Behtesda jsut announced locking mods behind a pay wall

[Ethreon]

 

 

 

But, I think their policy is not right. Maybe I see it wrong, but as far as I can understand it, there will be no mods which need another mod.

 

 

 

That's not Bethesda's arbitrary policy, though. That's copyright law. Bethesda doesn't own HDT or SKSE, therefore, Bethesda cannot legally sell mods that use HDT or SKSE. My guess is that will go even beyond that: Want to use Swiftsteed's meshes to create a new mount? Nope, not legal. Want to use deviantart stock pictures to texture your new item? Not legal either. You're going to have to make your own meshes/texture stock or pay licensing fees. There are going to be a lot of restrictions that ordinary modders don't have to deal with. Furthermore, since Bethesda is now paying you for your work, you're going to have to go through stages of approval that you never would have had to deal with if you were working for your own pleasure, meaning more of your worktime is spent documenting and discussing rather than creating.

 

But again, that's not Bethesda's fault. That's just how professional game development works. Bethesda can't break copyright law willy-nilly the way we modders do. We get away with it because we're little guys and nobody wants to bother with us. Bethesda would get sued into the ground, and they'd have a PR nightmare for 'stealing' free modders' code. And I don't think it's completely unfair of Bethesda to expect people on its payroll to meet professional standards. If anything I think it's unreasonable for modders to expect to get paid like pros without having to follow the same rules as pros

 

It's unfortunate but, yeah, this does mean we're probably going to be seeing a lot more armor/weapons/mounts than anything else, because those are things that a single person can make from scratch in a reasonable time frame. Anything that requires multiple creators or borrowed assets is going to be a lot harder for the Creation Club to make lawful, so it's going to be rarer.

 

On the other side of the coin, though, legal restrictions means that there are going to be a lot of mods--like HD retextures, ports, home mods using modders' resources, etcetera--are basically always going to be free because they're so much more difficult to make to professional ethical standards, and with smaller mods in particular it's just not going to be worth Bethesda's time to get these mods through the Creation Club system. For that reason I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect that we'll be paying for HD cabbage retextures in the near future.

 

 

Given you have access to their knowledge and database of tools and resources, I'd say making a new image, texture or mesh should not be an issue at all.

[swiftfoxmark2]

It would have been nice if Bethesda had incorporated SKSE and the MCM into SSE. It would have made functional sense and would have allowed modders a much easier time to port their mods over.

[swiftfoxmark2]

Another thing I am wondering about this is will they have proper technical support for the mods that are behind a paywall?

 

I mean, it's one thing if a free mod messed up your game, but when one you paid for does it, shouldn't you get some kind of support from Bethesda?

[BahamutKaiser]

Wonder if they'll comp patch corrections for free?

[Otellino]

It would have been nice if Bethesda had incorporated SKSE and the MCM into SSE. It would have made functional sense and would have allowed modders a much easier time to port their mods over.

Part of the upside of the Creation Club is if Bethesda does accept a modder's pitch and begins funding the project, it is then PROFESSIONALLY QA'd by the studio, as well as localized/translated into all the game's supported languages. :)

[Deleted40837770User]

Capitalism free is soon but a memory XD

[TheSpaceShuttleChallenger]

Tools and resources or not, meshes and textures take time and skill to produce. That time has to be justified in your employer's eyes or else they're not going to pay for it. Depending on how many meshes and textures your project calls for, it could absolutely be a problem, especially for quest and location modders who maybe don't need this setpiece or that prop and therefore have to explain to Bethesda why it's worthwhile to spend an extra week making new meshes and textures so that your mod can look pretty. Especially if you don't have the artistic skills to sculpt and paint quality models and textures and you end up having to bring someone else in to do it for you.

[Skagens]

Another thing I am wondering about this is will they have proper technical support for the mods that are behind a paywall?

 

I mean, it's one thing if a free mod messed up your game, but when one you paid for does it, shouldn't you get some kind of support from Bethesda?

 

What Bethesda is doing is licensing the mods that are created. They will legally own the IP, which means they are legally required to support it.

[PeterMartyr]

What the difference between Beth working with a developer to create ESO, or this. Except the scale of project.

 

To aspiring Modders looking to break into the industry, imagine how good this will look on your resume. Good luck to those who are professional enough to deserve it.

 

This is NOT PAID modding. No matter how you spin it. They made sure of that.

 

lol Also I am Sub-Contractor in the building industry & I find your expenses excuses pitiful. Grow up.

[stoaty6666]

You never know SKSE64 might come out of this