Is Modding Worth It?

[GhostOfYork]

I hear a lot of people are actually against modding Skyrim, as well as other games. What do you think? Has your Skyrim experience been more or less enjoyable with the inclusion of modding?

I'll say from my side, it's a bit half and half. I enjoyed what I could play, but it's not very stable and I'll be damned if I can't go 5 minutes without CTD or some other game-breaking issue.

[nivea]

I think its silly to be "against" people modding a game, games are for fun and when a developer GIVES you the tools to mod a game they are pretty much giving permission to do so.

 

Most mods will work without issue, the problem comes when people push the limit to how many mods or scripts they can run and then complain about it. Also I am always amused when someone ignores the modder who tells you a mod is not compatible with another mod, and they just use it anyways.

 

The only time its "not worth it" IMO is when you ARE a modder, thats the only time I feel its right to sit down and say is this affecting me and my life to much (time, annoyances, bullying, emotions, hate mail, ect).

 

You can of course not want to mod your game as it is your game, and if you can not follow directions or your computer can not handle it then you should not.

[notmyhome]

There's so much you can do to your Skyrim game, there's bound to be a mod suitable for you.

[bben46]

Modding is no for everyone - until the last few years it was a geek only activity, just too programmer orientated for non geeks. You had to know enough about computers to do stuff that was considered hacking at the time - such as hex editing and script writing in some obscure programming language. And was often a hit or miss proposition - what worked on one computer didn't on another. Most mod users were also mod makers - because you had to have the knowledge of how mods worked to get them to work anyway.

 

Now, with the advent of simplified mod managers it has become much more mainstream. But the people who use mods are now not the same as the people who make the mods. Newer users do not have a clue what makers do. And often seem to think that makers should be held responsible for their own inability to follow what the maker thought were clear concise directions. Conversely, some mod makers have an inflated view of the computer skills of the neophyte users that are trying to use the mods and tend to expect them to understand how to install mods and what to do if they don't 'just work'.

 

For playing with a few simple mods you may be able to get by without knowing anything about computers or file structure. But for the more complex mods if you really don't know anything - you may be better off just not using mods at all. Unless you are willing to invest the time and effort in learning something new instead of spending that same time just playing an off the shelf game. If you are unsure, don't try to install those mods that say manual install recommended by using a manager - it probably won't work.

 

For me, making mods is the game - I rarely finish a game because I see something I want to change and completely wreck my current play-through trying to get it to work. I don't make many entire mods that can be uploaded, mostly I make changes in existing mods for my own use.

[Deleted3507349User]

Yes indeed, modding is a different ballgame now. It's gone much MUCH more mainstream. As bben says, this means that a lot of people completely unfamiliar with modding and the concepts behind it will want to try them out. While the point that mod users - newbie or otherwise - need to read all the instructions carefully is valid, the reality is that a lot of them simply don't or don't fully understand even if they do. I feel that the responsibility lies with US, the mod makers, to make our mods as easy to install as possible and have instructions that are concise, accurate, and as easy to understand as possible.

 

Simply put; the closer we can get to making our mods a one-click install the better. We also need to do everything we can to make them just as easy to uninstall. A lot of users just want to try a mod out for fun, they don't want to make a career out of installing mods, they just want to PLAY THE GAME.

 

Yes, both using and creating mods is completely worth it for someone who is a fan of the game. I think we're entering a sort of golden age for modding. More and more game companies are explicitly designing their games to support modding and there are a lot of truly excellent mods out there.

Edited November 22, 2014 by digitaltrucker

[nivea]

digitaltrucker: Dont know about that, this is a hobby for me and I personally do not want to learn scripting just to make sure someone else can install my mod with one click I do not want to make a CAREER out of mod making. Sadly this will never happen since I need to have patches to make the mod work with other mods, there will most likely never be a one click install for any of my mods.

So that makes it almost my fault then when a user can not take a couple seconds to read through my NMM installer, and they can not take the time to read through the NMM installer they installed from Nexus?

 

If that gets to be the case I think it will be the end of my modding, I am past the point of making stuff much harder on myself to make it slightly easier on users. Its bad for my emotional and physical well being. ):

[Deleted8081533User]

here is what the developers have to say https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGeUuYrJZvY

[Kaltornen]

Like many of you, I've been playing Skyrim since day 1. First on PS3 but then I researched some of the mods on pc and was so impressed that I bought a proper gaming laptop to be able to mod the game. I'm still a bit of a noob but I also understand the immense amount of work that mod creators put into these mods for FREE. And I've been so impressed with the effort that Dark One and his team have put into the nexus that I felt ot was worth it to sign up as a premium member.

 

I've tried other games over time but I still come back to skyrim because of the mods. Yes CTDs are annoying. In my case they are always my fault. After a year of modding I've realised that lots of script heavy mods will quickly crash my game. But I did some research to figure that out. So I've come to terms with the fact that some mods don't play well together, load order is all important, patches and bashes are usually required. Etc...

 

If you want to go for broke to see what you can do be prepared for regular CTDs. If you want a stable game limit your mods, use STEP and keep it simple. A lot of the complaints I see in forums are of immature people who are too lazy to do their homework about mods and don't appreciate what they've been given for nothing. First world problems, eh?

 

Thanks to all the mod makers out there for your time, talent, effort and PATIENCE for us noobs!

[ArronDominion]

Games with good mod tools are the future. Some of these games that would only last a couple of years at best have been extended due to a creative community (Portal, Half-Life mods, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and many more games).

 

The Skyrim mod tools are easier to use than some of the other tools out there, making it more popular and accessible. The scripting language created for the Creation Kit also allows for some powerful control that some other toolkits don't have, or make hard to use.

 

CTDs will happen with any mods since you are trying to run new content ontop of what is there (which requires memory), and some of these mods are not constructed with compatibility in mind, use the same area or namespace (in terms of scripts) that another mod uses, are large enough in scope that bugs are inevitable, or done quickly enough to allow for glitches to pop up. Don't give up on mods due to the CTDs, it just might take some trouble-shooting to see what mods work together (and that you want of course).

 

I personally enjoy both playing mods and making mods, and think it adds to a more tailored experience.

[Lachdonin]

You can eat plain, unseasoned food. It's perfectly functional and you can survive on bland, boiled everything. So why do we choose to season our food? Because it makes it more enjoyable, more exciting and keep old fare new.

 

Modding is the seasoning to Skyrim's food. And the seasoning to all games really.. I don't see how anyone could honestly be against it, unless they have never tried.