Because I tried to learn C# for a project and realized that M$ is fundamentally evil, always has been, and hasn't contributed to the field of software engineering in around 30 years. I was so disgusted by .NET and their malicious, manipulative, inefficient dark pattern engineering that I couldn't even look my computer in the face until it was cleansed of its infection. Windows fought me all the way to the .EFI and eventually I just said fuck dual-booting and deleted Microsofts EFI without even backing up my drives. Now I've skipped the remainder of the engineering field, built several architectural marvels, have two beautiful virgin wives, my children love me again and I've never been happier. DAE?

I'm GIZ and I made GIZMOD!

I got burnt out on my other projects the last few days, but I wasn't tired of coding or programming, just needed a break from that specific thing. So I decided, why not play some Factorio, it's been months. So I booted it up, spent 4 hours deciding what kind of game I wanted to play, selected my mods carefully, then booted up my Dredgeworks Frozen Reaches modded game only to find myself knee deep in Lua 15 minutes later trying to get modded ores onto Aquilo. It worked! It was my first solo produced mod (only had made forks before). Mod #1 accomplished! 🏆

Mod #1: GZ-Ore

• All ores installed by active mods are available on your starting planet
• Made to work explicitly with Any Planet Start
• Made to recognize explicitly underwater ores installed by Dredgeworks
• Recognizes ores installed by BZ's, 5Dimm's, and all the minable ores I could find on the portal
• With plans to add fluid resources by this weekend!

https://preview.redd.it/3iudxu47w60h1.png?width=565&format=png&auto=webp&s=7e19ed2e5cd79e78769116f5887f588b08a3cdcb

But by then, it was too late. I was firing off a storm of Lua that I didn't even know existed, all I knew was that, like it or not, I was on a Factorio modding code sprint. So I just kept going. I had been kicking around a lot of ideas for mods for years (about 8k hours into the game) so I wasn't at a loss. But when I found myself working on 3 more mods simultaneously, I decided I better have a library or some kind of modular core that all my mods can reference. Enter GIZMOD.

Mod #2: GIZMOD

• Library and registry for GZ-Mods

Now I basically had a brand. So what did I decide to work on? Well, I run a multiplayer community Factorio Legion and I had always had compatibility trouble, and always thought it was crazy that the only terrain mod out there there aren't deprecated are like, The Shallows and Terrain Evolution. Terrain Evolution causes sand to randomly appear along coast lines, which is terrible for Cargo Ships. And I was terrified of noise expressions because messing with them felt like guessing at random between reloads. Anyway, someone explained that you can basically map a noise expression to a couple of sliders and visually see what the noise expression does. Mind=Blown. So I got to work on...

Mod #3: GZ-Terrain

• Adds beaches and shallow water to coastlines
• Adds rivers, tributaries and lakes to continents and islands
• Adds some truly nightmarish forest fires
• Current work is on extra-Nauvisian tiles (Vulcanus, Gleba, and Aquilo, mostly, but maybe also some modded tiles), Coming SoonTM

https://preview.redd.it/s5yoo1c2w60h1.png?width=838&format=png&auto=webp&s=cc9c2b9b46bc6491c3a8bc43082877f103e8a212

https://preview.redd.it/lqqhqzb2w60h1.png?width=1180&format=png&auto=webp&s=a322f132c446ee9a25b23be0cd92a93468e041eb

https://preview.redd.it/vwhvp1c2w60h1.png?width=566&format=png&auto=webp&s=0f8f0ec6367ce4c45d39862aa4d82052f41110b0

The other massive gap I noticed was in the trade and economy department. After about 4000 hours, I started playing strictly multiplayer as I just simply felt like there wasn't anything else interesting left to do by myself. I could not figure out why there are 8 or 10 market mods on the portal and all are either broken or break if you breathe at them the wrong way. All I wanted to do was host some massive multiplayer games for the discord. So I had to see what the problem was. And honest opinion? Seems like most people who have tried were way over thinking (no offense to my fellow modders; I made the same mistake at first trying to figure out the best way to track transaction completion). This one actually took a lot less time than I was expecting. It's not finished yet, but the first type of trading is functional and working in multiplayer.

Mod #4: GZ-Economy

Adds Flux currency (6 tiers, each rolls over at 1M ala Hextorio) and Flux Terminal (market)

Adds GUI with seller listings, a ledger, and a Flux account

Will have a Flux Bazaar where items are sold based on the materials used to craft them, at a pretty steep markup especially for the ones you want!

Will support scheduled orders/contracts for long term trades. This is something I've wanted for years, and I'm getting ready to finish it this weekend!

https://preview.redd.it/hml9eox7u60h1.png?width=297&format=png&auto=webp&s=045709dbc096ea4d606694e1253eeecc6738c0d9

https://preview.redd.it/ib06cxx7u60h1.png?width=315&format=png&auto=webp&s=a86e2dc72539eac028fc2233ccb3fd325a904dec

Mod #5: GZ-Loot

• Configurable Loot Drops (as in from the sky) that ping everyone in game their location when they hit the ground.
• Sets currently include Weapons & Throwables, Ammo, Equippables,

https://preview.redd.it/hjcqgqdfu60h1.png?width=542&format=png&auto=webp&s=f3a71ee1abc65ae2bdaaa21704db8cbab88b8f62

https://preview.redd.it/jfq17rdfu60h1.png?width=435&format=png&auto=webp&s=8ab988fb9f4c78e21165d92900fc87b40a14b3d5

Mod #6: GZ-Tweaks

• Burner Seafloor Drill unlocked from the start of the game. Made to work with Dredgeworks and other submerged ore mods.

Mod #7: GZ-Hardmode Tweaks

• Buildings require Stone-Brick or better foundations (not actual Foundations) to be placeable at all, anywhere. Exceptions made at the start of the game for Stone Furnace, and also does not apply to mining drills.
• Elevated rails require Foundations the reason to use this isn't CBT. When using Cargo Ships and related mods, trains beat cargo ships 10 times out of 10 for throughput. But, I love to play with boats. Now there's a reason to.
• Radar unlocked by Advanced Combinators what it says on the tin. Sounds awful; will make you appreciate radar 1000x over.
• No Remote View (Map View) until Radar tech. also what it says on the tin. Sounds awful; is pretty awful NGL

Mod #8: GZ-Teleport Beacons

Not gonna lie, I almost had a hard time justifying putting another teleportation mod on the Mod Portal. Problem I have with existing mods is that 1) personal teleporters are absolutely broken. There is no trade off you can make that justifies them in my opinion. They are just fundamentally way too powerful. Telelogistics is in a similar boat. Like why bother playing at that point, really? What I could justify however was VERY EXPENSIVE, MID-LATE-GAME Teleporter beacons to move around my megabases. I never was much for driving or waiting on the train; if I can't jetpack or teleport there it's probably not worth going IMO!

Thanks for reading! You know where to find me! I take requests occasionally as well! Shoot me a DM!

Oh, and...

https://preview.redd.it/veeqc36dw60h1.png?width=256&format=png&auto=webp&s=cab2e6de04fc18fe30d2c5ce0d8356731b34e9ab

Coming SoonTM
;]