Mod's Playground

[SenseOfTumour]

The only modding I ever did was digging into the graphics files of Robocop on the Atari ST and changing the motorbikers to be riding giant bananas, before giving a copy to my mate at college, as he used to ride a bright yellow motorbike and we'd affectionately mock him for it.

Of course the joy being that he'd have to play thru half a level or so before he saw it

 

[Internet Kraken]

Mods are like a drug. You take one, then you want more. And then suddenly you can't stop getting more of them.

Still, I can be picky with mods. For example, I usually never take mods that alter the game to much.

 

[Sparrow]

Thanks, Shamus.

You do realise I absolutely HAVE to buy Fo3 for my computer now, right?

 

[ZeroMachine]

Ah, I love modding

I'm assuming you're using Fellout? I love the nighttimes with that mod. Such tension. I've also modded Oblivion so much that I swear it's doubled in length.

 

[The Random One]

You know, I'm reminded of an article I read shortly after GTAIV came out, which said that the game wasn't very good, with repetitive missions and unresponsive gameplay, but the city it built was nothing short of awesome. (It may have been on this very site. It may even have been an article by Mr. Young himself. My memory isn't very good, dur dur.) It put forth the idea that the developers created only the city, with other developers creating the games proper, allowing every kind of game to take place within it. Replace 'other developers' with 'modding community' and you'll have something very interesting. You'd essentially pay for a big hunk of nothing you could download endless free games for! (It's essentially a console, now that I think about it.)

My personal idea would be if there was, in adition to a city everyone built one, a canon story, with intertwining characters. Kind of like the old push by adventure game makers Reality-On-The-Norm [http://www.realityonthenorm.info/index.php], only instead of a series of adventure games it'd be a series of completely different games - a shooter here, stealth there, maybe a couple of racers as well.

Of course, it'd never work, because modders only work exhaustily for free on a game because they love it, and it's much harder to fall in love with mere potential. But I can dream.

 

[Syntax Error]

Counter-Strike started life as a mod. Modding is also a great item in your resume if you ever want to get into the games industry. I am playing a mod for Diablo 2 now, that revamps the whole game. Same world, but different everything.

Shamus, have you tried the Welcome to the Wasteland mod? I've read the descriptions for it, and it looks like a complete struggle the moment you get out of Vault 101.

 

[Goldbling]

I love mods, especially the total conversion mods. It always amazes me what people can make with the modding tools and some creativity. I have a mod for Fallout 3 that is simply called RTS and makes the game into.. well an RTS. you make a small village, give your villagers tasks, and protect the village while it grows until eventually you have a decent sized settlement with it's own walls and defense network.

Another awesome mod is Third Age: Total war [http://www.moddb.com/mods/third-age-total-war]. Lord of the rings combined with epic battles and factions with units that are higher quality than the units in the original Med 2? Awesome.

What's that mod called? I'm gonna get Fallout 3 from steam, all this stuff sounds way to freaking cool.

EDIT: damn I'm dumb.... RTS

 

[Emphraim]

I love mods, especially the total conversion mods. It always amazes me what people can make with the modding tools and some creativity. I have a mod for Fallout 3 that is simply called RTS and makes the game into.. well an RTS. you make a small village, give your villagers tasks, and protect the village while it grows until eventually you have a decent sized settlement with it's own walls and defense network.

Another awesome mod is Third Age: Total war [http://www.moddb.com/mods/third-age-total-war]. Lord of the rings combined with epic battles and factions with units that are higher quality than the units in the original Med 2? Awesome.

What's that mod called? I'm gonna get Fallout 3 from steam, all this stuff sounds way to freaking cool.

I don't suggest getting the Steam version. Some of my friends have had problems modding the steam version. Buy the boxed version and install the Fallout Script Extender. Then go on Fallout Nexus and search for "RTS". That is the actual name. The mod though is in beta form right now and it isn't as awesome as I make it sound by itself. It is this awesome when you combine it with several other awesome things like Enclave Commander mod though.

 

[Goldbling]

I love mods, especially the total conversion mods. It always amazes me what people can make with the modding tools and some creativity. I have a mod for Fallout 3 that is simply called RTS and makes the game into.. well an RTS. you make a small village, give your villagers tasks, and protect the village while it grows until eventually you have a decent sized settlement with it's own walls and defense network.

Another awesome mod is Third Age: Total war [http://www.moddb.com/mods/third-age-total-war]. Lord of the rings combined with epic battles and factions with units that are higher quality than the units in the original Med 2? Awesome.

What's that mod called? I'm gonna get Fallout 3 from steam, all this stuff sounds way to freaking cool.

I don't suggest getting the Steam version. Some of my friends have had problems modding the steam version. Buy the boxed version and install the Fallout Script Extender. Then go on Fallout Nexus and search for "RTS". That is the actual name. The mod though is in beta form right now and it isn't as awesome as I make it sound by itself. It is this awesome when you combine it with several other awesome things like Enclave Commander mod though.

Seriously, I'll just buy the boxed version then. Look out unused slightly over the top gaming PC, here I come.

oh yea, I just realized you said "mod called RTS" God I'm dumb sometimes.

 

[Internet Kraken]

I love mods, especially the total conversion mods. It always amazes me what people can make with the modding tools and some creativity. I have a mod for Fallout 3 that is simply called RTS and makes the game into.. well an RTS. you make a small village, give your villagers tasks, and protect the village while it grows until eventually you have a decent sized settlement with it's own walls and defense network.

Another awesome mod is Third Age: Total war [http://www.moddb.com/mods/third-age-total-war]. Lord of the rings combined with epic battles and factions with units that are higher quality than the units in the original Med 2? Awesome.

What's that mod called? I'm gonna get Fallout 3 from steam, all this stuff sounds way to freaking cool.

I don't suggest getting the Steam version. Some of my friends have had problems modding the steam version. Buy the boxed version and install the Fallout Script Extender. Then go on Fallout Nexus and search for "RTS". That is the actual name. The mod though is in beta form right now and it isn't as awesome as I make it sound by itself. It is this awesome when you combine it with several other awesome things like Enclave Commander mod though.

I have the Steam version and I have no problem using mods with it.

Yeah the RTS mod is neat, and it's nice when you combine it with other mods. I have Robco certified so I just use robots to defend my crappy little town. The mod needs some improvements though. Village radius is way to small.

 

[Emphraim]

I love mods, especially the total conversion mods. It always amazes me what people can make with the modding tools and some creativity. I have a mod for Fallout 3 that is simply called RTS and makes the game into.. well an RTS. you make a small village, give your villagers tasks, and protect the village while it grows until eventually you have a decent sized settlement with it's own walls and defense network.

Another awesome mod is Third Age: Total war [http://www.moddb.com/mods/third-age-total-war]. Lord of the rings combined with epic battles and factions with units that are higher quality than the units in the original Med 2? Awesome.

What's that mod called? I'm gonna get Fallout 3 from steam, all this stuff sounds way to freaking cool.

I don't suggest getting the Steam version. Some of my friends have had problems modding the steam version. Buy the boxed version and install the Fallout Script Extender. Then go on Fallout Nexus and search for "RTS". That is the actual name. The mod though is in beta form right now and it isn't as awesome as I make it sound by itself. It is this awesome when you combine it with several other awesome things like Enclave Commander mod though.

I have the Steam version and I have no problem using mods with it.

Yeah the RTS mod is neat, and it's nice when you combine it with other mods. I have Robco certified so I just use robots to defend my crappy little town. The mod needs some improvements though. Village radius is way to small.

Then I have to ask my friend exactly what he tried to do that prevented his steam version from working. Robco Certified is another good mod. And I agree on you point that the radius is too small compounded for me on the fact that my village is built with the Robco building as a wall which limits the space even more.

 

[Internet Kraken]

I love mods, especially the total conversion mods. It always amazes me what people can make with the modding tools and some creativity. I have a mod for Fallout 3 that is simply called RTS and makes the game into.. well an RTS. you make a small village, give your villagers tasks, and protect the village while it grows until eventually you have a decent sized settlement with it's own walls and defense network.

Another awesome mod is Third Age: Total war [http://www.moddb.com/mods/third-age-total-war]. Lord of the rings combined with epic battles and factions with units that are higher quality than the units in the original Med 2? Awesome.

What's that mod called? I'm gonna get Fallout 3 from steam, all this stuff sounds way to freaking cool.

I don't suggest getting the Steam version. Some of my friends have had problems modding the steam version. Buy the boxed version and install the Fallout Script Extender. Then go on Fallout Nexus and search for "RTS". That is the actual name. The mod though is in beta form right now and it isn't as awesome as I make it sound by itself. It is this awesome when you combine it with several other awesome things like Enclave Commander mod though.

I have the Steam version and I have no problem using mods with it.

Yeah the RTS mod is neat, and it's nice when you combine it with other mods. I have Robco certified so I just use robots to defend my crappy little town. The mod needs some improvements though. Village radius is way to small.

Then I have to ask my friend exactly what he tried to do that prevented his steam version from working. Robco Certified is another good mod. And I agree on you point that the radius is too small compounded for me on the fact that my village is built with the Robco building as a wall which limits the space even more.

One of the best things about the mod is one of it's biggest drawbacks. You can build a village anywhere, but the limited village radius prevents you from making a good village in most places.

 

[adledog]

i dont have a great pc, but i wish i did due to some of the more amazing mods out there. although im kinda glad because i usually do want to play through a game the way its supposed to be done before i start messing with it and if i had modding available i probably wouldnt do that

 

[Leaper]

It's good to see that moding isn't forgotten yet, but it really sucks that Microsoft doesn't let people download and play user created mods. PS3's in theory are capable of doing it, but the only game that actualy used it well was Unreal Tournament 3.

On a side note, UT3 has huge moding contest which has 1,000,000 dollar worth of prizes. Where some companies prohibit moding, other greatly encourages it.

Heres website for those that are interested:

http://www.makesomethingunreal.com/

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

some Mods can be really Sweet, like this one Mod i had for fallout Tactics that gave me 5 largly Awesome Troops to round out my squad

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Yeah, I use mods for Fallout 3 too, and I get them from the Nexus... been doing that since Oblivion. I like the fact that Bethesda made these games really moddable, it adds a lot of fun.

 

[Doug]

I'm curious, what mods have you installed Shamus?

EDIT:

Experienced Points: Mod's Playground
Play a real-time strategy minigame where you establish and defend a settlement?

NICE! Which mod is this?!

 

[AboveUp]

The biggest thing I ever installed in terms of mods was Baldur's Gate Tutu. It allows you to play Baldur's Gate 1 in Baldur's Gate 2's engine, complete with the additional character classes and items.

I'm not too much of a PC gamer, but I can agree that modding is the best thing about PC games.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

My only gripe with this article is that you seem to imply that it's okay for Bethesda to crap-out lazily-made games because they know the fans will fix them. Fallout 3 is an okay game on its own, but if the only reason you're buying the game is because of the mods, then should Bethesda really be getting that money? Now, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend it's a case where pirating is right, because that's not where I'm going at all.

My point is, why should we be praising the ability to mod Fallout 3 when seemingly the only reason that the feature was allowed was so that they wouldn't have to worry about ironing-out the details? I love the modding scene as much as the next guy (though admittedly I play very light on mods), but why is that the people who (essentially) made Fallout 3 aren't being paid for it? Why does Bethesda get to sleep on mattresses filled with wads of cash when the people who made their games worth buying are stuck sleeping their parent's dank basements?

 

[Shamus Young]

My only gripe with this article is that you seem to imply that it's okay for Bethesda to crap-out lazily-made games because they know the fans will fix them. Fallout 3 is an okay game on its own, but if the only reason you're buying the game is because of the mods, then should Bethesda really be getting that money? Now, I'm not gonna sit here and pretend it's a case where pirating is right, because that's not where I'm going at all.

Actually, one point I didn't get into with the article is the trade-off they have to consider. If they make the core game too uninteresting, sales will be low. There will be less modders, and the ones that remain will have less motivation for making something big, because the audience is smaller.

I wasn't really defending making crappy or buggy game, but defending the idea of making a straightforward game with broad appeal.