If you don’t want to mess with Steam there’s always http://www.skyrimnexus.com. However, even though the Nexus supports a couple mod managers, few creators take advantage of the “ready to go” packaging standards these utilities support. Most mods have to be manually installed, which can be a complete nightmare of compatibility, file sorting, ini editing, etc. The fact that the Creation Kit apparently supports Steam directly gives me hope that it might provide a much smoother experience when using Skyrim mods. I have no idea if Steam already supports mods for other games but I’m guessing it does.

I’ve been using the Nexus downloader myself, and I love it. The instant downloader/installer idea really is the way to go, even for casual mods.

Steam Workshop only supports Skyrim at the moment, but that could change. I think the real kicker is that the mods have to be made and uploaded through the powerful (and free) SDK, which does a good job of weeding out viruses and steam hacks. While not an issue on hubs like Nexus, I can see Steam wanting to insure that their official mod source is clean. I only hope they include suport for Skyrim Script Extender, which is pretty critical for lots of mods.

Here’s hoping Steam Workshop gets released for other games! Besides HL2, I wonder what games would make good candidates?

Left 4 Dead has a pretty healthy mod community. It would be nice to see Steam Workshop for a game like that.

L4D was fantastic. Didn’t like the sequel nearly as much.