Desura Facts Questions and Answers news

It has been less than 12 hours since we posted about Desura and a lot of questions have been asked. Here we attempt to answer some of them.

Q: Is the idea that Desura will provide an easy way for people to automatically download/install mods for any game they own (possibly excepting games purchased through Steam and the like)? So essentially you just click "Gimmie that mod!" and it downloads, installs, and then patches?
A: Exactly like this

Q: When is out?
A: Private beta for the moment, it will go public once all major bugs are squashed (which might take weeks, might takes months)

Q: Would only released projects that are considered big, popular or high quality be allowed on Desura?
A: We want to support all released projects no matter of size but as this is our flag ship product we will only allow high quality releases.

Q: This is super cool, but will it have achievements?
A: There will be an achievements API (we are calling them accolades) and yes the community will be issued achievements for different things.

Q: When you say it handles installing and patching, will this be done like in is in steam (eg. the files are downloaded into the correct folder automatically)?
A: Yes, we wanted a one click download/install/play system so that end users don't have to do any thing. Its so easy I have been using it to install mods I don't normally play.

Q: Will there be stats tracking (eg. downloads on a certain day)?
A: Yes, it will use the same stat tracking system as ModDB.

Q: How is this going to work with steam? As HL2 mods require steam running.
A: Yes, steam will still need to be running to play the mods but steam doesn't need to be running to download, install and update mods.

Q: Does this work on mac/linux?
A: No mac/linux support at the moment, it is a challenge getting it running on 3 different windows versions. Its on the cards.

Q: Is this a web app or client?
A: Its a full application as it needs access to the hard drive and other things which a web app cant do.

Q: Well the option to install all the good mods is nice, but i don't want to run an application to check out stuff that is normally a HTML driven page.
A: You don't have to view the profile pages in the application. The application is used to download, install, update and upload content.

Q: Will this be linked in to ModDB in any way?
A: It is all linked, however all content on Desura is filtered, so only news, articles, mods, games etc published and chosen by the editors will be displayed. Think of it as a reward for the hardest working mod teams.

Q: Didn't you say it's not about some editors selecting content but about the community?
A: What we meant was that the community is the people who produce and submit the content. As Desura is our flag ship product we want only the best content on it.

Q: How would Desura interact with mod-able games on other digitally distributed programs? Will they be able to interact somehow?
A: Desura should be able to auto find supported games on other distrbution platforms and then start installing mods straight away.

Q: Is this going to replace the phenomenal moddb.com website that I have loved since I first laid eyes on it?
A: ModDB.com is still going to exist as the mod and indie game development site. Desura is only for released content.

Q: Will you guys personally check every mod/map to make sure people aren't uploading something containing illegally used content?
A: Yes will we be downloading and check out every release to make sure it works and doesn't have questionable content in it before it goes live.

Q: It says in the article that it will give access to addons I was wondering if this meant addons as small as maps and new skins like fpsbanana has or would it only be for larger addons that affect gameplay and such?
A: It means addons of any size. From simple skins, maps and audio to full customizations that replace the games files.

Q: Do you plan to support developers with anything similar to Steamworks?
A: Yes, its in the works (no pun intended).