Modding

[fan]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this before, but I sincerely hope this game will be easily moddable.

 

Some content added to F:NV is simply amazing. Almost endless replayability, and with the new ENB suites, it even has the look of a recently released game. Talk about aging gracefully.

 

Community content for this upcoming classic would only serve to make it so much better in the long run.

[Nakia]

Are you a modder by any chance, fan? The game is still in the very earliest stages and won't be released for at least a year and a half.

 

I do hope it will be moddable. Mods are not only good for the players but they add rep to the game itself. They prolong the life of the game and actually get people interested in buying the next game in the series or just looking for games by the same developer. Other games by Obsidian have been moddable so this one probably will be too. Hopefully easier than FNV.

[aVENGER]

A modding toolkit sounds like a good idea for a stretch goal. Considering the huge modding community that was built around the Infinity Engine games, I'm sure that there would be a lot of interest for that.

 

As a modder, I would certainly welcome it. However, I'd like for the developers to focus on making the best game they can first and foremost. If time and resources permit it, releasing the toolkit a few months after the game is finished would be nice bonus.

[Kaldurenik]

Im fine with this as a stretch goal =)

[vidalia]

+1 for having a modding toolkit as a stretch goal

[Psyckosama]

A toolkit would get my to increse my pledge. Just about nothing else will.

[Mildras]

As a person from Paradox Interactive forum I approve of this +1

[Archmage Silver]

Obsidian has stated that they're looking into the possibilities surrounding modding, but that's it for now. Unity as an engine does have the capability to support modding kits though, so the basic premise is that it should be possible, but a lot depends on whether or not Obsidian needs to develop the modding tools from the ground up, which takes resources.

[hellslayer]

The problem is that unity tools aren't made to be some sort of modding tool.

 

Obsidian probably don't want that everyone can compile their game to some executable which is quite easy if you would have the complete Project: Eternity as unity3d project.

[Sensuki]

Bad luck the game will be written in obfuscated perl

[hellslayer]

probably not

[ReyVagabond]

Moding as a stretch would be awesome!

 

i dont know adding armors, leves, stories companions, and all that, is why i love PC games, TES, NWN, they where awesome for that reason.

[morhilane]

Update 16 have some good news for modders. I copied the whole thing because I'm lazy.

 

 

Mod Support

 

From Neverwinter Nights 2 to Fallout: New Vegas, we've enjoyed supporting the mod community, and we are continuing that with Project Eternity. It is awesome to see how you extend the worlds we make.

 

To make getting mods easy, we are excited to announce that our friends at the Nexus will be the official spot to download Project Eternity mods once the game is released. They have been a great host for mods for our past games, and we want to continue the trend with the Project Eternity Nexus. Check out the Nexus Network at www.nexusmods.com.

 

Our plan is to release our file-format information and expose as much of the data in the game as possible for you to extend and edit. We traditionally do not "hard-code" numbers so that our designers, and you, have the power to easily change and iterate on RPG data. We also plan on releasing localization tools to let communities around the world create localized versions for languages we are not translating Project Eternity into.

 

As we get more familiar with Unity during production, we will be extending Project Eternity even more for mod makers. Look forward to announcements in the months ahead as we make further progress and can provide you with more information about tools and mod support.

[IndiraLightfoot]

I'm a modder, so I'm thrilled about this announcement! :D

 

However, I've never been on those Nexus forums, so I've much to check into before I even can begin planning for such an endeavour.

[diablo169]

It's not mod tool announcement but its a step in the right direction.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Nexus is prolly great, but wouldn't it be logical to support mods via Steam as well, sorta like CiV and Skyrim? I'd love to have it on Steam.

[diablo169]

Nexus is prolly great, but wouldn't it be logical to support mods via Steam as well, sorta like CiV and Skyrim? I'd love to have it on Steam.

 

It would make sense for them to have steam workshop support as well, but I imagine you have to pay Gaben and Valve a fair sum to use that for your game.

[TCJ]

Excellent news on the modding ability. Even thought they haven't announced mod tools, it seems like they will at some point (otherwise why mention mod support?) and that's what I've really been hoping for with this game.

[NOK222]

Nexus is prolly great, but wouldn't it be logical to support mods via Steam as well, sorta like CiV and Skyrim? I'd love to have it on Steam.

 

It would make sense for them to have steam workshop support as well, but I imagine you have to pay Gaben and Valve a fair sum to use that for your game.

 

What they should do first is use Nexus, if the game is really succesful, chalk up a bit of money to Gabe afterwards.

[Archmage Silver]

Nexus is prolly great, but wouldn't it be logical to support mods via Steam as well, sorta like CiV and Skyrim? I'd love to have it on Steam.

 

It would make sense for them to have steam workshop support as well, but I imagine you have to pay Gaben and Valve a fair sum to use that for your game.

 

What they should do first is use Nexus, if the game is really succesful, chalk up a bit of money to Gabe afterwards.

If the money comes out of the expansion pack's budget, I'd have to disagree here.

[ravenshrike]

Nexus is prolly great, but wouldn't it be logical to support mods via Steam as well, sorta like CiV and Skyrim? I'd love to have it on Steam.

 

It would make sense for them to have steam workshop support as well, but I imagine you have to pay Gaben and Valve a fair sum to use that for your game.

The problem with SW support is that it's...picky. Sometimes it runs smooth as butter, sometimes it gets funky. Then there's the fact that it really doesn't work well with very extensive mods, and doesn't really crosscheck mod support at all. This is a problem since it automatically installs mods. Whereas generally one of the modders on Nexus will create some sort of mod manager like FOMM which can check general compatibility and change mod priority, and FO3Edit which can actually fix mod compatibility. Now, whether those types of tools will be able to be created with the Unity engine is unknown, but they don't really work with SW at all.

[anek]

I enjoyed messing with the internals of the InfinityEngine games, installing and using some of the superb mods created by others, and also creating small mods and fixes myself for personal use.

And I'm really looking forward to being able to do some of this (and more) for PE.

 

I hope, however, that no kickstarter money is wasted for provided official "modding tools" or a "mod distribution infrastructure". This is just not necessary, because fans can also provide all of that, for free. And they (or rather, we) can provide them and improve them over time in such a way that it fits whatever modding purposes we come up with, not in a way that only covers what the original developers though that modders might want to do.

 

And in fact, it may divert attention from what is really required in order to ensure that PE will get as many (actually useful) mods as the InfinityEngine games, and hence live on for decades to come just like them - namely, a modder-friendly data file structure and data/scripts driven engine design.

 

 

But maybe we all just have different ideas of what "modding" actually is?

 

I get the feeling that to many people (especially those who grew up with the newer 3D RPGs, rather than the Infinity Engine games), it merely means having an editor with which they can create new maps/areas, stick a bunch of monsters in them, and then upload them somewhere so others can explore them.

 

For me, this is just a very small part of what modding means - especially for a game with 2D pre-rendered backgrounds such as this, where not many fans will be able to come up with new high-quality maps anyways.

Modding, in the sense of the IE games, means that modders can freely tweak or extend the internals of the game's rules, behavior, entities, maps, and other data - in order to provide bug fixes, "tactical enhancements" mods, additional NPCs and companions, and many, many, many other things.

 

 

I've explained it in more technical terms here: http://forums.obsidi...n/#entry1227128

Edited October 7, 2012 by anek

[IndiraLightfoot]

No, Anek, you're absolutely right! Great post!

 

I just want to add that adding small wishes for modding kit/toolset assets to stretch goals could be well be stuff that attract non-modders, coz these people have a general idea of adding modding assets means more game for them, more mods to enjoy. But in reality, what you wrote "a modder-friendly data file structure and data/scripts driven engine design" is one example of things that really matter to modders and the creative freedom that comes with it. But let's just say, we modders need catch phrases snuck in into the future goals of PE in order to whip up the attention of both devs and players.

[Mildras]

If they are to make modder tool then it need to be like it was in NW2 or similar but a structured and easily accessible data file is the most important thing.

 

 

IMO the best example of a modding friendly data structure is found in Paradox Interactive modding scene. They use data files that are in plain old txt files even so the scripting language is powerful yet easy to get into.

[sesobebo]

No, Anek, you're absolutely right! Great post!

 

I just want to add that adding small wishes for modding kit/toolset assets to stretch goals could be well be stuff that attract non-modders, coz these people have a general idea of adding modding assets means more game for them, more mods to enjoy. But in reality, what you wrote "a modder-friendly data file structure and data/scripts driven engine design" is one example of things that really matter to modders and the creative freedom that comes with it. But let's just say, we modders need catch phrases snuck in into the future goals of PE in order to whip up the attention of both devs and players.

 

i'd say that some modding orientated documentation, just to cut out the irritating iterating interlude, would be quite nice.