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Steam to introduce 1-step mod installation/uninstallation with Skyrim
- Thread starter corn_fest
- Start date
I think you are painting a way too gloomy scenario here. I think what you fail to understand is that some games have a really good modding community and thus have the tools to make modding easy. Some games however don't and publishers/devs dislike opening up their games too much. These days devs complain that creating mod tools for the community is "too hard". If this does blow up, it might make publishers/devs more receptive. Not to mention there's a decent amount of games where installing mods are indeed troublesome.
Not to mention if this scheme is too restrictive, I'm sure the old mod scene will still exist.
jim-jam bongs
Member
I'm painting the scenario of what already occurs when you wrap UGC in a walled-garden. I think what you fail to understand is that I've been using and writing mods since I was about 12 years old, so your vague generalities about decreasing mod support and mods being cumbersome to install aren't really news to me. Rather, I'm fairly confident that I can speak to those topics with a lot more authority than you just did.
So instead of explaining your position you resort to your wise knowledge on how the market works based on your technical skill in writing mods?
Speaking from a consumer standpoint. You know the people that don't have fast experience in using mods. Installing Crysis mods was god damn nightmare. GTAIV mods was annoying as well for those on the steam version.
DA:O was another game I've tried modding since getting a proper gaming PC, mod support on that was pretty good though. Here's a game where the devs and pubs supported modding. Witch led to interesting mods made with the tool set given and additional mods which didn't make use use of the tool set. What Valve is trying to do isn't anything new, but they'll probably streamline the process even more. For it's mostly being able to download mods off their excellent servers.
jim-jam bongs
Member
I explained my position already though in a reply to someone else, it's the first post on this page. And I was mostly just pointing out that you made a lot of assumptions about where I was coming from, as I'm painfully aware of how mod support has declined over the years but don't really see this as being something which will slow that decline. This is a game which already has loads of mods available for it before the CK has even been released, so it's clear that this Steam integration isn't necessary to stimulate the scene.
That's all well and good, but we're not talking about those games. We're talking about Bethesda games which already have a thriving modding community which has a lot of talented coders and artists, and for which the basic tools are always provided already.
What makes you think that Steam isn't necessary to stimulate the scene? Even if the modding the game is relatively easy. Streamlining it even more isn't a bad idea. Having proper dedicated servers to host these mods is a good thing. Not to mention that there people that don't trust mods, this might make them more willing to try them out.
This isn't just Skyrim, this is about showing that there's merit in modding. Publisher might be more open to mods when they get support from Valve to at least keep an eye on things. As I said before if this eye is too restrictive. Modders can always use other sites to provide mods. Like the DA:O example. The tools provide by Bioware makes making mods easier, however modders who found the tools too restrictive still had no problems in creating their mods.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=405321
Give me an effing break. Stick to your method if it bothers you so much. Who's taking it away?
Not everyone wants to go through that (and still not have things work). And either somebody showed you what to do or you spent considerable timing reading that. Anything else is a lie.
Basileus777
Member
Steam distributing mods isn't going to eliminate things like that if you want to go that deep into things. At best it might handle load order.
I wasn't aware you were on the development team.
I wasn't aware you already had the Creation Kit downloaded into your system and able to try it out.
ChoklitReign
Member
Cool, but how will it contrast with Skyrim Nexus? And, more importantly, what about SKSE and Dragonscript? Most of the mods I use are simple ESM files, but what should we expect with current compatibility?
JUST RELEASE IT ALREADY. I haven't played Skyrim in over a week and I'm getting shooter fatigue from my backlog.
JUST RELEASE IT ALREADY. I haven't played Skyrim in over a week and I'm getting shooter fatigue from my backlog.
Basileus777
Member
I don't need to be in order to see that it's not likely to support script extenders that mess with the .exe or bashed patches.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Because the final point is the only one which doesn't already apply. The community is already huge, mod managers have already made the process of using mods very streamlined and they are already being hosted on dedicated servers.
As I said earlier, my major concern is that the success of moves like this could mean that other avenues for modding are removed so that mods don't interfere with plans the publisher may have for DLC. Obviously there's always a possibility that other publishers will become more open to the idea of UGC in their games as a result of this, and while I agree that would be a good thing I'm wary of this becoming a more refined method of control, which to me flies in the face of why I love mods in the first place.
But hey, none of this could happen and it could all be hunky-dory. I'm just a concerned pessimist who loves mods!
Well what we know comes from the vid. It seems to state that installing and uninstalling mods is as simple as subscribing and unsubscribing. Which looks pretty appealing to me.
What's wrong with introducing mods to a larger audience? Yeah the dedicated servers on steam are pretty good compared to those of modding sites. The uptime and speed are vastly different to say the least.
If such a thing is even possible, they could already do that regardless if this hits big or not.
You don't have to.
Or maybe I just decided to open up the readme file thats included with every mod? I suppose that takes far too much brainpower for you, and everything has to be done with one click or it's not worth it.
Somebody on GAF spent 3 pages in a thread trying to open a zip file. You can't assume people have the logic of a small child here!
Is this the first time a feature within Steam(works?) has been utilised by a third party before Valve itself?
Edit: Oh, right, Team Fortress 2. Duh.
I'm surprised it hasn't permeated to the rest of Valve's GoldSrc/Source catalogue.
Ah, nice.
Edit: Oh, right, Team Fortress 2. Duh.
I'm surprised it hasn't permeated to the rest of Valve's GoldSrc/Source catalogue.Ah, nice.
Basileus777
Member
Civ 5 uses Steam to handle mods too.
jediyoshi
Member
NMM, the new master race.
crimsonheadGCN
Banned
Actually, it's GameSpy that is being used for mods in Civilization V.
http://www.poweredbygamespy.com/2010/11/19/sid-meiers-civlization-v/
ZiZ
Member
shouldn't they have released it by now? I recall them mentioning a January release.
I check Skyrim nexus every week or so, but I haven't installed any mods because I've waiting for this.
hopefully by the time I'm done playing Kingdoms of Amalur the community will have made hundreds of great mods.
actually you don't need a mod for that, the Skyrim Console Commands are enough.
I check Skyrim nexus every week or so, but I haven't installed any mods because I've waiting for this.
hopefully by the time I'm done playing Kingdoms of Amalur the community will have made hundreds of great mods.
actually you don't need a mod for that, the Skyrim Console Commands are enough.
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
This sounds nice but i have the feeling that it will create problems that the "Omg Godly" posters arent foreseeing. For one or two mods this would be fine but mods start to depend on other mods the allure of auto-subscribing will wane when the game breaks with each update. This would be perfect for something like Unlimited Adventures or NWN but for an open world games like Bethesdas? i dont know.
jediyoshi
Member
So worst case scenario, the state of modding won't change at all!
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
On my Morrowind install i had a hundred or more mods. If things auto-updated each time a mod updated it might be difficult to discern exactly which one broke what.
balladofwindfishes
Member
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
i dont use Steam. i was just discussing what could be a potential issue. i know that i personally would not want my mods for Morrowind to auto-update so the posts about how awesome that would be got me thinking.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Amazing.
I failed EPICLY at modding Oblivion. Far too hard.
I failed EPICLY at modding Oblivion. Far too hard.
jediyoshi
Member
The overlap between mod updates and game updates hasn't been an issue so far and the community's ability to sort intercompatibility between them is already handled, as it would already be anyway, by community driven comments just fine. There aren't exactly leaps of logics involved in discerning between what mods would already be potentially conflicting to begin with and a quicker way to toggle between which ones are active can potentially be helpful to creators in ensuring that compatibility.
I don't know if that's a bad thing, in general. Take something like Project Nevada -- that's a ridiculous amount of work. I wouldn't mind giving those guys some money. I don't know if I want to give Bethesda (or Valve) any money for it, given how they had very little to do with their creation (GECK does count for something). So I wouldn't mind if *nexus started supporting premium mods, I guess.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I wonder how mods like fan patches (especially on the level of UOP's) and megatexture mods would work. I guess this one is for the simple add x mod but for the advanced ones will still require skyrimse and such.
Should be easy to fix most of the scripting problems with this, but probably not anything engine related.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Thought as much. Regardless on how this game is patched I'm expected a USP.
balladofwindfishes
Member
aren't all versions of PC Skyrim Steam?
It's Steamworks, I don't think you can play it without having it on Steam
