The modding community for PC games is insane.

[January's Ghost]

Just a shout out to how impossibly brilliant I find the overall modding scene for games (and also kinda the endurance of Skyrim and some other games).

I use mods frequently. Generally they are quality of life changes; remove stuttering, clean up UI or inventory, enhance textures, stuff like that. Once in awhile I'll grab new weapons or combat enhancements or economy tweaks and things that directly affect gameplay. From time to time even dabble in the more risque realms out of curiosity (sometime to great regret). My most used kind of mod are ones that affect lighting because, well, lighting is everything.

Modding is ubiquitous in the PC gaming arena no doubt, but it just blows my mind that you can go to Nexus and find (checks website) 58 new mods for Skyrim posted today with 431 posted this week (though I am not sure where the week starts, but it's only Wednesday). While Skyrim might exist outside of the modding norm, the daily number of new mods arriving on Nexus is just astounding.

Anyway, I don't have the drive or patience to learn to mod and subsequently create mods, but I certainly do appreciate the people who do and am thankful that there doesn't seem to be any end in sight.

 

[DXCHASE]

Im there with ya! I always appreciate a mod shoutout thread. I dont use them too too often, i have played Skyrim's full-conversion mod Enderal but even having the option is really great.

Currently, and the only game im using mods in atm, im using 4 mods in Stalker 2. 3 of them are for optimization purposes, stutter, cut down on opening dev/publisher screens.

Using 1 to tweak my movement when over-encumbered too, but its not even that much which is what i like about mods, you can use the "im a running god" portion of the mod or the "just 10% more running" part, which is me. I want the challenge still but sometimes its a little bit much for no reason (walking/running slowly in an open field is tedious af).


Mods even save games, i cant think of any off the top of my head but the most under-appreciated part i think about modding is that it actually SAVES games from disappearing or losing the last of its player base because the dev have abandoned it or somethin like that.

 

[Frindis]

I remember installing a mod collection for Morrowind called Wabbajack. It was basically a large executable file that did everything from setting up the mods to having you pick between the game style and graphics of your choosing. I found it very impressive considering the time it must have taken to eliminate any mod conflicts and get it all to run smoothly.

 

[Pifanjr]

It's the wonder of digital creations. Someone who builds something amazing physically has one amazing thing. Someone who builds something amazing digitally can copy and share it with everyone.

And most of what's built is of poor quality, the little hobby projects of amateurs just having fun, but eventually some of those amateurs will become experts. Experts who might continue to share their work. Even if they decide to start charging money for their skills, a lot of experts will have hobby projects they will give away for free.

This is true for video game mods, but also for (open source) software in general, as well as tons and tons of art and knowledge. All of which are typically shared on platforms which are themselves maintained mainly by volunteers and/or hobbyists.

 

[red_5ive]

I don't use them too often, but when I do I'm often left in great appreciation of the modder community. The last time I used one was to fix a mission bug in Starfield where some folk from a town I was supposed to transport kept following me around because the mission didn't properly complete, and console commands wouldn't properly fix it, either.

I mostly appreciate them for QoL changes, and graphical overhauls for older games (e.g., Skyrim). By far the most memorable, if not my absolute favorite, was the Scrap Everything mod for Fallout 4. It literally does exactly that.

 

[Zimbaly]

I miss the old days of modding. Not that fixes and models and QoL changes are great for people, but man.

When mods were more like games all on their own in the good old days. Counter Strike, DoD, ToD, Movie Battles, Team Fortress, Desert Combat, Sven Coop...... makes me wish for more of those kinds of mods being made. Sadly that would mean companies getting on bored and these days game companies suck and are a sad form of their past selves and don't allow/do that anymore.