ModWorkshop has been mostly developed by admins for most of its life.
The site being closed source did not really have a way for the community to contribute.
There has been interest to allow for more people to help develop the site for a while, but this never really went anywhere.

Today it finally changes:
From now anyone can apply to view and contribute to the source code of ModWorkshop. It isn't full open source, but it's a big step closer.

How to apply: Join the Discord server and either DM Luffy or make a ticket with the following information:

GitHub profile: MWS profile: What do you plan to do with the source code: Experience in: JS/TS: PHP: Vue: Laravel: Docker:

ModWorkshop is built using 2 frameworks: Nuxt which is a Vue framework and Laravel which is a PHP framework.
While it's not necessary to have experience, it's very recommended to get accustomed to them if you plan to contribute.

We hope that this proves fruitful and MWS can improve even more with more people helping develop the site.

Improved performance by not loading some things that aren't always used. Improved performance by combining some requests together. Added "Report Sent!" toast when sending reports. Moved user report button to the right more. Made the default sort on search "Best Match". Made the mod status on mods more consistent, private mods now show a padlock and when no downloads are present, you'll see a download icon with a slash. Some more design adjustments for mods and threads. Improved header on mobile. Made the allowed colors of the new color markdown less strict. Added a way to select multiple things in a select by holding ctrl. File type displayed on the download button will now use the last part of the file name. This also changes pre-v3 files to use more user friendly names rather than MIME types. Fixed file types being able to have spaces. Fixed report button not redirecting to login for guests. Fixed odd relative time like "24 hours" instead of "1 day". Fixed uploading files not showing when no files are present. Fixed clickable area on the "mods" title and notification.

This update focuses on 3 things: discussion, files and design. Threads got some very needed changes, new markdown parser with less bugs and uploading files should be smoother (a huge issue since v3!) and some design changes.

Changes Markdown parser V2
The new parser features a new syntax for color - {#fff}() and new syntax for spoilers:!!! Spoiler Title Spoiler !!! The latter comes due to limitations with the internal parser (markdown-it).
The new parser fixes issues relating to < turning into &lt; and allows for videos and more to be rendered inside spoiler blocks. It deprecates BBCode support as supporting two formats at once causes more issues and is a security risk.
**Be aware!*- Editing any markdown-supported text on mods will force you on that version. Profiles are already forced, threads and comments will be forced on any edit.= New grid mode option for forum categories, used mainly for news or showcases. Added closable threads option for forum categories. Used mainly for feedback where you want to organize threads that were already dealt with. Similar to GitHub issues. Added default forum categories for games. Encouraging discussion in the game forum rather than global forum. Added a button for moderators to move threads across forums. Mods now display their first 4 tags in the list. Optimized avatars by making them use their thumbnail version and forcing them to be smaller than uploaded. Added a navigation bar to see all visible documents. Added support for GitHub sponsor donation button. Added downloads stat for files & links. Added a dialog that warns you before deleting files. Added a way to hide forum categories. Updated API docs with new info & design and organized them a bit. Added "Developer Mode" to settings. Currently only displays hidden mod managers (Soon for testing MWS Manager!) Added more redirects to old MyBB links like members.php and old mydownloads image links. Added caching to some parts of the site, mainly selectors. Significantly improved uploading process of files making it much faster and hopefully less prone to failure. Added upload speed and estimated time for uploading files. Improved edit file and link modal. Removed limit on amount of files. You can have basically as many as you'd like as long as you are within the storage limit. Removed the need to go through the file download page - files are downloaded on click now. Combined followed games, users and mods into a new tab called "following". If you still need more specific follow list, go to https://modworkshop.net/followed-mods. Clicking on the tabs on home page will now save automatically. Changed home page for guests to be closer to how it is for users. Added tab support for markdown editor. Improved the markdown editor to be more consistent and less buggy. Relative time now auto-updates. From "just now" to "1 minute" and so on. Fixes Fixed mod publish button not showing when uploading files. Fixed license help text being missing. Fixed mods count when being at 0 having no count. Fixed unique names allowing non ASCII characters. Fixed extensions such as .tar.gz turning into their last part (.gz) when downloading files. Fixed being unable to upload category thumbnails. Fixed not being able to set primary download on older files or links. Fixed server-user time zone related issues with time. Fixed thumbnail selector having odd height in edit mod page. Fixed thumbnail and banner selector having unlocalized strings. Fixed some overlapping issues in some resolutions (if you find any left make sure to report it!). Fixed table overflowing on split mode preview sometimes. Fixed notifications count not being updated. Fixed UX issues with notifications. New look for list threads to allow for more information to be displayed without being limited by the table design. Style Changes

There are a bunch of design changes in this update. Not quite a redesign of the site, but some changes were done to better fit more information in one spot like the new list mod design. I will only list the significant changes.

Changed favicon to the white variant of the logo. Changed the footer's design. Added some more related buttons to it + social links. Changed the design of dropdowns. They now have a small drop shadow for better clarity. Header now only displays the avatar for the user area. Made pinned comments a bit more obvious. New look for files and links in edit mod. New look for list-style display mode for mods. Changed the look of download buttons to make them less huge. Made user selector more consistent with the site's design. Made some danger buttons actually danger colored.

Due to maintenance, registration & password resets will not work for the next few hours. This announcement will be updated once the issue is resolved. You can use any of the social logins instead.
Note: this is only regarding registration, if you have an account already there shouldn't be an issue.

Pretty small quick update.

Fixed some paginations not working properly, notably the downloads one when having more than 10 files. Updated locales

Small update again

Fix save UI sometimes not disappearing Adjusted the look of the header and search box Fixed captcha not resetting properly Changed the text when a file is waiting to "Waiting for Submission" to better convey that the user needs to submit the mod for the file to start uploading. Changed captcha error to more user friendly text

A small update focused on updates to some tech we use.

Fixed a few issues with mod manager system. Upgraded a few of the libraries and technologies we use to their latest version. Fixed weird padding for inline code block. Fixed initial state for image visibility not being checked. Added status page on footer.

Feat: image visibility option to hide images you don't want to show (but are used in other places). Improved Support Us page. Improved user profile settings. Feat: supporter perks as a permission. Changed some places to link to support us page. Fixed color input not working on Firefox. Fixed game background not showing up properly. Fixed not being able to create games. Fixed user data being broken. Fixed clear button on select showing when there is no data to clear. Changed height of thumbnail, banner and background selectors.

Fixed captcha being bypassed when empty. Fixed nested anchors in notifications. Fixed mod not getting bumped when changing file. Fixed thumbnails and banner selector showing in upload page (it doesn't work there).

MWS 3.4.5 Fixed approvals page overflowing in lower resolutions. Increased clickable area for image viewer arrow buttons to prevent accidentally clicking outside of it. Fixed a visual bug showing the upload progress in the wrong file. Added select boxes for banner, thumbnail in edit mod page. Improved the light theme and some changes to default pics. Slight change to breadcrumbs. New arrow icon. Switched to hcaptcha and some more changes to prevent spam bots. Feat: supporter background in mods and profiles. Example:

This is a supporter feature which means that it'll only work for supporters. We are trying to find new ways to be able to sustain ourselves since unfortunately ad revenue isn't doing great in the last few months. So consider supporting us.

Hello, unfortunately due to ad revenue being extra down january, faburary (and possibly this month too), we would like to ask for donations for the site.
Either through Tsuna (owner of the site) via https://modworkshop.net/support which allows ad removal and more

We highly appreciate your donations 💖

Why?

Post-covid ad industry crash (70% less income), Yearly January Ad Crash and the cost of living crisis that Tsuna is experiencing and the initial failure of Payday 3.

What happened to the previous donations?

We moved to a different ad publisher, this transition took time and so the donations (including the one by starbeeze) went there.

General cost for the site

We earn "enough" money via ads to be legally required to be a company and as such have to deal with extra expenses (insurance and other legal stuff) as result.
That can push the operating cost to almost 1000 per month with everything included.
This includes office address and insurance (both legally mandatory in Germany).

We hope such situations don't repeat themselves. Some steps are being done to try preventing these issues in the future.
Tsuna is looking into cheaper accommodation and government support in order to be able to support the site better.

Bug fixes, small changes & new supporter perk.

Fixed user dropdown not closing when clicking any button. Fixed mod page not showing more than 5 files. Changed files per page to 10, decreased the size of them so they fit better. Decreased image viewer transition fade a bit. Sped up some animations. Fixed custom color for supporters defaulting to primary color when setting it as an invalid color. Fixed not being able to see likes in your mod. Fixed game admins being able to see mods waiting for approval that are not part of their game. Feat: supporter new perk: increased mod storage. Supporters now get increased mod storage up to 2GB. This storage increase will be given only to the owner of the mod and will stay only while supporting (Files are kept always). Do note, we still provide an increased storage to some mods that really need it (per request).

For mods that fall under submission rule 7 (cheat mods) that could previously be uploaded by sandboxing them, the moderation team has decided to include the following conditions (on top of the existing ones) for the sandbox:

A sandboxed cheat may not award achievements or progress challenges A sandboxed cheat may not award progress (levels, EXP) in the game

The rules section will be updated with these details as soon as possible.
Mods that violate these rules will be suspended and can be appealed once they adhere to these new rules.

Hey we're looking for new moderators for both the Discord server and site.
Help us continue making modworkshop the best community-centered modding site!

How to apply:

Apply in the discord server in #applications. A Discord account is a requirement for moderating the site too.

Warning! The #applications channel has 6hrs slowmode. So prepare well before posting. Shitposts will be deleted and you may be disqualified or even punished.

Introduction
Introduce yourself, tell us why you think you'll make a good moderator. Active times
Example: 2PM-7PM UTC Which parts do you want to help with?
Site/Discord/Both

Changes Subcategory results for mods are now included to reduce confusion. Added a close button for every modal. Return to mod page now refreshes the page to better showcase the changes. Added ordering for categories & forum categories Bug Fixes Fixed thumbnails not showing in followed mods page. Fixed threads overflowing. Fixed multiple links not being counted as having a download. Fixed links not working after navigating to some pages.

This is the last minor update before 3.4 which hopefully will feature the mod managers feature

Changes Added mods count text in game section Re-added rules to the main navbar. Performance Improved performance when entering game sections by combining 2 requests into one. Improved performance of the guests home page by combining 2 requests into one. Added caching for mods for guests, tags and games list. Bug Fixes Fixed not being able to link your account. Fixed mod depndencies not showing on admin page.

Changes Changed game + home page to use the filterable mods list instead to skip on needing to click on browse mods + making it faster. Made mods count more accurate for games and users.
Note: it is still inaccurate with collaborators. Unfortunately it introduces too much of a performance hit for me to make that work at the moment. Improves performance of getting mods a bit. Now announcements are actually parsed with markdown and not trimmed. File names no longer get version & mod ID attached to them.
Reasoning: PD3 mods rely on a special prefix and suffix which MWS may cause issues for. If it's an issue, please make an issue in the fourms and I'll try to find some solution. Bug Fixes Fix users being able to spam post mods and comments. Fix broken thread title on mobile. Fix save float not disappearing on user settings page. Fix broken formatting on many localization strings. Fix broken images causing ratelimits (ie blocked by ad blocker for unknown reasons). Fix broken rules link. Fix banned users not being able to appeal. Fix being able to see the block options in your own profile. Style Fix announcements overflow. Fix user profile box not being full width on mobile. Changed how game boxes look. Fit more games into latest games view. Some adjustments to mods view. Some adjustments in smaller resolutions. Moved follow button out of the more menu in user profile.

MWS 3.3 Update

Note: the two first major updates should be considered as 3.1 and 3.2 updates respectively.

Changelog

Performance

Optimized mod page Unseen tabs no longer load in the background. Comments load only when seen. Optimized API request for mods to be faster. Thread list only load now when seen to make loading a bit faster. Global site changes to make it a bit more speedy. Updated PHP to 8.2 (which is faster than 8.1), thanks Kash!

Features

Added Mark All as Read button in the notifications window. Category gets selected automatically when clicking on post while selecting a category. Added comments & threads page on user profile to allow you to see your posts (private/moderators) You can now right click on more notifications and Go to Content on reports. ?comment query parameter on mod/thread page will now prompt the site to look for the right page of the comment. Made the search box on selects auto focus when opening them. Added a link for browsing mods on header. Added a link for translation site on header. Added more dropdown on header and put wiki, translations and rules there. Added a new About Us page. Improved user deletion page to prevent accidental deletes.

Bug Fixes

Fixed regular users not being able to pin comments on their mod/thread. Fixed mention highlighting emails in addition to breaking email linking. Fixed game threads failing to move you to the right page for categories. Fixed mark as read button moving you to the notification. Fixed pagination on notifications page. Fixed user getting notified twice on mention + comment subscription. Fixed possible cases where the API function for comment page gets it wrong. Fixed save float not disappearing when saving. Fixed page breaking when searching too quickly (Vue bug so may happen somewhere, but not sure). Fixed replying causes it to be "edited". Fixed missing localization for changelog description. Fixed images not getting updated on mod page when going back from editing. Fixed some game admin pages not working. Fixed thread title overflow. Fixed not being able to unset instructions template.

Style

Added a limit for comment's height forcing them to have a scrollbar instead. Moved a few user profile controls into a separate dropdown. Revamped header search bar Adjusted game creation page a bit. Make mod tabs scroll on mobile. Move time to its own line in mods grid.

Other Changes

Publish mod is now hidden when mod is sent for approval due to the mod getting auto published on approval anyway. Added captcha to login & register page. Changed embedding of games a bit.

Hello everyone,

This new update focuses on fixing a few bugs, improving the speed of the site and a few touch ups.

Improved performance when navigating in game page, mod page and threads. Adjusted design of the page a bit, user stat is now always down left. Changed list/grid mod stat counter to have one floating value (instead of 2k, 1.5k to avoid excessive rounding). Changed mod stats to more readable number format (based on locale) so English - instead of 12345, 12,345. Fixed thread announcements not expiring. Fixed tables on mobile in mod pages. Fixed view counter counting nonstop. Added version hash to the site to be able to tell what specific build the site is on. Added a few help texts. Added forum categories description. List markdown tool now handles multiple lines properly.

Remember, you can always report issues or suggest ideas in the discord server or here

Hello! We are aware of the site being slow and are actively working to try addressing the issue. Apologizes for the inconvenience. Solved!

We are currently investigating server crashing by its own.