There is still quite a bit of that, especially in the case of games that do not have official tools. I have used NWN and NWN .2da extractors on Witcher and Jade Empire files, extractors that are not official products or tools but are, instead, produced by modders for modders. Still, I would rather have more powerful tools, such as developer toolsets, as well as they enable more ambitious projects. Just compare KotOR I's selection of mods to NWN's selection and you will see why a toolset might be preferred.
A Witcher .2da file I was playing with (sadly all my Witcher work was lost in a system crash):