themadhatter
Philosopher Emeritus
- Joined
- February 12, 2007
- Messages
- 141
I recall having read somewhere - perhaps even here, as a guest - that Piranha Bytes had promised an editor for the game (much like the downloadable toolset that came with Oblivion), but later rescinded their comments, citing some conflict with the engine (or something) that prevented them from releasing anything that could possibly affect it to the public.
Could someone elaborate on this? Or amend it as necessary?
Frankly, the more I consider the idea of a Gothic 3 editor (having just finished Gothic 2 a few months ago, and immediately moving on to make a few forays into the world of G3), the greater the benefits from such a program appear.
Take Oblivion and the TES Toolset for instance. Having read over most of the threads here at the Watch, I feel safe enough saying that the general consensus in regards to vanilla Oblivion is this: it sucks. Honestly, I agree. Straight out of the box, Oblivion is nothing more than eye-candy, whose storyline degrades ten minutes into it as you watch the promises BethSoft falter before you...however, take a moment to grab some of the thousands of spectacular mods that exist for such (modifying everything from the levelled items issues, terrrible/lack of competent AI, console-based UI, and a slue of other issues) and suddenly the game is granted both longevity and value.
After first obtaining my copy of Oblivion, I attempted to play it and, like many, was dazzled by the graphics...for about two hours. After reaching the second city, running through more mundane tasks, and finding out that each dungeon was exactly like every other (the whole "levelled' thing), I was frustrated. However, after downloading the editor and taking some time to write up a mod of my own that addressed the levelled items/monsters oversight, the entire game was revolutionized. From there, a quick perusal of some popular TES modding sites netted me everything from must-have mods (UI and AI fixes, texture revamps, etectera) to some awe-inspiring gameplay (better thieving, improved sneaking, realistic archery, redux of the skill system, new quests, monsters, and items, ability to drop quest objects, put keys on a key-chain, remove the quick-travel feature, four speeds for the horse and horse-mounted archery, no more compass, etcetera) and esthetic modules (improved pallette, higher resolution textures, redone monster models, new non-freaky faces and hair, windows that are lit from the inside at night, new moons and stars, etcetera).
It is a well known fact that the presence of a strong modding community can extend the lifespan of a game indefinetly. Gamers continue to mod Doom, for crying out loud, and the success of NWN is due (undebately) to the enormous amount of mods for such. The TES, GTA, and Half-Life series have also garnered a tremendous fan-base gained solely as a result of their ability to be modified...so why hasn't Piranha Bytes picked up the ball on this one?
At present, Gothic 3 is well-nigh unplayable on many peoples machines. I myself, with only one gigabyte of RAM, get to enjoy laborious loading-times and almost constant stutter. While these issues may not be amendable by modders (although, who am I to say), there is no end to the amount of tasks a dedicated mod-producer could set to in regards to G3, both to the improve the game functionally and esthetically. After all, some of the very things PB intended to be in the game might very well cause problems on certain individuals computers, and, much like in Oblivion, these could be changed by modders (the inability to play the game on older computers, even those meeting the minimum requirements, for instance; again, citing Oblivion, the Oldblivion mod made it possible to play OB on older comps, so what is to prevent the same being done for G3). Furthermore, actual issues regarding the game would likely be resolved sooner with hundreds of people working on the game around the world, as opposed to a small group of developers.
Personally, I would love to get my hands on an editor for Gothic 3. Even with my rather fractured experience with said title, I am overwhelmed by the potential this game has. I'd be overjoyed if I had the opportunity to throw in some new weapon designs (and change the name for some of the current ones), spells, characters, monsters, quests, locations, and all manner of other things.
So, is there any hope?
If YES:
* What news is there in regards to a release for the editor?
If NO:
* Is there any interest in starting a petition to have such a program released?
Could someone elaborate on this? Or amend it as necessary?
Frankly, the more I consider the idea of a Gothic 3 editor (having just finished Gothic 2 a few months ago, and immediately moving on to make a few forays into the world of G3), the greater the benefits from such a program appear.
Take Oblivion and the TES Toolset for instance. Having read over most of the threads here at the Watch, I feel safe enough saying that the general consensus in regards to vanilla Oblivion is this: it sucks. Honestly, I agree. Straight out of the box, Oblivion is nothing more than eye-candy, whose storyline degrades ten minutes into it as you watch the promises BethSoft falter before you...however, take a moment to grab some of the thousands of spectacular mods that exist for such (modifying everything from the levelled items issues, terrrible/lack of competent AI, console-based UI, and a slue of other issues) and suddenly the game is granted both longevity and value.
After first obtaining my copy of Oblivion, I attempted to play it and, like many, was dazzled by the graphics...for about two hours. After reaching the second city, running through more mundane tasks, and finding out that each dungeon was exactly like every other (the whole "levelled' thing), I was frustrated. However, after downloading the editor and taking some time to write up a mod of my own that addressed the levelled items/monsters oversight, the entire game was revolutionized. From there, a quick perusal of some popular TES modding sites netted me everything from must-have mods (UI and AI fixes, texture revamps, etectera) to some awe-inspiring gameplay (better thieving, improved sneaking, realistic archery, redux of the skill system, new quests, monsters, and items, ability to drop quest objects, put keys on a key-chain, remove the quick-travel feature, four speeds for the horse and horse-mounted archery, no more compass, etcetera) and esthetic modules (improved pallette, higher resolution textures, redone monster models, new non-freaky faces and hair, windows that are lit from the inside at night, new moons and stars, etcetera).
It is a well known fact that the presence of a strong modding community can extend the lifespan of a game indefinetly. Gamers continue to mod Doom, for crying out loud, and the success of NWN is due (undebately) to the enormous amount of mods for such. The TES, GTA, and Half-Life series have also garnered a tremendous fan-base gained solely as a result of their ability to be modified...so why hasn't Piranha Bytes picked up the ball on this one?
At present, Gothic 3 is well-nigh unplayable on many peoples machines. I myself, with only one gigabyte of RAM, get to enjoy laborious loading-times and almost constant stutter. While these issues may not be amendable by modders (although, who am I to say), there is no end to the amount of tasks a dedicated mod-producer could set to in regards to G3, both to the improve the game functionally and esthetically. After all, some of the very things PB intended to be in the game might very well cause problems on certain individuals computers, and, much like in Oblivion, these could be changed by modders (the inability to play the game on older computers, even those meeting the minimum requirements, for instance; again, citing Oblivion, the Oldblivion mod made it possible to play OB on older comps, so what is to prevent the same being done for G3). Furthermore, actual issues regarding the game would likely be resolved sooner with hundreds of people working on the game around the world, as opposed to a small group of developers.
Personally, I would love to get my hands on an editor for Gothic 3. Even with my rather fractured experience with said title, I am overwhelmed by the potential this game has. I'd be overjoyed if I had the opportunity to throw in some new weapon designs (and change the name for some of the current ones), spells, characters, monsters, quests, locations, and all manner of other things.
So, is there any hope?
If YES:
* What news is there in regards to a release for the editor?
If NO:
* Is there any interest in starting a petition to have such a program released?
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
- Messages
- 141