AC Odyssey Modders - This game is more popular than ever. What's next?

[Muckbeast]

Hey modders,

Ubisoft released data that more people were playing Odyssey in Dec 2020 than back in Dec 2019. This game has serious LEGS and is going to be around for quite some time.

So jumping into this mod scene definitely is worth the investment.

So far the mods seem to be primarily model replacement/tweaks/recolors. Then of course many of the usual graphical enhancements you see for all games.

What is holding back the mod community from really digging in here?

 

Just some ideas/possibilities:

• Flying mounts or flying winged shoes.
• Player housing.
• New abilities. (Maybe porting some over from Valhalla).
• New weapon models entirely.
• More fleshed out/permanent romances.
• Monsters as potential rare mercs.
• Additional bosses and features added to forts and conquests to make them even more exciting.
• What else?

The foundation of this game is tremendous. If the modding scene could pick up a little, the huge player base of the game would really respond!

[JimboUK]

I would imagine a lack of tools is holding it back, the Elder Scrolls, Fallout and the Witcher 3 get a lot of mods because the developers made the tools available, Ubisoft haven't.

[gnarly1]

I would imagine a lack of tools is holding it back, the Elder Scrolls, Fallout and the Witcher 3 get a lot of mods because the developers made the tools available, Ubisoft haven't.

Yeah, the lack of an SDK is the dominant reason and also the way that Ubisoft packages the game data and their naming conventions make it really difficult to know what each file is.

 

I posted a thread kinda similar to this one last year which got no traction whatsoever, unfortunately. It's a shame as AC Odyssey and Breakpoint are two games I'd dearly love to mod.

 

I agree with Muckbeast that Odyssey has a great foundation - the game world is immense and feels so alive. I also love Breakpoint's location (Auroa), lots of different biomes. Unfortunately they both suffer from 'wide as an ocean but shallow as a pond' syndrome when it comes to gameplay mechanics, enemy variety and variety of missions.

 

So much potential for modding.....

[Muckbeast]

 

I would imagine a lack of tools is holding it back, the Elder Scrolls, Fallout and the Witcher 3 get a lot of mods because the developers made the tools available, Ubisoft haven't.

Yeah, the lack of an SDK is the dominant reason and also the way that Ubisoft packages the game data and their naming conventions make it really difficult to know what each file is.

 

I posted a thread kinda similar to this one last year which got no traction whatsoever, unfortunately. It's a shame as AC Odyssey and Breakpoint are two games I'd dearly love to mod.

 

I agree with Muckbeast that Odyssey has a great foundation - the game world is immense and feels so alive. I also love Breakpoint's location (Auroa), lots of different biomes. Unfortunately they both suffer from 'wide as an ocean but shallow as a pond' syndrome when it comes to gameplay mechanics, enemy variety and variety of missions.

 

So much potential for modding.....

 

It was not too long ago that NO games had mod tools and yet stuff like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc. still got heaps of mods. Diablo 2 had massive total conversions with ZERO mod tools.

 

Has the fact that some games have mod tools basically made modders disinterested in even messing with games that don't?

 

Your thread is indeed hauntingly similar to mine. Yikes.

 

Is there any hope of more serious mods for Odyssey?

 

Is there any way to get modders more interested in it?

[gnarly1]

It was not too long ago that NO games had mod tools and yet stuff like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc. still got heaps of mods. Diablo 2 had massive total conversions with ZERO mod tools.

Has the fact that some games have mod tools basically made modders disinterested in even messing with games that don't?

I guess it depends on how easy it is to hook into the game code and associated files. I'm not technically proficient in this area (and please, if someone who reads this is, feel free to correct me if needed) but my understanding is that to mod some games you'd need to decompile the source code which is usually not feasible. Interestingly though, the source code of Super Mario 64 was last year decompiled into a Windows executable by, get this, speedrunners.

 

But to answer your question, I don't know what it would take to be able to produce mods for Odyssey that go beyond cosmetic modifications and buffs.

 

I think if it used a fork of the CryEngine, like FarCry 5 does, then we wouldn't be having this conversation as there are some fairly impressive mods for FarCry 5 and New Dawn. Unfortunately, AC and Breakpoint were built using Ubisoft's proprietary AnvilNext engine.

 

It's a shame that once the microtransaction revenue has dried up for a game (which would've happened pretty quickly for Breakpoint given how poorly it was received) they don't release modding tools for a game in order to prolong its life.

Edited August 28, 2021 by gnarly1

[kris2peyu]

I think Odyssey has become more popular because Valhalla was a huge dud.

I was bored to tears while playing it.

 

Despite the backlash and criticism of Odyssey,I personally think it had alot to offer.

From the acting, the architecture, to the armor. You get more of everything in Odyssey.

 

My modders request would be to modify the main characters body part.

A bit of a cup size in Cass & a more muscular Alexios.

 

Basically I want my main characters to be SEXY that's all I ask seriously lol.

 

And yes I want my helmet to be present in the cutscenes.

 

[gnarly1]

I think Odyssey has become more popular because Valhalla was a huge dud.

I was bored to tears while playing it.

 

Despite the backlash and criticism of Odyssey,I personally think it had alot to offer.

From the acting, the architecture, to the armor. You get more of everything in Odyssey.

 

My modders request would be to modify the main characters body part.

A bit of a cup size in Cass & a more muscular Alexios.

 

Basically I want my main characters to be SEXY that's all I ask seriously lol.

 

And yes I want my helmet to be present in the cutscenes.

 

Yeah a lot of the hate on the later 3 games is due to them not being 'true' Assassin's Creed games. I didn't really feel that way until I played Valhalla and encountered the rock stacking simulator and the anomaly jumping simulator. Overall I enjoyed Valhalla but whoever thought that those two aspects would be fun, especially in an AC game, should go back to game design school.

 

FYI there's a mod that adds more muscle definition for both protagonists on the Nexus. Not sure that's quite what you're after but it's a start....

[Kriros89]

Odyssey was a great game, but I've been having fun with AC-Valhalla too. I was hoping for a NG+ mode for Valhalla, but it has just been denied. Now I hope that the clever modders here will flex on Ubi and make NG+ mods for all the AC games that don't have it.

[xrayy]

i'm new to odyssey. it is really a beautiful game like hzd. but it seems some stupid restictions holds it back from being modded. even reshade seems to be a pain to install.

currently i play it vanilla and the landscape and visuals are great and in the league of the hzd 2021 pc version.

[gnarly1]

i'm new to odyssey. it is really a beautiful game like hzd. but it seems some stupid restictions holds it back from being modded. even reshade seems to be a pain to install.

currently i play it vanilla and the landscape and visuals are great and in the league of the hzd 2021 pc version.

I found the content by this YouTube creator really useful in maximizing my enjoyment of the game. I also did a no-desync/nightmare/ironman run of the entire game and DLC and his builds were helpful for that.