DirtyOldShoe
Some kind of lucky
As someone who has modded a number of games as a mod author, and as someone who uses and has tested others mods, and someone who has played a number of different games, I would like to discuss what I feel are taboo things for mod authors and Video game developers in a side by side scenario.
This thought came about when trying to play Nuka World for Fallout 4 and seeing that many of the new assets were just a re-color base game mesh. Red terminals, Red Technology, red seats, red buses, etc.
But DirtyOldShoe, why is this such a big deal? Well, AAA Devs are staffed with art teams that work with 3d models and textures who get paid to create content, that content is then sold to users. This discussion is to examine those little things that should not be done with a multi billion dollar budget, staff of over 100 employees and a +$100 price-tag games, in my opinion. Would a modder be able to get away with it? Should a AAA game company?
Now I will examine some scenarios from games and mods on when I feel that it is justified and when it is not acceptable. I will make references to mod authors, youtubers, games and companies, and they will be opinionated.
- Re-colors
- Up-scaling
- Re-purpose
- Cell copy/duplication
- Grammar
Re-color
From time to time a mod will be released for a game and we will focus on Bethesda titles for most of the points, that a mod author will cover something in a solid color, a few examples being most of bellyaches work, darker pipe weapons, black clothing re-placers. These things are very niche, but also do not take a tremendous amount of skill to complete. In photoshop, one needs to select the color replacement tool select a color and can haphazardly color over the whole texture. This process can take less then a minute. A more advanced but still simple method is to selectively color parts of the texture like giving a rat a darker coat of fur, but with lines down its sides, still very simple but a bit more time consuming, this might take a few minutes. As mod authors do not have a budget and the time and effort is minimal, I can justify them making these re-colors, even if I do not use them myself. I feel a AAA Developer should be paying their employees to make hand crafted textures on hand crafted meshes, not re-using what the base game came with. This was addressed in the opening.
Up-scaling
This is when the size of an item is increased, most commonly this is done on static items like barrels and crates to break up art fatigue, but limitations are usually in effect as the texture scales with the item. If an item is scaled too much, the texture will look blurred or milky. There are really far too many examples of mod authors doing this and it would be difficult for my to isolate one, but if a modder, from time to time in his/her mod scales an item, they should be accounting for poor textures and poor collision. If this is done excessively and no edits to the troublesome collision, then the mod author should be held accountable, though I put no blame on re-purposing items as mod authors do not have art departments and offer their work free. A AAA developer should be paying their art department to make new meshes with new textures instead of taking existing work and scaling it too big. This can be seen in Bethesda's latest DLC Nuka World, where many base game plants have been scaled too large. This come across as pathetic and lazy.
Re-purposing
Taking something that already exists and making it seem like something else or have a different purpose. One could argue that this is accounted for in up-scaling and re-coloring, however, this is a more broad approach. If a mod author makes a series of new creatures, they will most likely use base game animations and base game sounds as their focus is on adding more diversity. These mod authors do not have time or resources to build new animations, usually the game engine prevents new animations and most sounds that are rigged to the creatures are done through .hk file types and there are no appropriate tools available to make modifying these things feasible. The example I will give for Nuka World, but is not limited to, Gatorclaws. They use Deathclaw anims, sounds and have the same inventory except a slight re-naming of parts like Gatorclaw hand. The Brahmiluff is a re-colour of Brahmin with different horns and literally the same inventory of, Brahmin hide and Brahmin meat. This comes across as lazy and pathetic.
Cell duplication
For me there is a fine line for where this is acceptable for mod authors. In the game Fallout New Vegas, there is a limitation that prevents navmesh in cells, most modders duplicate cells to copy this data over as a sort of workaround for the problem. Most of these cells are re-purposed as seen in Someguy2000's Bounty series. This is acceptable. Sometimes a mod author will try to trick the player or there is an expectation that a cell would be the same, it is okay in these situations as well in my opinion. There are also exceptions that mod users make if the quality of the mod or content outweigh the cell duplication. A good example of this would be the mod Wyrmstooth. Wrymstooth's main quest dungeon merges the main quested cells like Bleakfalls Barrow, Snow Veil sanctum, Irkngthand etc, etc. Most mod users would find this lazy and pathetic, but as the mod has it's own quest, content and it is free, this is accepted by most. When traveling through Skyrim, the cell for Alvor's house is used numerous times and for one of the cells for the main quest in Dragonborn DLC. In Fallout 4 there is a tall house that counts as an exploitable exterior. The house is notable with the broken set of stairs on the second floor that elude to a third floor that is blocked by a collision marker, or "invisible wall" This cell is used all throughout Fallout 4's Commonwealth and Nuka World. The same set of stairs are broken and there is no clutter/loot to be found in this house, making it very obvious that it is the same cell. This is lazy and pathetic that a AAA developer would cut corners like this.
Grammar
I have a few rules for mods and games. I can allow spelling errors in books, notes, journals and terminals as it is suggested that it was written by a person from the game world, the ability to write would be subject to the writer in game and could be poor. What is not acceptable is dialogue spelling errors, load screen spelling errors and menu spelling errors, as those are developer specific. Some have zero tolerance in this area like Al Chestbreach, though some exceptions will be made for new modders based on the volume of errors. I am a bit more tolerant because I myself am prone to grammatical errors. A mod like Moonpath to Elsweyr which is notorious for having the worst grammar, yet the mod flourishes as there is an acceptance for free content. A AAA game company should not have any spelling errors in load screens, dialogue or menus, least any that I can spot. Bethesda's Fallout 4 is riddles with grammatical errors and it is not acceptable for a game with a base cost with all content of $110.00. Pathetic and lazy.
Do you have any comparisons that are tolerated by mod authors that should be taboo for a big name company like Bethesda? Please
This thought came about when trying to play Nuka World for Fallout 4 and seeing that many of the new assets were just a re-color base game mesh. Red terminals, Red Technology, red seats, red buses, etc.
But DirtyOldShoe, why is this such a big deal? Well, AAA Devs are staffed with art teams that work with 3d models and textures who get paid to create content, that content is then sold to users. This discussion is to examine those little things that should not be done with a multi billion dollar budget, staff of over 100 employees and a +$100 price-tag games, in my opinion. Would a modder be able to get away with it? Should a AAA game company?
Now I will examine some scenarios from games and mods on when I feel that it is justified and when it is not acceptable. I will make references to mod authors, youtubers, games and companies, and they will be opinionated.
- Re-colors
- Up-scaling
- Re-purpose
- Cell copy/duplication
- Grammar
Re-color
From time to time a mod will be released for a game and we will focus on Bethesda titles for most of the points, that a mod author will cover something in a solid color, a few examples being most of bellyaches work, darker pipe weapons, black clothing re-placers. These things are very niche, but also do not take a tremendous amount of skill to complete. In photoshop, one needs to select the color replacement tool select a color and can haphazardly color over the whole texture. This process can take less then a minute. A more advanced but still simple method is to selectively color parts of the texture like giving a rat a darker coat of fur, but with lines down its sides, still very simple but a bit more time consuming, this might take a few minutes. As mod authors do not have a budget and the time and effort is minimal, I can justify them making these re-colors, even if I do not use them myself. I feel a AAA Developer should be paying their employees to make hand crafted textures on hand crafted meshes, not re-using what the base game came with. This was addressed in the opening.
Up-scaling
This is when the size of an item is increased, most commonly this is done on static items like barrels and crates to break up art fatigue, but limitations are usually in effect as the texture scales with the item. If an item is scaled too much, the texture will look blurred or milky. There are really far too many examples of mod authors doing this and it would be difficult for my to isolate one, but if a modder, from time to time in his/her mod scales an item, they should be accounting for poor textures and poor collision. If this is done excessively and no edits to the troublesome collision, then the mod author should be held accountable, though I put no blame on re-purposing items as mod authors do not have art departments and offer their work free. A AAA developer should be paying their art department to make new meshes with new textures instead of taking existing work and scaling it too big. This can be seen in Bethesda's latest DLC Nuka World, where many base game plants have been scaled too large. This come across as pathetic and lazy.
Re-purposing
Taking something that already exists and making it seem like something else or have a different purpose. One could argue that this is accounted for in up-scaling and re-coloring, however, this is a more broad approach. If a mod author makes a series of new creatures, they will most likely use base game animations and base game sounds as their focus is on adding more diversity. These mod authors do not have time or resources to build new animations, usually the game engine prevents new animations and most sounds that are rigged to the creatures are done through .hk file types and there are no appropriate tools available to make modifying these things feasible. The example I will give for Nuka World, but is not limited to, Gatorclaws. They use Deathclaw anims, sounds and have the same inventory except a slight re-naming of parts like Gatorclaw hand. The Brahmiluff is a re-colour of Brahmin with different horns and literally the same inventory of, Brahmin hide and Brahmin meat. This comes across as lazy and pathetic.
Cell duplication
For me there is a fine line for where this is acceptable for mod authors. In the game Fallout New Vegas, there is a limitation that prevents navmesh in cells, most modders duplicate cells to copy this data over as a sort of workaround for the problem. Most of these cells are re-purposed as seen in Someguy2000's Bounty series. This is acceptable. Sometimes a mod author will try to trick the player or there is an expectation that a cell would be the same, it is okay in these situations as well in my opinion. There are also exceptions that mod users make if the quality of the mod or content outweigh the cell duplication. A good example of this would be the mod Wyrmstooth. Wrymstooth's main quest dungeon merges the main quested cells like Bleakfalls Barrow, Snow Veil sanctum, Irkngthand etc, etc. Most mod users would find this lazy and pathetic, but as the mod has it's own quest, content and it is free, this is accepted by most. When traveling through Skyrim, the cell for Alvor's house is used numerous times and for one of the cells for the main quest in Dragonborn DLC. In Fallout 4 there is a tall house that counts as an exploitable exterior. The house is notable with the broken set of stairs on the second floor that elude to a third floor that is blocked by a collision marker, or "invisible wall" This cell is used all throughout Fallout 4's Commonwealth and Nuka World. The same set of stairs are broken and there is no clutter/loot to be found in this house, making it very obvious that it is the same cell. This is lazy and pathetic that a AAA developer would cut corners like this.
Grammar
I have a few rules for mods and games. I can allow spelling errors in books, notes, journals and terminals as it is suggested that it was written by a person from the game world, the ability to write would be subject to the writer in game and could be poor. What is not acceptable is dialogue spelling errors, load screen spelling errors and menu spelling errors, as those are developer specific. Some have zero tolerance in this area like Al Chestbreach, though some exceptions will be made for new modders based on the volume of errors. I am a bit more tolerant because I myself am prone to grammatical errors. A mod like Moonpath to Elsweyr which is notorious for having the worst grammar, yet the mod flourishes as there is an acceptance for free content. A AAA game company should not have any spelling errors in load screens, dialogue or menus, least any that I can spot. Bethesda's Fallout 4 is riddles with grammatical errors and it is not acceptable for a game with a base cost with all content of $110.00. Pathetic and lazy.
Do you have any comparisons that are tolerated by mod authors that should be taboo for a big name company like Bethesda? Please
is more more impressive because like you mention there is no art team ect. So you have invest so much time ect. But the real reasson I find it more impressive because it literlly working of scraps to rexture a gun i've got one copy right free nuka cola poster thats all I can do but bethesda literally have hundred they can use and mine does't even look half bad