Modification / New Game

[DoomPriestKano]

Myself and a friend are thinking about taking the Fallout 3 engine and creating a new game using it, my questions are these:

 

A) is it possible to edit the Fallout 3 source code?

 

B) if it isnt, how much will the G.E.C.K allow us to edit? I have already extracted some BSA files and changed some aspects, made signs flash a different colour etc, a list of what we would need to edit is below:

 

Splash screen prior to game launch.

Interface, including main menu and in-game interface.

Certain textures, i'm hoping the modding community can help me with these, our game is going to be noir based with hints of colour (think Sin City), brickwork thats very dark with flourescent white cement, this means the colours of the textures will be extremely easy to do as 99% of the textures will be greyscale.

 

Also, a more specific part of the game i'm hoping to get looking good, i'll need circus tents meshed with the same multicoloured flourescent theme, as well as jesters and other similar stuff.

 

C) Weapons, this should be VERY easy, we will be using the existing Magnum mesh in Fallout 3, as well as 10mm pistol, and virtually all the close combat weapons apart from power fists, rippers and other high-tech stuff, were talking pipes, axes and other stuff.

 

D) Armour - quite simply, there is none, main character is going to wear a detective-style trenchcoat and other people will be wearing clothing, so fancy armour wont be required.

 

I dont want to get into too much detail as i'm planning on throwing up a website dedicated to the game if all this is possible, but if we could glance at the Fallout 3 source code it would be beneficial, if not were hoping the G.E.C.K will fulfill all the needs.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[Callighan]

To answer some of your questions:

 

A) No.

 

B) The GECK allows us to mod almost anything. The key word is almost.

All of the the things you said are do-able through the resources and utilities available. Although, there's a high chance you'll run into some things that are hardcoded or technical things that cannot be modified through stable means.

An example of this is the fact that its impossible to add new firing or reload animations into the game engine without using script or .nif workarounds.

[ElijahHouck]

Oh, and Bethesda will yell at you. Really loudly. Especially if you plan on making people pay for it- all of that stuff (engine, source code, etc.) is owned by Bethesda, so you're gonna go through a lot of legal crap... and likely lose. You'd probably be better off just making a new worldspace and NPC's, with custom loading screens for said worldspace. You could just not include the weapons/other items you don't want in the worldspace, and include a base save that starts you in your worldspace- almost as if it's a new game completely.

This will probably be way better for you and your friend in the long run, and probably a lot easier as well.

[DoomPriestKano]

Thanks for your help, creating a save game for them to start at would be a good idea.

 

And as much as we would want people to pay for it, we realise the source code is Bethesda's and we wouldnt dream of releasing it for sale, at the finishing stage we would have one of two options really:

 

A) release it as a MOD for Fallout 3, this is the most likely option

 

or

 

B) Ask Bethesda if they fancy buying the mod from us (this is going to be an entirely new worldspace), so they can tweak it and possibly release it as a brand new game.

 

As for any revenue, we would probably accept donations from the general public but certainly wouldn;t expect it, in the end we like creating fun things for others to play.

 

To ask you a further question, are there any tutorials on changing the in-game interface using G.E.C.K (or scripts) and also the custom loading screens?

 

many thanks for all your help!.

[Baelkin]

B) Ask Bethesda if they fancy buying the mod from us (this is going to be an entirely new worldspace), so they can tweak it and possibly release it as a brand new game.

 

If you make your mod using the GECK and release it as an ESM or ESP, Bethesda already owns your work as per the EULA. The only thing Bethesda doesn't own is custom made assets like models and textures, but they are quite useless to you anyway without a game-engine to put them into.

 

Simply put, you cannot make a mod and expect to make a penny off of it except from voluntary donations from people using your mod who like you work enough to actually want to give you money in support (like that will ever happen, a lot of people won't even pay for the professionally made DLC packs). Anything else is going on the fast track to getting a "cease and desist" letter from Bethesda at which point you are legally bound to stop your activity or face legal consequences.

 

Of course, that shouldn't prevent you from making whatever it is you have planned, just don't expect that you'll make any profit off of it because technically you don't have anything to sell.

[DoomPriestKano]

Thanks for your advice, do you have any insight into how we would change the game launch screen, loading screens and in-game interface?

 

Any good tutorials dealing with such things? I can't see to see any tutorials dealing with those issues on the GECK wiki.

 

Many thanks.

[Baelkin]

Thanks for your advice, do you have any insight into how we would change the game launch screen, loading screens and in-game interface?

 

Any good tutorials dealing with such things? I can't see to see any tutorials dealing with those issues on the GECK wiki.

 

Many thanks.

 

Try checking out the content in the "Fallout - Misc. bsa" archive. At a glance it looks like it's smack full of .xml files pertaining the structure and content of load screens, menu's and other interface objects. I'm not sure how you'd go about editing them though or what .xml style they use, but it's definitely possible to mod them.

[DoomPriestKano]

Thanks, i'll give it a shot and see if I can edit them

 

Try searching for free XML editor in google, theres a few, if someone can figure out how to edit them before I do, post it :P

[Callighan]

Oh someone knows.

I play a few mods that already do; Commonwealth of Modders and Ultimate War Mk III. Maybe you could reverse engineer those.

[Hateful_kat]

The Fallout 3 engine, Gamebryo, is not owned by Bethesda. They simply have a license for it.

 

Emergent Game Technologies are the creators and owners of Gamebryo.

If you and your friend want to make a new game using Gamebryo (haha, very unlikely) , buy a license.

Under certain conditions, you can get a free, evaluation copy of the engine.

 

Good luck with your project.