A modder has cracked open some disabled abilities in the official modding toolkit for Baldur's Gate 3, making it possible for modders to create new levels.
Isn’t this part of the bargain one makes when choosing a console over a PC, though? On the one hand, hardware upgrade and homebrew/mod options are slim-to-none. On the other hand, there’s less up-front hardware cost, fewer hassles, smaller footprint, and no game compatibility issues.
This isn’t Larian’s fault, obviously. It’s an industry-side issue that’s down to Sony, Microsoft, etc. gatekeeping their stores. I don’t think it’s a fair bargain when the barrier to mod support for consoles seems less a matter of technical considerations and more a product of big corporations not knowing how to monetise or control fan-made content. I’m a console gamer because I’ve made peace with the lack of Mac support. Feels like the industry wants to punish non-PC gamers sometimes.
I don’t think it’s a fair bargain when the barrier to mod support for consoles seems less a matter of technical considerations and more a product of big corporations not knowing how to monetise or control fan-made content.
Console makers have been famously strict about controlling their platforms ever since the glut of awful games in 1980s that gave some consoles a bad reputation. That bit of history is surely a significant factor, if not one of the most significant.
It’s also worth acknowledging that modding and homebrew game development come largely from people who already have the tools for the platform they use, which usually means PCs. (It’s one of the great advantages of general-purpose computing, after all.) Improving the situation much on consoles would require not just lifting the restrictions, but making console development kits good, cheap, and available.
If those two things came to pass, it sure would be interesting to see the results.
Isn’t this part of the bargain one makes when choosing a console over a PC, though? On the one hand, hardware upgrade and homebrew/mod options are slim-to-none. On the other hand, there’s less up-front hardware cost, fewer hassles, smaller footprint, and no game compatibility issues.
@mox
This isn’t Larian’s fault, obviously. It’s an industry-side issue that’s down to Sony, Microsoft, etc. gatekeeping their stores. I don’t think it’s a fair bargain when the barrier to mod support for consoles seems less a matter of technical considerations and more a product of big corporations not knowing how to monetise or control fan-made content. I’m a console gamer because I’ve made peace with the lack of Mac support. Feels like the industry wants to punish non-PC gamers sometimes.
Console makers have been famously strict about controlling their platforms ever since the glut of awful games in 1980s that gave some consoles a bad reputation. That bit of history is surely a significant factor, if not one of the most significant.
It’s also worth acknowledging that modding and homebrew game development come largely from people who already have the tools for the platform they use, which usually means PCs. (It’s one of the great advantages of general-purpose computing, after all.) Improving the situation much on consoles would require not just lifting the restrictions, but making console development kits good, cheap, and available.
If those two things came to pass, it sure would be interesting to see the results.