Apologies if this is a taboo subject. I'm just looking for some advice as my knowledge of things is severely out of date (old gamer, but not a frequent gamer any more).

I'm currently wanting to buy Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic but I previously purchased something here on GOG without properly researching and then discovered I had very limited access to mods. I think it ended up being ok as most of the mods I was interested in were available on Nexus or ModDB, but I've noticed Soviet Republic, perhaps because modding is so tightly integrated into the game and Workshop, has almost nothing available externally.

I really want to support GOG and I really do not want to purchase anything from Steam ever again, but I also don't want to lose access to what is a significant part of the game for me.

So, does anyone know what the current state of workshop mods is? I'm aware a few years ago Valve started locking them behind purchases so you could only download them if you owned the game on Steam (I had used workshop downloaders in the past). Is my only option to access them to purchase the game on Steam? :(

EDIT: I've just tried using SteamCMD to download a mod anonymously and it appears to work. Will try a few more before I finally commit to purchasing here, but looks good so far

I'll note, that even though you discovered SteamCMD (it is a useful utility), some games still (for some inexplicable reason) have a licence check and/or won't allow you to download without logging in.

Starbound is one such annoying example.

Seems like OP got their problem sorted out.

For future reference, Valve gives devpubs the ability to limit their mod workshop to only legit customers of Steam. If they did limit access (i.e., you can't access it without SteamCMD), getting mods outside of Steam Workshop is unfortunately piracy.

Usually there's a good bunch of mods on NexusMods, but if there's not much on there or on a reputable 3rd party site, then I wouldn't bother.

It's possible and I've done it before. With the warning from both Darvond and UnashamedWeeb though.
It seems to me most workshop mods creators allow their mods to be freely downloaded (maybe even by ignorance, I don't know.)

Here are some important commands to you if you are starting to use SteamCMD now (Just CopyPasting them here from another post I just did): Its a good way to deal with Steam games and mods, although limited in some areas.

It's not Valve doing it, it's entirely up to the dev/publisher of the game, whether they require ownership checks or not. From experience, most Workshop mods work with GOG once you manage to download them and know where to put the files.

Since you mentioned the devs and publishers, may I ask if you know for sure if the decision is from the Developers and Publishers or from the Mod creators? I'm always in doubt with that.

As I said above, It seemed to me most mod creators allow their mods to be downloaded, so I thought it was mod to mod basis and not game to game basis.

Hmmm, no I can't. I know it is a settable property per game and always just assumed it was on the dev/publisher. But it's entirely possible mod creators can do it, although I'd expect dev/pub to have veto right in this regard. However, it seems very likely it's set to not require an ownership check by default, because encountering a game that does not allow downloading Workshop items is quite rare.

Makes sense. Thanks!

Steam gives the option to developers to toggle Workshop open or closed to non users, via SteamCMD.

Also, mod creators own their own mod content. Thus it is NOT piracy to get their mod from another source. The modders quite often post their stuff in multiple locations. Moddb, nexus and github are oft used.

On a side note, arguing this point is semantics. Steam doesnt own the content(intellectual property). Similar in example is when gog collects and gave out Daggerfall Unity.

Are you sure about that ?

Yes.

Gog does not own everything they sell. Steam doesnt either. Devs and modders have rights over their content. Though im sure Steam executives enjoy people thinking they are masters of all lol

No, most EULAs state derivative works like mods belong to the original IP owners.

There might be some grey areas like algorithms, original characters, satire, parody, etc. that you do own, but most of it is built on copyright infringement.

If I mod a Mega Man sprite into Stardew Valley, I don't suddenly own the Mega Man IP.