Now they just need to make sure the mod-community gets same access and possibilities as before, which isn't given with Store/GamePass games.
(No, Bethesda RPG games like Fallout and Elder Scroll series' aren't playable without mods, really)
Bethesda's support of Mods going forward in a GamePass World? [2021]
- Thread starter Kaotik
- Start date
(No, Bethesda RPG games like Fallout and Elder Scroll series' aren't playable without mods, really)
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
Why would mods be a problem for GamePass versions of games?
On the PC, not console.
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
But still.. why?
Modding requires access to the game directory which isn't a simple thing on gamepass. You can't just use some replacer directory like they have with Flight Simulator.
Even if you have access, anything beyond some texture replacements and basic mods requires SKSE which has to execute Skyrim differently to work. The executables for gamepass games are locked out completely. You cannot use them at all outside of gamepass, no matter what permissions you try and change manually.
Given how restricted gamepass is on the PC, I just don't see how it will work.
It'll have to work like how it does on console, it will need to be handled entirely from the game perspective with installation hooks and all. Right?
And it would mean tools like xxSE (SKSE, F4SE, NVSE etc) wouldn't be possible anymore and unless their functionality would be integrated into the basegame, mod community would be limited to texture replacements and such
I think it's unlikely MS is going to change its policy of releasing everything on Steam. So for mod heavy users that'll be the place to get things like Skyrim. GamePass will probably look like console modding which will be good enough for a lot of people, but it does diminish the value for part of the PC audience.
That's okay though, Steam is still there.
(Also, given those games' large console audiences, unplayable is a pretty massive stretch)
Yeah, but it eats away the benefit of GamePass for those games
Yeah, for them on PC, and I said as much. Doom and Dishonored and ESO are still pretty decent gets for PC GamePass, plus whatever else they're working on though, and the console players get even more value because they never cared about complex mods.
I suspect the modding situation will improve over time too, though you won't ever get quite the same level of access because they're not going to want to violate the security model they have there. But it's something they want for Xbox too. They'll have more ability to push it now. And also for the platform team to coordinate directly with Bethesda on improvements to store app modding. Probably won't see the benefit of any of that work until at least ES6 though.
for what its worth they are working to improve the modding experience on pc when using the windows store, flight simulator fully supports mods, and I would imagine that they will be expanding this in the future
Tkumpathenurple
Veteran
Can the bean counters keep their grubby little fingers away from anything?
Mods have always been the main strength of the PC platform IMO. Sure, the PC can run things at higher settings, but largely the only game changing feature is mods, which was proven to me at a young age when I was doing Kung Fu in Max Payne or riding motorcycles in GTA3.
It used to be done, literally, for the love of the game. Not for cold, hard cash.
"Fully supports" is very subjective. Skyrim SKSE are other modding requires dll injectors, DSD shader changes and changes to how the game is executed. So whilst modding support is there, I feel it will be limited compared to what can be done with Skyrim. Once it's on GamePass PC we'll have a good idea of how restricted.
A historical lesson with Bethesda and Skyrim. The Creation Club came out years after the initial release of the game as a means of providing official mods to Skyrim, through their own store, including paid mods. When this happened, there were several big mods that disappeared from Steam Workshop and Nexus to arrive on Creation Club. And although it's a great way for the modders to earn something for their hard work (there are means of donating to modders on Nexus), it's also a way for Bethesda to rake in more cash from the community work.
Spent a couple of hours this morning messing with Skyrim GamePass PC version. Once modding is enabled in Game Pass, you're provided a directory in C:\Program Files\ModifiableWindowsApps which contains the Skyrim directory and files that is actually writeable. I'm assuming that the files are targets to the actual installation which I installed on my D drive, which also means you don't have a choice where your modded version of the game can live. No matter how you mess with permissions on the source WindowsApps directory, you can read the directory containing the game but you can't write to it at all, no chance of modding on the source data itself.
Adding an ENB and some basic mods worked fine, they're picked up just like normal, which is good. Skyrim has its own mods interface in the game with a lot of mods available from the community. far more than I had thought there would be but it's good you can actually manually mod it as well.
The bad part though is that you can't run any executables from the directory, not even the game executable. The game has to be run via the Game Pass interface or the desktop icon. This makes SKSE impossible to use on this version, which in turn greatly limits the more complex mods from working.
Adding an ENB and some basic mods worked fine, they're picked up just like normal, which is good. Skyrim has its own mods interface in the game with a lot of mods available from the community. far more than I had thought there would be but it's good you can actually manually mod it as well.
The bad part though is that you can't run any executables from the directory, not even the game executable. The game has to be run via the Game Pass interface or the desktop icon. This makes SKSE impossible to use on this version, which in turn greatly limits the more complex mods from working.
What happens if you just copy everything to some normal directory (or just the executable and link the rest) and then try to run it?
These directories only pretend to be normal directories, but they really aren't. They are not protected with the standard ACLs, windows treats them entirely differently.
These directories only pretend to be normal directories, but they really aren't. They are not protected with the standard ACLs, windows treats them entirely differently.