Skyrim Creation Kit OUT, Witcher 2 Creation Kit MIA

[coffeerocks]

Skyrim Creation Kit OUT, Witcher 2 Creation Kit MIA

http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1218140p1.html#disqus_thread

Kinda funny that the Witcher 2 has been out 6 months longer than Skyrim and still has no mod kit. Granted CDPrject is much smaller than Bethesda it's not like CDProject had allot of projects in the hopper at once till recently. Anyone seen any updates this year from CDProject about a release of their own creation kit?

 

[Aver]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1218140p1.html#disqus_thread

Kinda funny that the Witcher 2 has been out 6 months longer than Skyrim and still has no mod kit. Granted CDPrject is much smaller than Bethesda it's not like CDProject had allot of projects in the hopper at once till recently. Anyone seen any updates this year from CDProject about a release of their own creation kit?

They said that they don't know if they will release creation kit. They would like to do so, but they can't promise anything. Also they said that if it will happen it won't be before x360 version.

 

[not_slimgrin]

CDPR is a much smaller studio dealing with a brand new graphics engine...still, I agree they need to get it out pronto. Or don't bother. Ideally, in the future the mod kit should be released on the debut of the game. This is what gets modders fired up and devoted to participate. This is what creates an active and devoted community and what increases the life of a game. And in TW2's case, modders would be fixing bugs that still have not gotten any attention from the dev team.

 

[soldiergeralt]

this game is just crying out for modding, much more potential than skyrim.

 

[chromie92]

this game is just crying out for modding, much more potential than skyrim.

You can't be serious? Either way lets not turn this into a versus thread.

One thing I hope CDPR does is take note of the Creation kit or well any SDK Bethesda has released. People can make ANYTHING in Witcher 1 you could not. I THINK Djinni allowed people to use only assests ingame already (I could be wrong) which is what prevented the modding community to well explode.

 

[Corylea.723]

I THINK Djinni allowed people to use only assests ingame already (I could be wrong) which is what prevented the modding community to well explode.

You can make new scripts, dialogues, items, and cutscenes in Djinni, and of course new adventures. Until Fantasta released his Blender importer for Djinni -- fairly recently in the lifecycle of TW1 -- you could only add new objects to TW1 with 3D Studio Max, a $5000 program. (Most modders don't have it, of course.) And even with Fantasta's importer, you can't add new character models, because his importer doesn't handle animations.

So yes, you're mostly right. Modders can repurpose the game's assets -- and doing that can be quite a lot of fun, as it turns out -- but making any kind of new character, object, or area is out of reach of nearly all modders.

 

[GuyNwah]

I'm just speculating from the files I've seen, but it looks like:

Some of the asset descriptions (stats, effects, etc.) are stored as XML. These are really easy to modify and wouldn't be hard for a third party to write a limited construction kit for.

Messing with textures and meshes is no more difficult than with any other game. The string table format doesn't pose a problem, either.

But many of the assets in TW2 are stored as serialized C++ objects. These will be a pain, because you need the source code and C++ compiler to reconstruct the objects or create new ones. I'm not sure I, if I were a developer on this game, would want to go to the trouble of sanitizing and releasing enough source code to allow these objects to be worked with.

 

[gregski]

It's been said clearly by CDPR that they are not rushing the modkit for a few reasons:

1. Since TW2 PC launch they are busy with making the Xbox version and concentrating fully on that task.

2. RED Engine is still new technology and they are constantly upgrading it. Plus the tools they are using now professionally are in their opinion too complex and difficult to be released at their present state to the community.

 

[kitadol]

It's a damn shame too because modding really extends the life of a game.

 

[SystemShock7]

http://pc.ign.com/articles/121/1218140p1.html#disqus_thread

Kinda funny that the Witcher 2 has been out 6 months longer than Skyrim and still has no mod kit. Granted CDPrject is much smaller than Bethesda it's not like CDProject had allot of projects in the hopper at once till recently. Anyone seen any updates this year from CDProject about a release of their own creation kit?

Elder Scrolls games have been modded for a decade. Throw in Fallout games as well, as they are built on the same engine/model. Getting a construction set is now part of the deal in buying an Elder Scrolls/Fallout game for the PC. Even though BethSoft proclaimed the release of a new Creation Engine with the release of Skyrim, it is clearly not new at all, but just an updated version of Gamebryo, the engine they have been using since Morrowind (maybe before that). Granted it has been updated and upgraded since Morrowind with every new game release, but at its core, when you look at the construction sets, the assets, etc., you will see clearly where it came from.

Matter of fact, they took too long in releasing the kit, mainly because of the tie-in with Steam Workshop.

 

[username_17]

2. RED Engine is still new technology and they are constantly upgrading it. Plus the tools they are using now professionally are in their opinion too complex and difficult to be released at their present state to the community.

Most professional programmers think that they are the top of the crown and the modders stupid cows (or something like this), but they simply should give me the tools and let the rest be my problem. (just my opinion)

We all know that several games like NWN or Morrowind/Oblivion have a real long life just because there are modders that make new adventures/mods for it. That's why they are still sold even when they are years old.
TW could have this too, if only CDPR would give us modders a toolset. ^^

 

[dragonbird]

Most professional programmers think that they are the top of the crown and the modders stupid cows (or something like this), but they simply should give me the tools and let the rest be my problem. (just my opinion)

We all know that several games like NWN or Morrowind/Oblivion have a real long life just because there are modders that make new adventures/mods for it. That's why they are still sold even when they are years old.
TW could have this too, if only CDPR would give us modders a toolset. ^^

The SDK would still need to be productised, and that still needs work. I'm frustrated too, but they've been open about their priorities so lets wait and see what happens after the Xbox launch. At least we still have a game that's enjoyable without the big mods, unlike TES customers

But if we get to the middle of the year without any sign of an SDK, I may not be so laid-back about it.

 

[eptit]

very nice by developers. skyrim released six months later and received a toolkit earlier The Witcher. is not rightly! givest toolset. It turns out better Bethesda cares about his fans. part of my love for the original game was the toolkit. and they have taken and instead of it started to make xbox 360 version.

 

[gregski]

Most professional programmers think that they are the top of the crown and the modders stupid cows (or something like this), but they simply should give me the tools and let the rest be my problem. (just my opinion)

We all know that several games like NWN or Morrowind/Oblivion have a real long life just because there are modders that make new adventures/mods for it. That's why they are still sold even when they are years old.
TW could have this too, if only CDPR would give us modders a toolset. ^^

I just quoted their statement, which was open and honest with people. Personally I don't care about the toolset, as I wouldn't ever use it or use any mods.

But seeing how people find it so entertaining to whine about anything these days, they would also whine about mod tools being too difficult to use even if they eventually got those mod tools that they have been whining about so much. So I can see why CDPR is taking their time with the kit's release

 

[eptit]

Hope, Enhanced Edition was had toolset. If it is true, I will buy collector edition again!
p.s.: Я русский - у меня плохой английский!

 

[SystemShock7]

Most professional programmers think that they are the top of the crown and the modders stupid cows (or something like this), but they simply should give me the tools and let the rest be my problem. (just my opinion)

We all know that several games like NWN or Morrowind/Oblivion have a real long life just because there are modders that make new adventures/mods for it. That's why they are still sold even when they are years old.
TW could have this too, if only CDPR would give us modders a toolset. ^^

In my point of view at least, the one aspect of modding games like Morrowind/Oblivion/Fallout vis a vis Witcher: not that they aren't entertaining, but the former have very bland stories with very generic characters (even with a number of main characters voiced by the same actor), occurring in very generic settings, whereas Witcher occurs in very specific settings, has very strong characters with very strong personalities, not to mention, a very compelling story. It is rather easy to create a quest in any TES or Fallout game that just fits within the game... it is another thing to do so in a game like Witcher. With BethSoft games, you can grab a dungeon kit and make a hundred of them, but how many Loc Muinnes can you make in Witcher?

If you look at mods for BethSoft games, the overwhelming majority include hentai-style bodies/clothing/armor (don't fit at all in Witcher), stats re-balancing (which can be easily done in Witcher right now), re-textures (which you can easily do now in Wicther), "HD" texture packs and lighting fixes (no need to do that in Wicther, really).

That's not to say I wouldn't like to modify certain aspects of Witcher, and I have... about the only thing I can't do right now which I would like to do is add more variety in NPCs.

 

[dragonbird]

If you look at the first game as an example, the main thing I'm hoping that we'll get is expansions - new stories.

It's in any developer's interest to keep players hooked in that extended period between one game and the next. You can either do that by bringing out a new DLC/Expansion every 3 months or so, or you can do it by releasing a toolkit so that people will make their own. Or you can do both

 

[chromie92]

2. RED Engine is still new technology and they are constantly upgrading it. Plus the tools they are using now professionally are in their opinion too complex and difficult to be released at their present state to the community.

This is never a good a reason. If the community wants to mod a game they will do it. Just look at Grand Theft Auto 4 which has no mod tools.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBw0R1AUU64&feature=related[/media]

 

[gregski]

This is never a good a reason. If the community wants to mod a game they will do it. Just look at Grand Theft Auto 4 which has no mod tools.

You sound very arbitrary. Maybe it's not a good reason for you, but it seems to be good enough for CDPR. And I don't really get your point, if GTA was modded so heavily without mod tools and the community will mod the game anyway then it seems CDPR don't have to rush with the toolkit.

 

[PCMaster]

This is never a good a reason. If the community wants to mod a game they will do it. Just look at Grand Theft Auto 4 which has no mod tools.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBw0R1AUU64&feature=related[/media]

It's not true, if a game is moddabile depends on several factors, not simply a matter of willingness of users. It 's just an example of the Total War series, and thousands and thousands of modders have attempted to modify Empire Total War, Napoleon Total War and Shogun Total War 2 with no success (it only manages to make some marginal changes such as statistics and maybe some small release in game) and are years that they try.

However, Rockstar has always been friendly to modding in the past or rather you did not make games that require an Editor Kit