IAmOmicron interview for le Blog Jeu Vidéo

1. If I'm not mistaken, you're the DNS modpack maintainer ?So what is your exact role within the modpack ?

I am indeed the maintainer, my main role is to keep the pack updated and as stable as possible. But I do have other roles such as; responding to feature requests and bug reports on the forums and keeping everyone somewhat entertained with my terrible jokes. I basically keep the modpack as stable and enjoyable as possible while being there in the community to help anyone.

2.The DNS pack is now 2 years old. It grew as one of the most liked modpacks hosted on the ATLauncher. How could you easily explain this success ? 
t's not a question I can answer fully, however I will do my best. The main popularity of DNS was way back when it first started out as an 'illegal' pack, which at the time was maintained and created by D3astorage. Basically, the mods were added and then given out with no permissions from the author. Because this pack had everything people wanted (mods that direwolf used) and more, it became very popular. Once the pack was given to madcock83, the previous maintainer, he continued the 'illegal' stance up until minecraft 1.5 where the first 'legal' pack was released and I started helping out shortly after. After the transition to the AT Launcher, we could provide the pack in an easier form AND we could provide more mods with chance of customization for each user, which in turn helped raise its popularity.

3.How many are you in the DNS Team ? Some modpacks have only one of two guys supporting it. With your rate of new versions, you have to be at least two or three ?

3. The DNS Team consists of a few people. There is madcock83, the head of DNS and the former maintainer of the pack. There is me, (IAmOmicron) the current maintainer of the pack, and the guy that does a lot of the community work on the forums. There is Vydax, the graphics artist and Darkhax the coder/programmer. There are also other members, but they have not been active for a long time.

Believe it or not, however, I do all of the updates myself. Apart from when i'm on holiday/vacation, then madcock comes back and does an update until I'm back. But as stated, there are a lot of versions at the moment because I have free time, but I will be moving to University in a week, so there won't be as many updates.

4.As someone who tried to assemble his own modpack, i can only refer to the tedious task of making everything work together well. You must have some pretty good skills and/or a lot of patience to accomplish this amazing job. What is the most difficult task with assembling the DNS modpack ?

4. The tedious bit for 1.6.4 was the ID's of both blocks and items. Blocks not so much as the game would crash and generate a crash log of what ID's were overlapping and could be easily fixed. With items however, the game continues as normal and never told you about overlapping ID's. Also, item ID's were shifted by a value of 256 in some config files, so you have to take that into account as well. For 1.7 this is not an issue as forge assigns ID's automatically. The most difficult part is keeping the pack optimised and running smoothly. If I have every option enabled in the pack, then it starts to bring down the FPS of the game and start laging. Disabling certain features to help the graphics card and processor allow the game to run smoothly for a longer period of time. This is especially difficult on servers because there is a wider area for errors to appear.

5. Where does the DNS name comes from ? And what does it means ?

5. Honestly, I can't tell you. And it's not because I don't want to. There are only 2/3 people that know the true name behind DNS and 2 of them are inactive. It is a well kept secret and mystery. It's so well kept that not even I know the meaning, and that is why I can't say.

6.The DNS modpack was 'till recently a 1.6.4 modpack. It has become 1.7.10 some weeks ago. Was it difficult to port it to the new version ? As for the small number of 17.10 packs, it would appears so there is a ton of things to look out for. Could you briefly describe the process ? Is this version handling better the number of mods ? I have the feeling that "something" went optimized : the game is more stable and the loading processes takes less time.

6. Minecraft 1.7 brought a lot of performance upgrades to the table, but also brought a handful of problems. The pack was fairly difficult to port, simply because the mods themselves were fairly buggy and unstable. And putting many together makes something that is likely to be unplayable. After many bug reports to authors and a bit of patience I finally got what I thought was something stable enough for the public to play it and enjoy it. The pack wasn't so much a port either, as 1.6 worlds would not work with the new pack due to differences in both vanilla and forge.

In all honesty, it was much easier than I had expected, and was more of a bug hunting spree than anything. Once the bugs were solved, everything fell into place and I added in my own touches to enhance the gameplay and performance.

7.The DNS pack claims to revolves mostly around technological mods but there is a few funny ones like "Hats" or "Morph" and there is also a good load of magical mods ( Botania, Blood Magic,...) How are the mods being selected ? Is it a team choice or users are part of the process ?

7. Because it is called the DNS Techpack, it does revolve around Technology mainly. But, you can't go wrong with Thaumcraft can you? as for the other magic mods, they are left as optional mods, so that people don't have to go and find them if they do wish to add them. They are popular mods and as such I like to add them to the optional mods list so that it is easier for the user to add them. Also, because we provide config files for the mods, it ensures that they won't cause errors if you do add them.

How mods are selected is simple, if I like it, i'll add it to the optional mods list. If users like it and its stable, it will then move to the default mods. I select mods based on what I find and what people suggest. For example, "Big Reactors" was highly requested, and when I finally got time to look at it I added it to the optional mods so it could be tested for stability. And so far it seems fine! So in all honesty, I tend to add mods that the community like. If there is a mod in there that the majority don't like or don't use, then i'll remove it, because it's not my pack, its a pack for the community. And why Hats? Why Morph? Simple. You've got to have some swag, somehow...

8. If someone would want to begin assembling his own modpack, what is the most precious advice you could give him ?

8. The best advice? Don't compete with FTB. If you want to make a pack, DO NOT expect it to just 'get popular'. packs like FTB that already have a stable userbase are unlikley to lose it because of the firm backing they have with Direwolf20 and the mod authors. The same goes for other AT Launcher packs. Some of them are made by/enorsed by large corporations like 'The Yogscast' and 'Mindcrack'. These will always be above the rest because of who advertises it and uses it. DNS is popular because we've been around for a long time. FTB is popular because Direwolf20 and mod authors backing it. Unless a popular YouTuber/streamer starts using it, then don't expect to get a sudden rise in popularity. But don't be disheartened by the low amount of users to begin with. It will steadily rise, and hey, it might just get to the point where a YouTuber starts using it. Just keep at it. Patience is a virtue, and those who work hard will get their reward at some point.

9. What is the average rate between new versions of the pack ? If you can told us, when will be the next one ?

9. There is no fixed rate. An update could be 2 days away or even a week. I like to updated when there are around 10 mods that need updating, or when it fixes a common bug/error. There's no point in updating every time a single mod does, so I wait for a decent amount before I update. Then a patch may follow (such as 7.1.8.1) if something is missing. Things like; 'I forgot to upload the new config files' and 'I accidentally forgot to upload the mod' are common things I tend to say.

10. Finally, I would like to ask you a question reflecting a personal interest of mine :-) Do you plan to add the mod "Magical Crops" to the pack ?

10. Magic crops is a very highly requested mod. My issue with it is that its a magic based mod, as the name suggests, and I feel there is already enough magic variety in the pack as it is, even in the optional mods.

However... I have recently thought that there is a lack of seeds or things to plant and farm. So, who knows? We might see it in the optional mods section in a couple of updates... *hint hint* Or, maybe even in another pack that I may or may not be working on. *HINT HINT*

I hope I've answered all you want, and if you have any additional questions, then feel free to ask, and I look forward to reading the article! :)

~IamOmicron