Elite Dangerous and modding?

burzum

B
I haven't seen any thread about this yet, but will Elite Dangerous be moddable?

For example can we create standalone mods, like a Battlestar Gallactica total conversion? Can we add new ships? Change the flight model? Create new planets, systems or even galaxies? Will Frontier support that with mod tools?

Games with great modding support like the Elderscrolls games or nearly every old FPS had always a benefit because of their mods, they were popular and you could play the game even years later with many new mods and maps.
 

Robert Maynard

Volunteer Moderator
Robert Maynard
burzum said:
I haven't seen any thread about this yet, but will Elite Dangerous be moddable?

For example can we create standalone mods, like a Battlestar Gallactica total conversion? Can we add new ships? Change the flight model? Create new planets, systems or even galaxies? Will Frontier support that with mod tools?

Games with great modding support like the Elderscrolls games or nearly every old FPS had always a benefit because of their mods, they were popular and you could play the game even years later with many new mods and maps.
Click to expand...

With a single online multi-player game area it would be difficult to imagine how mods would be integrated so as not to imbalance the game.
 

rootsrat

Volunteer Moderator
rootsrat
I wouldn't mind some modding tools, I love to mod games to better suit my liking, but in the case of ED they should only be available for single player offline mode, apart from purely cosmetic mods - these could be used in the online game.

Saying that though, even if the developers are looking at that aspect, IMHO this should have very low priority. Let's get the full, bug free game first, then think about modding it :)
 

burzum

B
Robert Maynard said:
With a single online multi-player game area it would be difficult to imagine how mods would be integrated so as not to imbalance the game.
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There is no problem having single player mods and even multiplayer if there is a check that only clients get matched that have the same mods loaded. But I would prefer dedicated servers in this case.
 

Hooplah

Hooplah
Yes, I would suspect that Single Player Offline where one actually installs the game on the local computer will allow for modding. I'm also sure that for now any offline save game files will not be compatible online with FD servers.

Still...It has easily been done before with Freelancer. Offline one could fly anything they wanted including a downloadable Millennium Falcon. Online some servers would let you use your mods while others wouldn't. What was different then was that the server side edition also came with the client side on the CD so anyone could operate their own Freelancer server and many did. That alone expanded the Freelancer universe and keeps it running today with a fan base since it's release in 2003.

At one time I was running three computers on one server and had 15 ships with some large transports used for storage of weapons and other goodies. Multiple players would get together with a fleet of transporters and support fighters to make trading runs. Those engaged in combat usually flew Eagles primarily just in two "official" combat systems. Now that was fun!

So there are positive ways to do MMOG and not be just a single combat scenarnio. I'm sure that FD has seen how it has been done before and have a few ideas of their own.
 
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Zephyriel

Zephyriel
Mods for single player would be nice. One thing I'd really like though, is custom paintjobs. By custom, I mean like you could do in GTA 3 : being able to edit the texture file in a digital imaging software. This way you could write something, add a decal, or simply tune the colors to your liking... Not really a mod per se, but it would allow players to personalize their experience.

Actual mods could be new weapons or new ships, but that would require highly skilled modders to match the game's visual quality. Other than that, mods that affect gameplay or add features would probably require work on FD's side to allow them, which as Rootsrat said should be very low priority, at least for now, especially since so much work is being put in the online part which would likely not benefit from most mods.
 

Oculus

Oculus
Could be part of the game to earn money to buy a ship design creator. Build ships and then submit them to pilots federation for testing( very expensive). If passed they could be built and sold.

....Theres a ship being designed in the outer rim of the galaxy. Smugglers are heading out there to make the purchase as Infamous pirate Two Pheet did the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs with this ship.....
 

OriginalBadBoy

O
No ... I dont think modding will work, for it to work, it would have to be so restrictive it wouldnt be much fun.

The issue is if you open up the entire game to be modded then people will be hunting around systems looking for stuff, or finding things in the game and then putting it up on youtube, stuff that would take other players months, if not years to find.

The only way it would work is if it was very restrictive to different ships, stations and that would be about it.

Cant see the point really.

I would like to see Cobra being made into an engine for others to use though.
 

Serpentstar

S
I am thinking because they are doing micro-transactions for paint jobs and possibly other cosmetic content, they would limit what users could add over the content allowed for the purposes of maintaining the ongoing game once released.

After all, they are going to need to continually add content to be purchased in order to keep the game active since it is not P2W or subscription based.
 

[SI] Bobdelion

[SI] Bobdelion
Given that this is an inherently multi-player/online game modding in the 'game changing' mold would not really fly. However I would love to see the ability to set up UI macros or the like or have the ability to customise the 'in ship' interfaces via a restored API of some sort. That could be a great addition and add to the players overall connection to their individual ships without compromising the core gameplay.
 

Tempered

Tempered
I imagine that there will be a few players using aimbot type mods :eek:
I haven't seen an online game yet that didn't have its share of cheaters.
 

burzum

B
Zephyriel said:
Actual mods could be new weapons or new ships, but that would require highly skilled modders to match the game's visual quality. Other than that, mods that affect gameplay or add features would probably require work on FD's side to allow them,
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Adding new weapons is already altering the gameplay. There is no reason to limit anything. If people want to use a silly mod with flying invulnerable unicorns that shoot pink lasers I'm fine with that, I don't have to use it.

This forum has overall an attitude of "If I don't like / need it others don't need it". :( Make as much things optional like the lens flare and everyone will be satisfied. Give us mod support, if you don't like mods, don't use them, you don't have to.

Patrick_68000 said:
For the permanent galaxy in online mode, I prefer a coherence controlled by Frontier.
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I assumed it would be obvious to everyone that the persistent universe (even the solo mode) would not be moddable for very obvious reasons.

Koen said:
If you want mods, you should look at Oolite: it has hundreds of mods.
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Well, did I ask for Oolite mods? No.

Tempered said:
I imagine that there will be a few players using aimbot type mods :eek:
I haven't seen an online game yet that didn't have its share of cheaters.
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Mods aren't hacks. And if somebody wants to ruin his own singleplayer experience with cheat like mods hes welcome to do that.

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I'm surprised there is not more feedback on mods, especially positive feedback. Usually modding games is fun and using mods, especially total conversions are a huge addition to the game.

I personally would love to see a well done BSG mod for example and help creating it. :)
 
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Sanderson

Sanderson
Mod tools would be awesome but I seriously doubt we'll get any mod support.

Would be nice to be able to make content (strictly ED) to be used in the game after frontier approval. The gaming community can do some truly incredible stuff.
 

Tempered

Tempered
burzum said:
I'm surprised there is not more feedback on mods, especially positive feedback. Usually modding games is fun and using mods, especially total conversions are a huge addition to the game.

I personally would love to see a well done BSG mod for example and help creating it. :)
Click to expand...

There is not more feedback because some games, such as ED, do not lend themselves well to modding. Specifically, games that rely on a central server or MMO's. ED is a rare game that will have both single player offline, and online modes. Allowing extensive modding of the single player offline mode could in some ways compromise the online experience. As an example, imagine a modder was able to mod all of the stats for all of the planets. In order to do that, he has to have access to the original data. That data could be passed on to online players, letting them know which planets or systems to explore to find hidden goodies. This would completely destroy the exploration portion of the game. There are other reasons and examples as well, but I'm not in the mood to list them all here.

I'm sure we would all love to add our own ships, design our own space stations, etc., but I seriously doubt that it is even being considered by Frontier. I'm guessing that the only user content that they would allow is ship textures or decals.

They still have huge plans for the future of Elite. They are going to be busy doing other things for a long time.
 
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