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Video game modding

Modification of a video game From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Video game modding (short for "modifying") is the process of player and fan-authored alteration of a video game[1] and is a sub-discipline of general modding. A set of modifications, commonly called a mod, ranges in complexity and may either alter the existing game or add new content.[2] Modders, people who mod video games,[3] can introduce a variety of changes to games, including altering graphics, fixing bugs, and adding unique gameplay elements, which extend the replay value and interest of the game.[4][5] Modding a game can also be understood as the act of seeking and installing mods to the player's game.[6] Tweaking pre-existing settings and preferences is not considered to be modding.[1]

Mods add depth to the original game,[7] provide additional fun for players, and act as a means of self-expression for mod developers.[8] People can become fans of specific mods and can involve themselves in mod creation and discussion, such as requesting features and alterations.[8] In cases where modding is popular, players use the term vanilla in discussions to clarify that they are referring to the unmodified game. "Vanilla Minecraft", for example, refers to the original, unmodified game.[9]

Mods that extensively transform gameplay are known as total conversions, with some developing into distinct games. For example, League of Legends and Dota 2 were both originally mods for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.[10][11] These releases can be stand-alone titles that do not require the original game to play, or they may be dependent on the user owning the game they are modded onto.[12][13]

As early as the 1980s, video game mods have also been used for the sole purpose of creating art, as opposed to a playable game. This can include recording in-game actions as a film, as well as attempting to reproduce real-life areas inside a game with no regard for game play value. This has led to the rise of artistic video game modification, as well as machinima and the demoscene.[2]

Popular games can have tens of thousands of mods created for them.[14] In 2024, Nexus Mods, one of the biggest video game mod websites, hosted a total of 539,682 mod files, developed by 128,361 mod authors, and accrued a lifetime total of 10 billion mod downloads for 2,683 games the same year.[15] Many mods are not publicly released to the gaming community by their creators.[1] The proliferation of modding has made it an increasingly important factor in the success of many games.[7][8]

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Development

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Developing a video game mod requires a range of technical and social skills, such as programming, 3D modeling, sound design, art, and project management.[7][16] Modders represent a wide spectrum of individuals with varying degrees of experience, skill sets, and motivations.[3]

Tools

Mod development involves the use of external software development kits (SDK) that are not included in the original game, distinguishing mods from in-game creations such as character creation in The Sims or levels designed in Lemmings.[2] Early commercial mod-making tools include the Boulder Dash Construction Kit, released in 1986, and The Bard's Tale Construction Set, released in 1991, which allow users to create games using the engines of their predecessors.[17][18] Released in 1993, Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures allows users to construct games based on the Pool of Radiance game world.[19]

The provision of tools is seen as the most practical way that a company can signal to fans that its game is available to mod.[20] By the mid-1990s, modding tools were commonly offered with PC games;[21] in the early 2000s, modding tools that launched with games were noteworthy in review.[22] Maxis released modding tools for The Sims before the game itself, resulting in a suite of fan-created mods being available at launch.[23] The advertising campaign for Neverwinter Nights focused on the included Aurora toolset.[23] The World Editor for Warcraft III allowed a variety of custom scenarios or maps to be created for the game, such as a number of tower defense and MOBA maps, including Defense of the Ancients.[24][11] Bethesda Game Studios offers the Creation Kit, a program containing user-tailored modding tools used to create mods for their games, including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.[25]

Fans also use and create open-source software tools for creating mods.[26][example needed] Generative AI is expected to make mod development easier,[27] particularly with assets such as textures and voice acting which can present a barrier to entry for amateur mod teams. Voice actors have raised ethical concerns over their voices being cloned without their consent, and they have denounced pornographic mods using their cloned voices.[28][29][30]

Websites dedicated to hosting and sharing mods are widely used by the modding community. Mod DB was founded in 2002, with over 300 million mod downloads as of 2025.[31][32][33] In 2024, 47 million members were registered with Nexus Mods, which has been in operation since 2001.[15][34]

Free content delivery tools, known as "mod managers", are available to streamline the mod installation process and aid players who are less technically literate. These tools manage downloads, updates, and mod installation. Steam offers the Steam Workshop within the game launcher itself, allowing a users to share mods for simplified download and installation in supported games.[4] Vortex, a mod manager released by Nexus Mods, is an external tool that supports modding over 65 games and is designed to work with the website.[35] Official mod managers are also created by developers alongside or within their games. For example, Baldur's Gate 3 received an update in 2024 that integrated an in-game mod manager, receiving praise for the ease-of-use.[36]

Game support for mods

A game that allows modding is said to be moddable, and the extent to which a game can be modded is called its moddability.[37] In general, moddable games will define gameplay variables in text or other non proprietary format files and have graphics of a standard format, such as bitmaps.[38] Developers can also foster mod-friendliness by making source files more accessible, such as Doom separating its art assets from the main program.[23] Released in 2007, Supreme Commander was developed with the goal of being the as customisable as possible through mods.[39] Some mods increase moddability by adding scripting support or externalizing underlying code. In 2025, mod authors released a script extender for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, which has no official mod support, within less than six hours after the game's release.[40]

Modding may have varying support from their publishers and developers and may require expensive professional software to make. One such example is Homeworld 2, which requires the program Maya to build new in-game objects. Free and even open-source modeling programs (such as Blender) can be used as well. For advanced mods and total conversions, complicated modeling and texturing software is required to make original content. Advanced mods can rival the complexity and work of making the original game content (short of the engine itself), rendering the differences in ease of modding small in comparison to the total amount of work required. Having an engine that is, for example, easy to import models to is of little help when doing research, modeling, and making a photorealistic texture for a game item. As a result, other game characteristics such as its popularity and capabilities have a dominating effect on the number of mods created for the game by users.[citation needed]

Video game developer reception of player contribution in creating new material for games and mod-communities is varied. Some software companies openly accept and even encourage such communities, with moddability being a contributing factor to the some games' success. Others have chosen to enclose their games in heavily-policed copyright or Intellectual Property regimes (IPR) and shut down sites infringing on their ownership of a game, an action which can have a detrimental effect on the sales of the game(s) in question.[41]

Consequences

In January 2005, it was reported that The Sims 2 mods that changed item and game behavior were unexpectedly being transferred to other players through the official website's exchange feature, leading to altered game behavior in unmodded games without advance warning.[42]

Mods can alter games to reveal nudity and explicit content or introduce it via modded graphics. After the "Hot Coffee" mod incident, the games industry called for better control of explicit mods.[3] Bethesda does not allow mods with nudity to be uploaded to its platforms. Nexus Mods allows for mods with nudity as long as nudity is not present in the preview image for the download page, such as Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Edition, which allows for body modification in Bethesda's Skyrim and Fallout 4 and has been downloaded at least 8.2 million times.[43] Video game mods are subject to regional legislation on pornography. Nexus Mods plans to add age verification to mods containing explicit content to comply with the Online Safety Act in the UK and Digital Services Act in the EU.[44]

Modding can act as a pathway to cybercrime.[45] In 2015, members from GTAForums, a Grand Theft Auto fan site, reported instances of malware being circulated through mods written for Grand Theft Auto V.[46][47] Two of the mods in question, "Angry Planes" and "No Clip", came with malicious code for loading a remote access tool and a keylogger for stealing Facebook and Steam account credentials.[48]

Mods may include political messages or be discriminatory against certain groups; game developers and publishers may take actions to limit and remove these mods for their games. In 2016, Paradox Interactive took down a Steam Workshop mod for their game Stellaris which replaced non-white human characters with white ones, stating that they did not "wish to enable discriminatory practices".[49][50][51] As of 2025, EA's mod policy stated that they held the right to "address any inappropriate Mods", including those with obscene or objectionable content.[52] In the same year, the company submitted a copyright infringement notice to forums hosting a The Sims 4 mod which altered or removed representations of LGBTQ and Black people.[52][53] Additionally, mod hosting websites retain the discretion to remove potentially objectionable or divisive mods. In 2020, ahead of the United States presidential election, Nexus Mods removed a mod for Marvel Rivals which replaced the model for Captain America with one of Donald Trump, citing content that promotes "conflict, division and mob harassment" would be removed as per the website's Terms of Service.[54][55] The website removed mods that target LGBTQ representation, including a mod which removed Pride flags from Marvel's Spider-Man,[56] a mod which changed the gender of an NPC in a same-sex relationship in Baldur's Gate 3,[57] and a mod which changed the "body type" option to male/female for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered.[58]

Motivations

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Custom character models such as Kratos, Carl Johnson and Snow White in Guitar Hero World Tour are a popular form of mod, allowing fans to come up with their own humorous fictional crossovers.

Motivations to engage in modding include patching the game and an outlet for creative and artistic expression.[8] Video game modding (which can be described as the remixing of games) can be viewed as part of the remix culture as described by Lawrence Lessig,[59] or as a successor to the hacker culture that produced the first video games.[22]

Mod development has been correlated with the introduction of Web 2.0, which encourages collaboration and participation via the Internet through the production and alteration of user-generated content. The sense of community, feedback, recognition, and sources of inspiration fostered through community-based, collaborative discussions are various motivators that influence the development and sharing of mods.[2] The proliferation of mod culture exemplifies the overlap between media consumption and production,[8] and the provision of modding tools by the developer gives players agency to contribute to their entertainment experience.[2]

Modding serves as a channel to enter the video game industry, as mod projects are often used as a portfolio when applying to jobs in the industry.[8] Mod tools provide the opportunity to acquire information technology expertise for novices in the field,[60] who are allured by the prospect of eventually working in the games industry or related fields using the skills acquired through modding.[8] The potential to become a professional may alternatively be unimportant to modders, who tend to have a strong sense of community[1] or wish to keep the skill simply as a hobby.[8]

A recurring trend with video game mods is the creation of user-made skins and/or character models replacing the default models, including meme or joke mods such as those replacing models with Carl Johnson from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Thomas the Tank Engine.[61]

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History

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The game industry's support of modding has been crucial to the rise of the modding phenomenon.[8] In 1983, Lode Runner was released with a level editor in which users could make and save levels to share with other players on the same computer. It is considered one of the first games to support user mods.[62] In 1992, id Software's Wolfenstein 3D was released in a form that did not intend for users to be able to mod the game. Users were able to find ways to manipulate the game's files after scouring them for data locations to create their own levels and graphics. When id developed their next game, Doom, they purposely separated the game engine and other aspects related to the game's operation from the game levels and graphics, placing these into a WAD file, "WAD" short for "Where's All the Data?" In this manner, modders only needed to change the WAD file to mod the game, launching numerous Doom modding efforts.[62] id's approach of separating data file from execution files became essential for modding of future video games.[62]

Doom, released in 1993, was the first game to have a large modding community.[3] In exchange for the technical foundation for modding, id Software requested that mods should only work with the retail version of the game (and not the demo), a request which was respected by modders and boosted Doom's sales.[citation needed] Another factor in the popularity of modding Doom was the increasing popularity of the Internet, which allowed modding communities to form.[23] Mods for Quake, such as "Capture the Flag" and "Team Fortress", became standard gamemodes in later games in the shooter genre.[3] In addition to first-person shooters, which are popular games to mod,[23] the virtual pet genre, with games such as Petz and Creatures, fosters younger modders, particularly girls.[63]

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Official status of mods

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Modding can extend the shelf life of games, providing additional revenue.[2] Valve attributed the long-lasting success of Half-Life, whose sales figures increased over the first three years of its release, to popular mods for the game, stating that the typical shelf-life for a game would be 12 to 18 months, even if it were a "mega-hit".[5] The company held an annual mod expo beginning in 1999, showcasing the new games built using the Half-Life engine, including Gunman Chronicles and Counter Strike which both later released as stand-alone titles.[64] In early 2012, the DayZ mod for ARMA 2 was released, causing a massive increase in sales for the three-year-old game and putting it in the top spot for online game sales for a number of months.[65] In some cases, modders who are against video game piracy have created mods that enforce the use of a legal game copy.[66]

Creative collaboration through game modding communities is an influential medium.[2] With the success of Counter Strike, game industries recognized the potential benefits of modding;[67] user-developed mods can test new approaches for video game development, offloading time and cost from the developer who may then adopt mod changes and additions for official releases.[2] The developer of the Civilization series, Firaxis has included user mods, such as the "Best of the Net" collection and "Double Your Pleasure", throughout expansion packs for the franchise.[68][69][70] Series developer Sid Meier, who had previously opposed supporting mods, said that "the strength of the modding community is ... the very reason the series survived".[71] Valve hired Defense of the Ancients mod lead designer, IceFrog, for the development of the sequel.[72]

See also: Copyright and video games

Copyright law relating to video games and mod packs for PC games, is an evolving legal issue. Uncertainty revolves around which party is legally the copyright owner of the mods within the pack—the company that produced the game, the creators of the individual mods, or the end-user that created the compilation.[73][74] In the United States, the mechanisms of how the modder accesses video game source code may violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or the end-user license agreement (EULA).[43] Companies typically forbid the commercial sale of mods through their EULAs.[75][67] A particular concern of companies is the use of copyrighted material owned by another company in mods, such as the Quake "Aliens vs. Predator" mod, which was legally contested by 20th Century Fox.[22] At least one modder received legal action from Thomas franchise rights owner Mattel for their unauthorised use of the Thomas the Tank Engine intellectual property in a The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mod.[76] Some companies discourage modding through aggressive litigation and strict EULAs and Terms and Conditions for their property.[77]

Some regard the fan use of copyrighted material in mods to be part of a "moral economy" and develop norms about the reuse of this material,[78] often settling on a system of shared ownership, where mods and code are freely shared with the common good in mind.[74] "Moral ownership" over games they play leads modders to appropriate proprietary material and ignore copyright altogether.[2] It has been argued that total conversion mods may be covered in the United States under the concept of fair use.[67] Modding can be compared to the open-source-software movement and open-source video game development.[26][79]

In 2006, Second Life generated interest from its focus of user-generated content (mods) and how intellectual property rights to this content remained with the creator. Second Life players are able to sell these items in an in-game market.[80]

Mod authors can create and sell mods for various titles through game developer-created channels, including Bethesda's Verified Creators Program for their games and InZOI's Creation Marketplace.[81] Authors can also accept donations for their mods independently on monetization platforms, such as Patreon and Ko-fi, avoiding EULA restrictions which prohibit direct sale of mods.[16] Mod uploaders on Nexus Mods can earn "donation points", which they can trade in for real-world currency sourced from a donated pool. Over $12 million has been paid to top creators on the platform since 2018.[82][16]

The implementation of "paid mod" systems has been controversial.[83] In April 2015, Valve introduced paid mods to the Steam Workshop as an update to the free system already in place. Mod authors received a cut of the profits from mods sold through Steam, with the percentage being determined individually by game developers. The first game to utilize the feature was The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,[84] with mod authors receiving 25 percent of profit from their sales while the remainder was split between Valve and Bethesda.[85] Gabe Newell, the head of Valve, expressed that paid mods would "increase the investment in quality modding", while not infringing on the need for freely distributed mods.[83] The Workshop update resulted in backlash from the modding community, with complaints of overpriced mods, content that had been published without its creator's consent, and concerns over mods that contained third-party copyrighted content (i.e., material that neither Valve nor the mod creator owned).[86][81][87] Paid mod authors were also the target of backlash, with some receiving death threats and harassing comments.[88] A Change.org petition was launched to remove the feature, garnering over 130,000 signatures.[87] A week after the feature's announcement, Valve discontinued it entirely and agreed to refund those who purchased mods through the system.[89][90] The removal itself was criticized by mod developers.[91]

In 2022, Electronic Arts updated their policy to disallow "money transactions of any type" for independently distributed paid mods for The Sims 4.[92] Criticisms of the change came from Sims 4 creators and mod authors who sold mods through an early access model on crowdfunding websites, such as Patreon, and released completed mods for free. The policy was later updated to allow paid mods using the early access model while still prohibiting completed mods sold with an explicit paywall.[92][93]

On December 5, 2023, Bethesda replaced their Creation Club with Creations, a new system for free and paid mod hosting and distribution within their titles such as Skyrim. Reception of the system was widely negative.[94] In 2024, Bethesda implemented the system with the release of Starfield and received similar negative reception, with criticisms of the price, the harm on the community, and the practice of abandoning free mods in favor of pushing paid updated versions.[95]

In 2024, Nexus Mods clarified their policies regarding the hosting of paid mods, including disallowing mods that require other paid mods as a prerequisite as well as lite/demo versions of externally hosted paid mods, citing that paid modding is "in direct conflict" with their goal of making modding easy.[86]

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Types

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Total conversion

Main article: List of video games derived from mods

A total conversion is a mod of an existing game that extensively removes aspects of the original game, including art, characters, plot, and music, and replaces it with new assets that run on the game's engine[67] Total conversions can result in a completely different genre from the original.

The Half-Life modding community splintered across the different total conversions available, often modding for a particular total conversion rather than Half-Life in general.[23] Examples of famous total conversions include Counter-Strike, whose developers were hired by Valve to create a standalone version,[96] Defense of the Ancients, which was the first MOBA to have sponsored tournaments,[97] and Garry's Mod, for which fans created thousands of game modes over its decade-long development.[96]

Many popular total conversions are later turned into standalone games, replacing any remaining original assets to allow for commercial sale without copyright infringement. Some of these mods are even approved for sale while using the IP of the original game, such as Black Mesa.[98]

Due to the increasing complexity of games, the amount and quality of total conversion mods has decreased. Modders also blame a lack of resources, the remote chances of profit (due to EULAs prohibiting the sale of mods), and the likelihood of a takedown notice from game companies as significant barriers to entry.[67]

Overhaul

An overhaul mod significantly changes an entire game's graphics and gameplay, usually with the intent to improve on the original, but not going as far as being a completely different experience. This can also include adding revised dialog and music.

Examples of overhaul mods include Deus Ex: Revision, which was given permission from its publisher, Square Enix, to release on Steam alongside the original game,[99] and GTA 5 Redux, which improves the original game's textures, adds a new weather system, and adjusts visual effects, the wanted system, weapons, and vehicle handling.[100]

Randomizer

Randomizers are a type of user mod that keep the fundamental gameplay but randomize elements of the game to make it more of a challenge. Randomizers came out of the speedrunning community which had exhausted the challenge of racing through the game.[101] Their popularity grew as randomizer playthroughs were popular with streaming media.[102] Some games have offered official randomizer modes in the game itself, such as Cassette Beasts in 2023,[103] or in downloadable content, including Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night in 2020,[104] and Axiom Verge in 2021.[105]

Add-on

An add-on or addon is a typically small mod which adds to the original content of a specific game.[2] In most cases, an add-on will add one particular element to a game, such as a new weapon in a shooting game, a new unit or map in a strategy game, a new vehicle or track in a racing game, items in a game like Minecraft or Terraria, or additional content in simulation games (such as new pilotable airplanes, e.g., the Airbus A330 or Boeing 787 Dreamliner). An example of a mod that adds functionality to augment or enhance a players experience is ComputerCraft, a Minecraft mod that adds programmable computers and robots to allow the player to automate tasks in-game. This can be accomplished without changing any of the original game's existing content. Many games are flexible and allow this, however that is not always the case. Some add-ons occasionally have to replace in-game content, due to the nature of a peculiar game engine. It may be the case, for example, that in a game which does not give a player the option to choose their character, modders wishing to add another player model will simply have to overwrite the old one. A famous example of this type of mod can be found for the Grand Theft Auto series wherein modders may use downloadable tools to replace content (such as models) in the game's directory. The Left 4 Dead series can also be modded with individual add-ons which are stored in a .VPK format, so that a player may choose to activate a given mod or not. Mods for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series typically replace pro skaters with custom equivalents,[106] and in some cases add them as well as custom maps made from scratch or converted from other games.

Unofficial patch

An unofficial patch is a mod of an existing game that fixes bugs in a game or unlocks content normally inaccessible in official gameplay. Jazz Jackrabbit 2 has an unofficial patch which adds and fixes many of its features.[107] Unofficial patches can reveal cut content from released games, whose files can be left in the game's code. An example is the Hot Coffee mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which unlocks a sexually explicit minigame not accessible in the game's original release but left in its code.[3][67] As a result of the mod, the ESRB changed the rating of the game from Mature (M) to Adults Only (AO).[108] In the fourth quarter of 2005, Rockstar released a "clean" version of the game with the "Hot Coffee" scenes removed, and the rating of the game was reverted to Mature.[109] In May 2006, a similar event occurred with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.[3]

Art mod

An art mod is a mod that is created for artistic reasons or to provoke a reaction in the audience.[110] Art mods are frequently associated with video game art. Modified games that retain their playability and are subject to more extensive mods (i.e. closer to total conversions) may also be classified as art games.[111] One example is the Velvet-Strike mod for Counter Strike, in which the players spray paint anti-violence messages in multiplayer games as a form of performance art. In Robert Nideffer's Tomb Raider I and II patches, the unofficial Nude Raider patch of the late 1990s was alluded to and subverted by altering the main character's sexual orientation.[112] The 1983 mod Castle Smurfenstein is a humorous subversion of Castle Wolfenstein which replaces the Nazi guards with Smurfs.[113] The very first art mod is generally considered to be Iimura Takahiko's 1993 AIUEOUNN Six Features (a modification of Sony's "System G").[111][112]

Mods can be created specifically for the production of recorded videos, whether for artistic expression or other storytelling purposes. In 2022, a group of modders started an internet hoax in which they uploaded gameplay recording of the 2017 game Nier: Automata on PC that showed off a purported secret, never-before-seen location in the game. Fans of the game theorized how to unlock the region in their own copies, and the game's director, Yoko Taro, cryptically acknowledged the hoax but neither confirmed nor denied it as true.[114] After over a month, the creators revealed that the faked footage was created using a modded version of the game and released the mod to the public along with map-modding tools that were first of their kind for the game.[115][116]

Support continuation by mod

Games no longer supported by developers and publishers can be maintained and improved by player-made mods. After EA lost its license with Major League Baseball and ended support for MVP Baseball 2005, the game's modding community continues to support it by releasing updated roster lists and graphics every year, along with creating alternative baseball leagues (e.g. MVP Caribe, a total conversion) in the game.[117][118][119] In 2011, IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover, released to mixed reviews due to bugs and other gameplay issues; modders created multiple mods to fix these issues and later received source code access, culminating in an official re-release under the name IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover BLITZ Edition.[120] Following the closure of Ion Storm, the source code to Daikatana was released to a select group of modders, who led the version 1.3 patch and ported the game to MacOS, Linux and FreeBSD.[121]

Some online video games are made playable after their discontinuation by modders. Examples include BattleForge, Need for Speed: World, and The Crew.[citation needed]

User interface mod

A user interface mod changes parts of how players interact with the game,[26] and commonly, mods to the UI reveal information that the player or modder believes is helpful in playing the game.[59] Modders have developed a wide range of UI mods for World of Warcraft that includes easier command tools to enhanced data presentation displays,[60] such as the ArkInventory mod which allows players to sort items into self-created categories.[2]

Mod packs

Mod packs are groups of mods put into one package for download, often with an auto-installer. A mod pack's purpose is to make it easier for the player to install and manage multiple mods.[122] Mod packs may be created with the purpose of making the original game more accessible to new players or to make the game more challenging for veteran players.

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References

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