To Mod, or Not to Mod? That is the question

[KoolHndLuke]

So we really like mods for our games cause they fix things or add cool stuff, or expand on something, or just make the game look better. But when do you like something vanilla?

 

Using an enb preset is something that comes to my mind. I've tried it in a couple of games like Skyrim and FO4. But the thing is that I kinda like the vanilla look better sometimes. I thought about installing a mod in FNV that puts working vehicles in and then realized I preferred walking (might want to mod the run). I thought about installing a mod to change the perks (Perkus Maximus I think) in Skyrim and then figured I liked them fine the way they are. Anyway, you get the idea.

[Kashked]

I don't mod in things that doesn't "integrate" well in the game world. Adding a bunch of prostitutes to Skyrim? Makes sense to me, a sorta-medieval society would most likely have prostitutes of some kind. Making everyone walk around in skimpy clothing in the snow? Does not make sense to me, even if the models for the skimpy stuff is super-well done. Same for new races. So I'm this super-exotic and distinct race with awesome new visuals and powers that are either taken from some super-obscure lore or just made up by the mod author? That's cool. But no one in the world notices... Same reason I always plays human in Skyrim, the world doesn't react, where appropriate, to you being anything BUT human.

 

Any mod that fundamentally changes the nature of existance in the game, but where the game fails to recognice this, I avoid. Something like Frostfall integrates well because, even if no one actually gets cold in the game, since that's not a mechanic in vanilla, the NPC's act like cold is a big deal. So it integrates well with the world.

[landess]

Modding has always been a personal choice - everyone's different. Just look at the variety of mods. Many games have flourished because of mods, to the point of corporations integrating them into it's strategy base. While I could go on, I don't feel I'm saying anything new that everyone doesn't already know.

 

 

[KoolHndLuke]

I play Skyrim with this one mod- female Cicero (Ciceria I think she's called) That I really like. The voice actors are very good and do a pretty good job, but I always find myself comparing the lines in my head to how Cicero said them. Ciceria- "So....very far", Cicero "So....verry farrrr!". The original voice acting is still my fave, you know, just doesn't work for a female. I'm not knocking the mod at all since I love it and still use it. It's just one of those things.

[NickNozownik]

I never replaced vanilla elves in Skyrim, turning them into Nords with elf ears looks awful. It completely kills them for me, they're no longer Dunmer, they're just a yet another race of mystic manga anime tree huggers.

I avoid mods for Morrowind that try to make it more "balanced". One of the reasons why I like this game so much is because it doesn't give a shit about balance. I decide whether I want to wipe the floor with everything that moves or play as a shit farmer. Trying to make everything perfectly balanced just makes it really boring.

 

Retextures. I completely ignore them. Vanilla Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim look good enough for me. They make a big difference in Daggerfall Unity, but in Skyrim it's a waste of space. Oh wow, a wooden bowl with 8k textures. It changes everything, I just can't stop looking at it. It's perfect for my Wooden Bowl Killer build.

 

Mods that change the Khajiit race in Oblivion. They either make no significant difference or they make them look even WORSE, and holy shit they look fucking awful in Oblivion. I KINDA prefer vanilla in this case. I mean I can choose between "fucking awful" or "kill it with fire", so I'll stick to a camel with fetal alcohol syndrome.

[Guest]

I like to patch up what I see as holes in the realism. So, for me, I make the opposite choice on cars with New Vegas, because I find it hard to believe that NOBODY has found a way to fix up cars, or an old factory with preserved fuel stocks. Especially given the whole situation with the car in FO2. You might run out eventually, sure, but I think with enough money, power, and influence you could find a way to make a steady enough supply for personal use happen, especially in a major civilized area like New Vegas.

Besides that, even if it might not fit the basic intended design of Fallout itself, I'll pick up mods where houses are repaired or there's greater variety in plant and wildlife. Looking at areas in the real world which have been damaged by nuclear fallout, there's actually a lot of resilience to nature so, if anything, the Fallout setting would be more like Zion as a rule than the bombed-out wasteland we get. For a game built around a theme, I can see why somebody would want a proper WASTELAND wasteland and come up with plenty of lore reasons why it wouldn't bounce back so easy, but for me it just feels more immersive and realistic and leads to a better gameplay experience to fix it all up. Especially the buildings! Has nobody figured out how to lift a hammer in 200 years? lmao. I don't think a whole lot of people would just STAY living in poor shelter if they could just scrap an old shed and patch a wall up.

Funny enough, this is kind of why I got into sex and drug mods in the first place, it's just more "alive" feeling. So, I'll skip on anything that feels off base for realism. No sex frequency turned up to porno logic levels (even though that can be fun in the right time and place), and typically avoid anything that makes a game more or less sci fi or fantasy than the game itself actually is. The sims has aliens and wizards and shit, so I roll with that, but I wouldn't be adding guns to Skyrim or magic to Fallout UNLESS it was a well made Dwemer rifle, or something more like the traditional shamanic stuff you get in FO2 or Honest Hearts.
 

[Kendo 2]

I'm still 'modding' but I don't make anything specifically for a particular game; that's a waste of my time.  Blender 2.9 has a lot of new features and actions that I'm learning.  Still doing some poly meshing though.

 

Spoiler

 

[MrJace]

Depending on the game, the mod can have a big impact for the better, or make it worse. Games like Minecraft relies heavily on mods to add to the base content of the game.

On 7/8/2020 at 7:53 PM, FortunatePierre said:

I like to patch up what I see as holes in the realism. So, for me, I make the opposite choice on cars with New Vegas, because I find it hard to believe that NOBODY has found a way to fix up cars, or an old factory with preserved fuel stocks. Especially given the whole situation with the car in FO2. You might run out eventually, sure, but I think with enough money, power, and influence you could find a way to make a steady enough supply for personal use happen, especially in a major civilized area like New Vegas.

This! Another great example on why to mod. If there is something that could make a game more realistic.

 

Some people will mod to make a game harder. Others just want to have fun in a game without worrying about it and will make it easier. A lot is personal preference.