i guess maybe a stupid question, but will any kind of in game editing ever make it to console versions i.e. PS3.
Perhaps as a store download etc... or is it a question of the PC being the only power that can cope with this level
of mod's. cheers R.B.

Ain't gonna happen.

1) It's against the rules of consoles to have user-made content in games.
2) GECK is too heavy for consoles
3) GECK would have to be reprogrammed and ported to consoles, which would serve Bethesda absolutely no purpose.

Long answer: no.

cheers there i see your first point, the rules and all, but it would not be pointless for Bethesda, as i think most console people would snatch up a chance to extend there game play, build there own beginnings. For folk who like weird things like "the Sims" creating there own town - settlements etc would only make the Fallout experience last so much longer.... as it should just go on and on..... I am no fortune teller but whats next for those folk who have been round the maps again and again. surly it can't end. tell more those people who know?

Its really more about the technical limitations of consoles than it is about game rules.

You should think of it more in terms of, "Bethesda created the GECK on the PC to aid their game builders in making the world fast, more efficiently and more consistently than if they had to create every cell by hand in a word processor". The GECK was a tool built by Bethesda FOR Bethesda's team to make Fallout3.

Then out of the kindness of their hearts, Bethesda chose to release the GECK to use when they were done with Fallout3 so that the modding community could move forward and make mods to the game. Beth made "a few" patches for the PC modders to solve incompatebility issues, but in general the GECK is very close to exactly what the Bethesda level designers use on their PC's at work. Thus there was Very Little effort involved (i.e. very little money spent or lost) to release the GECK to us, and I for one am EXTREMELY grateful for this.

To then take the GECK and make it work on consoles is no small task - indeed it may have been an insurmountable task given the file system and operating system differences between a PC and the consoles. The blog and forums are chocked-full of posts about how Bethesda had great difficulty in porting the game over to the console's successfully (especially the PS3) because of console limitations. Trying to make the GECK work in such circumstances would cost huge amounts of money, time and effort - which is exactly what they did Not have to do when releasing the GECK for the PC.

So it all comes down to business, money and the limitations of the consoles over the freedom that a PC gives you. Its not a slight against console users, its simple economic reality.

Miax

Your point fails highly there. Bethesda doesn't make a quarter of a dollar if it lets console users extend their gameplay by any means necessary.

I'd go further but Miaximus has revealed the truth regarding GECK and consoles.


I'm afraid your only choice is to get a PC and Fallout 3 for it. I doubt it ever happens that consoles get the same access to game files as PC does.

The GECK is a Windows application - not a program that runs [in] Windows but a game that is entirely built around Windows architecture. As neither the XBox360 or Playstation runs Windows bringing the GECK over would basically require re-writing it from the ground up. Even if this could be achieved its unlikely either platform would be able to run it well, consoles have their hardware streamlined to run games and the GECK requires more RAM than either can provide.

There's an option other than running the GECK on the console, and that's a converter tool like the one used to port UT3 maps to the PS3. However this has its own problems. The porting process for UT3 is already hit-or-miss and the mods are comparatively simple to what you can do with the GECK: the GECK is manipulating an enormous game world rather than creating individual and separate game maps. Even on the PC there's a risk of compatibility problems and glitches, if plug-ins had to go through a filter like this first chances are only the most simple would survive.

Then, as Miaximus has already explained, there's the fact that the GECK isn't designed for the player base but designed for (and budgeted for) their own internal use.

Finally there's a question of whether the console would even allow something like this. Microsoft is staunchly opposed to user-made content like this so until it becomes a 'selling point' they're not going to allow it. Sony is more accepting but they've hardly embraced it, while they've supported in-game editors like in Little Big Planet they dragged their feet for more powerful and flexible editors. UT3 only managed it because Epic refused to release the game without this concession.



This discussion has managed to be very constructive but given that the GECK will not be released for either console I think it would be best to lock this before some idiot brings restricted topics like console modding.