Modding for consoles?

Post » Fri May 27, 2011 5:04 pm

Well a i have an Xbox 360 and I would like a way to mod things, kinda like forge in Halo 3, but for weapons and enimies and armour.
how 'bout putting in a later DLC.
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Vicki Blondie
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 2:46 pm

Unfortunately it's not so much MS and Bethesda conspiring against you (Though MS does -not- like usermade content on their gaming machines) as much as the hardware of the 360 can't take it.
Comparing the GECK to the Forge is sort of like comparing a motorbike with rockets on the end to a pushbike.

A pushbike with one wheel.

Any mod that does more than variable tweaks adds to the RAM usage of the game, and RAM is in short supply on the consoles. Additionally, tools like "FOSE", which make many of the cooler mods possible, simply couldn't work on the consoles due to how they function.
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naomi
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 3:41 pm

Mods wouldnt work on the console, even if MS/Sony allowed it. As Phoshi said above, RAM gets taken up fast. The 360 only has 512MB of RAM, the game on PC with lots of mods takes upwards of 1.5GB or more. It would also cause instability with the game, and more lag.
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Bee Baby
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 8:23 pm

Nope, won't happen.
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+++CAZZY
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 10:26 am

Well User Made Content does exist on the 360 due to their XNA platform. However the problem is getting modifications to work properly on said consoles. Coding for the 360 and PS3 is vastly different from the PC since consoles *guessing here* use their own sort of coding language. I'm betting the console makers aren't exactly willing to share that code with people. Heard the people that develop games for the PS3 have to buy a $10,000 developer kit just to get started.
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Robert DeLarosa
 
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Post » Sat May 28, 2011 12:22 am

Sorry. It is Microsofts policy to not let the users mod games and stuff on the Xbox 360. That's the terms of use. You agreed to those terms when you got the Xbox 360 and signed up for Xbox Live, so there's no way around it :shrug:
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Timara White
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:44 am

Mods wouldnt work on the console, even if MS/Sony allowed it. As Phoshi said above, RAM gets taken up fast. The 360 only has 512MB of RAM, the game on PC with lots of mods takes upwards of 1.5GB or more. It would also cause instability with the game, and more lag.

There's also that whole bit of legal responsibility if things happen to go wrong. As is gamesas support will assume that all problems are mod related as soon as the presence of mods is mentioned even when the problem is clearly related to other factors. The reason being that the company cannot control what mod content is available, cannot control how that content is installed, and cannot certify that any of it is safe or proper.

The same is true with consoles... Frankly, they have enough problems even when you don't have unofficial changes in place.
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emma sweeney
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 7:28 pm

Releasing the actual editor on consoles wouldn't work, they don't have the hardware or software to run it. Gaming consoles are streamlined to run games so they don't have the RAM required to run the editor.

Releasing a converter similar to what UT has on the PS3 is unlikely to be that successful. The UT converter is finicky and often doesn't work and this is for stand alone maps; FO3/NV DLC are far more complex since they need to be integrated in to the rest of the game, and can alter almost any part of the game. Chances are a converter would have a very low success ratio. UT also doesn't have to worry about stacking lots of mods on top of eachother whereas FO3/NV mods can, and this would lead to stability issues.


Some have suggested that Bethesda release a 'best of' pack, but this opens several incredible cans of worm. First they need to review mods, and there are tons of mods out there. Then they'd have to make a selection which would no doubt result in a lot of, "Why did they choose X instead of Y," and "They wouldn't even consider [favorite category of mods]." If all of this wasn't difficult enough now all of the plug ins have to be put in for QA testing, individually and when they're all loaded together. The PS3 DLC (which were five in-house DLC) were delayed months because of QA problems when they were all loaded at once, and as it is many PS3 owners experience problems with the GOTY edition (particularly with long running characters). To then throw on even more mods, and mods particularly any mods that adjust the original game (rather than extra areas, which is what Bethesda generally does), would be horrendous to put through QA - and I'm not sure if it could even make it through QA.


It certainly svcks that consoles can't access user-made mods but each platform has its strengths and weaknesses. PCs are more expensive and can be more difficult to keep running (consoles rarely need driver updates and the like) but on the upside they can do things like run mods. :shrug:
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Daniel Holgate
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 5:16 pm

Well User Made Content does exist on the 360 due to their XNA platform. However the problem is getting modifications to work properly on said consoles. Coding for the 360 and PS3 is vastly different from the PC since consoles *guessing here* use their own sort of coding language. I'm betting the console makers aren't exactly willing to share that code with people. Heard the people that develop games for the PS3 have to buy a $10,000 developer kit just to get started.


Coding's not that different, really, and done in the same languages that run on PCs (IE, something compiled down to machine code), but Gamebryo implements it's own scripting language which is cross-platform. If bethesda and MS wanted to, they could fairly easily get mods onto the consoles, they'd just have difficulty running them.
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Nicole Mark
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:57 am

The only place i've seen mods on consoles was on unreal tournament 3.

I reackon the next generation of console's might be able run a GECK type

programme but now i doubt it will happen.
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Travis
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:42 am

Pretty much what everyone else said :)
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Breanna Van Dijk
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 4:11 pm

Coding's not that different, really, and done in the same languages that run on PCs (IE, something compiled down to machine code), but Gamebryo implements it's own scripting language which is cross-platform. If bethesda and MS wanted to, they could fairly easily get mods onto the consoles, they'd just have difficulty running them.

Yeah, for the most part mods aren't platform dependent, although some adjusting may help them run more smoothly.

I think the real problem is getting the hardware to handle multiple DLC and particularly large DLC. Something that makes major modifications to the main game will probably have a much harder time running on a console than a PC - in fact on the PC some of these have hardware recommendations beyond what the basic game requires.

Consoles also don't have very much RAM compared to PCs since for most things they don't need it. Unfortunately when you add a large amount of new content, particularly to a sandbox game, the console just can't handle the amount of information it's being asked to keep spooled up. If you step in to the PS3 hardware forums most of the people encountering lots of problems (particularly with the DLC installed) are using characters that have done lots of things. When someone clears their memory and starts a new character oftentimes most of the problems go away. If the PS3 is already having problems managing the basic game at level 20, and is really straining once the character has a DLC or two behind them, a pile of user-made content will only make things worse. The XBox 360 isn't have as many problems with the FO3 GOTY but throw in another pile of content and I'm sure we'll see the same problems cropping up.
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marie breen
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 10:40 am

M$ or $ony would never alllow such things.
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REVLUTIN
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 12:10 pm

Coding's not that different, really, and done in the same languages that run on PCs (IE, something compiled down to machine code), but Gamebryo implements it's own scripting language which is cross-platform. If bethesda and MS wanted to, they could fairly easily get mods onto the consoles, they'd just have difficulty running them.

Aside from that, for most modding the game binaries don't need to be touched at all (exception to this is things that use a script extender). Things like the GECK tool are just editing game resources and scripts, which are pretty much the same for all versions of the game. As has been said, the big reasons you won't see mods on the consoles are that supporting people that break their game with mods on a console would be a pain in the butt and that the console manufacturers won't allow it. I know that some FPS games on consoles have editors, but they're just level editors. The modding that is done in games like Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 is much, MUCH more extensive than that.

As far as mod tools that actually run on consoles, no way. The GECK is way too complex to use with a control pad (I'd rather mow the lawn with finger nail clippers), and most modders use a bunch of other PC software in mod creation (graphics and sound tools mostly, but also a lot more...especially in the area of custom apps for doing things with the game resources that the GECK doesn't do). It just wouldn't work.
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Miss Hayley
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 6:26 pm

M$ or $ony would never alllow such things.

And nintendough for that matter.
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His Bella
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 1:07 pm

Just get a PS3 and mod :P
I modded Unreal tourny 3 all the time
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koumba
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 11:58 am

Ehhh, Farcry 2 had a pretty decent Editor on it on the consoles. Check it out if you haven't, it's awesome.

To state the obvious though, Farcry 2's editor and GECK are completely different things, and obviously don't use the same engine, yet I would wish to see something similar to the Farcry 2 editor possible with console versions of future Fallout and Elder Scrolls sequels.

That would definitely make user made dungeons, and custom outdoor location mods pretty decent for others, only if Bethesda were to impliment an optional setting which link custom mods to the main map in designated areas.
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Adam
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 12:48 pm

No.
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Chris Johnston
 
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Post » Fri May 27, 2011 9:49 pm

Not going to happen. Microsoft's consoles are closed proprietary systems. The only thing you can do with them is run content that Microsoft has licensed. I'm going to close discussion before somebody says something the moderators will have to make them regret.
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Euan
 
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