General News - Bethesda: Make Modding Great Again

Drithius said:

Because they owe a great deal of their company's success to the hundreds of millions of dollars garnered in free publicity over the years. From modding.

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If you like their games it's a stroke of genius if you don't like them then they owe their success to modders.

without their excellent mod tools the mods would never have been made. There's not less mods for other games because they aren't needed there's less mods because they don't have the same support.

sakichop said:

There's not less mods for other games because they aren't needed there's less mods because they don't have the same support.

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I'd wager that's a matter of opinion.

sakichop said:

I think that's nut's point. Why would Bethesda need to do anything for modders that wouldn't be expected from other companies?

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I'm guessing you didn't read the article either. I thought it was kind of obvious that the author is suggesting Bethesda is in a better position than other companies to further the mod scene because of their history and current standing when it comes to mod support.

JDR13 said:

I'd wager that's a matter of opinion.



I'm guessing you didn't read the article either. I thought it was kind of obvious that the author is suggesting Bethesda is in a better position than other companies to further the mod scene because of their history and current standing when it comes to mod support.

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Matter of opinion, maybe. You don't think if CDPR released good mod tools people wouldn't be modding the crap out of it?

I read, they've already "furthered the mod scene" more than anyone else. i don't think his suggested incentives are going to really create a surge in modding. Yes, I realize he said they were just suggestions.

Just because Bethesda supports mods better than anyone else doesn't make them any more responsible for the modding scene.

sakichop said:

Matter of opinion, maybe. You don't think if CDPR released good mod tools people wouldn't be modding the crap out of it?

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Not to the same level as Bethesda's games, no.

sakichop said:

I read, they've already "furthered the mod scene" more than anyone else. i don't think his suggested incentives are going to really create a surge in modding. Yes, I realize he said they were just suggestions.

Just because Bethesda supports mods better than anyone else doesn't make them any more responsible for the modding scene.

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It's like beating a dead horse here today...

He suggesting that they're in a better position not that they're more responsible.

JDR13 said:

Not to the same level as Bethesda's games, no.



It's like beating a dead horse here today…

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Everyday anymore, kind of sucks.

Bethesda is doing great job creating engines that can be easily modified by modding tools. Other companies are far behind Bethesda. And here comes million of critics with the message: Bethesda could do it better. That's the price of being famous, innovative and rich I assume. I hope that Bethesda is not going to stop and we will see next Elder Scrolls game soon. Good job, Bethesda!

... Replaying FO4 for the third time. Only one mod is applied by the way: slowdown experience gain.

Lev said:

....
… Replaying FO4 for the third time. Only one mod is applied by the way: slowdown experience gain.

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Seriously, 4 times!? I quit before I reached the end of my first playthrough. It simply became tedious and incredibly formulaic. I simply don't think their more recent titles are very good or getting better, simply flashier. Anyway.

As for Bethesda and modding...do people feel they have done this for purely altruistic purposes i.e. St Bethesda? That there's no business case to be made? That they gain nothing by doing it? That they would *lose* nothing by not doing it, having set a precedent years back?
Given the commonly held view that modders 'fix' their games, I would beg to differ. I think it would cost them a great deal of community support/sales if they dropped (and stated they were dropping) modding support from their future titles - other companies are not hobbled by the same expectations or are simply smaller; it would matters less to them. Bethesda are victims of their own success in this regard.

booboo said:

I quit before I reached the end of my first playthrough. It simply became tedious and incredibly formulaic.

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The trick is not to become overpowered too soon. When I have monsters that can kill me, the game is not finished yet. As soon as I can kill any monster, this means an end of the game for me. So, I develop my character slowly and that's why I use experience mod.

I try to use this approach in any game that I play whenever possible. In Everquest 2 for instance my character is level 76 out of 100 possible levels. And I have spent about 3500 hours in Everquest 2. Still a lot of things to do and a thousands of quests to complete.

Going back to Bethesda. I like to explore the world. Unlike many other games it is almost impossible to check every little corner of the Bethesda world. Each walkthrough has some new surprises for me. Well, I stopped playing Skyrim after about 600 hours. So, I suppose there'll be the day when I stop playing FO4 too.

sakichop said:

Matter of opinion, maybe. You don't think if CDPR released good mod tools people wouldn't be modding the crap out of it?

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Unlikely. Or at least not in the way modding happens for a Bethesda product.

Bethesda includes from the beginning that their product is meant to be modded. A number of design decisions follow.

Providing a modding tool kit is not enough.

Bethesda games may have many issues, but moddability is really one of their strong points.

Oh yeah. Bethesda's biggest issue is that each new game feels more and more like the game before it. I really expect Gamebryo to be totally gone in the next TES/Fallout game, but I've been wrong before. Bethesda needs to junk the car, not rebuild the engine.

My guess:

There hasn't been another engine to come out that is as mod friendly as Gamebryo. The other tools are much more complex to use which would destroy a perhaps significant percentage of the mod community. Most of these guys are Bethesda only modders. They don't have any real programming/scripting talent of their own and wouldn't be able to adapt to a new tool easily. I think this is Bethesda's biggest fear. For every Arthmoor, there are 3000 lesser modders.