Bethesda Updates Fallout 4 Mod Tools to Prevent Piracy

[Steven Bogos]

Bethesda Updates Fallout 4 Mod Tools to Prevent Piracy

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Prospective console modders must now link their creation kit to a Steam account that also owns a copy of Fallout 4.

When Bethesda launched porting their work over to the Xbox One version of the game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167573-Fallout-4-Mods-Now-Live-on-Xbox-One] without giving the original creator credit. In an effort to curb this behavior, Bethesda has just released an update to its creation kit, which forces console modders to link up to a Steam account that also owns a copy of Fallout 4.

"Uploading mods to Bethesda.net requires Fallout 4 ownership via a Steam-linked Bethesda.net account," announced the company in a blog post [https://community.bethesda.net/thread/32339]. What this means for the layman is that Strictly Bethesda now has the ability to ban people from posting mods to Bethesda's official mod service (bethesda.net), requiring them to buy a new copy of Fallout 4 in order to continue posting mods.

In theory, this means that Bethesda should be able to stamp out those who simply port PC mods that they didn't create.

The creation kit update also prepares it for PS4 mods, which should be coming out over the next month.

Source: Bethesda [https://community.bethesda.net/thread/32339]

Permalink

 

[pookie101]

good to see them cracking down on it but they should of known before hand this would happen. its been apart of the mod scene since the begining

 

[Superlative]

good to see them cracking down on it but they should of known before hand this would happen. its been apart of the mod scene since the begining

Agreed, particularly given that a good enough mod can help get modders hired.

 

[Xyebane]

Now if only they would actually moderate the mods effectively

 

[Strazdas]

How is that going to help if Bethesda isnt going to remove stolen mods from the site anyway? All this does is give more credibility to the thieves.

 

[Rommel102]

Terrible reporting that ignores the entire controversy over the mods in the first place.

TLR, immature Xbox owners pestered and harrassed mod makers that hadn't yet released mods for Xbox (or that couldn't release them due to script extenders) and in response immature mod makers decided to purposefully withold or even remove their already posted mods. For those mods that were very easy to port, some enterprising Xbox owners simply took the mod and uploaded it themselves to Bethesda servers. In some cases they gave credit to the original mod maker and in many others they did not.

The entire situation has since devolved into an extremely petty "master PC race vs console a-holes" or "elite stuck up PC mod makers vs poor unfortunate soul Xbox owners".

Meanwhile, folks like myself who just want to play and would love nothing more than to give credit to the proper mod makers have to deal with having great mods yanked off of Bethesda so I can't use them.

 

[sketchesofpayne]

Perspective console modders must now link their creation kit to a Steam account that also owns a copy of Fallout 4.

"Prospective"

 

[Pirate Of PC Master race]

TLR, immature Xbox owners pestered and harrassed mod makers that hadn't yet released mods for Xbox (or that couldn't release them due to script extenders) and in response immature mod makers decided to purposefully withold or even remove their already posted mods. For those mods that were very easy to port, some enterprising Xbox owners simply took the mod and uploaded it themselves to Bethesda servers. In some cases they gave credit to the original mod maker and in many others they did not.

Still doesn't change the fact it was unwillingly stolen. Mod is IP, with a worth and potential to make money in the future. Giving credit is much like stealing a car and have bumper sticker that says "Stolen from x".

You don't get rich by giving away your properties.

 

[MoltenSilver]

Terrible reporting that ignores the entire controversy over the mods in the first place.

TLR, immature Xbox owners pestered and harrassed mod makers that hadn't yet released mods for Xbox (or that couldn't release them due to script extenders) and in response immature mod makers decided to purposefully withold or even remove their already posted mods. For those mods that were very easy to port, some enterprising Xbox owners simply took the mod and uploaded it themselves to Bethesda servers. In some cases they gave credit to the original mod maker and in many others they did not.

The entire situation has since devolved into an extremely petty "master PC race vs console a-holes" or "elite stuck up PC mod makers vs poor unfortunate soul Xbox owners".

Meanwhile, folks like myself who just want to play and would love nothing more than to give credit to the proper mod makers have to deal with having great mods yanked off of Bethesda so I can't use them.

XBox owners do NOT have an inherent right to all or any mods just on the grounds 'they could be easily imported'. The crux of that argument is essentially stating mod creators should not have control over their creations, which is an argument I frankly find vile. This strikes me as pretty much the same absurd argument I hear some defend piracy with: 'I can't have it, but I want it, so it's OK to take it'.

 

[Rommel102]

Terrible reporting that ignores the entire controversy over the mods in the first place.

TLR, immature Xbox owners pestered and harrassed mod makers that hadn't yet released mods for Xbox (or that couldn't release them due to script extenders) and in response immature mod makers decided to purposefully withold or even remove their already posted mods. For those mods that were very easy to port, some enterprising Xbox owners simply took the mod and uploaded it themselves to Bethesda servers. In some cases they gave credit to the original mod maker and in many others they did not.

The entire situation has since devolved into an extremely petty "master PC race vs console a-holes" or "elite stuck up PC mod makers vs poor unfortunate soul Xbox owners".

Meanwhile, folks like myself who just want to play and would love nothing more than to give credit to the proper mod makers have to deal with having great mods yanked off of Bethesda so I can't use them.

XBox owners do NOT have an inherent right to all or any mods just on the grounds 'they could be easily imported'. The crux of that argument is essentially stating mod creators should not have control over their creations, which is an argument I frankly find vile. This strikes me as pretty much the same absurd argument I hear some defend piracy with: 'I can't have it, but I want it, so it's OK to take it'.

Not justifying any of it, just explaining. Multiple articles around the web today and none of them pointing out that this isn't about theft, it is about a stupid petty internet squabble that has gotten out of control. Do they think it is going to get any better with PS4 support?

The modding community is going from perhaps a few million to tens of millions overnight. Modding in general is usually an open-sourcey endeavor...if the PC master race modders will not adapt to the new realities someone else will come in to replace them.

 

[Quietteshy]

Terrible reporting that ignores the entire controversy over the mods in the first place.

TLR, immature Xbox owners pestered and harrassed mod makers that hadn't yet released mods for Xbox (or that couldn't release them due to script extenders) and in response immature mod makers decided to purposefully withold or even remove their already posted mods. For those mods that were very easy to port, some enterprising Xbox owners simply took the mod and uploaded it themselves to Bethesda servers. In some cases they gave credit to the original mod maker and in many others they did not.

The entire situation has since devolved into an extremely petty "master PC race vs console a-holes" or "elite stuck up PC mod makers vs poor unfortunate soul Xbox owners".

Meanwhile, folks like myself who just want to play and would love nothing more than to give credit to the proper mod makers have to deal with having great mods yanked off of Bethesda so I can't use them.

XBox owners do NOT have an inherent right to all or any mods just on the grounds 'they could be easily imported'. The crux of that argument is essentially stating mod creators should not have control over their creations, which is an argument I frankly find vile. This strikes me as pretty much the same absurd argument I hear some defend piracy with: 'I can't have it, but I want it, so it's OK to take it'.

Not justifying any of it, just explaining. Multiple articles around the web today and none of them pointing out that this isn't about theft, it is about a stupid petty internet squabble that has gotten out of control. Do they think it is going to get any better with PS4 support?

The modding community is going from perhaps a few million to tens of millions overnight. Modding in general is usually an open-sourcey endeavor...if the PC master race modders will not adapt to the new realities someone else will come in to replace them.

This whole "mods on consoles" is a failed experiment, they should just shut down the whole thing and be done with it.

 

[MoltenSilver]

Terrible reporting that ignores the entire controversy over the mods in the first place.

TLR, immature Xbox owners pestered and harrassed mod makers that hadn't yet released mods for Xbox (or that couldn't release them due to script extenders) and in response immature mod makers decided to purposefully withold or even remove their already posted mods. For those mods that were very easy to port, some enterprising Xbox owners simply took the mod and uploaded it themselves to Bethesda servers. In some cases they gave credit to the original mod maker and in many others they did not.

The entire situation has since devolved into an extremely petty "master PC race vs console a-holes" or "elite stuck up PC mod makers vs poor unfortunate soul Xbox owners".

Meanwhile, folks like myself who just want to play and would love nothing more than to give credit to the proper mod makers have to deal with having great mods yanked off of Bethesda so I can't use them.

XBox owners do NOT have an inherent right to all or any mods just on the grounds 'they could be easily imported'. The crux of that argument is essentially stating mod creators should not have control over their creations, which is an argument I frankly find vile. This strikes me as pretty much the same absurd argument I hear some defend piracy with: 'I can't have it, but I want it, so it's OK to take it'.

Not justifying any of it, just explaining. Multiple articles around the web today and none of them pointing out that this isn't about theft, it is about a stupid petty internet squabble that has gotten out of control. Do they think it is going to get any better with PS4 support?

The modding community is going from perhaps a few million to tens of millions overnight. Modding in general is usually an open-sourcey endeavor...if the PC master race modders will not adapt to the new realities someone else will come in to replace them.

Apologies, I misunderstood the emphasis of your post. However I do wonder just how far modding can really go on consoles. Maybe something changed in FO4 (I suspect not, but don't want to presume) but in NV and Skyrim easily 90% of the mods I used required the script extender, and the lack of a script extender on consoles is a result of the limits of the flexibility of the platform, not because some modder is too lazy or too spiteful to make it work on consoles. While there are certainly a handful of modders who are trying to 'punish' consoles or console players I wonder how many of them truly cannot be migrated because of those limitations. And we know Microsoft and Sony will never ease up on those limits because that's the whole point of their little walled gardens. Even if the issue of IP and asset thefts wasn't involved, even if all the other complications weren't evolved, I think the thing that will kill console modding won't be whiny patrons or spiteful modders, it will be killed by a hard ceiling being reached very quickly.

Also, while the response by some modders could be considered ungracious to say the least, I think part of this response is not just driven by elitism but also by a sort of overload: there are many people who are just now trying mods for the first time; they don't understand file conflicts and load order, they don't understand how to properly communicate what and how is failing and it has little to do with stupidity and mostly to do with lack of experience. I find it very easy to believe a modder who wakes up one day and find their inbox flooded with help requests from people who didn't read the instructions(To say nothing of more demanding, insolent, and even threatening messages) could easily snap and decide 'No I'm not going to subject myself to this', list Script Extender as a prerequisite to their mod so it doesn't wind up on console, an leave it at that.

 

[direkiller]

good to see them cracking down on it but they should of known before hand this would happen. its been apart of the mod scene since the begining

you think they would have learned from the priced mods. When within a day they had plenty of pirated mods, and copyright infringement.


As that was something they could get sued over it seems like a problem you would want to nip in the bud before you implement a system.

 

[Gatlank]

Modding in general is usually an open-sourcey endeavor...if the PC master race modders will not adapt to the new realities someone else will come in to replace them.

I doubt that will ever happen. This debacle showed that console gamers want all the benefits but not the responsabilities.
The levels of entitlement just show that they want everything handed on a platter without the work and many mods are works of love first and profit second.
So even the prospect of modders "if not adapting to the new realities they will get replaced" is a joke because either no one else will want to take their place or have the means to do it.

 

[omega 616]

Am I reading this right? If I want to mod on my PS4, I have to buy a game I don't want on PC and then link the accounts? So if my PC is a piece of shit and struggles with solitaire, doesn't matter, in order to mod on my PS4, I need it on PC?

That doesn't seem right ... wouldn't it be better to link the account to steam without buying it?

I'm sure I have the wrong end of the stick on this ...

 

[Smooth Operator]

So you just need to get another Fallout copy on steam and then continue to pillage mods?
Seems like a brilliant solution... at least it is for Bethesda who will rake in the extra sales.

Any half decent programmer can cook you up a cross-referencing algorithm that automatically picks out and bans copied stuff, it could even be done before the mod goes into the public.