Bethesda totally copied Oblivion's 'No loading area message' mod for Fallout 3!

I am not going to say it isn't so, but I am sure most of the concepts you see in mods have already been thought of by the devs. That is what they get paid for, after all. Also, a lot of concepts in mods come from a modder seeing something in one game, and then thinking it would be cool to have it in another.

It has already been mentioned, but I iterate, it is very different to buy a game, download the construction set, and spend 3-4 months just trying to get your new hideout just right, or just "re-balancing" weapon stats, with pre-made assets, than create the entire game from scratch, on a schedule. They very well can come up with a thousand of ideas for the game, but only be able to implement 500 in a way that is logical to the story they want to tell and allows them to meet the production schedule.

In any case, there are VERY talented modders out there who very well could be working for Bethesda or any other gaming company: some have very strong graphic arts skills, some are great story tellers, some are efficient coders... I know I plagiar... er... "leverage" code snippets at work from some of my co-workers (as they do from me as well) so I could see where someone working for Bethesda would look at a mod and pick up a pointer, being graphics, story, or code.

Definitely not. Modders aren't developers. They're using Bethesda's CS to create content for Bethesda's IP.

Like others, if it's a good idea I see no issue. For example, the [Empty] indicator you see in NV when looking at containers, was a mod first. So simple, yet it took a modder to add it.




You are using the wrong (or bad) mods then. :shrug:

So much so it took DarN (and others) to make decent PC UI's. DarNified UI is a must have (to me) and should have been incorporated long ago. (Please do so for Skyrim Bethesda?)

Have you tried the official Wizard Tower add-on? That mod took it way beyond what it originally was. It went from http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/29941/TES4-Wiztower01.jpg to http://frostcragreborn.com/images/2841169660_a6de29a398.jpg. I bet you'll never find a longer set of stairs in a game, ever. Battling baddies the whole way. Simply incredible work. Modders blow my mind with there passion and dedication for these things.



I love Akatosh mount!

i call console player on this dude LOL

But... Skyrim being a different game, mods will be incompatible? Inspiration is the only thing they *can* take from them?

... well, aren't Bethesda developers using Bethesda's CS to create content for Bethesda's IP as well?

Probly didn't notice, but Bethesda devs did create the construction set. Pretty sure that gives them credit for everything they do with it.

This short vid sums up how I feel about this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfNI0HRTBHk

Well, the construction set was created by application developers, the guys who write the code that gets compiled into a construction set. These are not the same guys who write the stories, or construct the meshes, or paint the textures... kind of like the guy who invented the paint brush didn't paint the Sistine Chapel. The construction set is just a tool. What you do with that tool, that is another story.

Yeah and I hope that they'll totally copy the map mod for oblivion that gave all that lush color to the world map and replaced the boring icons with fresh ones. And yes, there's indeed an underlying joke in what I just wrote here :whistling:

But I'm also being serious. It's the little things they can do to make a game shine. It's nice to leave some of it for the modders to improve on, but certain things should be in the game from the start!

Application developers that were on Bethesda's payroll, ergo the CS belongs to Bethesda. But good work figuring out the hundred or so people on this development team serve more than one role.

The guy who painted the chapel got paid. Are you suggesting modders should get paid? How else could that anology be relevant.

some of the NAY Sayers here probably never played the lost spires mod which was.... well epic

or OOO overhaul which makes OB great

or Midas magic spells the most impressive magic mod to date.

Bethesda has already used a lot of ideas that came from mods like:

cooking (Shadow crest manor)
farming
smithing
plants the go away when harvested or change shape
NO absolute level scaling
better leveling up mechanics
quest rewards that level up with you
better magicka

....etc

trust me whether you say no or yes Bethesda has already done it and used modder ideas in their up coming game so get over yourselves.

Bethesda should use modder's ideas. Having a CS out is a blessing for developers, as they can go right in and see what is popular, thus improving the game directly after. But, popular does not equal good. Luckily, the lore breaking stuff would never become official.

And I know they have done in the past and they will keep doing it.

I think they should use any good idea that fits the game regardless of where it came from. A good idea is a good idea.

Yes and no, if the mod is good then yes but if the mod is just "I don't like X Feature so I'll put in Mod to change it" then I wouldn't want that type of idea to make it to Skyrim. Now if it's something that is needed then that's a different story.

No what I'd want Bethesda to do is use common sense and come up with their own unique take on things, if Morrowind where oblivion in setting and style and Oblivion was Oblivion, NO modder would have come up with the truely unique landscapes, quests and background that morrowind had, i mean really what mini quest have you come across where a Bandit asks you for a kiss or 50 gold and complying would make him your trainer later in the game if you seek him out? (morrowind)

Why do people jump to the conclusion that they'll going to outright rip-off the whole thing? The title says IDEA.

Also, they're already inspired by some mods, so it's a bit too late to complain...

Yep. It's a good source of random brainstorm sources.


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And I think some people are missing the point - we're not saying "Well, they took Supreme Magicka and built it into the game."

We're saying that something like "Well, is pretty common in mods, and it's got merit. Might be interesting to take from that idea, and tweak it like this, and this, and this..... could be useful".

Getting inspiration from mod ideas. Not just grabbing a mod and sticking it in.

Bethesda made updates and fixes to their product based on bug reports and player feed back. Modders made updates and fixes for the same reason, bug reports and player feedback. I guess when we set aside reasoning we can say everything Bethesda has done right out the gate is rip off modders.

Why wouldn't they take ideas from mods?? The fact that someone else thought of it doesn't straight away make it a bad idea. And the amount of mods out there now probably equal the amount of work Bethesda put into making Oblivion (in terms of hours). Obviously the BGS guys are a lot more talented than your average modder, but what possible reason could they have to ignore 5 years work on their creation?? Many mods just fix what people see as flaws in the game, and a lot of them are very popular. It would be insane to ignore those ideas. It's like paying a marketing research group to send out questionnaires to find out how people that bought Oblivion felt about the game, and their opinions of how it could be improved, and then just ignoring the results. Except that they don't have to pay anyone to do it, and it gives them a much clearer understanding of what their fan base wants.


The most popular mod on TESNexus has been downloaded 100,000 times. There's not an easier way to find out how that amount people felt about their game.

We all know how good Bethesda are at making games, but they're not omnipotent, and they can tell bad ideas from good.

But dat mod was epic!

:teehee: but it wasnt a mod, it was in morrowind

Sarcasm breh. On that note, I'm sure a few folks here would be happy to know the anime six slave mod for Oblivion found on TESNexus will be making its way in TES V. Because that's the high level of qualtiy a mod I will strongly defend.

Geez... ok.I am not suggesting anything. What I am saying is that not because Bethesda created the tool, it means they are the only ones who are good at using it. Not only that, producing the game (or mods for that matter) goes beyond the construction set. The construction set merely brings the assets together in a format the game engine understands, but the meshes weren't created with the construction set, the textures weren't created with the construction set, etc etc etc.

Game production requires a lot of specialization. You are going to be VERY hard-pressed to find a c++ coder at the level required to code the construction set or the engine, who can use 3Dmax or Photoshop to a level acceptable for game graphics, or who can write a compelling story.