Alright, here's the story: In Fallout 3, there were SO many good mods, new adventures, better thought up items, items used in ways no one thought about before... so why didn't they ever get into the other platforms of the game (in this, I mean that as consoles, PS3, Xbox). I honestly think that the developers are ignoring a huge goldmine of talent and ideas here. Honestly, if they took, say, 10 new armors, 10 new weapons, some new enemies, and, say, 20 quests just made up by other users and made them a DLC for $10, I'd probably buy that. In New Vegas, again we see more and more new ideas being put out there, but not being placed into the game for other users besides the PC. I mean, honestly, if you guys just take some user-created armor with new effects, look it all over for any clashing code, scale dow nthe effects a tiny bit to make sure it isn't too 'uber', and put it in! That's like... a weeks worth of effort, maybe two it would seem. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd happily buy packs that take user created content and put them as DLCs.

Now, admittedly, none of this could happen unless the original authors of the content, the people actually taking hours to make new designs, looks, effects, ect, agreed to have their content used.. but honestly, I can't think of any reward better than having the company itself saying ''Hey, we'd like to have YOUR creation shown in a DLC!'' and then put their name up in the credits, maybe have their own 'symbol' on a armor they create, or their name as a badass enemy leader. I mean, instead of having, say, 5 DLCs come out for Fallout: New Vegas, like with Fallout 3, why not have, say, a DOZEN, most of which contain user created content that the developers look over, approve of, and put in? I don't know if this was tried before and failed, or what, but I've heard many people voice approval for this idea, and I'm just wondering what, if anything, will be done along these lines?

It's been suggested a few times since Morrowind. Lot of obstacles though.

In order to make them DLC, Bethesda would have to review, convert, bug test and fix any mods that are chosen. They'd then have to pass Microsoft/Sony's Q&A.

Who's going to pick the mods?

What sort of criterea will be used to differentiate between two similar mods?

What about conflicts between mods?

Third party assets or programs? Some mods require third party tools such as script extenders, which won't function on the consoles. Others include assets made by the modders themselves with a program other than the GECK.

It doesn't make financial sense for them to do that. Why port and commercially support the mods (cost to developers) when your customers are demonstrably willing to buy a second full copy of your game to gain access to community-supported mods (income for developers).

Also console modding can never be as fast, fluid, or option filled as PC modding because consoles cannot develop content or access content without approval from your overlord. The whole "value added" component of open modding applies to the PC, where you have thousands (literally: FNV Nexus shows 4679 files as when I'm writing this) which you can pick from at your own whim and use whenever and however you want. You don't need an overlord's permission to use a mod on the PC, while on consoles, nothing goes out over that network without being reviewed and approved. You would never be able to get more than a tiny fraction of the lowest-common-denominator type mods, even assuming you could iron out the financial and legal problems. And you basically already *have* benefited from that in the form of F:NV's "hardcoe" mode, which combines highly popular features from several mods from Fallout 3.

Finally, somewhat annoyedly, I'm against it because I'm a PC gamer and the PC is already marginalized enough. If we have to suffer through the memory, performance, input, and UI limitations of consoles when playing a nominally PC game, console players can survive not having mods.

Another issue would be plagiarism. One modder could pass someone else's map, or even small concepts or ideas from other peoples maps.

No offense to modders, but I prefer content created by professionals with expensive equipment.

Also I think the PC's mod capability is what is keeping it going. I prefer consoles because they are cheaper, easy to use, and have less issues.

I hate the DLC obsidian is releasing currently though. I would buy a "content pack" (New armors, weapons, perks, and quests) on the spot, but I hate isolated incidents like The Pitt or Operation: Anchorage. I haven't played Dead money yet because I'm afraid I will get a random pop-up and magically have the quest in my log from the moment I wake up in the doc's house.

What affect does the cost of the equipment have?

I'm just the opposite; I loathe content packs because they always feel like you aren't getting anywhere near your money's worth. I can go on the Nexus and have hundreds of custom weapons that look just as good as any official ones at my fingertips if I want it, there's no incentive for me to pay $10 for some random weapons.

I prefer new map areas because those actually feel like I'm getting my money's worth, rather than the EA/Bioware model where they throw a player home or some armor at you and call it DLC.

I would 100 percent want this instead of dead money and all the developers have to do is check for bugs assuming that the person has modded an entire quest. its also a great way to make money it Bethesda reads this i encourage them to do this because to be honest several people(console users) have wanted this type of thing since FO3 mods came out. Bethesda will be rich in no time they just gotta please the costumers.anyways very great idea Kam Solastor :tops:

I love this idea. There was a pretty interesting thread on this in the FO3 General Discussion group.

I wrote a proposal for a mods release in a "What new DLC would you like to see?" thread, so here it is re-pasted:



For console players, I bet a package of mods like Fallout Wanderer's Edition and Marts Mutant Mods and the Fallout light-altering mod (who's name I forget, writing this from work), and the DC Interiors Mod would be welcome-- They help immersion so much, and add so many weapons, clothes, enemies, animals, interiors to scavenge, and change the look of the wasteland so it looks so much more real.

But I have a PC, which is how I got a look at all that stuff, so for me, just moar quests and stuff to do! I've tried a few of the most recommended mod quests, and they were great, if a little lacking in voice acting and occasionally glitchy. A little more polish and tweaking and a pack of those mods could be a new DLC.

I don't have any idea how that would work, but maybe Beth could offer a little incentive: like a modder would donate their work, Beth would hire some voice actors and spend a little money on coders to clean up glitches, and a pack of maybe 6 or 7 of the best stories/quests/buildings could be released and the profits-after-expenses all go to some great charity.

The modder's might give up a little bit of their artistic control, but the payback would be that console players could enjoy the games, the glitchyness and fiddly aspect of mod-load-orders would disappear, and Beth and the modders could raise some stonking money for some worthy cause. It'd be killer publicity at ComicCon, too. :wink_smile:

I'd buy a DLC pack of that stuff, even though I can load all of it for free. :celebration: ... and I bet console players would be stoked to pony up some cash for charity to get a disc of all those goodies.
:fallout:

--How the mods would be selected I dunno, and conflicts between 'em would have to be sorted...

I'm hazy on how this works? The modders work for free (which they already do). Then they hand over their mod to the Mod Review, Approval and Censorship Office (M-RACO), who presumably don't work for free (legal accountability is harder with charity organizations), and they are free to change the mod however they like to make it work for technical and political correctness reasons. Then the mod is published. And the console users who download that mod don't have to pay, but are encouraged to donate to various "worthy causes" (picked by who?). Which leaves me the questions 1.) what do the modders get out of this, since to be a modder they implicitly have the game on PC and probably don't care what's happening on the consoles if it requires a lot of additional hardship, and 2.) who is paying to run M-RACO and where do they recoup their investment.

...

Ok uninstall Fallout three from your Xbox and playstation, the disconect your Xbox =PS3 from the internt, then run the game and get back to us on Micrsoft and Sonys Q&A.

you will realise its literany non existant.

as for the whole Idea, its dead in the water for a lot of reasons

most mods have to be completly re-writen because they include or require code that is not suported by consoles.

a lot of mods contain or require other mods to work, so the developers would be forced to track down THOSE people and get there pernision.

and by the way some of them would flat out object to Beth/obsidian " cashing in " on there work.

a lot of moders are under the age of 16, some are under the age of 14. and trust me on this you do NOT want to get tangled up in child welfare/contest laws.

never mind the bad publicity they would generate from haveing underage players createing content for an "M" rated game

Never mind that a lot of the more popular mods contain content that is more of a borderline violation of copyright than many game developers are comfortable with.

or the fact that a number of thoes copywrite, TM and even many individuals would be less than pleased with Bethesda/Obsidian doing so without permission and/or compensation.(just as one example, note the missing/painted over (actualy removed) posters in the "Kings" hangout)

a large number of mods use texturs that are not realy suportable by consoles.

some mods put more NPCs or items or both into the game enviroment than the current consoles processors can handle with the existing game engine.

Any of the good mods are made by people older than 16, most NOT ALL of the "kid" made mods are cheats, uber stuff, etc.

That aside I think there is a ULA that states anything made in the GECK is property of Bethesda, with exception of custom made models anyway I'm not 100% on this but that's exactly why we have iron sights, weapon mods, and hardcoe mode in NV, all inspired from FO3 mods.

There have been other very good reasons posted already as well as to why this will never happen.

The stark reality for the console users that want the community made mods......buy a PC.

Not trying to be a :swear: , but this has been explained by Bethesda, no mods for consoles, and those threads "mods for consoles" usually get closed.

bigcrazewolf

actualy I was thinking about one of the big dungeon mods from Morrowind, the person who created it was 13 when he started.

It doesn't have to be $10 and I would want more then just new guns as well. Like I said, new armor, quests, locations, and perks. I hate how the DLC doesn't feel like a part of the actual game. As opposed to all the other quests in the game, you get this one automatically by some mysterious higher power and it takes you out of the wasteland, strips away your possessions (most of the time) and forces you to play a little side adventure that doesn't feel right in the actual game. You end up getting weapons that are better then ones in the vanilla game and are available at any level.

But wouldn't quests in the existing world do the exact same thing? You'd get weapons better than vanilla ones at early levels.

Personally, I've never thought any "new area" DLC didn't feel right in the existing game; they were a welcome change of pace, and The Pitt and PL in particular were truly a joy to wander through.

Console players get the game as is on a cheap system. Pc users pay through the nose to be able to run the game. The mods are what we have to be proud of. Anyway, if they haven't released mod support for consoles by now, I doubt they're going to. svck it up.

*hint*
lots of modders ARE professionals with "expensive equipment"...whatever the hell that means.
*/hint*




Good lord! "hell" isn't censored? Finally, I've found a word that wouldn't make sense to censor, that they actually didn't censor!

Maybe im the only one realizing this, but why would the game company need permission to relaunch their own game? Dont be silly.

I would love console mods, maybe as a DLC, they could give us access to the GECK?

As nice as that would be the console makers will never allow it, due to money but the biggest problem consoles are not equipped well enough to run the GECK anyway.

bigcrazewolf

Wha...? In what way "not equipped"?

Not enough space, not enough controls to do so, not enough function, etc.

Most games (on PC that i have) range from around 300mb to around 2000mb (2GB). My PS3 is 80GB, even including Playstation Home and downloaded content, even with a total conversion mod, it will still be able to hold it with ease.

There are "keyboards" you can get for your PS3 (there supposed to be for messaging and Web Browsing).

Well the PS3 is better than the Xbox, with that aside the Geck really doesn't run optimally with 2 gig of ram, don't even think of any height map editing or LOD generating, and there is a huge difference between messaging, web browsing compared to graphics rendering the GECK also uses lots of CPU power. I have a dual core 3.2 gig CPU and get messages from my Norton software of high CPU usage from the GECK. I am not trying to hate on the consoles but it just won't work, not to mention the console makers will want to make money on mods made by modders that do it for free....and that will never work :shakehead:

You want mods and the ability to make your own....buy a PC

bigcrazewolf

Heavily modded Fallout 3: 10.1gbytes. I haven't added many mods to my F:NV installation, and that's reading 6.84gbytes. Your PC games are lightweights.

Agreed. My fallout 3 is about the same size. Obilvion fully modded is at the moment over 20Gb.