Modding And Mapping Tools Coming to Black Ops 3 PC

[Steven Bogos]

Modding And Mapping Tools Coming to Black Ops 3 PC

It's been a long time coming, but modding has finally returned to the Call of Duty franchise.

Modding has been a proud tradition of PC gamers throughout the ages, and while developers and publishers did official modding and mapping support [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130988-Titanfall-Wont-Have-Mod-Tools-at-Launch], exclusively for PC.

"We've still got a lot of work left to do, but here's our current plan," wrote Treyarch in a blog post:
You will be able to create Maps & Game Modes and more!
We will include Unranked Dedicated Server Files with the tools so you can run servers with modded content anywhere you choose.
We will provide an Unranked Server Browser so you can easily find and join servers with modded content.

Unfortunately, the mod tools will not launch with the game and Treyarch is targeting March, 2016 for the closed alpha to hit, with an open beta and full release to follow later in the year.

"And yes, this is for real," confirmed Director of Development Cesar Stastny.

For old school PC gamers who remember modding the crap out of Call of Duty 2 [http://www.moddb.com/games/call-of-duty-2], this is really big news. Additionally, the ability for players to create and host their own custom servers with custom content is a really big step back in the right direction.

Now all we need to hear is that Battlefront [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/star%20wars%20battlefront] will support mods. That will be the day...

Source: Treyarch [https://community.treyarch.com/community/treyarch/blog/2015/11/02/modding-mapping-tools-coming-to-black-ops-3-pc-in-2016]

Permalink

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Now all we need to hear is that Battlefront [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/star%20wars%20battlefront] will support mods. That will be the day...

HAH! I think EA knows how embarrassing the original game would look once modders got ahold of it and made the proper version of it, it'd be a race to see who can put all the features BACK IN that were in the previous battlefronts.

granted, it would get people to buy the new battlefront like hotcakes once that kind of news spread like wildfire...but it wouldn't be for the reasons EA and DICE are hoping for.

OT: I've occasionally played the newer call of duties at my parents house with my brothers in recent years and haven't really been interested in owning a copy for myself...but this certainly piques my interest

 

[Neverhoodian]

Just goes to show how borked modern triple-A gaming has become when mod support for a title is newsworthy.

Modding is often one of the major factors for me when choosing to buy a PC game (well, that and if it'll run on my toaster of a computer). I'll hop onto sites like Moddb or Nexus and see what kind of stuff the community has come up with before deciding on a purchase. Hell, there have been times where I've skipped the latest title in a series in favor of an earlier one if the latter allows/has more mods compared to the former.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Better late to the party than never showing up I guess.

 

[Paragon Fury]

I won't lie.

Singleplayer modders? Fucking fantastic and know what the fuck they're doing.

Multiplayer modders and mapmakers? 99.99999999999999999999999% are fucking terrible and have no idea what they're doing and couldn't find "balance" if it bit them on the ass. I've never found that infinitesimally small percentage of good maps and modes that regular players make worth sifting through all the crap for. I'd rather leave it to the developer like Valve or 343i to sift through all the crap and just present the best to rest of the world.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm seriously considering getting this. But I'll wait for March to see some mods.

 

[Pinky's Brain]

On the one hand I want to pre-order to vote with my money, then I see a 50 Euro season pass and I'm conflicted I'll probably do it any way, most FPS games have overpriced DLC but very few have personal servers and real modding any more.

 

[Naldan]

Just say before release that the mods will be priced.

Seriously, who doesn't see this coming? It's Activision.

 

[fix-the-spade]

HAH! I think EA knows how embarrassing the original game would look once modders got ahold of it and made the proper version of it, it'd be a race to see who can put all the features BACK IN that were in the previous battlefronts.

You mean they'd get upset that nobody was buying the DLC that re-instated them six months after release.

Not that they've ever done that before #COUGHBF3COUGH#.

 

[Pinky's Brain]

Just say before release that the mods will be priced.

Seriously, who doesn't see this coming? It's Activision.

Pretty much impossible for the private servers, I could see them doing the valve thing for official servers and I have no problem with that.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I'm currious at how powerful the modding tools are and how much freedom they give.
If it's just some minor changes then it's practically worthless. But if it's something powerful, they this could be awesome.

Someone will mod CoD into a good Titanfall.

Captcah: words of wisdom
Indeed. That's just how I am. Not that I'm bragging or anything.

 

[flying_whimsy]

Just say before release that the mods will be priced.

Seriously, who doesn't see this coming? It's Activision.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Activision probably heard about that whole paid mods debacle Steam went through and went 'wait, we can charge money for this?!'

Still, glad to see some modding support coming back into play; it's my favorite thing about pc gaming. Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll actually include *gasp* singleplayer cheats.

 

[Devieus]

Just say before release that the mods will be priced.

Seriously, who doesn't see this coming? It's Activision.

That'll be impressive, if they can somehow do this with dedicated servers. If they can do that, they earned it.

 

[Naldan]

SNIP

SNAP

How is it impossible? Wouldn't it depend on how they'd handle indexes, that indexes for dedicated servers would be loaded from the Steamworks and Steamworks always verifys if the client has paid for the mods or not? Also, couldn't Steamworks try to verify if the providers for dedicated servers have paid for mods?

But I see. It would be complicated or impossible. I have no idea what's possible or not, but I know that if there's money somewhere, most companies try to get it. It's not bad per se, but the value of a product, if inferior to its predecessors, gets lost for me.

If I'd support paid mods depends on two things, assuming I'd buy it in the first place: How much of the cut gets the modder, and will they pull this off retroactively? Other than that, I had not much of a problem with it.

I'll stay sceptical.

 

[Valkrex]

Huh. Good on you Treyarch.

 

[RicoADF]

Some good news, glad to hear. Of course if they actually did try paid mods they'd have far more backlash than Valve ever will. Tread wisely Activision.

 

[Devieus]

SNIP

SNAP

How is it impossible? Wouldn't it depend on how they'd handle indexes, that indexes for dedicated servers would be loaded from the Steamworks and Steamworks always verifys if the client has paid for the mods or not? Also, couldn't Steamworks try to verify if the providers for dedicated servers have paid for mods?

But I see. It would be complicated or impossible. I have no idea what's possible or not, but I know that if there's money somewhere, most companies try to get it. It's not bad per se, but the value of a product, if inferior to its predecessors, gets lost for me.

If I'd support paid mods depends on two things, assuming I'd buy it in the first place: How much of the cut gets the modder, and will they pull this off retroactively? Other than that, I had not much of a problem with it.

I'll stay sceptical.

That's just it, dedicated servers don't need to run by Steamworks, they choose to do that. CS:GO can be modded to have any skin for any weapon, and not just the lame overlays that runs the economy, but energy rifles for the M4 that flash in 4 different colors, which you can't use on the matchmaking servers of course, because CS:GO is all about muh professional. Still, it's been shown that modding in a game will increase the lifespan of a product, but modding is a labor of love, if it's done for the money, it's done wrong (or it's done as a commission, which isn't uncommon), it's delegating DLC creation to the community

 

[Glaice]

My question is, why the hell were they not with the series for the PC version the entire time?

 

[Naldan]

That's just it, dedicated servers don't need to run by Steamworks, they choose to do that. CS:GO can be modded to have any skin for any weapon, and not just the lame overlays that runs the economy, but energy rifles for the M4 that flash in 4 different colors, which you can't use on the matchmaking servers of course, because CS:GO is all about muh professional. Still, it's been shown that modding in a game will increase the lifespan of a product, but modding is a labor of love, if it's done for the money, it's done wrong (or it's done as a commission, which isn't uncommon), it's delegating DLC creation to the community

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Strazdas]

i dont believe this anymore. in ain industry that is growing constantly more and more anticonsumer it looks like COD of all things are the ones going back to being pro-consumer? all thats left now is to see pigs start flying.

capcha: the one eyed man is king

Indeed, in the gaming industry it seems to be so.