It's now over two years since Deus Ex was released, and yet the mod community still shows very little activity. Quake, though not the inventor of mods, was the first game to create an entire community of modders. Unreal too, has a list of mods longer than my arm, and my own copy of Unreal Tournament, takes several minutes to start due to the amount I have downloaded personally. And should I even bother to mention Half-Life. Based on the Quake 2 engine, it now has the biggest mod community ever, and is not likely to be surpassed by any other game in the foreseeable future. And yet, our mod community for Deus Ex, is still learning to walk, when other games were at this point were taking part in their own mini Olympics. Want to know how you can help?
I'm not suggesting that you jump up and start your own mod. Precisely the opposite in fact. There are already plenty of mods in the making, which will eventually keep us busy, for a nice period of time, tiding us over until Deus Ex 2 is released. You, every single one of you, can help. You don't need to be able to map, code, or anything like that. In fact you need no other skill other than to be capable of playing Deus Ex. Think you meet the requirements soldier? Then let's begin.
Multiplayer Mods (Servers):
Possibly the best and easiest way to help a mod, and the community in general is simply to host it. There are virtually no servers running anything other than the basic Deus Ex game types. The only good mod server I have seen in Deus Ex, is DX-Coop, but that's their own server. I have never once played Deus Ex using AMP, which is a great shame because it could be the best thing for Deus Ex, since its initial release. The biggest problem with such mods is they require special servers to be set up. Because it is so difficult to set these types of servers up, nobody can ever play the mods. But it's not just these two. Even Party Zone, which at its simplest requires the host to load one map, is never seen. So how can you help? If you have a broadband, permanent connection, and you have access to any of these mods, then set one up. Call it something useful like "Advanced Multiplayer Mod - Deathmatch", and people will have the access to mods they may not even have known existed. This will help the mod get an audience it otherwise wouldn't have had.
Multiplayer Mods (Playing):
Have you ever noticed that people never join servers with nobody in them? I don't think I have ever seen anyone in the DX-Coop server, though I have visited it many a time. The problem is people want to jump straight into the action. This means when there is a server available; people won't join because they will have to wait until someone else joins. You may have seen it's the same with chat rooms; no-one wants to go into an empty chat room. If you see an empty mod server, and would otherwise be tempted to join, join anyway. There are probably people online at the same time, that are thinking the same thing, and once you start, others will follow. If no-one has joined after 5 minutes or so, then give up, but try to go back later. Eventually someone _will_ join you.
Feedback and Beta Testing:
The most important thing to do with any mod you play, is give feedback, and loads of it. Mods receive virtually no comments on their work, so how can they possibly know how to improve it. Try to be constructive with your comments. People don't mind you telling them that you think they can improve parts of their work. Try to think of at least one useful thing you can say for each aspect of the game. Make sure you explain yourself clearly and in enough detail that the team can use your information. For example:
"I think the TNT isn't very good."
Does not give enough information to the team on how to fix it. A much better way to help them might be:
"I don't think the TNT is positioned very well in the sewers because you will be unable to get past it, if you are slightly low on health, perhaps if there was another way out, this would mean people would not need to reload from further back, or worse restart."
As you can see, the second example gives the position of the TNT, the reason it's not very good, and also a way it could be worked around.
If you want to offer to Beta Test a mod you need to practice your feedback. Many mods may even want you to prove yourself worthy by testing something completely different, like a level from Deus Ex. This means you need to be very observant, and very good at describing yourself to stand even a remote chance of becoming a tester. However, the bonuses of Beta Testing, to you and to the team, easily cover the hassle. The team now has a good reference guide, and someone who can help them make tricky decisions just by playing through the problem. For the tester, they will often get their name on the team page, gain experience writing which may come in handy one day, and get to preview a mod before anyone else.
Where To Get These Mods:
Below is a list of what I think are the best Multiplayer mods. I haven't included any weapons mods, since they require either special levels with the weapons included, or for someone to spawn them.
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