How the data is collected

How the data is collected

Last updated: 4 November 2026

The mod stats on this site (VS tools) show numbers and history about mods on the Vintage Story ModDB: trends, growth charts, rankings and author totals, which ModDB itself doesn't show. For anything else, like descriptions, screenshots and files, they link to ModDB. This page explains exactly where that information comes from, when it's collected, what's kept and for how long, and how ModDB is kept from being overloaded. It's a personal, non-commercial project and isn't affiliated with Anego Studios.

Where it comes from

Everything comes from ModDB's public API and public pages, the same information anyone can see without an account:

• ModDB's mod list (/api/mods): every mod with its name, author, summary, tags, logo, and current downloads, follows and comments
• A single mod (/api/mod/<id>): only to read what its description says about AI use
• A mod's comments (/api/comments/<id>): only to see whether they mention AI
• Game versions (/api/gameversions): the list of game versions, for the Data page
• Author lookup (/api/v2/users/by-name/<name>): to find an author's ModDB id
• ModDB's mod list filtered by an author (a web page): for the mods they contributed to, since the API doesn't list co-authors

Nothing is collected from logged-in areas, accounts or private messages, and no ModDB login is used.

When it's collected

• Once a day, starting at a random moment between 04:17 and 04:27 (Central European time): the full mod list (one request), the game version list, and the contributor lists and details of a few authors followed by this site
• When someone opens a mod's stats page here: that mod's description, for the AI box, only if the daily list shows a new release since it was last read (or after 7 days at most, to catch description edits); its comments only when ModDB's comment count for it has changed
• When someone opens an author's page here: that author's contributor list, at most once a day. Their mods that haven't been checked for AI statements yet are checked in the background, 10 mods every 5 minutes, and only at night (20:00 to 08:00 Central European time), when ModDB is quiet
• When someone makes a requires banner: that mod's details for the preview, and its details and logo to draw the image, which is then reused for 24 hours
• When someone filters Explore by a game version: ModDB's mod list for that version (or major line like 1.22.x), once, then reused for a day so the Data page can show how many mods have a release for it

Search engines and other crawlers only ever see what's already stored here: they never cause a request to ModDB.

What's kept, and for how long

• The daily numbers of each mod (downloads, follows, comments, trending score), one row per day, kept for as long as the tools run, so they can show history
• Each mod's current details from the mod list (name, author, summary, tags, logo address, latest release date), updated daily
• Mod descriptions (only the text, for the AI box): reused until the mod has a new release, and deleted after 7 days
• Contributor lists: refreshed after a day when viewed
• AI statements: whether a description says AI was used or not, with up to four sentences quoted from it, and up to five short excerpts of comments that mention AI, with their date. Commenters' names aren't kept.
• The game version list: refreshed daily
• A log of the requests made to ModDB (when, what for, ModDB's answer, how long it took, how much data), kept for 90 days

Mod descriptions, screenshots, releases and files aren't shown here: each mod's stats page links to ModDB for them, because that's where authors publish and license them. The tables on the Data page can only be browsed here, not downloaded, out of respect for ModDB's data.

How ModDB is protected

• Every request says who it's from: vstools (+https://lazzeking.fyi/data-collection/; [email protected]), with this page and a contact address.
• Hard limits for the whole site: at most 60 requests per 10 minutes and 1,500 per day, for all visitors and background jobs together. Past that, pages use what's already stored. The daily mod list is the only request that doesn't count toward these.
• One request at a time: the site never sends ModDB several requests in parallel, however many people use it.
• It backs off when ModDB is struggling: if ModDB answers that it's busy, has an error, or doesn't answer, all requests pause for 15 minutes, twice as long each time it happens again (up to a day), or longer if ModDB asks for it.
• Compression is asked for on every request, so transfers shrink as soon as ModDB offers it (its API currently answers uncompressed).
• A switch that stops everything: one setting turns off every request to ModDB at once, including the daily one, while the site keeps showing what it has. If ModDB ever asks, that's what happens.
• Everything is measured: each request is logged, and the daily totals are on the Data page under Requests.
• Visitors are rate limited too, and every mod links to its ModDB page for downloading, so authors' download counts stay correct.

Opting out

Mod authors can ask for AI information not to be shown, for their mods not to be shown at all, or for their data to be deleted, with only anonymous ModDB-wide totals keeping their numbers. See the opt-out page or write to [email protected].

Contact

For questions about this, including from Anego Studios, write to [email protected]. You can also message lazzeking on Discord. If anything here should work differently, it will be changed.