I honestly cannot tell you even if i wanted to!

I DO NOT like mods and yes i only play on PC, to be honest i am getting really sick about almost every topic (not yours) being "spammed" with answers that state: if it isn't in i can make a mod for it...and such!

I like my game vanilla and i truly believe that Skyrim will be a jewel!

Biggest draw of mods in my opinion is Freedom.

i can agree with you on that one mate, but even the most well kept jewels need polishing some time.

Same, of course this is a combination of 360 and PC.

A question like this is best answered by a good example, like an amazing castle mod:

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=30288

Games are made for a broad audience, not for an individual. But because we're all individuals, I'm not surprised we tend to like modding games to our own tastes.

Until you experience some of the great things mods can offer, you'll never fully understand.

It's not just graphical improvements, flaw fixes, and minor novelties like a new weapon skin or set of armour.

That's true...

Yep. I find it highly unlikely all these modding naysayers like EVERYTHING about Oblivion. I would bet in a second that all the PC gamers who "dont like modding" simply havnt tried it at all.

Just a side thought on this.

The basic game comes with, in the Launcher, a menu option for basic mod management (turn them on and off).

The game developers release, for free (and generally at the same time as the game comes out), extensive and robust mod creation and editing tools.

They designed the game, in the first place, to be very modular (unlike some games, where you need to do all sorts of unpacking/hacking/patching to run mods).

Given those things, I'd have to say that (in my eyes, at least) modding is at least somewhat "intended" by the game developers.


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Mods... well, there's a huge variety of mods. Yeah, some screw with the game utterly. Some just enhance what's there. Some make interesting changes. Some are hack jobs that just ruin stuff. Like with any creative endeavor, alot of what's made will be junk. But that doesn't mean mods, in general, are bad. It's all up to the modder and the mod user, what it does to the game they're playing.

(Me, I've pretty much always run Oblivion with a level scaling overhaul, because it's nigh-universally acknowledged that Oblivion's scaling is the ur-example of how NOT to do it. And I play with lots of appearance mods - new races, new skin textures, fancy armor & clothes, new hair & eyes. Shorter grass, so you can actually see the landscape in places. :tongue: I've tried gameplay changers like Oblivion XP, to see how it would be like. And I've tried quest mods. Oh, and got to have DaRN UI, to make all the text smaller - I'm not viewing the game on a TV from across the room, I don't need 36 point fonts. )

I will say that I 99% of the time play a game through first unmodded, so I can see how it is in it's "original" state. That way I can judge better if a mod does something that I might want, or not.

That's constructive.

To the OP: You ask a very valid question. I'm with you in a lot of ways. I played OB first on PC then on PS3 and for the most part I preferred PS3. I didn't have to worry about tweaking the .ini file for that perfect grass draw distance and height, fiddle with HDR vs bloom. Worry about chosen resolution and measuring FPS every two minutes. You mentioned your GPU is a little dated, etc. In that case if you already loved vanilla OB, console version might just be up your alley.

The biggest benefit to mods IMO though address gameplay and graphics issues. There were some mods with OB that really took the game to another level and 'fixed' its weak points. A few come to mind that I loved:

- An archery mod that better balanced that gameplay style
- Higher/better textures than the stock ones
- Night-time lights and chimney smoke in towns, making the game more life-like at night.
- Better and more varied weather effects

There are pluses to both sides of the equation. Console will let you focus on the game and enjoy it 100% of the time. PC mods will address some of the things 'lacking' in the vanilla version, but you'll spend a lot of time fiddling.

Hopefully the answers don't degenerate into ridiculous platform wars. Why so many self-involved people here care what system others chose for a completely single-player game is beyond me.

To me the good thing about mods is that no matter how much I like a TES game, there will always be some stuff that I miss or would want a different way, and mods lets me add whatever I want to a game, no matter how big or small or how ridiculous that is.

For example, in Morrowind after a few years I got a bit "bored" and I wanted to tweak the game a bit for fun, I remember missing mounts, being able to smoke skooma(like actually equipping a pipe and smoke while I walked around, and idk why but I felt like I wanted ninja armour and gear and a dojo, and a new cool playable race.

Instantly searching the biggest mod sites I found a dojo(with gear and everything included), a horse I could ride, and my smoking pipe. I wasnt sure what new type of race I wanted though, but basically everything I wanted to add, seemed to already had been done and ready to download. Another game I was playing was Aliens vs Predator, and Ive always been a fan of the predator, so I searched for a playable Predator race.

I found a complete AVP mod, adding playable predators, all their armours, weapons, thermal vision and a huge quest to kill aliens(queen included).

So one moment from modded morrowind I remember was standing outside my japanese island next between a pink flower-tree and the dojo, being a 7 foot tall Predator wearing a kimono and a katana, smoking my skooma pipe, and my horse waiting for me to hop up on it.

I know that this is a ridiculous scenario, and kind of gamebreaking(except you can totally play the entire game with these things and it wont affect anything more than your own experience).

But, the thing is, anything you'd want to change or improve with a TES game, is possible thanks to mods. If you just want to change the color of your shirt, or add a spaceship that takes you to outer space, you CAN with mods, there are endless amounts of mods it seems. I used hundreds for Morrowind and even more for Oblivion, all running at once, if there was something I didnt like or got tired of, I simply disabled it when starting up my game.

Mods made me play both games for years and years, the vanilla games are fun, but they will be infinite fun and playable with mods, you dont have to add out of TES content, you can use mods following lore aswell if you want to preserve the game and not "ruin" anything, or you can download Darth Vader armour and a lightsaber and roleplay the entire game as the Dark Sith lord if you want, riding a pink elephant, there's nothing you cant add or must add with mods, it's all about what you think will add to your gaming experience.

There are only 3 reasons why you wouldn't use mods:

1. You can't use them because you play on console.

2. You are a casual gamer (no offense meant, just a person who plays games to relax for an hour or two per week at most, which is a healthy attitude) and you don't want to mess around with installing mods, tweaking stuff and the like. You just want to have a good time when you play and after you're done with a game after a while you move on to the next one.

3. You are too dumb to install mods. As weird as that may sound, I've seen people who were unable to extract an archive into their data folder and check an esp in the launcher menu.

Other than that there is no reason not to use mods. Why would you want more bugs in your game? Worse graphics? Less content? Gameplay not tailored to your personal taste? My game has the gameplay I want (in my case challenging gameplay without exploits), it has 10x the amount of content, more atmosphere, more everything. And less bugs. If you spend more than 50 hours in total playing an ES game there is no logical reason why you wouldn't want all that in your game as well.

My reason for using mods is simply to enhance the experience.
I use Project Nevada for Fallout New Vegas which adds filters to all eyewear, adds a sprint function, grenade hotkey, allows me to alter experience points and my own health.
It's simply great for it's mechanics and how I can balance the game out with it.

It has nothing to do with:
1) Better Graphics
2) Preferred Control Scheme
3) Mods, Mods, Mods

Fallout Classic Weapons is also a mod I use, why? Cause I'm baffled that the former weapons are nowhere to be seen. I want them back, simple as that.

I also use the Flora mod that turns the wasteland into a more greener place.
But it doesn't have anything to do about "graphics" cause it doesn't enhance the previous graphics.
I just use it because I'm bored out of my mind of seeing nothing burt dirt, gray complexes and rocks since Fallout 3.

Then I use Unlimited Companions cause I think that having a limit to it is ridiculous. (But I'm doing a Companion Dead Is Dead so when they die I cannot reload, Veronica died yesterday against the Legendary Cazador.)


So why do "I" use mods?
To fix what I consider flawed, broken or missing.
To rebalance the game so it's actually challenging.
To add lore-friendly items that are missing from previous games.

There's tons of reasons to use mods, mine are simply to fix what I consider a broken game.



[edit]

Oh and I'm also making my own mod for New Vegas.
It's purpose is to add new gangs to the wasteland with their own unique feel and to make them use weapons normally only used by the player.
(Once I get the DLC's I'll work the new weapons into the game as well.)

Why make this mod?
Cause I'm frustrated and generally pissed off that the "dear player that is suuuuch an exception" get to use weapons like GMG, Plasma Caster, 9MM SMG, This Machine, Gatling Laser et cetera.
I hate it.
I want enemies to be able to use these weapons as well.
Even it out a bit.

So you're confused as to why the modding scene is so appreciated?
Cause the only way I could get enemies to use a Plasma Caster in New Vegas is if I buy 10 of them with MFC, go around the world and drop these weapons near enemies so they pick them up.
With mods people can get these kinds of things to flesh out the game in their favor. Make it harder, make it easier, smooth something out, rough it about, add items, remove items, enhance graphics, add new weather effects and so on and so on.

What's so great about mods?
Cause of their flexability to shape the game in the image we choose.
No game is perfect. But with mods the gap can become smaller.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA :rofl: THAT WAS SO AWESOME!

When I first played Oblivion, I didn't play long after reaching level 25. The level scaling didn't just change stuff behind the scenes, it literally changed the whole world. I just thought it was ridiculous and annoying.

I played like this for a few years until I heard of Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul. One of the things that the mod changed was the level scaling. Every single enemy type is present in the world from the beginning, and bandits still wear crappy equipment even when I'm level 30. To me, this just makes the game plain better. I can level up without fear of not power-leveling enough and being outmatched by the Deadric-wearing bandits at level 25.

I didn't think of a level-scaling-mod when I played without OOO, I was just annoyed by it without thinking that it may be fixed with mods. So I can't say that mods have made me appreciate the game any less before even trying the mod.

So there you have it. For me, mods turned Oblivion from near-excellent to excellent. Isn't it obvious why people love mods? If we see room for improvement or something we don't like, we find a mod for it. Or we could find a mod that makes something that we already like into something even better.

In short, mods are: Freedom, the ability to customize the game just as we want. Who wouldn't want that?

Well, unless you want to mess up your game, long term, it's not as simple as that, is it? I'm no wizz, and it took me a while to properly understand modding cause not all mods are installed in the same manner (if you're using OBMM or whatsthenameofthatotheroneineverfiguredout?)

Wrye Bash?

If people would just try modding first then there wouldnt be any threads like this.

Just google and search "nehrim" and you'll understand why.

It's a mod of TES IV but it's a total new game. It has a whole modding team with professional voice acting, new textures, new storyline, new items, new NPCsand even romance.
I don't expect a console player to understand this without actual experiencing a mod themselves though. Console players are used to pay 10 dollars for a weapon or something but for some reasons they do not expect quality free mods from players.

Doing things only for you interest and passion is always better than when you do it for money.
With mods, there are only things that you can't imagine, but nothing you can't find or get.

I wish I had a gaming pc/laptop. My crapbox 360 svcks.

Wrye Bash, yes. I never could wrap my head around that one, although it seems the better choice of the two.

In order to try modding, I'd have to buy the game for PC. I'm trying to ascertain why I should consider that...

Very few mods are harder to install than that. Of course the more mods you add (especially complex mods), the higher is the chance that they may conflict. In that case you need to learn how to change your load order, but that is a simple concept and very easy to do as well. There is even a program that sorts your load order automatically and recognizes more or less all popular mods. A bit of common sense and half an hour of your time should be more than enough to learn how to install 99% of all mods out there. And even the 1% of mods that require some dedication and actually reading the readme aren't that hard to install.

Very true, the best mods I've played are all player made, even though I appreciate Beths DLCs too.





Yes, I played Morrowind and Oblivion on PC modded, then I played Fallout 3 on 360, thought of buying a new PC for New Vegas but I played that on the 360 aswell.

Even though I cant afford it I will buy the best computer available to play Skyrim, I cant play it on the 360, I feel as if I will be missing out on too much, mostly mod wise, I will still play with the controller from my 360 now I think.