Just a little curious about the state of play Mods wise right now with this Game.

[Apis4]

Ok so I am pretty familiar with modding Bethesda games... I do not like manually installing... but can......but this game and these mods have thrown up some questions.

 

I am seeing a lot of mods talking about modifying one's .ini file to allow loose file installation. Fine. That was something I had to do for some mods off other sites for FO4.....

 

.....but the thing is, I only needed do it once. Delete the existing parameters, copy the ones given me by the creator of one of the more popular companion mods in that game, paste them in to the .ini... done. Loose files enabled.

 

But when I look around mods here and now for this game... I am seeing what seems like a lot of mods needing individual, specialized, ini modifications, different from each other.

 

Is that right?

 

If so, why is that?

 

Is it because the SFCK has not dropped yet? Or because that allows the mods to work on console, without SFSE?

 

I want to use some of these mods, but I prefer mod manager... I am old school, hardcore dedicated, NMM user, but was even willing to upgrade to Vortex to grab some SF mods..... but even with a Mod Manager, some of the mods I looked at, said that the next step regardless of if I used manual or vortex... I had to go mod the ini, and it did not look like the same mod to the ini, a previous mod would have needed me make.

 

Is this all just because the game is so new, there is no CK, so there is less accessibility to mods for consoles for now, so people are trying to make their mods Xbox friendly?

 

Will this change? Will invariably, once the CK is out, and the modscape gets much grander in scale, and moves towards SSE or FO4, do we think this will mark a return to manager mods that that set and forget?

 

Or is these something innately baked in to this game which means this is the way one needs go about SF modding? Constantly adding to the ini every time you add a mods, or at least most mods?

[HeyYou]

A fair few of the mods are just modifying game settings, via a bat file. You modify the ini file to load the bat file. Unfortunately, there seems to be some variety of issue with loading some random number of them. The answer is to create a 'master' bat file, copy/paste the text of the mods file into it, and just load ONE file from the ini. Works great. (I have a dozen or more lumped into one file.) And yep, folks are doing it this way because we don't have any modding tools for SF as yet. Rumor has it, we won't see the CK until next year some time. God only knows how long it will be before SFEdit is out.... let alone niftools, etc.

 

Currently, I don't think Vortex handles mod installation all that well. Beth changed the way mods get loaded.... they put the 'data' folder in the my games folder, which to me, is just a bad idea.... However, there is a 'fix' for that as well. (which I have implemented, and, it works.) So, mods go where they belong, in the data folder in the game installation directory. :D

[Apis4]

A fair few of the mods are just modifying game settings, via a bat file. You modify the ini file to load the bat file. Unfortunately, there seems to be some variety of issue with loading some random number of them. The answer is to create a 'master' bat file, copy/paste the text of the mods file into it, and just load ONE file from the ini. Works great. (I have a dozen or more lumped into one file.) And yep, folks are doing it this way because we don't have any modding tools for SF as yet. Rumor has it, we won't see the CK until next year some time. God only knows how long it will be before SFEdit is out.... let alone niftools, etc.

 

Currently, I don't think Vortex handles mod installation all that well. Beth changed the way mods get loaded.... they put the 'data' folder in the my games folder, which to me, is just a bad idea.... However, there is a 'fix' for that as well. (which I have implemented, and, it works.) So, mods go where they belong, in the data folder in the game installation directory. :D

 

 

I saw a mod which fixed the latter issue about mods not going to Data. But I am head shy AF, getting in the ring with mods if it is all in the state you said... I do use one graphics mod, which seems to have worked without me touching anything aside from letting it overwrite one file.... but yeah.... batching ini adjustments, in to a master, sounds likely a solution... but I am assuming you have to change that master every time you add a new mod?

 

Nightmare a scenario for a dunce like me.

 

The CK will be out about... Spring.... (well Autumn for this antipodean).... next year... from what I gathered. It is just a ball park estimation, but Bethesda said it will be coming some time around ... was in March? May? Next year, and the hardcore dedicated folk who track every little tidbit and know the history of their fav studio, many at least, have said about the same.... based on FO4...maybe... I think. So yeah, no CK for another good 6 to 8 months, most likely, and I would imagine that SFEdit is probably something already being nutted out as soon as game was released. I do not really use any of those, CK, Edit, Nif... but my ears prick up hearing them mentioned in relation to something like this, simply because being a modding pleb, they are incredibly important to facilitate the artistes out there making it so I can have a proper home like the lodge, and not some cheap plastic 70s failed Thai modernist pod resort, put my almost beloved Sarah or Andreja under the knife so they can be, that or just give me better, deeper, more complex and talented... and stunning.. waifus, or giving me all those new cool guns, ships and clothes, CAN do so.. and package it all up for me in a manner which means I just have to use my manager, and boom.

 

Guess I have to hold out, and try not to get too sick of the game before they all come out..... or maybe getting sick of it is precisely what I need LOL... come back to it two years later like FO4... and find the community has created a whole new level of awesome experience for me, so as to make it feel like an entirely new game hehehe.

 

Thanks for replying to me and explaining what was up.

[HeyYou]

Yeah, the master file is just a text file. I edit mine with notepad. If you want to add or remove another mod, you just add the line to the existing file to add one, or, delete the line from the file to remove one. (though it's possible that game settings, which is what most of them change, will STAY changed, until you set it back to its default value.....)

[zanity]

Anyone modding this early need to accept all the responsibilities that come with early mods. If you can't or won't, wait for the official mod tools to hit early next year.

 

Too many people jump into Starfield having heard of mods, but not understanding they are NOT part of a normie gaming experience, nor are they intended to be. Starfield is not a game plus mods. Starfield is a game, full stop, like any other game (without mods), that also has the sideways ability to be altered by a modding community for the sake of gameplay changes, NOT for the sake of people who bought the game and mistakenly thought mods come in with the purchase price.

 

Well there are such mods, and they will be from Bethesda, via patches, DLC and later their shop. Those are the no-brainer mods that are formally part of the initial purchase deal.

 

For the less skilled computer users, the longer you wait, the better will be the community support for any popular mod. Today isn't about support, but the rush to get out the earliest mods possible, sometimes for 'clout', sometimes to begin the process of reverse-engineering and production of non-Beth tools (many of which will be replaced by Beth tools later on).

 

PS this game really really needs mods- everywhere. Everything is wrong with it at every level. Cyberpunk just got its 2.0 release around two years later, and has garnered little praise since it barely puts in content that wouldn't have been all that great Day One. After mods fix every bug and broken mechanism in Starfield, modders will go crazy with story and new location content. As rotten as the game is today, it is clear how existing modders will eventual achieve what Todd never would or could. After all the (proven unnecessary) delays to Starfield's release, another two years seem like forever. The answer is to rush thru the game vanilla today, put it away, then return to it afresh when mods are ready to transform it.

[Apis4]

Yeah, the master file is just a text file. I edit mine with notepad. If you want to add or remove another mod, you just add the line to the existing file to add one, or, delete the line from the file to remove one. (though it's possible that game settings, which is what most of them change, will STAY changed, until you set it back to its default value.....)

 

 

Oh I have been modding a long time, and I now that the game is just the game.

 

But modding itself is what changed, in this case.

 

For example, my first foray in to modding, was almost 20 years ago, with The Sims 2. Mod the Sims is still one of the most import sites to modern game modding, since everything from Script enablers, to something like CBBE, really got to be something, being used for that game.

 

But back then, things were simple, there was a little manual labour, but only really unpackaging the zips and dropping them in to the right folders. Anything really complex to enable some aspects of mods or new meshes, or .... another things which the Sims 2 really made a niche.... 'adult'....content mods of complexity.... all had their own exe which just did all the adjustments and things themselves. I do not recall, for example, texture enabling, with something like CEP, being anything as close to as finicky as installing the mods for Bethesda games was, and is with this one.... because of lack of tools.

 

But the thing is, I never bothered modding my Skyrim, until about three years ago... and only two years ago, did I decide to mod my Fallout 4... so I was not modding those games day one..... the only game I had to go off, with modding early, and without many tools, was indeed, the Sims... though I also modded some even older games thereafter... and the experience was, from memory, MUCH easier, even without a lot of modding aids, and the modders doing a lot of prepackaging, than this seems to be.

 

Thus I was just curious as to why. I am and old gamer, predominantly console, but also PC, on and off, in my 40+ years of gaming.... but I never was one for the technical side of it all.... so was just wondering what the score was. My experience many moons ago, of modding without a lot of tools, was, for the game I modded, one of relative easy regardless, and my experience of newer modding, has been for games which have been out for so long there's a plethora of tools for both the mod authors, and users, to simplify it all.

 

This is the first time I saw it be so... intensive... and require so much.... effort.. to properly use and install... and in some instances... even run... mods.

 

Yes, you are right... what I will do is just grind through one full playthrough, then go back FO4 and SSE, maybe grab something like Baldur's 3, or see what expansive indie games have come out recently, drop in to them for a few years, and come back when I can make my Starfield as awesome as my Fallout or Skyrim

[HeyYou]

I have been modding beth games since morrowind. Things have actually gotten EASIER (to an extent...) since then. In morrowind, even changing your load order mid-playthru, would cause all sorts of havoc. :D Back then, manual installation was the ONLY option. Wrye came up with Bash installers, but, the mod had to be properly packaged for those to work. Then, we had oblivion, with Oblivion Mod Manager. These were scripted installs, and worked rather well. (but, required more work on the authors part.) Then came NMM, which was essentially just an expansion on OBMM.... which was subsequently replace by Vortex. By that time, mod authors packaged their mods with that in mind, so, Vortex (and other similar programs) worked great. It opened up modding to the casual gamers, that didn't have time/motivation to learn how to mod beth games. It was all handled automagically. Starfield though, shuffled how things worked..... and Vortex hasn't quite caught up yet, that, and the modding tools haven't come out yet either. (SFEdit, CK, etc.) That will come in time though. And then modding for SF will REALLY take off.

 

Of course, there is already methods to change how starfield handles mods, so it is more in line with the older games. (whomever thought putting the Data folder in the My Games folder, should never be allowed to work on games again......) It will be interesting to see how Vortex decides to handle the possibility of folks installing their mods to different locations. :D

[Akopian]

Good overview Heyyou. Right now we mostly do not seem to have genuine mods. Most things seem to be tweaks, some quite clever and complex but still, fancy changes of game settings. Even so, I bet there will be an explosion of modes when the Creation Kit comes out. I really look forward to it.

[HeyYou]

Good overview Heyyou. Right now we mostly do not seem to have genuine mods. Most things seem to be tweaks, some quite clever and complex but still, fancy changes of game settings. Even so, I bet there will be an explosion of modes when the Creation Kit comes out. I really look forward to it.

Oh yeah. Once the tools are out, the number of mods, and things they are able to do.... will skyrocket. :D

 

Keep in mind though, that a lot of mods for the older games were also just tweaks to various game settings. They were simply able to do it via an esp file though. :D Once the CK releases, it's highly likely that all those 'bat' mods, will become ESP files.