226 réponses à ce sujet

[AmstradHero]

This is a fairly simple question to all (PC) players who don't use mods:

Why don't you use mods?  What is that makes you not use them?

Also, and this is perhaps more important from my perspective, what would make you start using them and playing them? What can modders do to make their work more appealing and convince you to download it?

Edit: In addition, these questions also apply to modules that add extra playable content - e.g. quest/companion add-ins to the main campaign and standalone campaigns.

Modifié par AmstradHero, 12 décembre 2010 - 01:32 .

[ladydesire]

For some, it's likely that the installation methods most modders prefer gives them a headache, even though there is a perfectly viable alternative that Bioware provides. For others, they feel that mods don't belong in the world (I think this one you've already read elsewhere on the forum) because they don't feel they fit. Others may be unaware that they exist. I could probably list more, but I'll stop typing now.

[Grace1957]

It feels a little like cheating to me.

[Challseus]

To clarify, I consider "mods", modifications. As for why I don't use them, it's mostly because I don't play the core game anymore. I went through it once in 2 weeks when it first came out, and that was that. If I was to play again, I would be very selective, because to be honest, I don't want to deal with an compatibility issues that may occur.

As for "modules", or standalone adventures, I'm with those all the way! The only reason I can think people won't play stand alone adventures is because they assume the quality will be bad? Maybe they got burnt by too many "quickly thrown together" NWN1 modules? Maybe they don't know they exist?

Or, perhaps this site isn't helping to facilitate people actually "finding" standalone adventures that are already finished

[Kevin Lynch]

Probably the biggest things holding back anyone from trying mods is the feeling that they will not be of a quality that matches the game unmodded, the potential glitches that might be introduced into the game, and an expected difficulty in installing and/or removing the mods and reverting back to the original.



Of course, the mod has to have content or make changes that the player wants.



Once you have the latter, the former aspects need to be tackled. You'll have yourself something that players would want, then.

[AmstradHero]

Good point Challseus. Perhaps it would be better to divide into:

"Mods" - ie changed appearance, new weapons, etc.

"Modules" - ie new adventures, additional quest content/party members, etc.

[DeathStroke TZA]

I dunno, I love the custom experience from using "mods" and "modules", If I run into compatibility issues I try to fix them myself. I also bought my first copy for Xbox 360 and when I learned that Dragon Age supported a Toolset and had a large modding community I sprinted to the store to pick up a copy for the PC.

@Grace 1957, I have a close personal friend that felt the same until I introduced him to stand-alones, extra hairstyles, new weapon/armor models, And Companions like LadyDesire's or Immortality's. Now he has more mods than me. : /

[ladydesire]

Challseus wrote...

To clarify, I consider "mods", modifications. As for why I don't use them, it's mostly because I don't play the core game anymore. I went through it once in 2 weeks when it first came out, and that was that. If I was to play again, I would be very selective, because to be honest, I don't want to deal with an compatibility issues that may occur.

Valid complaint, though the "better" modders are taking care of that themselves in most cases.

[mousestalker]

There are some quite excellent mods out there now that alter game balance not at all. Some of the dialogue fix mods are, in my mind, indispensable. And the child in me likes playing with the dolls after they've been modded.

[Xylia]

Grace1957 wrote...

It feels a little like cheating to me.

This. I do use mods, but only the ones that change the appearance/design of the game. Such as Dragon Age Resesigned or Improved Atmosphere. Perhaps some new presets or different appearances for the characters. I don't like to use cheating mods, really - sometimes they can be game-breaking, and I do kind of want a good bit of the game to stay as intended.  

[Ferretinabun]

Sheer lack of computer know-how for me. Speaking as a PC player and a very casual gamer (until I got TOTALLY sucked into DA), I don't use mods and I wouldn't know how to even if I wanted to. It all sounds a bit intimidatingly technical. I know it's probably far easier than I imagine, but I can't help thinking I might break the game adding mods. More script = more to go wrong, surely?

That said, I've been on the fence about actually finding out for a while now. I like the sound of a few mods - ones that fix game bugs or aesthetic ones, not anything that could conceivably be thought of as cheating.

[MKDAWUSS]

Kevin Lynch wrote...

Probably the biggest things holding back anyone from trying mods is the feeling that they will not be of a quality that matches the game unmodded, the potential glitches that might be introduced into the game, and an expected difficulty in installing and/or removing the mods and reverting back to the original.

Of course, the mod has to have content or make changes that the player wants.

Once you have the latter, the former aspects need to be tackled. You'll have yourself something that players would want, then.

Pretty much nailed it. I think that, in terms of mods, visuals are the way to go - they can often bump the quality of the game up a few levels. It's when you start adding content, like locations, characters, dialog, etc. that many people tend to have problems with - locations often makeshift for new areas, new VOs sound inconsistent with the rest of the game.

My personal reason to keep mods visual only is because they often don't conflict with the game, story/universe included.

Outside of that, I'm actually a mod junkie. Games like Madden, FIFA, and the Sims are nearly unplayable without mods IMO.

[LadyKarrakaz]

Before using mods, I didn't use them for 2 reasons: first, I learnt about mods a real long time after playing some games, second reason, it seemed too complicated. Where to get them, how to use them, and they were even able to break my game... Now though, I don't regret trying at all!

Also, now, I only use mods that feel like they are missing part of the games, I hate it when a mod seems out of the game lore/aesthetics, because it breaks immersion.

For beginners with mods, I recommend checking the link in my sig.

[Ferretinabun]

Wow, Purple Lady. Thanks a lot for all that. That's very encouraging and seems very user-friendly.

[Proleric]

Making standalone campaigns of acceptable quality, compatibility and ease-of-use takes time.

Right now, there are only a few of those, which is hardly surprising after only a year. I'm expecting to see some very good material over the next few months, as we did for Neverwinter Nights.

I hear that some of the official campaign add-ons are really good, too, though I confess to be too busy building to play them.

[AmstradHero]

MKDAWUSS wrote...

Kevin Lynch wrote...

Probably the biggest things holding back anyone from trying mods is the feeling that they will not be of a quality that matches the game unmodded, the potential glitches that might be introduced into the game, and an expected difficulty in installing and/or removing the mods and reverting back to the original.

Of course, the mod has to have content or make changes that the player wants.

Once you have the latter, the former aspects need to be tackled. You'll have yourself something that players would want, then.

Pretty much nailed it. I think that, in terms of mods, visuals are the way to go - they can often bump the quality of the game up a few levels. It's when you start adding content, like locations, characters, dialog, etc. that many people tend to have problems with - locations often makeshift for new areas, new VOs sound inconsistent with the rest of the game.

My personal reason to keep mods visual only is because they often don't conflict with the game, story/universe included.

Outside of that, I'm actually a mod junkie. Games like Madden, FIFA, and the Sims are nearly unplayable without mods IMO.

So simply because an adventure module might conflict with existing lore, people refuse to download it? is there some means for module makers to reassure players that they will do everything in their power not to break lore?

I know I keep all the lore resources of the game and extra information in the Dragon Age strategy guide at my fingertips when developing stories.  Yes, there are circumstances where modders may have to bend or go a little bit outside of the the realm of what we've been explicitly told in the game, but I'd argue there is plenty of leeway of things being open to interpretation. Of course, I'm coming from a biased viewpoint here.

As for quality... well, VO is hard, and I won't argue that for a second. But in terms of visual quality, I'd argue modders are capable of producing things that are on par with professional content. I'm damn proud of Fort Velen and the other areas I've been working on for Shattered War, and I've seen numerous screenshots from other modders who have produced very high quality work.

Ferretinabun wrote...

Sheer lack of computer know-how for me. Speaking as a PC player and a very casual gamer (until I got TOTALLY
sucked into DA), I don't use mods and I wouldn't know how to even if I wanted to. It all sounds a bit intimidatingly technical. I know it's probably far easier than I imagine, but I can't help thinking I might break the game adding mods. More script = more to go wrong, surely?
That said, I've been on the fence about actually finding out for a while now. I like the sound of a few mods - ones that fix game bugs or aesthetic ones, not anything that could conceivably be thought of as cheating.

I can totally understand how it might feel a bit daunting for someone who isn't comfortable potentially "messing around" with their game.  That said, many mods are very easy to install.  I know I simply want players to be able to use daupdater.exe to install my mods and nothing else.

Of course, we can always keep our fingers crossed that BioWare will be able to carry through on their proposal to incorporate downloading and installing user made modules directly within the game from the Downloadable Content section of the main menu. This was raised as a possibility by Victor Wachter on the Dragon Age Podcast previously, and would make mods more visible and accessible for all users.

Perhaps I should have prefaced my initial post with the fact that I'm trying to find out the reasons the players don't use mod/modules so that I find ways to allay their potentials fears or otherwise encourage them to try content that they currently do/will not. As such, any suggestions from players who don't use mods, or changed their mind about mods would be greatly appreciated.

Modifié par AmstradHero, 12 décembre 2010 - 09:43 .

[nubbers666]

i never use mods becuase it takes away from the story line or no longer feels like the game

i would want something that would not change the game play viva story line or items but instead something that may add to it

like something that would add to the end of the game after you beat it like the dlc  witch hunt and such

[Kuggen]

I've just started looking for mods and haven't installed any yet. Since it's a story based game I'm only looking for 2 kinds of mods:

1. Separate (fan fiction) adventures that don't interfere with the main story. Hopefully with interesting well developed characters and varied combat challenges.

2. Mods that fix problems perceived during the first (vanilla) playthrough, in my case:
* The game has poor performance compared to other games with the same visual quality. I've found mods for better textures, hair/face redesigns and reduced special effects but none which reduces polygon count which I suspect would help.
* The combat scripting is sometimes unresponsive. Characters get stuck reapplying the same coating to their weapon over and over again. A sleep spell sometimes causes enemies to fall asleep after the rest of the combat has been running just fine for half a minute. I'm hoping Advanced Tactics will fix this.
* Combat has some oddities, maybe combat tweaks will fix some of them. I haven't found anything to balance magic by making it more difficult to use without altering it's potential much. For example by adding the risk of friendly fire to magic projectiles according to stone fist's description.
* User interface tweaks, more quickbars and better icons seems nice. It would be a relief to find something which reduces the number of loot items to clutter the inventory and perhaps increases their usefulness instead.

[Leonia]

I'm mostly worried that something will corrupt my save files and I am very protective of those save files while I wait for DA 2 and other future games to come out. I also worry about compatibility between mods. I've never been a heavy mod-user, only using the one that removed level-scaling in TES IV because I simply couldn't enjoy the game otherwise. I like to avoid "cheats" and over all most of the "retextured" stuff doesn't have much of an appeal. I'm all for modules though, just haven't played any yet (going to play the BG II redux when I've finished my BG playthrough).

Lately while I've been pondering my next 4 playthroughs for Origins (I have several different ones planned out for importing into DA 2 with different decisions for each) I've been thinking of mixing things up a bit, especially since I know all the dialogue by heart now (and have read most of it multiple times in the DA toolset).

I'm going to check out Purple Lady's list today and make a copy of my DA folder (just in case, I know I am super paranoid about save files but none of my playthroughs are less than 60 hours and that's too much effort to waste) and start dabbling with mods for this game. Wish me luck.

Modifié par leonia42, 13 décembre 2010 - 02:55 .

[BomimoDK]

I use mods to fix issues missed by the patches. I DON'T play extra campaigns because a ****ton of things. None is ever brought to my attention. The ones on the "most popular" list where the good campaigns should show up are all japanese porn addons. ****** annoying. the final one is insanely weird since i hated NWN and only having one character... But static worlds are a missing element.



I dislike Item mods and/or mods that include exploits/click to win equipment with a good quest since it ends up ****ing over my experience with the game. I never understood the loosers who just ruin the game like that.



There is no word of mouth on the good Module campaings, so i do not know if any exist. If we could have better project listing with proper sorting.

[Leonia]

A better project listing would help. I only find out about the "good" mods really through links in peoples' signatures. I tried looking through the Dragon Age Nexus today and couldn't find mods that I know I've heard about elsewhere. For me, I'm mostly interested in dialogue fixes and restoration mods more than anything else.

[Matchy Pointy]

Well, I use them myself, but how about the reason to just want to enjoy the game as the developers meant itto be played?