Here is the list of the biggest reasons why you won't see mods on the console (or if you do, why they will never be free):

1. It takes space on a server to host the mods. PC users get the mods for free because the mods are hosted on a website that gets paid for advertising. Console mods would not be on a website. No website = no advertising revenue = no free mods.

2. Games on the console are designed to use the maximum resources available. PC games are not. Most mods are designed to use close to the maximum resources available on a PC which can be several times the amount available on a console. Even simple retexture mods designed for the PC would cause your console to run like tar in a blizzard (and that's assuming it doesn't simply crash your console).

3. Microsoft and Sony care about their image. You can put out mods that contain all sorts of AO rated material and they will be hosted because mod hosting websites don't have to try and pretend they are family friendly. Microsoft and Sony need to protect that image because they sell things in many different markets and therefore content management would be required. This means that they would have to either
A. Pay someone to design a system to filter mods and then review the remaining mods before allowing them to be downloaded.
B. Pay someone to review every single mod submitted to them before allowing them to be downloaded.
The important thing to note is that both options require them to pay... that cost will either be a deterrant, or will be passed on to the consumer.

4. Mods can cause your game, OS, or hardware to fail. These failures can be debugged on a PC but can permanently ruin a console (since you can't even attempt to fix them since you are locked out of the OS). Microsoft and Sony don't want the public relations nightmare that would exist if mods they allowed to be downloaded caused console failure, game lockup, or save file corruption. Therefore, they would never allow any mods that have compatability issues or in any way interfere with each other. Do you know how they would know if a mod had compatability issues or interferes? By testing every conceivable combination of mod installs that utilize a resource. You have to pay someone to do that.

In essence, mods are not possible on consoles, regardless of what Todd says he would like to do. The only way we could ever achieve mods for consoles would be if they:

A. Developed a special console version of the CS that was much more limited than the PC version in order to tightly control what aspects of the game could be changed. Development costs money and therefore the console CS would probably cost money to use.

B. Gutted future games and/or the CS so that once the game is finished there is very little that can be modded.


Long story short, if you want mods, save up for a PC.

Not really they are trying to get them but not on release hasn't been confirmed.

And even than. Mods get updated frequently, how the hell is a modder going to be able to support his own mod when the console version is at version 1.2, while the developer just released version 1.5 with major revisions? Because I think we can safely assume that Beth will offer no user support for mods. Distribution remains one of the biggest problems.

I said it before and I'll say it again: some people are looking through very pink glasses at the moment, they have no clue what TES mods do or how they work. The Creation Kit is a much more powerfull tool than just a map-editor and most graphic mods and mods that add new meshes and textures will probably not work well with the current consoles, unless people want to see smoke coming of their XBOX or PS.

I love playing certain games on my PS3, but TES and mods are only for my PC....

Depending on how serious Todd actually is about all this, I would see this being the most likely outcome. The mod tools being turned into basically map editors like other games on consoles that have "user generated content".

Fact is mod'ing as it is done today isn't viable for being done on consoles. Even if consoles get mods in the future they are not going to get what PC mods do today. All they'll end up doing is ruining PC mod'ing for TES.

Even if they don't put mods on the consoles, it would be nice to enable the console on the consoles.

To comment on this, Oblivion vanilla armor meshes rarely surpassed 10k vertices. Bethesda's professional texturers made the armor look good; the meshes were super minimal. Mods don't have professional texturers, and rely on mesh complexity. The Apachii Goddess Shop, to use a popular collection of clothing mods as an example, has over 100k verts on many outfits. I love my 360 but it can't handle 100k vert meshes on top of the rest of Oblivion. . . It will likely be the same in Skyrim.

If they figure out a way that doesn't hamper, hinder, or gimp the PC modding community then I say go for it. I have nothing against consolers wanting mods, but if they start stripping down the CS or in other ways limiting the modding capability of the PC version then I will have a HUGE problem with it. That would be the kind of slap in the face, that would make me never bother buying another Bethesda product.

I can't imagine the modding community is going to expend much energy to ensure that their mods are console-compatible. Bethesda would have to undertake that responsibility on its own I assume. Why they would do that for free, I can't really see happening. Maybe some kind of subscription service for access to console-modified mods.

Say that to Qarl or Brumbek's work.

For them not to be "professional texturers", their work is damn good compared to the pityful Vanilla textures. And we're talking about a complete Oblivion/Shivering Isles retexture.

I won't argue with that! Those are excellent textures. I was generalizing of course, and talking about armor mods (athough I can't see a 360 running QT3 either). Some armor mods seem professionally modelled/textured -- those by SkeletonK, for example -- but I will generalize some more and say that the vast majority of modders are hobbyists that picked up Blender and Gimp and went to town. They aren't going to be optimized.

IIRC, the HGEC body replacer is around/over 10k verts by itself. Because of this, bikini armors are surprisingly high vert. I'd double check but I'm on my phone right now.

Let's not forget that Oblivion textures had to be relatively low-res due to the fact that they had a hard cap on the consoles and were also trying to hit the soft cap (average power) in the PC market. The good texture mods don't care about either of those limitations and can therefore use significantly more resources.

If my memory serves well, anyone can optimize Oblivion meshes by Pyfiffizing* them, so what's the issue?

Besides, I don't think that's a big problem anyway. In all my time playing with Oblivion mods (5 nearly full years), I've only had a considerable amount of performance decrease when I put on Alexscorpion's Sneaking Gear (original version). And that armor had an absolutely BRUTAL polycount.


*Don't remember now the exact name.

It's not a problem with PCs, of course not. I'm saying these demanding mods would be a problem on consoles. Do you think a 360 could easily handle something that strains your computer? Unfortunately, no matter how much you optimize a 65k vert mesh, it still takes more resources than a lower count unoptimized mesh.

An easier way to control mods safety is to not allow them to download anything from the world wide web so to say, but to focus on a few select mods that they release for consoles as free DLC.

Do you think some is actually gonna believe these lies?Or are you just vastly un-informed?


1. A pc that can max Skyrim will run you ~$600 unless there is some super special effects/textures for the PC version that Bethesda is holding back from showing.

2. back to OT: Mods on console probably won't happen. If they do, by some miracle, expect them to be severely limited.

i don't think it will work with current gen consoles.
but i really hope i am wrong, for all my console kin, unless they do it for 360 only, and then i say "Screw you guys, I'm going home"

I agree with you. My old rig which was replaced only a few months ago sported 6 gb ram, 750 watts power supply, amd dual core processor, and an nvidia 250 gts video card, yet could barely run Oblivion "better" than the console versions. If I turned up the graphic settings to rival the console versions, I would encounter quite a bit of stuttering which sometimes led to crashes. The same went for Fallout 3. If I had the graphic settings to where the graphics looked identical to the console versions, my game would run smoother. My old rig was well over the $500 mark as well...

Exactly. User Mods like the kinds you see on the PC will NEVER make it to consoles. EVER.

Microsoft and Sony will not allow some unknown person modify one of their games to the point that you can with the PC Construction Kit.

Well, there won't be mods for consoles, so it's pretty much unconcerning



Are you nuts? The GTX 590 costs 625 €. The only way a graphics card could cost you SO much is if you buy something professional-oriented, like the Nvidia Quadro. And that'd be plain stupid, for a lot of reasons.

I spent 700 about two years ago (maybe 1.5 years) on a PC that runs Oblivion maxed with graphics mods. I anticipate that it will run Skyrim just fine.

I'll still be sticking a second graphics card in it for Skyrim though; it was set up for two but I initially bought only one.

For those doubting cheap gaming rigs, try IBuyPower and play with their build-a-PC tool.

I'm wondering if Bethesda made modding very limited for consoles, would that work? Limited as in only allowing vanilla meshes and textures for armor and weapons mash-ups.

Not sure what this has to do with Console mods, but me personally..... I would avoid IBuyPower. If you are going to buy a PC stick with some place more reputable, like Dell or Alienware. I know people don't like Alienware, but I had a great experience with them when I bought one.

im semi against it I only use a few mods only to improve the gameplay (morrowind comes alive and morrowind graphics and sound overhaul and tribunal delay are the only ones for morrowind i have) i am a lore freak so if anything messes up the lore i cant have it (new weapons, quests, armour, ect)

The meshes and textures would most likely have to be meshes that Bethesda has created and part of the game. Allowing home made meshes and textures is a recipe for disaster since Microsoft nor Sony has anyway to regulate those.

A $600 pc will max skyrim if you shop from the right places.


Skyrim is not BF3 or Crysis2+DX11 pack.

Read the thread; half the posts are arguing that gaming pcs are not viable due to high costs, and why should they be penalized and NOT have mods because they use cheaper consoles? It does seem unfair, but there are deeper issues involving mods on consoles, so people are trying to help by pointing out that gaming PCs can be affordable.

I didn't recommend the company, I recommended the tool. It can help you determine costs and such when building your own PC.