Mods, traffic have petered out quite a bit...

[genolune]

Speaking of Animation tools, what about this: Fallout 4 Animation Kit (F4AK) by ShadeAnimator I found it recently and bookmarked it for maybe using it one day. I don't quite understand all of it because I haven't sat down and tried to learn it and master it but maybe someone else might be able to use its information.

[Crimsomrider]

I personally started modding because I got tired of waiting for someone else to do something I wanted.

 

You should try it, it's quite fun ^^

[Lisselli]

 

 

The "sit back and wait for someone else to do it" started with Skyrim unfortunately.

 

 

Yes, but that's understandable - and to some extent, a sign of the Nexus' success over the past few years. After all, Skyrim was Beth's crossover game. Sure, Oblivion, FO3, etc. were popular games. However, they didn't appear on the radar of the average non-gamer. In addition, there were a lot of gamers (such as myself) who were aware of them but didn't play them. Skyrim changed all that. Pretty much every serious gamer has a copy of it and even non-gamers are vaguely aware of it. Put it this way, I'll bet there are a lot of casual gamers out there who see FO4 as "Future Skyrim", and when the next TES game comes out, these people won't see it as TES VI, but as Skyrim 2.

 

Thanks to Skyrim (and its continued use by YouTubers), the mod scene has exploded. So much so that even console players are becoming aware of it. Since 2011, modding has basically gone from being a niche to something far more mainstream. That increase in interest, however, will invariably lead to some dilution. Prior to Skyrim, there was a relatively small group of hardcore players - a large number of whom, by definition, were also modders. The current player base is far larger, but also more casual and therefore less likely to try its hand at modding. That's just the nature of the beast. You can't, unfortunately, have it both ways.

 

On top of that, regarding the decline in new FO4 mods, I think there are many other factors at play. The six-month delay in the CK resulted in some loss of momentum - many modders got tired of waiting for it and moved on. The controversies that accompanied the launch of Beth.net left a nasty taste in the mouth, and again many talented modders moved on. The timing of Skyrim SE hasn't helped - it's sucked yet more modders away from FO4; it's also delayed modders from moving over to FO4. Finally, there are certain aspects of FO4 that just make it harder to mod - voiced protagonist, etc.

 

Yet despite all this, there are still great mods coming out - perhaps not nearly as many as people had hoped, but plenty nonetheless.

 

..And with this post, I'll concede to this thought:

 

So long as Fallout 4 walks in the dark shadow of Skyrim, nothing will change.

[crawe1x]

 

..And with this post, I'll concede to this thought:

 

So long as Fallout 4 walks in the dark shadow of Skyrim, nothing will change.

 

 

 

Very possibly. I do think the timing of Skyrim SE wasn't a good thing for FO4, particularly the modding side. I loved Skyrim at the time, but I spent two years playing and modding that game to death. As a PC gamer, I'm not sure why I would want to go back to it now - especially when the SE is no improvement on the vanilla PC game, let alone a modded version. I'd rather play FO4 for another year or so. Having played one major Beth title from each of their big franchises, all things being equal, I do prefer the Fallout world, though I'm probably in the minority.

[genolune]

There is also that because of the popularity of Skyrim, tutorials and better knowledge gets added much quicker and built upon much quicker than over here. As evidenced by the flood of followers in the recent months that are each as generic as the last but still working which indicates that many different people got ahold of good tutorials to make it happen. It's also much easier to make a sword than a gun with moving bolt/receiver, clip & reloading and ejecting cartridges. Just some key things there. There is also the dedication to the game. I can see where Skyrim has more interesting lore (Daedra and the like) and is overall a more appealing game. Fallout 4 being somewhat a downgrade (both from Elder Scrolls and previous Fallout titles) requires work and commitment in order to produce mods that develop the game. I had other more eloquent ways of putting it but I got distracted and forgot them all.

[SirTwist]

I'll admit that I'm not a modder. I'm a mod user. And thanks to a few people, I can appreciate the time, effort, etc. it takes to getting a mod working, and published here. And looking at some development of mods, it takes a lot of work, and time. I've watched the development of Mod Organizer 2 since it's first days. And even though it's still not where Mod Organizer was, it's quite capable of handling mods for Fallout 4, and even Skyrim SE. I've seen the mods for Fallout 4 go by the wayside for mods for Skyrim SE, because people know Skyrim, and it's easy enough for them to port to SE. Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but SE is basically Skyrim, with a new version of the engine it came out with originally. It went from 32 bit to 64 bit. There might be more to it than that, but as I said, that's a basic, simplified version of what I am seeing. And yes, there are improvements to graphics. We may see some modders returning to Fallout 4 when they are done with Skyrim SE. Some may stick there until either a new Fallout game comes out, or something new comes out for TES. And no, I don't count ESO as part of TES. It really isn't, in my opinion. Anyway, I believe that the mods released will trickle down, but we will see improvement on the old mods for Fallout 4, and even better and better work.

[genolune]

From what I understand, SirTwist, you are right. It seems more fluid and stable in some aspects like unarmed fighting, but all the upgrades aren't anything to write home about when you can get as good if not better with modded Skyrim.

[chucksteel]

Some modders will never mod Skyrim in any form. I myself would go back to modding FO3 before ever thinking of modding that game. :devil: I myself am working on a massive end of the year update for my mod Beantown Interiors and hope to have it out soon.