Modding Diablo III?

[Garbad_the_Weak]

One thing I enjoy about many games is player mods and player content. For example in Rome total War you can download player mods that range from small AI tweaks to full conversions (using new maps, units, etc).

I think it would be awesome if D3 allowed similar mods. Let the fanbase create mods of any kind and run them on open battle.net.

Any idea if D3 will support this type of thing?

[Demetrium]

I don't think D3 will have mods because by design it isn't hugely reliant on a user interface. The only things you really need to be aware of is your health/mana, what current skill you have selected, and what you're targeting. Some optional things include your skill bindings, etc, but you should really know what they're bound to anyway.

While I haven't played Rome Total War, I know most games that have customizable UIs are MMORPGS like WoW. The main reason is there's a crapload of statistics you need to monitor, and certain classes care about some statistics more than others.

[chronofus]

Being broadly generic, I don't see D3 as much more than a ramp up from Titan Quest which was a ramp up from D2. Despite being a dead game TQ continues to provide enjoyment with a vibrant mod community. D3's strength is in long term replayability, modding will only enhance that for the non-battlenet players.

There were mods for D2 if you know where to tinker with it, I have no doubt the same will happen with D3 for the offline solo player community in time. It would make more sense for Blizzard to release proper modding tools, with map making being at least the basic set being moddable the same as Starcraft 1, and I would expect in Starcraft 2. Personally I'd love to see monster modding, or adding new monsters, even if the base characters are unmoddable. Monster variability and new play areas really keep me interested in the very long term.

I doubt any modding will be allowed near battlenet, but I don't keep up with these things. I don't even know if the game will allow you direct TCP/IP to avoid battlenet completely.

I secretly hope modding tools will be released, but I'm not really very confident it will happen.

[Turnip]

Well they have said no but with blizzards track record sometimes they need mods to make a game successfull, just look at wc3 which would have failed otherwise...

Diablo 2 also had a lot of successfull mods, and most of starcrafts hosted games are UMS. Anyways I really hope they make modding possible because as its currently going I really think it needs it, a mod to make it more inline with diablo 1/2 would probably be really damn popular.

[Demetrium]

Being broadly generic, I don't see D3 as much more than a ramp up from Titan Quest which was a ramp up from D2. Despite being a dead game TQ continues to provide enjoyment with a vibrant mod community. D3's strength is in long term replayability, modding will only enhance that for the non-battlenet players.

There were mods for D2 if you know where to tinker with it, I have no doubt the same will happen with D3 for the offline solo player community in time. It would make more sense for Blizzard to release proper modding tools, with map making being at least the basic set being moddable the same as Starcraft 1, and I would expect in Starcraft 2. Personally I'd love to see monster modding, or adding new monsters, even if the base characters are unmoddable. Monster variability and new play areas really keep me interested in the very long term.

I doubt any modding will be allowed near battlenet, but I don't keep up with these things. I don't even know if the game will allow you direct TCP/IP to avoid battlenet completely.

I secretly hope modding tools will be released, but I'm not really very confident it will happen.

They've already announced battle.net will be the only multilayer functionality in the game. No LAN games, direct connect, etc.

I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to change hack the realm-list to hit someone else's private server, but that would mean someone would have to actually code a server application since Blizzard won't be releasing theirs. That I would think, would be pretty damn hard if not next to impossible.

For those of you who are talking about D2 mods, I played a lot of D2 and never heard of or saw or any. I know there were maphacks and crap, but those aren't really UI mods as much as just blatant cheats/hacks. Can you provide screenshots and stuff? You've got me really curious.

That being said, can anyone actually say what they would want to change in D2/D3's interface? I really don't see any problems with it, it's an incredibly simple UI --- there's not much you could streamline or enhance.

[Turnip]

Hell unleashed, eastern sun, median; just a few off the top of my head.

Hell unleashed was what I played though, it was similar to diablo 2 but everything was a lot harder with more emphasis on magic finding.

[Orphan]

Going from memory, Diablo 2 was only really moddable in it's current state after one of the developers did some work to allow easier access to data stored in the text files. Regardless, I like to think Blizzard would at least retain this ability to change things, if not improve on it considerably.

Until I started playing TF2 I never really thought about it much, but Valve have done alot more in terms of allowing the users to customize their experience, at least when compared to D2. I haven't played WoW but apparently there's a few options for customizations there as well. Anyhoo, I think it'd be interesting if they added options like custom textures for items and such which the user has control over even on battle.net.

From what I gather SC2 is going to be incredibly mod friendly, at least in terms of single player content.

[NASE]

Doesn't modable equal to hackable?

If the information to do things like median is there for everyone, someone will abuse this.

[Silverfang]

This is quite right regarding to sp (or the - at our current knowledge - not included TCP/IP-Option). On a server-driven system are a lot of possibilities available to unequal the equasion.

[Garbad_the_Weak]

I was thinking like this:

DiabloIII -- Total Melee Conversion
By: Random Fan X

You download it from the official forums (like in rome), install it as a mod, and play it like a new game. As a mod, its not allowed to connect to closed b.net, but you can still play with your friends over open b.net. Bliz offers no tech support or patches for mods, its all fan based, play at your own risk. Again, all like rome.

[Bad Ash]

I was thinking like this:

DiabloIII -- Total Melee Conversion
By: Random Fan X

You download it from the official forums (like in rome), install it as a mod, and play it like a new game. As a mod, its not allowed to connect to closed b.net, but you can still play with your friends over open b.net. Bliz offers no tech support or patches for mods, its all fan based, play at your own risk. Again, all like rome.

Id like something that could be used on closed b.net. When you think of starcraft, that is what is amazing about the online game, being able to play cool different kinds of games. I know it is different than D2 or 3, but people should be able to make areas of the game that people can join and play, or create and play on b.net

[Jackalhead]

I was huge fan of the second one (and the first) and had a blast modding it. I know Blizzard announced they "don't like people hacking their games", but does that mean they won't provide tools for the modding community? If that does mean that, it just sounds as an excuse for being lazy and not wanting to spend another month or two preparing the SDK to release.

Maybe they will instead give us a controlled game editor so we don't have to mod it? Not like a map editor, but like a character class editor, monster editor, weapon/item/spell editor? I think it would be really cool if we could swap the appearance of any character or monster in the game with different appearances, at least to experiment for our mod. The shelf life of the game seems REALLY shortened by not having the capabilities to mod. I mean, I STILL play Diablo II every weekend simply because of modding and I bought it the day it came out.

Then again, I don't think Blizzard is very committed to this sort of thing any more. I mean, it took them like 8 years or more to finish StarCraft II and they're still not finished. I don't know if they just sit around their offices eating pizza and watching Family Guy all day, but Epic finished Gears of War 2 in like 2 years and that game was amazing.

[Raging_Zealot]

They've already announced battle.net will be the only multilayer functionality in the game. No LAN games, direct connect, etc.

I'm sure it wouldn't be impossible to change hack the realm-list to hit someone else's private server, but that would mean someone would have to actually code a server application since Blizzard won't be releasing theirs. That I would think, would be pretty damn hard if not next to impossible.

For those of you who are talking about D2 mods, I played a lot of D2 and never heard of or saw or any. I know there were maphacks and crap, but those aren't really UI mods as much as just blatant cheats/hacks. Can you provide screenshots and stuff? You've got me really curious.

That being said, can anyone actually say what they would want to change in D2/D3's interface? I really don't see any problems with it, it's an incredibly simple UI --- there's not much you could streamline or enhance.

You keep talking about UI mods, others are talking about full on game mods (UI included) that change the way the game plays, which is why single player was brought up. Mods such as Eastern Sun mod, etc. that have different skills, different monsters, etc. They don't mean merely a UI mod to change the way they manage their skills.

[Demetrium]

You keep talking about UI mods, others are talking about full on game mods (UI included) that change the way the game plays, which is why single player was brought up. Mods such as Eastern Sun mod, etc. that have different skills, different monsters, etc. They don't mean merely a UI mod to change the way they manage their skills.

Yeah, I later realized that was the intent of the thread, modding the game completely was just so far fetched to me I didn't even think of it. I can't imagine Blizzard encouraging this; history shows they're usually strict. I remember when I played WoW some people would customize the way their character appeared (only to them) by editing the local model files for their armor/weapons --- Blizzard said it was against the EULA and threatened bans. This of course, does not prevent Joe Schmoe ripping the game apart and changing it for single player.

[Funkopotamus]

If Blizzard doesn't want it they'll probably code their game against it. I remember people trying to mod the Spider-man 3 game so they could play all the villains, some of which are playable at different points in the game, but nobody could crack it.

[In the name of Zod]

I hope they don't make it mod friendly as imo having games modded divides the players up into user groups which can subtract from the general player base that is driving the game. It might work for FPS's or 'play-once' rpg's like neverwinter but it wouldn't aid D3 much. Thats just how I feel about it, D2's great because you get a broad user base as we are stuck with each other which adds to the fun.

[Turnip]

The main game will always have more people though, so really if these people care about playing with the largest group then they have the choice by default; disallowing the choice entirely is sort of selfish.

[SlechtWeerBeer]

The main game will always have more people though, so really if these people care about playing with the largest group then they have the choice by default; disallowing the choice entirely is sort of selfish.

Afaik, there's more people playing DotA than people playing the actual game, Warcraft III.

[Raging_Zealot]

I think WCIII/DoTA is more of the exception than the rule in this case.

Well, people made mods for Diablo II, so it is likely that there will be an interest in modding Diablo III, how easy it will be for people to get into and understand the code remains to be seen though. I thought I had read something saying they were making it mod friendly, but that may have been another game.

[SlechtWeerBeer]

I think WCIII/DoTA is more of the exception than the rule in this case.

True. But it doesn't take away the fact that "always" is a 'dangerous'/wrong term to use.

[Garbad_the_Weak]

I think mods would add to re playability and fan support. I believe mods are a major part of the success of the total war series.

[Turnip]

I believe if modding is allowed someone will make a diablo 2 style mod and it will become more popular than vanilla d3..

And its what I know I would play so I hope they allow it.

[Akse]

blizzard games hardly need to be modded unlike something like bethesda oblivion which is claimed to be quite unplayable without the community mods :)

I believe if modding is allowed someone will make a diablo 2 style mod and it will become more popular than vanilla d3..

And its what I know I would play so I hope they allow it.
Would the mod allow bots, dupes, tppk and so on too?D

Maybe you should just stay in d2 and not think about d3 at all? Can't see who would still want to really play(longer times) that ****ty game after d3.

[Turnip]

Uh huh, well me and my friends only own warcraft 3 because of dota. To say bliz games dont need mods is a bit farfetched.

[Brother Laz]

If the information to do things like median is there for everyone, someone will abuse this.

That's like saying if you can lay plumbing through the electricity cable tubes so as to not damage the walls, you can steal stuff that way.

Median makes modding look easy. But if a feature (usually a very blatant feature) isn't there, there's a reason for it: you can't do it.

......

For those of you who are talking about D2 mods, I played a lot of D2 and never heard of or saw or any. I know there were maphacks and crap, but those aren't really UI mods as much as just blatant cheats/hacks.

Who said UI mods?

http://modsbylaz.planetdiablo.gamespy.com/images/screenshots/screenshot24.jpg

It mods everything but the UI.
I had Ureh and Tran Athulua 2 years ago, bitzhas.

......

Anyway, D3 will be unmoddable and this is why:
Remember when Jay Wilson mentioned 'mods and other hacks'?

He knows very well that D2 mods exist that aren't cheats, quite the opposite: Median, Eastern Sun, Back to Hellfire.

But he also knows that the average D2 player is a complete moron and will not settle for the 'yes, we tolerate mods... NO, mods are not hacks... well, they can be used for hacking SP... yeah... but we're taking a zero tolerance stance against realm hacks' explanation.

What the average player wants to hear after 9 years of hack apocalypse is that WE WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY TAMPERING WITH DIABLO 3. VIOLATORS WILL BE SUBJECT TO ORBITAL ANTIMATTER DISINTEGRATION. THEN WILL BE BANNED. This is the only discourse the average player will accept at this point. And therefore it is the discourse Blizzard will provide.

[Funkopotamus]

blizzard games hardly need to be modded unlike something like bethesda oblivion which is claimed to be quite unplayable without the community mods :)


Would the mod allow bots, dupes, tppk and so on too?D

Maybe you should just stay in d2 and not think about d3 at all? Can't see who would still want to really play(longer times) that ****ty game after d3.

Are you making an assumption or do you have a copy to compare?

[In the name of Zod]

What the average player wants to hear after 9 years of hack apocalypse is that WE WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY TAMPERING WITH DIABLO 3. VIOLATORS WILL BE SUBJECT TO ORBITAL ANTIMATTER DISINTEGRATION. THEN WILL BE BANNED. This is the only discourse the average player will accept at this point. And therefore it is the discourse Blizzard will provide.A game has to be inspirational first to make people want to mod it brother laz. And no one owes anyone any 3rd party modding tools or the like anyhoo so whats with all the *****ing? :scratchchin: edit: I can't believe thats a swear word.

[Brother Laz]

I don't need modding tools, the community will make them ourselves. I just don't want to hear we're filthy hackers and I don't want Blizzard to obfuscate the data in some failboat attempt to act like they're taking measures against realm hax.

[fireblanket]

It's hilarious how some people are arguing over things they don't know about.

google zy el please. This is what a mod is.


Edit: i knew i recognized your name Brother laz. Great mods


Another Edit: The game gets boring after 9 years. I hope to see mods for d3.