially for those of us screenshot artists. I have to sharpen nearly every one of my pics to get a more realistic feel, and even that doesn't quite make the graphics completely crisp and clear.
Spline Map Objects.
As a final note, I think it would be a great time saver for mappers to be able to stretch splines of roads, bridges, power poles, and other objects across large maps. It is incredibly difficult to place small objects on say a 4x map with consistency and without growing exhausted. So a spline system for some map objects would enable mappers to place these objects in minutes instead of hours.
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I hope that some of these ideas will be useful to someone at some time and some point. Thanks again to Giants for making FS 2013, and here's to a successful release of another great game sometime in the future.
Regards
SRSMDS
And just for those of you who are curious about how many times I mentioned screenshots, here's one of my recent screens. FS 2013 is the best game around as far as I'm concerned.