I’m newish to modding games. I have been on a console my whole life and PC gaming is still relatively new to me. I’ve been modding a few games lately like Mass Effect and Baldurs Gate 3… It’s like a whole ass research assignment to figure out how to load mods. Each one different with different rules. I decided to not even bother with a significant number of mods because they just seemed mind numbingly confusing to set up.
I’m not complaining, I’m just wondering if I’m missing some trick or something.
Edit: I would like to thank everyone who answered. It appears that, nah. I’m not missing something. I am just a dummy. Probably just gonna take a while to get used to for me. But thank you very much <3
Most games were never made to be modded. The communities are hacking mods into these games, many of which were even designed to make modding harder. (Because mods compete against sequels or something? I dunno. Intellectual property is a mental illness.) It’s not terribly surprising that games that weren’t meant to be modded have confusingly inconsistent methods for loading mods. Because those mods work fundamentally differently from game to game. If a mod happens to be easy-ish to install, chances are it’s either quite a simple mod (a model/texture replacement or some such, or just something that’s not terribly hard to mod) or a lot of work has been put into making it easier.
Also the timeline usually matters. Mod methods can change as game patches are released. Mods can have mod patches. Mods can be deprecated for new mods or mod methods. Mods can have other dependencies. Install order sometimes matters.
I think OP is right; mods can be messy, complicated, and a lot of work.
It’s more that most games aren’t made with consideration for modding, this means you can have core gameplay elements hidden in encrypted packages and modding is limited by what you can actually get access to. Sometimes the devs/publishers will actively make mods harder though. Really depends on the game, the company, how determined people are to mod it, how long the game’s been out for, the engine and probably a bunch else that I haven’t thought of right now.
Some games lend themselves better to modding. Some are much more complicated to mod. Some games need a mod manager to do conflict checks and some games can just have mods piled on top of each other endlessly without issues.
Mods within certain game engines can pretty much be moved between games ofln the same engine often with very little adjustment.
I would say in modern modding it is usually fairly straightforward, but some games and some older mods definitely require some deep computer fuckery.
Stick to things you’re comfortable with and skip the ones you aren’t.
It also depends where you get the mod from as different sites offers different amount of help. On some sites you need to download, un zip, drag and drop files in different places and change files both in the mod and outside it, and other sites you just press a button and your good to go. Even when it is the same or similar mods.
Use Nexusmods and their Vortex mod manager. It simplifies it a lot, though you may have to watch a quick tutorial video or two. It’s nothing that you won’t learn, though.
Certain other games may have other mod loaders just for them, that you can use. KSPs CKAN comes to mind, or Curseforge for Minecraft. A lot of games handle mods through the Steam Workshop.
In the case of using mod loaders most of the stuff you will have to do yourself will be limited to keeping mods updated, resolving conflicts, and managing load orders (where applicable).
As the name suggests, a mod is “modifying” the game, in ways that the original creators never intended to support. That’s why out of very few exceptions (such as Paradox and Steam mods), there is not a centralized hub maintained by the creator to organize and apply mods. But since there are some similarities between certain games (such as the game engine they run on), sometimes there is a third party mod launcher/installer which simplifies things. Thunderstore is an example.
The process tends to be different for every game because every game is made differently. To boil the concept down, basically if there’s no official interface for custom functionality (such as a plugin system), then modders will usually “hack” this in themselves. Installing the mod often means replacing a game file with one that hooks into the game, to be able to load custom code and custom game resources.
Depends on the game and how the mods work. I just did a bunch of mods on Morrowwind and there was a tool for it and it was straight forward. GTA IV was super straightforward loading the mods I thought. Dolphin game mods I thought where a little funky till I spent a little time with it and was like oh this makes sense they way they are doing it and I was being a dummy not fully reading the instructions
Isn’t GTA IV a bit difficult to mod? I feel like I recall using OpenIV and having to track down the correct directories to install each part of a mod the right way
"If it was easy, it wouldn’t be a shortcut, it’d just be the way. "
Modding varies from game to game, but having been doing it for nearly 40 years now, I can say it has generally become easier in the titles that want you to and harder in the ones that don’t.
Some games are super easy, press a button and it’s done (steam workshop and things like that), most games are pretty easy but it varies (drag and drop some files to a specific place, maybe do a load order) and then there’s the games that aren’t made in a mod friendly way and require a 50 step ritual to add a minor graphics update that probably won’t work the first 3 times because you forgot to add a patch on step 7b. Mass effect is definitely not a game designed to be modded, bg3 hasn’t had full official mod support that long afaik so some stuff is likely still hacky
Can’t say that I’ve ever had this issue. Usually mod authors will tell you where to install them, or package the files in a folder structure such that there is no thinking involved.
Yeah, I usually just follow the instructions, which seems to work 99% of the time. The main problem is usually if a mod still works with the latest game version.
Like most things, you’re just “an idiot” until you figure it out. Like any skill, the more you practice the better you get. Just take the time to understand it better and it will start making more sense eventually.
I was doing it for the Legendary edition to be fair. I dunno if that makes a difference at all. I ended up just sticking with a couple of basic community patches, staying in casual outfits on the Citadel and such in ME1, and upscaled cutscenes. Anything more than that was just way too fuckin confusing.
Oh and adding back the same sex romance options in ME1 and 2. I had no idea that was an option but my gay ass is super happy to be able to romance Kaiden throughout all 3 games now. Time for a break from Cortez, my beloved.
Genuinely not had a problem with mods, and I’ve been PC gaming for decades. Of course sometimes mods don’t work but thats life. Just be patient, you’ll get it done.
Decent mods have a readme file - follow the steps strictly - no skipping thinking you know better - and they should work.
Also look on YouTube or search online for guides - people often provide step by step guides to mod games purely out of a love for gaming.
Keep going - mods can be great, and its one of the many benefits of PC gaming. You’ll get there!
You’re not missing anything. Heavy modding of older games PC can be a pain in the ass.
You can usually find a somewhat coherent and structured guide that will give you a step by step process, but will still be time-consuming (and there will likely be exceptions or outdated information).
The best option is to keep mods to minimum unless you know what you are doing and it’s a game that you play on a permanent basis.
Heavy modding of older games PC can be a pain in the ass.
Sometimes the older games are the easy ones to mod, and the new games make it intentionally difficult. Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Deus Ex are all mod-friendly.
It can also depend on how much work the mod developer puts into making it easy.
(I notice you have an MiB as your profile pic and Deus Ex’s Liberty Island skybox as your profile banner lol)
I was so confused for so long here. I forgot that Men in Black were in Deus Ex. I was just like “How the hell does Tommy Lee Jones connect with this?!”
If it’s non-standard engine (“sourceport” in Doom terminology) with its own scripting infrastructure (like GZDoom) then sure. Vanilla and Boom compatible engines are kinda tricky, DeHackEd isn’t exactly the easiest modding approach. Mapping-friendly - for sure, but modding - less so.
Nexus’s Vortex will be your friend. The Steam Workshop will be your best friend from elementary school.
Vortex works with Nexus mods damn near flawlessly. It’s pretty easy to set up as there are instructions to guide you through the process.
Workshop is literally just a single click to download and install mods to your games. Sometimes you may have to activate the mods in the games themselves.
Other than that, I’ve found modding to get easier the more you do it. You start to see patterns and pick up on where certain files should go or how they should interact and work. People will make their own mod managers for specific games (I have the Sonic Adventure 2 Mod Manager for instance) as well.
YMMV but as a long time mod installer I find the UI of Vortex more confusing than manually modding most games. But if the UI clicks with you then yeah it would be a lot easier than manual.
I like it cause I can turn on/off certain mods without having to use another mod as a manager. And because I find it easier than having to look for certain folders to put everything in.
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Most games were never made to be modded. The communities are hacking mods into these games, many of which were even designed to make modding harder. (Because mods compete against sequels or something? I dunno. Intellectual property is a mental illness.) It’s not terribly surprising that games that weren’t meant to be modded have confusingly inconsistent methods for loading mods. Because those mods work fundamentally differently from game to game. If a mod happens to be easy-ish to install, chances are it’s either quite a simple mod (a model/texture replacement or some such, or just something that’s not terribly hard to mod) or a lot of work has been put into making it easier.
Also the timeline usually matters. Mod methods can change as game patches are released. Mods can have mod patches. Mods can be deprecated for new mods or mod methods. Mods can have other dependencies. Install order sometimes matters.
I think OP is right; mods can be messy, complicated, and a lot of work.
yea sequels, expansion packs, and DLC
It’s more that most games aren’t made with consideration for modding, this means you can have core gameplay elements hidden in encrypted packages and modding is limited by what you can actually get access to. Sometimes the devs/publishers will actively make mods harder though. Really depends on the game, the company, how determined people are to mod it, how long the game’s been out for, the engine and probably a bunch else that I haven’t thought of right now.
Some games lend themselves better to modding. Some are much more complicated to mod. Some games need a mod manager to do conflict checks and some games can just have mods piled on top of each other endlessly without issues.
Mods within certain game engines can pretty much be moved between games ofln the same engine often with very little adjustment.
I would say in modern modding it is usually fairly straightforward, but some games and some older mods definitely require some deep computer fuckery.
Stick to things you’re comfortable with and skip the ones you aren’t.
It also depends where you get the mod from as different sites offers different amount of help. On some sites you need to download, un zip, drag and drop files in different places and change files both in the mod and outside it, and other sites you just press a button and your good to go. Even when it is the same or similar mods.
Use Nexusmods and their Vortex mod manager. It simplifies it a lot, though you may have to watch a quick tutorial video or two. It’s nothing that you won’t learn, though.
Certain other games may have other mod loaders just for them, that you can use. KSPs CKAN comes to mind, or Curseforge for Minecraft. A lot of games handle mods through the Steam Workshop.
In the case of using mod loaders most of the stuff you will have to do yourself will be limited to keeping mods updated, resolving conflicts, and managing load orders (where applicable).
Mod Organizer 2 is typically recommended over Vortex but it depends on the game. I think Vortex has wider support.
Are you using nexus mod manager, vortex? Makes modding somewhat friendlier
Can’t wait for the Linux version.
As the name suggests, a mod is “modifying” the game, in ways that the original creators never intended to support. That’s why out of very few exceptions (such as Paradox and Steam mods), there is not a centralized hub maintained by the creator to organize and apply mods. But since there are some similarities between certain games (such as the game engine they run on), sometimes there is a third party mod launcher/installer which simplifies things. Thunderstore is an example.
The process tends to be different for every game because every game is made differently. To boil the concept down, basically if there’s no official interface for custom functionality (such as a plugin system), then modders will usually “hack” this in themselves. Installing the mod often means replacing a game file with one that hooks into the game, to be able to load custom code and custom game resources.
Depends on the game and how the mods work. I just did a bunch of mods on Morrowwind and there was a tool for it and it was straight forward. GTA IV was super straightforward loading the mods I thought. Dolphin game mods I thought where a little funky till I spent a little time with it and was like oh this makes sense they way they are doing it and I was being a dummy not fully reading the instructions
Isn’t GTA IV a bit difficult to mod? I feel like I recall using OpenIV and having to track down the correct directories to install each part of a mod the right way
"If it was easy, it wouldn’t be a shortcut, it’d just be the way. "
Modding varies from game to game, but having been doing it for nearly 40 years now, I can say it has generally become easier in the titles that want you to and harder in the ones that don’t.
Some games are super easy, press a button and it’s done (steam workshop and things like that), most games are pretty easy but it varies (drag and drop some files to a specific place, maybe do a load order) and then there’s the games that aren’t made in a mod friendly way and require a 50 step ritual to add a minor graphics update that probably won’t work the first 3 times because you forgot to add a patch on step 7b. Mass effect is definitely not a game designed to be modded, bg3 hasn’t had full official mod support that long afaik so some stuff is likely still hacky
Can’t say that I’ve ever had this issue. Usually mod authors will tell you where to install them, or package the files in a folder structure such that there is no thinking involved.
Yeah, I usually just follow the instructions, which seems to work 99% of the time. The main problem is usually if a mod still works with the latest game version.
So I’m just an idiot.
Sounds about right.
Like most things, you’re just “an idiot” until you figure it out. Like any skill, the more you practice the better you get. Just take the time to understand it better and it will start making more sense eventually.
Even then it can be difficult. A lot of mods have other dependencies that need to be installed and those dependencies and can have dependencies.
Not familiar with those particular games, but if you’re lucky there might be a third party mod manager that takes some of the hassle out.
To be fair, Mass Effect has one of the most convoluted modding processes and dogshit communities of all time. Other games are easier lol.
I was doing it for the Legendary edition to be fair. I dunno if that makes a difference at all. I ended up just sticking with a couple of basic community patches, staying in casual outfits on the Citadel and such in ME1, and upscaled cutscenes. Anything more than that was just way too fuckin confusing.
Oh and adding back the same sex romance options in ME1 and 2. I had no idea that was an option but my gay ass is super happy to be able to romance Kaiden throughout all 3 games now. Time for a break from Cortez, my beloved.
Haha awesome! Actually i was referring to the original trilogy being terrible to mod. I’m not sure about the legendary edition.
Genuinely not had a problem with mods, and I’ve been PC gaming for decades. Of course sometimes mods don’t work but thats life. Just be patient, you’ll get it done.
Decent mods have a readme file - follow the steps strictly - no skipping thinking you know better - and they should work.
Also look on YouTube or search online for guides - people often provide step by step guides to mod games purely out of a love for gaming.
Keep going - mods can be great, and its one of the many benefits of PC gaming. You’ll get there!
You’re not missing anything. Heavy modding of older games PC can be a pain in the ass.
You can usually find a somewhat coherent and structured guide that will give you a step by step process, but will still be time-consuming (and there will likely be exceptions or outdated information).
The best option is to keep mods to minimum unless you know what you are doing and it’s a game that you play on a permanent basis.
Sometimes the older games are the easy ones to mod, and the new games make it intentionally difficult. Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, Deus Ex are all mod-friendly.
It can also depend on how much work the mod developer puts into making it easy.
(I notice you have an MiB as your profile pic and Deus Ex’s Liberty Island skybox as your profile banner lol)
I was so confused for so long here. I forgot that Men in Black were in Deus Ex. I was just like “How the hell does Tommy Lee Jones connect with this?!”
If it’s non-standard engine (“sourceport” in Doom terminology) with its own scripting infrastructure (like GZDoom) then sure. Vanilla and Boom compatible engines are kinda tricky, DeHackEd isn’t exactly the easiest modding approach. Mapping-friendly - for sure, but modding - less so.
Yeah, the main reason doom can be considered more friendly is because the whole engine’s been taken apart and rebuilt by half the game industry by now
Relatable, Mods do be tricky to implement
Nexus’s Vortex will be your friend. The Steam Workshop will be your best friend from elementary school.
Vortex works with Nexus mods damn near flawlessly. It’s pretty easy to set up as there are instructions to guide you through the process.
Workshop is literally just a single click to download and install mods to your games. Sometimes you may have to activate the mods in the games themselves.
Other than that, I’ve found modding to get easier the more you do it. You start to see patterns and pick up on where certain files should go or how they should interact and work. People will make their own mod managers for specific games (I have the Sonic Adventure 2 Mod Manager for instance) as well.
YMMV but as a long time mod installer I find the UI of Vortex more confusing than manually modding most games. But if the UI clicks with you then yeah it would be a lot easier than manual.
I like it cause I can turn on/off certain mods without having to use another mod as a manager. And because I find it easier than having to look for certain folders to put everything in.