Mods: Create and use just for the fun of it OR to make the actual game better?

[Parasondox]

Hello Escapist
As a gamer I'm actually quite fascinated at what the modding community can do with certain games to spice things up. I was wondering a few things;

Do some of you mod games in order to add a bit of fun (eg. Isaac Clarke, being the hulk and portal in GTA 4) or just to make a game you find boring into something actually fun and interesting?

What are some of the best mods out there that you have seen or played?


Also I only have a PS3 for now and wish I could do mods. If there is please let me know cause as far as I know you can't do mods on PS3 games (please correct me if I am wrong). I want to really upgrade my PC but it will take take and money.

 

[DazZ.]

Both.

Mod I'm currently playing is Synergies for Torchlight 2, and it's basically an expansion pack. Adds classes, areas, bosses and loads of end game stuff for maxed out characters.
So whilst I wasn't actually bored of the game it certainly makes it better once I've completed it once.

That's why I like games with modding tools so much, it pretty much guarentees content for that game long after the developers move on if the game is good enough, makes great games have amazing potential.

Don't think I'd mod a game I find boring.

 

[Hawkeye 131]

Why not both? I don't understand why there's even an OR to begin with.

I'm playing through Mass Effect 1 right now and it's ironic to me how good a 6 year old game can look with 1 hour's worth of tweaking and modding. I'm currently running Mass Effect with hi-res textures, a few .ini tweaks to completely mod out things like motion blur, mouse acceleration, film grain, vignette's, depth of field and other visual features I just don't like. I also enabled the game's console command which in itself can allow you to adjust the in-game FoV, grant yourself special items and loot exclusive to the PC version, adjust paragon points, take uncompressed native resolution screenshots, completely remove the HUD, enable a fly camera to zoom around the environment etc... Plus, through programs like Nvidia Inspector, SweetFX or just the control panel you can force features like anti-aliasing, FXAA, ambient occlusion, multi-thread HD support, triple buffering or downsample the game's resolution on the GPU from 3840x2160 to your monitor's native resolution to make the game look MUCH better than it already is.

Also I'm currently in the process of modding Fallout 3 because as it stands the game doesn't run very well on Win.7 64-bit OS's, with a few .ini file tweaks. Eventually I'll download a few mods from fallout3.nexusmods.com!

You can have your cake and eat it too!!!

-Hawk

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Usually I use it to enhance the game, not specifically to make it more hilarious.

Hey, if your game adds a dungeon that ends with a trashtalking boss and loot that is an insanely fun quad-shot bow, that's great, but I got the mod for the dungeon.

Immersion I guess.

 

[Lictor Face]

In the case of Skyrim? Certainly. I am fairly certain Bethesda purposefully left the game somewhat less polished than it could be because of the huge modder community the TES series has always had.

Playing Skyrim without the various player made items,dungeons,modules, perk trees etc is just a plain waste ( Sorry to you console folk )

Skyrim without mods, just by itself, is arguably just a rather above average game. But with mods included? It surpasses almost any other open area RPG game i've seen in a long time.



I believe the same could be said of other games that use mods, such as NWN2, Fallout series and maybe Dragon Age. Mods can be pure hilarity or cheats, but the best of mods enhance the overall game far more.

 

[Sprinal]

Mixture of both.

I like more content... I like different skins often I like new models for females especially as bethesda is so horrible at making them. For other games it makes it harder. others it makes it easier.

They mostly allow you to tailor the games to exactly what you want (within reason).

If it weren't for mods I wouldn't have spent almost 500 hours in Mount and Blade warband. And I would have probably finished it too.

so yeah both.

Some mods may break the game for you but others you will wonder how you played without.

 

[LAGG]

Sometimes to make super awesome stuff that doesn't come with the game.
Sometimes to extend the content with new stories or entire new games.
Sometimes to just make the game plain better in the platform:
http://farcry.nexusmods.com/mods/63//?

 

[Angelous Wang]

Both.

Take Skyrim for example.

You've got lots mods that add in new weapons, armours and textures for them. These add allot of fun and some prettiness to the game but they don't change the game at all really.

Were as you've got pretty major Vampire and Warewolf overhaul that completely change Vampires and Werewolves from being little more than a gimmick to a major factor of the game.

In fact the Vampire overhaul I use is so extensive its like comparing playing New Vegas in normal mode to hardcore mode. You have to play the game so differently compared to normal and it's lot more challenging, but way more rewarding once you get a powered up Vampire with a boat load of new and fun abilities.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I love modding games for both humor factor (installing and running a ton of mods in Skyrim that semi-break the game but make for massive laughs... especially Macho-Man Randy Dragons...) and for the tweaks that dev's may not have had time to put in.
It makes for a different and customizable experience. Also playing Yautja in Skyrim... fun.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Depends, but I usually just mod a game to spice up the vanilla experience after I've had the vanilla experience.

The only exceptions would be things like spell mods for Wizardry 8 and interface mods for Skyrim, stuff that's just anti-frustration without changing the actual experience, that I'll add before I finish a game.

 

[loc978]

Generally I use 'em to correct gameplay I find to be watered down, to add elements I find to be glaring omissions from the game (example: Fallout New Vegas - Project Nevada and refillable canteens... oh, and DarNified UI for everything from Oblivion through New Vegas), or total conversion mods to make an old game seem new again (example: Sins of a Galactic Empire).

 

[Abomination]

Generally I use 'em to correct gameplay I find to be watered down, to add elements I find to be glaring omissions from the game (example: Fallout New Vegas - Project Nevada and refillable canteens... oh, and DarNified UI for everything from Oblivion through New Vegas), or total conversion mods to make an old game seem new again (example: Sins of a Galactic Empire).

I'm in the same camp here. I like to use them to "fix" games mechanics in certain ways. Sometimes I'll wish a game behaved in a more realisitc or practical manner and if I can mod it so it will it makes the game a lot more fun for me.

I often mod Civilization games to make them a lot longer, make producing troops and buildings a lot faster so that you can actually have a "Roman Empire" scenario and removing strange things like how an army takes 80 years to move to the next town over.

 

[lacktheknack]

Mostly, I dislike breaking the game's intended rules.

No, I use mods to prettify everything.

EVERYTHING.

Skyrim barely runs in some outdoor locations, but oh my goodness, it's a knockout.

http://www.pcgames.de/screenshots/667x375/2013/08/real_clouds_skyrim__4_-pc-games.jpg

Tell me you wouldn't make love to those clouds.

TELL ME.

 

[Baneat]

Best mod? JC2's multiplayer mod. It's what the GTA4 one should have been but never was.

 

[SadisticFire]

Spoiler: Snip

Mostly, I dislike breaking the game's intended rules.

http://www.pcgames.de/screenshots/667x375/2013/08/real_clouds_skyrim__4_-pc-games.jpg

I...it's too pretty...It can't be... Must get nexus link to said prettifications.(That's a real word apparently according to chrome)
But I use mods mostly to add immersive content. Skyrim I added a build your own house, all the big cocks mods, Frostfall(Survival) Falkreath, and a few others more enchantments, birds, and more spells.
In other games like New Vegas it's mostly just...I don't even remember, collectibles and a lucky 38 suite enhancement is the core ones I remember. Oh and weapon mods.
So I guess more immersive, and better.

 

[Asclepion]

Delete

 

[Headsprouter]

I always use mods to enhance gameplay, and for customisation purposes. For example, in Skyrim, I'm very fond of a mod which adds more variety to the weapons available, ranging from cosmetic differences, to greater armour boosts, slower swings and decreased visibility, such as with a larger shield. Because I love choice!

So in other words, keep it vanilla, but apply sprinkles and other toppings.

 

[lacktheknack]

Spoiler: Snip

Mostly, I dislike breaking the game's intended rules.

http://www.pcgames.de/screenshots/667x375/2013/08/real_clouds_skyrim__4_-pc-games.jpg

I...it's too pretty...It can't be... Must get nexus link to said prettifications.(That's a real word apparently according to chrome)

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/39450/

It's not perfect, but it's amazingly effective for what it is.

http://static1.nexusmods.com/110/mods/images/39450-4-1375552603.jpg

 

[Zeldias]

Mostly to make the actual game better. Sometimes fun for me comes in changing certain rules (NWN2 comes to mind, where I don't mind dropping some racial bonuses to drop the whole "considered 1 level higher" bullshit), but normally I don't want wacky shit. I had a student using mods to turn his Skyrim character into a...Hollow? Whatever. The thing the main character from Bleach turns into, then ran around at super speed firing laser beams out of his sword. Shit like that is just too much for me, but a good mod that adds something like character classes or dungeons or whatever? Hell yes! Or events, like the war shit in Skyrim making it so there's skirmishes going on all over the place? Love it.