The though just popped in my head, but could it be possible that Bethesda could finally add the GECK to consoles in Fallout 4? Sure, there's the legal issues and TOS, but surely by now they've had time to sort these out? No? Along asking if the next gen consoles could handle a GECK?

I'm not holding out hope.

It is not up to Bethesda. It is to the patent and network owners of the consoles.

That issue is in Sonys and Microsoft hands and they will most likely see modding tools like that as a gateway for malice hacking.

I'm aware of that, that's why I had included the part of where Bethesda could've sorted the issue out over these few years. Thoughts on them even attempting or thinking of convincing Sony and Microsoft?

Unlikely. Keep in mind these people freak out if you so much as take apart their precious box and send it in to be fixed. Heaven forbid they'd let us alter simple files to make modifications work on it.

That's no joke. I'm trying to get my head around something such as a brand new "program" or "feature" that completely changes how the GECK works. Maybe I'm going overboard.

Keep in mind to even have it be possible you would essentially have to have the modification maker(s) make it work in the console. I'm not sure people would be all that bothered to do it. Some maybe, but probably not the vast majority. This is not even taking hardware problems into account for when people make massive areas that would freeze a console.

It would be impossible to handle GECK with a controller but I can see them (Microsoft, Sony) watering down their restrictions and allow modding...at a certain level. Maybe the most manageable and liked mods could get certified by Bethesda and then come out as a free dlc for consoles. For console users this would be heaven.

Most likely not

I could see a system like Halo's forge where they give you pre-rendered assets and let you place them down to make your own area/vault or something, but that would truly be the end of it. No way Microsoft or Sony are going to let people change game files that could brick their game or even possibly their system.

Nope. No matter what Bethesda and the fans want I don't think the others will allow it. Even though I don't own any consoles, except an old NES, I always wondered why they cannot at least make some collection pack with the best mods every few months. And thus testing it themselves. This way console owners get something.

I hope they don't ever let you mod on consoles, just more reason for beth to cater to the PC market, while console port has been a [censored] show since Morrowind, at least they do more than most AAA companies.

Before the whole paid mods fiasco I would have said this was impossible. While I still think mods on consoles will most likely not happen, I wouldn't rule it out 100% as recent history has shown they are doing many unexpected things when it comes to the modding world in relation to their games. I could see them pitching to the console owners some form of paid mods or some limited system of curated/filtered mods with some type of paid staff in such a landscape.

I think it would be vastly watered down and largely unrepresentative of the normal modding world, but after what has happened of late it I wouldn't say it's impossible anymore. Remember the quotes from Todd on how they're always trying to get more people to experience mods for their games, Fallout 4 will no doubt be a huge success and it may be the point where the console owners re-examine their stance on the modding world.

I seriously doubt if the GECK will be coming to consoles.

To start with, the GECK (and Creation Kit) has always been a prettied up version of Bethesda's in-house tool. It's designed for professional quest and location builders to place content fast, both to a design template and (when that's too restrictive) in a more freeform manner. To keep anything like a commercial production pace it has to be a full mouse/keyboard/windowed setup.

To put something on consoles they'd have to create an entirely new product from scratch. And I suspect it could only be used with a limited subset of art assets with clearly defined snap-together design. Plus it would need an entirely different interface design for everything, including defining dialogue, AI routines and NPC setup. There'd also, as mentioned above, be the problem of scripts, which could easily render a game unplayable and a savegame irreparably corrupt. Bethesda's games have always used scripting heavily, and I suspect Fallout 4 will follow Skyrim by using it very heavily, even in straightforward dialogue and quests.

So, would they really invest a lot of money and manpower developing a toolset that could only (realistically) be used to put locations together with no quests or dialogue attached? Or would they invest that money and manpower in their next game?

Whether mods themselves would be allowed on console is something that's much more likely (however unlikely), but probably only simple mods that could be thoroughly tested, anolysed and certified DLC-level safe by Bethesda, without them spending stupid amounts of effort doing so.

I know little about consoles, even though I play exclusively on them, so please pardon my ignorance on the subject. Aren't the latest consoles, Xbox One and PS4, close to being a PC? While I can't imagine Microsoft or Sony just allowing anyone to create content on their console, I can see proven mods being converted to DLC and sold via the respective console marketplaces. Whether it be the game developer who converts the mod, or the console company themselves, I have no idea. With paid mods being tried, this could be one way for the mod maker to get fees for their work.

Paid mods on PC was doomed in my opinion because it seems that community has never had to pay for them before. Console gamers have only been allowed to get extra content via paying for it. So if I were able to get a mod for my console edition Fallout 4 that added something new and exciting to the game for say $4.99 for small mods, and maybe $9.99 for larger ones in the Xbox marketplace, I would gladly pay up. If this game sells as expected, and just a small percentage of them buy the DLC mod, it could mean nice profits for all involved.

i don't see how the geck should be operable without a keyboard (and a mouse, speaking of it)

Okay...

.... the fact that each file from each mod needs care and cleaning and the file of the games also and each time you have to uninstalling them and re installing them depending the updates and dlc's. That sometimes interfere with the original files of the game itself and the files of the mods.

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I don't see that ever happening to the console, besides each time there is an update for the game, there will be an new updates to the modded file you previously downloaded so that modded file can be compatible with the update of the game. So you need to re installing them again or wait for an update. That stuff takes time, I don't see how Sony or Microsoft will create a function operation inside their consoles for them to work like that in that particular ways. To distribute an auto update for the mods.

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Sometimes is a "hassel" between you and the files and waiting for the owner to update the modded file so it can be compatible as I state before. There is launcher that helps you maintain and clean and make it more easy, but the fact that it is how it is in PC, there is noway in the space of console era that that could be a in function as well as PC.

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P.s. That is why I always recommend for those console users, to go and spend wisely your money into a well build PC. Because honestly, there are somethings that PC do best than consoles (and is actually most of the things).

Well the actual GECK will undoubtedly be on the PC, whether or not consoles get mods or not.

As for the mods themselves, even if Beth sorts out everything with Sony and Microsoft, performance is still a problem. A huge number of mods right now use higher fidelity assets than in the base game (not to mention things like script extenders). I highly doubt modders will limit themselves to console hardwares.

Indeed, technically this is perfectly possible. Technically, it was possible for Fallout 3 and Skyrim on last-gen consoles too. Official DLC is, after all, just a form of mod (some file-format differences, but nothing major), and Bethesda had been hopeful it could be done.

The difficulty is with the way mods work with Bethesda's Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. Modders can embed scripts in the mod, which can have far-reaching consequences for the game. Indeed, to get any mod of any complexity at all to work (e.g. as simple as buy a sword from a merchant), mods have to use scripts.

And if a modder makes a mistake in a script, it is potentially possible for them to completely break a game and corrupt the savegame beyond repair. So far, there's been no satisfactory, cost effective way of ensuring that user-made mods can be guaranteed safe before making them available for download to consoles. And so Microsoft and Sony have refused to allow them (or perhaps politely suggested that if Bethesda were to ask then a refusal would be the outcome ).

Now if Bethesda could, for example, have some way of ensuring that mods for console would be safe and reliable, then maybe it would happen. Not until then, though.