A brand new update has been released for the Curse Client, including some important tweaks to the Minecraft Server Browser!  A full changelog can be found below, as changes to Rift have also been included.

Enhancements

• You can now launch Minecraft from the Curse Client.
• When you join a server, you can have the Curse Client minimize to the system tray automatically. See the Options dialog.

Bug Fixes

• Performance tweaks made to the server browser.
• When you install Rift addons, they will install the new location (In My Documents). The Curse Client will attempt to move your old addons to the new location automatically.
• When you join a server, and no username and password is saved in the Minecraft launcher, it will now say 'EnterUsername'/'EnterPassword' instead of 'TEST'. 

We're happy to bring to you today an amazing new feature:  You can now search, sort, filter, and join Minecraft servers right from the Curse Client.  

See how many players are online, which players are connected, server ping, or filter servers by region - all from our convenient new Server tab in the Minecraft game section. 

Remember to visit the Minecraft Forums, the official community where you can share, discuss and discover with other Minecraft fans, and upload your creations to Bukkit!  The Minecraft Wiki also has all the information you need to survive!

Note: these changes only affect the PC client. For updates on the Mac Client, go to our dedicated Mac Client CurseForge page.

The Curse Client now has two brand new features -- The Secret World and World of Tanks are now supported, and they come with an easy to use packager for our authors!

We at Curse are always looking for ways to make modding games as simple as possible, and are always eager to support new games. Now, both World of Tanks and The Secret World give users the capability of one-click installations of mods, skins, and addons!

The Client will also manage backups and revisions of your old files to be safe to help ensure that your game will never need to be reinstalled.

In an effort to make placing these highly customizable mods into our Client, we've also created an in-Client packager to help our authors out! With either World of Tanks or The Secret World selected, click Tools -> Create a Package, and follow the given prompts. This wizard will walk you through making an appropriate, Client ready zip to be uploaded to CurseForge.

Thank you to all of our authors who assisted us in testing the Client, as your participation allowed us to release these brand new features quickly!

Curse is excited to announce the release of the lastest version of our Client, v5!  This release not only overhauls the UI, but also adds in some great new features! New features in version 5 include:

• Minecraft texture pack support
• Minecraft not showing up in your games list?  If you have it installed, just go to Tools -> Scan for all installed games.  Your Minecraft install should then be automatically located!
• For more information on Minecraft texture packs, see the Minecraft wiki article.
• Completely brand new, overhauled UI
• Each game has it's own section for downloads and currently-installed content.  Simply click the tabs to switch between what is currently installed, and what is available for download.
• All downloads for any game will show up in the Downloads section on the left panel.
• Ability to reorder games via drag and drop
• Curse resource links available on each game's tab
• New "play" button -- launching games now even more hassle-free

Greetings!

Curse is happy to announce a brand new planned feature for our Curse Client -- The Developer Center. This will be a quick, easy way for any author to upload and manage their projects. To make this new feature the best it can be for our authors, we want all of your suggestions on what you'd love to have and appreciate!

With this new Developer Center, you'll be able to easily upload new projects and new versions, and see your project list. To top it all off, we're also creating a simple, intuitive wizard to make everything fast and effortless!

Any and all suggestions or thoughts can be sent to [email protected], or leave a comment here -- Our developers will be checking both regularly!

In this week’s Mod Spotlight we take a closer look at "The Dragon's Curse", a mod created by edunad, who kindly agreed to participate in an interview as well.

Have you always wanted to play as a dragon? If so, the wait is over! This mod will allow you to transform into a playable dragon, using a new power called "Dragon's Curse".

Much attention has been paid to the transformation process - after using the 'Dragon's Curse' shout, rather than instantly turning into a dragon, your character will be covered in an intense veil of fire and black smoke for a short time, and soon after will re-emerge, transformed.

Once transformed, you can decide to walk or to fly. While on the ground, controlling the dragon is similar to using a horse, but due to the larger size it can be difficult to navigate. Flying is a little different however, where forward acceleration happens automatically and the mouse is used to determine direction. It's a work in progress, but the flight aspect of this mod is still in its alpha stage, and is thus still an unrefined experience. 

Of course, you'll be able to do more than just walking and flying! As a dragon, various special abilities are available to you in the form of both physical attacks and shouts. Of these, the most powerful and exciting is most likely the "Dragon Storm Call", a shout that will abruptly change the weather into a fiery storm of meteors.

While the mod is not yet finished (it's currently in beta), the concept is a promising one, proving that a playable dragon is indeed possible. Once all of the issues have been ironed out, this may become one of the most popular mods out there!

What inspired you to create this mod?
Before creation kit was out, i've always wondered if it was possible to turn into a dragon and being able to fully control it. The idea started when i saw a video on youtube (machinima) with a player being able to control dragons, chickens and other monsters on skyrim.

Approximately how much time went into development so far?
The mod development started around 2 months ago, not quite sure. Since then i've been working on it at the weekends, since i've been working and coding a game (along with 3 other people). I've got more hours at creation kit than the actual skyrim.

What kind of problems did you come across while working on your mod, if any?
The only problem that i've encounter is the flying. Creation kit is VERY limited. Doen't allow you to fully control the game classes or the engine. (for example, being able to assign any keys to actions. Your forced to use the pre-made keys, like space, mouse1,mouse2,ctrl,alt,etc..). Creation kit doen't allow you to control the actions by code. Only by animations. So its really hard recode the flying.

How was your experience working with the Creation Kit?
I enjoyed working with it, but its too limited. Not allowing you to fully control the game / classes / etc.

Have you used any other tools in addition to the Creation Kit?
Nope :).

What did you enjoy most about the creation process of your mod?
I enjoyed creating the transformation effects and creating a dungeon for the mod (got removed on remake version).

Your mod is currently in beta stage, can you tell us more about what you want the final result to look like?
The mod is really close to the full version. The only thing that isn't allowing me to is the flying. On the description of the mod i've got a To do list for any user to check what im currently working on.

Could you tell us about any other mods you have planned for the future?
Well at steam workshop i've got a secret mod that i worked on, but got abandoned. It made me laught while creating it. Basicaly its a shout that transforms people into random animals for a short period. I call it Circe's Shout. Perhaps i will continue working on it after the main mod (Dragon's Curse).

Do you have any advice for others who would like to start modding?
Before you start modding, practice C / C a bit. It will help you understand papyrus (the codding language on skyrim) since the compilator doen't really help understanding whats causing the error. I also advice you to watch some tutorials at youtube. There are tons of them.

Thanks to edunad for creating this mod and for participating in the interview.

In today's Mod Spotlight we will be featuring "The Blades Mansion", a mod created by SgtFlexxx, who kindly agreed to participate in our interview as well.

This mod will give you access to a huge mansion, located at the Sky Haven Temple. The mansion has been in the possession of the Blades for generations, now that you are the Dragonborn it will be yours!

Once inside you'll find the main hall, containing a dining table, doors to various smaller rooms and a throne at the end. You will even get your own guards, walking around to protect the place. These guards are not the only people residing in your home. Besides them a few traders are at your service, who will buy and sell supplies, such as magic goods, jewellery and more.

(Click the image to take a closer look)

As previously mentioned the mansion holds a number of rooms that serve a certain purpose, of which a few are shown on the image above. Crafting facilities are situated in their own room, where you can also store your crafting materials in the corresponding chests. A large bedroom is available as well, containing a bed, two big chests placed next to it and a closet. Surprisingly the closet actually serves as an entrance to a hidden cave, though there is not much to see there unfortunately.

Last but certainly not least a sizeable display room is at your disposal, here you can show off all your precious weapons and armour using the many mannequins and display cases.

Find out more about the creation process of this mod in the interview below.

What was your inspiration for creating this mod?
Well, my inspiration for the mod was just seeing all of these player created homes. One that I liked most of all was Dovahkiin Hideout.

How much time went into developing it?
I've been working on the mod every now and then. Sometimes I get stumped on what to do. I like to take a lot of suggestions from the community and I'm expecting to get everyone's suggestions (mostly) about what to put into it.

What kind of problems did you come across while working on your mod, if any?
The only problem I actually got when I was creating the mod was creating all the blades and allowing them to follow each other, but it was eventually fixed with the help of Mill3rb0y on youtube.

How was your experience working with the Creation Kit?
My experience with the Creation Kit was pretty easy and fun to see it work. I just had a few bugs in game that wouldn't show up in the creation kit.

What did you enjoy most about the creation process of your mod?
The thing I enjoyed the most was allowing the group of ranked blades to follow each other, and creating their own faction so they helped each other instead of just running away and not helping (stupid whiterun guards, lol)

Are you planning to add more features to your mod?
I'm still planning on adding much more to the mod, seeing that I created 5 floors, I have plenty of space for more things to add in, and looking for suggestions from the community.

Could you tell us about any other mods you currently have in progress?
Currently, I'm not working on any other mods right now, but I may work on some in the future.

Do you have any advice for others who would like to start modding?
If you would like to start modding, I would suggest to go to Creationkit.com for tutorials. You can also find many creation kit tutorials on youtube.com. Also, check out MILL3RB0Y's channel if you will, he helped me a lot.

 Thanks to SgtFlexxx for creating this mod and for participating in the interview.

The Curse Client is undergoing a gigantic overhaul, and we need you to test the changes!  This will be one of the largest updates the Client has seen -- as such, suggestions are also appreciated!

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 If you'd like to help out, head to testclientupdate.curse.com, and install this test Client.  Please be sure to close the regular Curse Client when testing this one!  As almost everything has been changed or updated, every facet of this new Client needs to be tested.  Some primary examples include:

• Installing new addons, as well as installing many addons at a time
• Update / Uninstalling existing addons
• Search My Addons / Get More Addons, as well as the search filter
• Viewing Changelog, Description, author links, and web site
• AddonSync
• Saved Game Sync
• Scanning for games
• Start Game button
• Update All
• UI Wizard and addon settings cleaner

<div>Please send any and all feedback or suggestions to [email protected].  Any and all are encouraged to help us improve our Client for the better!  </div>

 

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Today, the Curse Client is getting an exciting new feature: Saved Game Sync!  While this feature currently only supports Skyrim, our developers plan to support a host of popular games in the future.  

To ensure an excellent experience for all our users, for the first 24 hours only Premium users will be granted access in order to monitor our systems as closely as possible.  After this small delay, it will be entirely open to every Curse user!

<span style="font-size: large;">What Saved Game Sync Can Do For You</span>

• No filesize limit!  You're only limited by the number of slots you have, based on membership type.
• Regular members get two saves with two revisons each, whereas Premium users get 100 saves with five revisions each!
• Our revision system that keeps past versions of saves, so you'll never have a bricked or broken save again!  Just click on a past revision, and that version will download to your computer, ready for use with Skyrim.
• Which saves you sync to our servers is up to you, and you can even rename them for easy recognition.  
• Using Saved Game Sync gives you the freedom to play from multiple computers with the same saves!

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Even better, it's simple to use!  Just click the button shown below in the Curse Client (you must have Skyrim installed), and check the box that says "Enable Saved Game Sync".  Choose your saves and you're on your way -- revisions will update as you play!  

<span style="font-size: large;">Why We're Better Than Steam</span>

• Total size limit of 50mb on Steam Cloud - Skyrim saves can get up to and beyond 10mb each!  Curse does not limit on size, only on file slots.
• Steam uploads only the most recent saves - We at Curse know that the most recent isn't always better, which is why we let you choose exactly which save you upload!
• Steam does not keep previous versions - Make a mistake in a quest choice and need to download your previous quicksave?  The Curse Client allows you to do that in one click!
• Only Curse allows you to name your saves! - Not only do we let you pick and choose what you upload or download, we let you rename the file on our server for quick identification!
• Ease of use - Curse offers the simpliest, most intuitive interface for managing your saved games available across any number of PCs!  

<div>We're proud of the new addition of Saved Game Sync in the Curse Client, and are excited to release it!  Managing your saves should be easy -- and we're here to help make it even more simple, accessible, and customizable!  If you don't already have the Curse Client installed, go grab it and start using this new extension of our already great features!</div>

Greetings, SkyrimForge! We at Curse have an exciting announcement to make, and can't wait to get some testers for a brand new, upcoming feature in our Curse Client!

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IntroducingSaved Game Sync! The Curse Client's new Saved Game Sync allows you to upload saves from any game and access them anywhere you are logged into the Curse client! Below are the features this has to offer:

• Saves uploading to a central cloud on the Curse servers, accessible at any time
• Up to five revisions of each file, so you'll never have a corrupted save
• Regular users will receive 2 file slots with 2 revisions, Premium users receive 100 file slots with 5 revisions!
• Easy to use interface and simple one-click restoration and syncing
• Ability to rename saves (with no rename limit!) for simple file recognition

It would help us immensely if you could take a few moments to test this out! Below are the simple instructions on how to get started:
Keep in mind you'll also need to have Skyrim installed to use this feature!

• Download our test Client at this link: http://testclientupdate.curse.com
• Please e-mail any issues you find or feedback you have to: [email protected]

How to Use Saved Game Sync

To use Saved Game Sync, simply launch the Curse Client and follow these three easy steps:
1. Click the Saved Games button in the toolbar:
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2. Check the 'Enabled Saved Game Sync' checkbox:
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</center> 3. Check each saved game you want to include the sync, or click the 'Sync All' button. For reference, see the opening image of this post.

That's all! We greatly appreciate your participation and feedback with this exciting new feature! We're excited about this new feature, and we'd love to hear your feedback.

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Curse is happy to announce the winner of the Skyrim 15K Challenge! The Grand Prize winner of $3,000 cash is Shawn Berlinghof, a.k.a. Shawkab, with the mod Dovahkiin Hideout. 

You can check out Dovahkiin Hideout and download the winning mod for yourself at Curse.com or through the Curse Client. You can also see all of Shawkab’s amazing Skyrim mods on his SkyrimForge author page.

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Dovahkiin Hideout is a mod that gives a hideout to every house a player can acquire in Skyrim. The basement door leads to a huge underground room featuring display cases, weapon racks and an enchanting and alchemy table. The hideout is shared between all houses the player owns, as long as you have the key for the house.

We talked to Shawkab about his experience and inspiration for creating Dovahkiin Hideout. “I had a desire to collect things and the houses in Vanilla Skyrim did not accommodate it” says Shawkab.

He gathered player feedback throughout the process, but without the creation kit building the mod was no easy task.  “Learning how to do it was the hardest part because there were no tutorials or resources.  It was just trial and error,” mentions Shawkab.

The author has big plans for the future of Dovahkiin Hideout as he continues to refine the mod, “I will be adding follower/spouse support, unique textures, and a completely new structure.”  Other plans include a smaller version of Dovahkiin Hideout, an upgrade to a new mod called Dovahkiin Retreat and the creation of Dovahkiin Castle.

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Shawkab plans to participatie in Curse’s future contests and says, “I love Curse and everything they are doing for the modding community. Some people don't understand how many hours go into a mod like this and without the support from fans and from contests like Curse's, Dovahkiin Hideout would have never reached the point it did.”

Congratulations Shawkab!  Dovahkiin Hideout is definitely deserving of the grand prize.

The Skyrim 15K Challenge also awarded $10,500 cash in prizes for another 111 winning mods. Thirty five In-Game items and NPCs were selected along with thirty UI and Maps as well as eleven Quest and Dungeons mods.

We want to thank our community for their participation.  We received a ton of outstanding, creative and useful mods during the challenge.  It is mind blowing to see what everyone was able to do without the Creation Kit.  We are sure when it is released tomorrow we will see a flood of new mods inspired by all our entrants and ones we haven’t even dreamed possible yet.  Happy modding!