modding dying?

[Reneer]

 

 

so im just wondering what other people think on this is fallout 4 modding dying with all the bull s*** thats been going on or are we in just some slump that will go back to normal?

Yes, it's dead. You can all go home now.

No, no it's not dead and Robin just gave proof that this has happened before. A lot of people are already working on large scale projects and others are waiting for the last DLC and patches to be over.

I'm pretty sure minngarm just forgot to put the /s tag there. :P

[RS13]

I would reiterate what Dark0ne said: FO' not as popular as skyrim and FO4's numbers stack up well against FO3 and FNV's. However, I think that to the extent that there is an issue, two things are largely overlooked:

 

1. The game is more polished than previous games

2. The game integrated old mods.

 

Unlike previous Beth games, there's not an overwhelming need for face fixes. (God save us from vanilla FNV faces), no need to add weapon mods (FO3) or a menu therefor (FNV). No need for Melee/grenade/sprint hotkeys hotkeys. No need to fix the 64mhz bug, no need to remove the green/orange tint from the game.

 

Skyrim had even more problems (largely because it had more mechanics). The menus... oh the horror! The leveled quest rewards. The inability to block while duel wielding. The OP stealth. Blah Vampires. (And with DG the hideous vampires and the glitchy ugly unwieldy vampire lord.) The way underpowered magic. I could go on and on...

 

Put this a different way: the big problems with FO4 are things that are hard to fix: the dialogue, the story and the fact that there feels like there's nothing to do once you've finished the story. I'd also say that the game desperately needs a perk overhaul. That's another large fix. Of course, we're all waiting for quest mods (Maxwell's world coming soon!) but those are the biggest and hardest of all. And the fact that there's a voiced protagonist makes them even harder unless the modder is willing to require silence is golden or the like.

 

That's not to say that there weren't a lot of things that needed fixing right off the bat, but most of them were predictable (why are your nights so bright?!) or were so obvious that people got on them right away (grenade-SLASH-Melee key!?!?!). So it's mostly big stuff left.

[JimboUK]

Statistically, Fallout modding has never been as popular as Elder Scrolls modding. If you compare Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas numbers to Skyrim then the numbers aren't even in the same ball park. The Fallout series seemingly doesn't have the same long term appeal that the Elder Scrolls series does. Oblivion, released in 2006 sits comfortably between Fallout 3 (released 2008) and Fallout New Vegas (released 2010) in our stats. That should tell you everything you need to know.

 

If you'd like to actually use some statistical data to come up with some conclusions then here are the relevant pages:

 

Oblivion stats

Skyrim stats

Fallout 3 stats

Fallout New Vegas stats

Fallout 4 stats

 

Most of the games start with a very high amount of new files/downloads. This is completely normal; a single-player game is always played the most in its first month. It also makes logical sense that the most mods will be generated in those first few months as well; mainly because the very quick, "simple", small and "easy" mods are all released in those first few months. After that, modding slows down. This is a natural slow down as a result of the fact most of the small and simple mods that were wanted/needed were churned out in those first few months. As a result, mod releases slow down, to be replaced with the more content-rich mods that take more time. Bigger mods, but less of them. Logical, no?

 

If you compare Skyrim stats with Fallout 4's, you'll see Skyrim modding was always most popular straight from the start.

 

You'll also notice that during the late spring and summer months, there's normally a small sharp rise in one month, followed by a decrease in downloads in the others, followed by a rise towards Autumn and Winter again. The sharp rise can be attributed to the Steam Summer Sale. The decline in downloads during summer can be attributed to people going on holiday and getting out more due to the weather improving.

 

My conclusion would be that the current stats of Fallout 4 modding is natural when compared to Bethesda's other main games, and indeed when taking in to account the Elder Scrolls is a more popular modding franchise than the Fallout series. We can also conclude that it's way too soon to be able to accurately say that the game is dying.

 

My experience with making these posts -- where I bring actual facts and conclusions based on said facts in to things -- is that my comments go largely ignored because people came here to vent and come up with wild speculation to support the agenda they had when first posting here. Lets see if that trend continues.

 

FO3 has been merged into New Vegas by many, that's going to make FO3's numbers look worse than they are, how much worse is anyone's guess.

[Bernt]

Well - I don't know about you gals and guys. But around here it's summer - well.... sort of! And when the sun's out and the temps call for shorts I'd rather be outside - if only for mowing the lawn- than sitting in front of my computer. When fall hits I'm back checking up on all the new stuff and playing the game in honest. In the mean time I check up on the Nexus on my phone during breaks at work etc. mainly just downloading updates when I come home :smile:

[crawe1x]

Well - I don't know about you gals and guys. But around here it's summer - well.... sort of! And when the sun's out and the temps call for shorts I'd rather be outside - if only for mowing the lawn- than sitting in front of my computer. When fall hits I'm back checking up on all the new stuff and playing the game in honest. In the mean time I check up on the Nexus on my phone during breaks at work etc. mainly just downloading updates when I come home :smile:

 

Yep, that sounds about right. :wink:

Edited July 30, 2016 by crawe1x

[Juromaro]

I don't think FO4 modding is dying, went through a hiccup with the Nvidia contest and stolen content on consoles. But we've now got animation tools, people are able to put in real player housing. Voiced Companions are making an appearance. All I need now is a pre-built all settlement file that doesn't require 2000 other mods cause I'm a terrible builder lol.

[soupdragon1234]

I dunno about anyone else but I havn't felt the need to mod FO4 much at all I got tired of all the dead vegetation so got some grass and something that puts some leaves back on the trees (even Chernobyl has healthy vegetatation even if its too dangerous for humans to go near, wildlife too. Life is suprisingly resillient) but thats about it. Whereas Skyrim within days of getting it I was modding it to the nth degree. I just havn't felt the need for Fallout. Maybe something to improve that console-ised dialogue choice system if such a thing exists.

 

But other than that I'm simply not bothered. The engine is finally stable with no stuttering and textures look fairly decent, if unexeptional, even God Rays look better than Skyrim's ENB version and the shadows are light years ahead. So I really don't feel the desire to want to tinker with it, and there are times I've felt I've spent more time messing about with mods on Skyrim than I've actually spent playing it.

[zanity]

The peeps saying the 'slump' will pass use the same logic as those that said Ghostbusters (2016) would make a fortune regardless of ordinary punter opinion, and use the BO of a film like 'Avatar' to 'prove' their point.

 

FO4 is a wretched game from a GAMEPLAY POV. But FO3 and Skyrim were giant magnificant steps forward over earlier works. Yes- FO4 is essentailly a BLANK piece of paper for the most ambitious modders, but this means in reality getting a good enough level of worthwhile content into FO4 via mods is an insanely unlikely proposition.

 

And Skyrim on the FO4 (NOT a remaster- vanilla assets are still in use) RENDER engine is coming very soon.

 

Here's the REAL issue- it is gamers and not modders that end up impacting the modding scene. If gamers give up on a game quickly, and agree it was actually a very mediocre and forgettable experience, well support for that title quickly circles the drain. FO4 will have the GOTY (hahahahahaha) edition bounce when Beth rereleases with all DLC, and will have smaller Steam bounces as various FO4 bundles see big price cuts. But the toxic rep of the title will remain. Few new gamers will want to anything more than play, 'finish' and unload.

 

The desperate search for 'rep' and 'endorsement' essentially ensures many modders weigh the value of their time by download count.

 

The flip side is that FO4 will stand alone as a non-medieval moddable open-world environment until Beth's next game of this type. People with modding 'in their blood' have literally no where else to go if Skyrim doesn't meet their fancy. Great new open world games are coming this year, like Watchdogs 2, but they are certainly NOT moddable in any interesting way.

 

Personally I think modding for FO4 could hit new highs if teams of modders could agree to co-operate in a 'vision' for a total over-haul of the vanilla game, but this is an unprecedented task in terms of forward thinking, agreement and syncronised alterations of the vanilla landscape. New towns would need to be built- the faction system (especially the 'baddies') completely rebuilt from the ground up, and the stinky vanilla main 'story' binned. The irony is that the engine and tools allow for this level of change more than ever before.

 

Dropping the 'shades of grey' 'morality' system of the vanilla game- making the Institute the 'BIG BAD', allowing for player activated combos of factions to take on the war against the murderous robots/synths, while other factions play politics and join the bad guys, would make for an excellent story environment. The 'good' self-aware runaway synths would be another faction capable of fighting on either side as a result of player choices.

 

The nihilistic tone of vanilla FO4 (something Beth has been gradually moving toward- the purposely elimination of absolute morality for quite disturbing reasons) makes current player choices pointless. Instead, the player should be allowed to choose to operate of the side of good, evil, or stay 'neutral'. The 'Caesar faction' in FO:NV was evil- and the player could choose to ally with it or against it. But NV wasn't made by Beth, and Beth hated NV clearly presenting good and evil, and allowing the player to choose.

[thunderlord2200]

i dont deny it. im sure alot of moders tryed playing the game was threw the keboard at the game/ or raged quite because the game is SO BAD...

i think thats one of the biggist risens why mods are slowly growing. and it mostly has to do in how painfuly slow they brought the CK. alot of ppl are over on this game for what ever the risen. i just cant get past killing kelloge to me the game is dune finding the baby = old man i dont know why they froced this on you. u should of been given a path if u want to find ur brat or u dont. and i in all honestly never cared 2 poos about the baby. only the wife because i made her thinking i might have fun with her after we woke up ;3 jks a-side i only felt conection with her because i made her.. other then that never cared.. its not like shes a well made NPC she, nor any follower will never be able to replace willow.. xD

 

i tryed somany times to like the game my self. but thats the thing a game. not a surival fallout.. (have to watch what u use ammo wise.. ) in this game theres ure plus...

[lelcat]

The peeps saying the 'slump' will pass use the same logic as those that said Ghostbusters (2016) would make a fortune regardless of ordinary punter opinion, and use the BO of a film like 'Avatar' to 'prove' their point.

 

FO4 is a wretched game from a GAMEPLAY POV. But FO3 and Skyrim were giant magnificant steps forward over earlier works. Yes- FO4 is essentailly a BLANK piece of paper for the most ambitious modders, but this means in reality getting a good enough level of worthwhile content into FO4 via mods is an insanely unlikely proposition.

 

And Skyrim on the FO4 (NOT a remaster- vanilla assets are still in use) RENDER engine is coming very soon.

 

Here's the REAL issue- it is gamers and not modders that end up impacting the modding scene. If gamers give up on a game quickly, and agree it was actually a very mediocre and forgettable experience, well support for that title quickly circles the drain. FO4 will have the GOTY (hahahahahaha) edition bounce when Beth rereleases with all DLC, and will have smaller Steam bounces as various FO4 bundles see big price cuts. But the toxic rep of the title will remain. Few new gamers will want to anything more than play, 'finish' and unload.

 

The desperate search for 'rep' and 'endorsement' essentially ensures many modders weigh the value of their time by download count.

 

The flip side is that FO4 will stand alone as a non-medieval moddable open-world environment until Beth's next game of this type. People with modding 'in their blood' have literally no where else to go if Skyrim doesn't meet their fancy. Great new open world games are coming this year, like Watchdogs 2, but they are certainly NOT moddable in any interesting way.

 

Personally I think modding for FO4 could hit new highs if teams of modders could agree to co-operate in a 'vision' for a total over-haul of the vanilla game, but this is an unprecedented task in terms of forward thinking, agreement and syncronised alterations of the vanilla landscape. New towns would need to be built- the faction system (especially the 'baddies') completely rebuilt from the ground up, and the stinky vanilla main 'story' binned. The irony is that the engine and tools allow for this level of change more than ever before.

 

Dropping the 'shades of grey' 'morality' system of the vanilla game- making the Institute the 'BIG BAD', allowing for player activated combos of factions to take on the war against the murderous robots/synths, while other factions play politics and join the bad guys, would make for an excellent story environment. The 'good' self-aware runaway synths would be another faction capable of fighting on either side as a result of player choices.

 

The nihilistic tone of vanilla FO4 (something Beth has been gradually moving toward- the purposely elimination of absolute morality for quite disturbing reasons) makes current player choices pointless. Instead, the player should be allowed to choose to operate of the side of good, evil, or stay 'neutral'. The 'Caesar faction' in FO:NV was evil- and the player could choose to ally with it or against it. But NV wasn't made by Beth, and Beth hated NV clearly presenting good and evil, and allowing the player to choose.

That is the second most stupid thing I read today. The most stupid thing was the post of the guy posting after you.