How Hard Is It To Make Mods?

[Steak514]

I want to make a mod with original land, like the size of an island. I was thinking to add it to the coast of the salem area as it's pretty desolate. Is it ok to just add it to that worldspace or would it be better to create my own world space and then have the user just teleport there (like talk to a guy a boat to take you there). I would like the user to just walk to it. Is there any reason it would be bad to just build onto the already existing map by going out into the ocean a little?

[noahdvs]

I want to make a mod with original land, like the size of an island. I was thinking to add it to the coast of the salem area as it's pretty desolate. Is it ok to just add it to that worldspace or would it be better to create my own world space and then have the user just teleport there (like talk to a guy a boat to take you there). I would like the user to just walk to it. Is there any reason it would be bad to just build onto the already existing map by going out into the ocean a little?

From what I've read, it's better to make a new world space if you go outside the bounds of the map. Otherwise it'll work with any mod that doesn't edit the same cells.

[Steak514]

Alright, I guess maybe it'll be safer to just make my own worldspace.

[dazzerfong]

I'm a 3D modeler, and I'll say 5 years ago I started modding. IMO, they're different challenges but equally hard. Modelling is tricky because stuff like guns have a lot of parts to it, and texturing is hard because getting something to look realistic is very hard (PBR helps a lot).

 

If you're into 3D modeling, go to Polycount.com instead. It's a bit dry here, with most people porting from Gamebanana and actually having little to no knowledge of the processes involved.

[JuJooGuppy]

So, doing a Gun Runners style addon that adds the mentioned guns is fine *IF* you create ALL the assets yourself. You can't port content from NV to FO4, even though Bethesda owns both, its just their rules. So its not impossible, but you'd be doing all the work.


As for texturing, I personally would highly recommend either Substance Painter, or what I use (and its a lot cheaper), Quixel suite. Basic texturing with it is pretty simple, and its extremely powerful so as you learn you can make really excellent textures with it. I am still god awful, but have done a couple decent retextures with Quixel even with my terrible understanding of it. And as mentioned, its much more affordable.


As for "how hard is modding", it really depends. Everyone is different. Some people barely know how to function on their PC at all, in which case any serious modding would be nigh impossible. So, its really hard to just give an answer there. As mentioned, though, start smaller. Its going to take a LOT of time to learn everything (I started at essentially zero for FO4 myself. I have barely scratched the surface and have a LOT to learn still.) I would start with projects that teach you a bit of one thing at a time, and then eventually start doing things that use 2 of the skills, 3, and so on. Don't expect to work at it for a week or 2 and then suddenly be able to dive into a DLC sized mod.

[RaffTheSweetling]

I started modding late in the life of Fallout 3, and have had some success, but, I only just kind of feel like I know what I'm doing most of the time. What I've learned to do it to play to my own strengths. I enjoy level-design and writing. So I keep doing that. I made some progress with re-texturing assets, but only a little, and I still feel like I don't really know what I am doing, expecially in this new CK.

 

What you are talking about - making weapon meshes from scratch, is incredibly skills/knowledge-intensive, and takes a long time to learn, and even longer to develop to the point of uploading an entire arsenal as a working weapon-pack mod. I suggest Youtube channels that give basic tutorials on CK-use, to get your head around the tool you are going to be using. The rest is going to be learning, learning, learning - thousands of different things, in order to achieve the results you are looking for.