So what are Team Radiant’s thoughts on incorporating features from mods into the base game? For example, Mojang has worked with mod creators to add many interesting features to minecraft, like horses, slime blocks etc, migrating these features from mods into the unmodded game.
Do you see Team Radiant following this example of drawing from the community to enrich the base game?
I’d like to try out modding, if anyone can guide me it would be awesome. PS: I’m not even a beginner, so don’t even bother asking me what I know
Heya. There’s not really any guides out there that teaches you how to mod Stonehearth, though there are some other threads here in the discourse that have asked similar to what you want to know. I’d suggest that you check them out and what answers are available there. 
http://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/teach-me-to-mod-blush/14144
http://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/teach-me-how-to-smod/21138
http://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/how-to-start-modding/21814
there is also
@Tuhalu positional guide
Reference: Positioning Placeable Items
An online app that checks your .json files for consistency.
http://jsonlint.com/
@MelOzone palette guide and a website for getting color information.
More lights from Mel (and other modelling stuff)
http://paletton.com/
A website to check out other folks mods
http://praisedb.x10.bz/
Free downloadable voxel editors
Such as MagicaVoxel https://voxel.codeplex.com/
and Voxel Shop
VoxelShop (Voxel-Editor) | Terasology
I hope this helps
Is there any precedent for reviving an “abandoned” mod - one where the owner hasn’t been online in a notable amount of time and does not respond to any means of contact?
I think it’s pretty clear from that statement. That said, you can’t “reserve” an idea.
Otherwise you could create a post proclaiming you were going to make a number of mods with every possible category known to man.
For example:
“John” creates a Lord of the rings mod, but after a few weeks, months, or years he abandons the mod and does not respond to any queries regarding someone else continuing the mod.
There is nothing stopping you creating a LOTR mod yourself, you just cant use that persons models and/or code. Just look at what is happening right now… there is a Viking mod being created, despite the Norsemod existing for a number of years.
I could also, for example create my own auto-harvesting mod, archipelago biome mod, or create a mod with my own implementation of fishing - as long as I didn’t steal or butcher the hard work that Bruno or Pawel had produced and I created them both from scratch.
Personally, if I ever get to releasing mods, I’m going to post them with a contingency plan to allow anyone to update them if they’re abandoned for long enough (a specific amount of time), and I think it’s something modders should at least consider. But barring that or direct permission, there’s not much anyone can do.
That’s usually called a “Zombie license”.
Note that if you post your content under a suitable free license, you’ve already given your explicit content to anyone interested (usually that includes copying and modifying).
@froggy is correct (and cites the appropriate passage) – even if a given mod is seemingly abandoned, if the original creator does not grant permission (and lack of response = doesn’t grant permission) then you cannot update/modify/whatever the mod.
You can, as @coasterspaul observes, release a mod with permission to modify without contacting you. But few, if any, of existing Stonehearth mods have such permissions attached.
And, as @froggy also wisely observes, while mods themselves should not be messed with without creator permssion, the idea behind a mod isn’t protected. So you’re free to create a mod which bears a resemblance to others… you’ll just have to create it from the ground up.
“And, as @froggy also wisely observes, while mods themselves should not be messed with without creator permission, the idea behind a mod isn’t protected. So you’re free to create a mod which bears a resemblance to others… you’ll just have to create it from the ground up.”
Well, that totally answered my question. Thank you all for clarifying!
If it existed I may not have made it tbh, but it was someone who made something back in 2014. Just nothing actually… Functional. Personally I’m more in favour of "share what you have, splinters and all and just UPDATE OFTEN.
FOR POSTERITY: IF I ever drop off the face of the planet, people with the know how have the right to continue my stuff, as long as they give credit and try to keep it vaguely in the spirit of things 
Maybe? But the modding rule from this thread is mostly for people using other modder’s stuff. Always ask for permission.
You can work with in-game content for your Stonehearth mods, of course 
Yeah, but way earlier in this thread it said to not use unreleased features/content (probably dating back to the water mod controversy.) How times have changed!
So…
Hypothetically, if I were to figure out how to “fix” an abandoned broken mod, I understand that I CAN NOT upload that fix or anything related to it. CAN I, though, explain HOW to fix it so others could do it on their own? On the original mods page? It is about a dozen typo’s in the various .json files.
Thanks!
One more question, then. Can I download that mod and repost it WITHOUT ANY CHANGES? In the same thread? The reason for this is google+ is going away and the .smod file that works is on the authors google drive. I don’t know if that will be affected also but I want to preserve this mod!
There is also a second option, creating a mod to fix the other one. I always wanted to do this, a mod that only purpose is to fix others, specially those outdated. It would be a collection of fixes, from simple new tags, to compatibilities with others mods, redirecting files to proper locations, etc…