I love how people feel so proprietorial about Mods being a PC exclusive feature, particularly when so many of those voices are Mod consumers rather than creators. I can't say that everything I created went down well, but as someone who has modded for games in the past, I was always tickled that others had full access what I'd created and loved hearing when they liked what I'd come up with (and when constructively delivered, why they did not). I also liked to see what people had done to improve on what I'd come up and I was delighted when I saw they liked it enough to transplant it into another gaming arena and expanded the audience for my work. If I ever choose to Mod for Skyrim then I can assure everyone, that I'd want it to reach as wide an audience as possible irrespective of the gaming platform.

Who cares if its beneficial, if it works it works. Modders dont need to be made millionaires for moding on consoles to work out.

PACHA: Of course what would be allowed would be limited, but some is better than none. Also, if a modder wanted money for their mod, they would be entitled to it, as it is their work. Yes they wouldn't have done it if Beth hadn't given them the tools but then you could say the same about any song written on a guitar and the guy who invented it.

Modders have a small claim of copyright over their work, not a complete one, but enough that a company couldn't just pluck their mod from the net and start charging for it, otherwise that would have happened by now. Fact is MS would have to pay Beth AND the modders, meaning a smaller profit but a better experience for their customers. And an optimum experience, coupled with a positive attitude towards creativity, will attract more people. This is where I find their thinking slightly backwards.

Usually the ability to freely mod a game is based on terms and conditions that stipulate that Modders' work is ultimately owned by the group whose intellectual property is being adapted and they are not entitled to profit from it.

As a PC user I'm all for it as long as console limitations aren't inflicted on PC users.

You're missing the point. You are advocating paying for something on one platform that others can get for free.



Some that, in the case of this discussion, you have to pay for, when no one else does - due to how Microsoft handle downloads and Live in general.

Oh, so they can't implement mods that require Wrye Bash, or OBSE? Then what's the point? <_<

If Microsoft and Sony are willing to provide some programming to allow the creation and installment of mods via a 2nd hand program, it's very possible.

I prefer playing unmodded games.
but thats just me.

Consoles are are perfectly capable of accommodating alternative input devices and a mouse and keyboard are not exceptions to that freedom - Devs (Bethesda included) just don't seem willing to give players the opportunity to choose. Besides, player preference dictates which input method is better for them, it's hubris to deign to believe you know what's right for everyone.

I'd pay for the best mods if the only way I could get were to buy them as DLC through Microsoft. I'd buy a PS3 version of the game if that were the only version with mods.

I'm just not willing to trick out my computer to play anything more complex than Minecraft. Sorry, PC gamers!

Wouldn't i be cheaper to buy a PC than spend all that money on mods?

This would be cool....

Alternative textures are not all about resolution, they can simply be about applying a different look for a new atmosphere or aesthetic. Mods reliant on hi-res retexturing or higher poly meshes wouldn't necessarily be practical for a console audience, but hi-res graphics and hi-poly meshes can be scaled back more easily than they can be scaled up and so long as that is possible it is therefor not a barrier to mod implementation for consoles.

Going back to my days as a Modder, I had to mindful that not all gamers have access to high end machines and I had to decide where I needed to compromise. I could make all my textures 2048x2048 or settle for the 512x512 baseline. I could jump a model up from 800 polys to 800,000 and go berzerk with the level of detail. The truth is that hi-res textures and hi-poly meshes were great for quality rendering and I could use them to generate renders for people to coo and drool over, but for practicality in-game, I had to scale back and tried not to breach 8,000 polys (and incidently Hi Poly models are a real pain to unwrap, map and texture) and settled on 512x512 or 1024x1024 texture maps (although they usually started at 4096x4096) to avoid the ire of other users.

...What? I think it's up to Microsoft and Sony, not you.

I love how console players think PC players are being "elitist' when they refuse to support console players who will contribute absolutely nothing in return. Adding support for mods to the console version would clearly be of great benefit for consoles, giving another reasons to buy the game on that platform. But what is the benefit to the PC people who are actually making those mods? All that would happen is that the console versions would sell more copies and shift the design of the game even further toward consoles, and make the experience worse for the people you're relying on to provide you with content. This is not elitism, it's self preservation and an aversion toward being suicidally philanthropic.

(Also I'd just like to point out for any ambitious "do it yourself" type people that say "Well I'll just make my own mods on PC and then move them over": The construction set has historically had hardware requirements just as high as the game itself. If you can run the construction set well, you could run the game itself too. How about that.)

It's cheaper to own a PC than a console because people deliberately buy a console for gaming, but for PC they usually have that anyway. Console will never have mods. Console is popular because it's cheaper than PC, and non-upgradeable. Not just hi res graphic improvement mods are out of the question. Any mod adding new content is not possible.

Certain mods will probably never work due to system resource constraints, such as improved textures, graphics tweaks, and anything that increases the density of polygons in an already resource-intensive area of the game, such as improvements to cities or high-polygon meshes (such as many new armors, weapons, creatures, and alternative bodies). Vanilla Skyrim is already kinda pushing the envelope for consoles as it is.

Lightweight mods that involve just new scripting, quests, or simple alterations to game mechanics would probably be possible.



I'm not sure there's a ton of benefit to makers of mods even now, they do it for their love of the game. I think the bigger concern is that if the PC population dwindles much further it'll start reducing the size of the modder pool. Considering how many of the improvements going from Oblivion to Skyrim were inspired by mods, that would hurt EVERYONE.

...of course you are assuming there that console gamers wouldn't want the CK as well. And console people would contribute 'nothing'? How about feedback? Publicity for said modder? That can easily lead to paid work for them. You also dont give ANY consideration to the fact that maybe some people dont game on the PC so they aren't tying up the family computer - its not just about cost, its about practicality as well. With a console, wifey can quite happily facebook, email, fishville and all that good stuff whilst I get my quality undisturbed gaming time in.

A CK for the console? That would be real nice. Then we could contribute plenty, but it wont happen for a myriad of reasons. If it did happen, PC gamers like yourself would find some other reason to look down your noses. Grow up.

Eh?

You PC people are just selfish. Why wouldn't you want us playing mods? It makes the game 10x better!
Yeah, we could just buy a PC but,
1. We might not have all that money for uptodate PC+graphic cards, ect.
2. We might not like the controls and functions of the PC like a mouse and keyboard. I know i don't.

As an XBOX user I would love to see it.

But I just don't think it will happen, so I'm not getting my hopes up.

1. That is why graphical updates (which imo are the best mods anyway) are out of the question and we got to live with Bethesda's textures that look like **** up close.

2. I know I don't [censored]in like a gamepad so why am I forced to register on Steam and get the crappy console UI? Yes, it works fine on a console and is one of the best console UI's I've ever seen, but it could be much better on a PC.

So you see, everyone gets their load of crap in one or the other way, so just relax and play the game. ^^

//edit

Oh I just forgot, you need to unplug your 360 Controller or disable it to just play with mouse and keyboard.

Why do people post this stuff ? It's not going to happen with Sony or MS. There policies are too strick and mod can hurt the performance of consoles. These consoles are taxed out by adding mods the games would be worse. Now if they where content mods by the developers I could see that but, allowing and open sorce on consoles is not going to happen.

I also love that you assume I am simply a console user... I do play on consoles, both Xbox and PS3, but I also have and do play on PC, and I have no allegiance to one platform over another. As I've mentioned, I have also modded for other games (which means that although I play on console I have contributed to that community - they are not mutually exclusive). You and I know very well that some Modding Tools demand serious hardware resources and perhaps more importantly, some of the third party tools are prohibitively expensive (3DS Max and Adobe Creative Suite for example are not within most people's budgets, but they are my personal tools of choice). Ultimately the existence of a modding community is based entirely on philanthropy, both on the part of the publishing house who allow it, and the people who choose to mod and release their work for the wider community. The vast majority of people don't have access to the resources and tools they need to contribute, and many more simply don't have the skill, patience, or time (and nowadays that last one is my personal limiting factor) to do it themselves. I see no reason to form artificial barriers between enclaves based purely on user base technology, when they are playing the same game. Ultimately I don't think spreading mods to consoles is a self defeating process either - there are many people out there who, like me, mix and match the platforms they play on, and it is as likely to encourage console players to be interested enough to start dabbling in using PCs to create mods that will enrich the gaming experience for everyone.