Story Highlights
- Mods have taken modern gaming to new heights, especially Bethesda games which were riddled with bugs, and mods took care of most of them.
- Fallout and The Elder Scrolls games were filled with visual glitches, crashes, save file corruptions, and janky physics. Modding not only fixed these issues but also added meaningful upgrades.
- Skyrim was an immensely influential title of a grand scale, and so were its mods. Considering how much modding improved the game, it’s difficult to go back to the base version.
- Starfield is barely here, and impressive mods that brighten the experience have already started flooding in. Bethesda games have truly become a lot better with mods.
There was a time when changing a game to suit your preferences was considered impossible. It was only the developers who could modify it. No matter how much you thought a particular feature or a hilarious twist could improve the game, it was only a wild dream. However, for people who experienced those times, the modern modding capabilities feel like living in that dream, being able to add anything you wish in a game.
Modding has completely revolutionized modern gaming, as it not only fixes some critical flaws of certain games but also enables you to let your imagination run wild and put any ridiculous and hilarious details in your games. Particularly, the games that benefit the most from modding are Bethesda releases. Bethesda games and mods go hand in hand, and it has become pretty difficult to imagine these without mods. Let’s see how much Starfield is modified.
Bethesda Is Pretty Infamous For Buggy Releases
One of the major reasons that tie mods and Bethesda games together is the developer’s repute for releasing glitchy games. Take any major release of the company, you’ll see it was a buggy mess at the time of release; with many game-breaking crashes and visual glitches. We even feared for Starfield. The modding started with the intention of fixing these releases and making them more stable for smooth gameplay.
What started as a fix for problems morphed into taking the games to new heights. Modders added many critical improvements to the games, like complete visual rehauls, performance boosts, refining the gameplay mechanics, improving quest design, and this is all just the tip of the iceberg. Almost all of Bethesda’s major releases now have a set of essential mods necessary for a reliable experience.
The close relationship between mods and Bethesda games is evident by how modders were prepared even before Starfield’s release to ensure the game has nothing that ruins the experience. But the stakes were pretty high this time around, and Bethesda took all the complaints seriously. Starfield turned out to be a much more refined release. Still, that didn’t stop modders from creating excellent upgrades to the already brilliant experience.
Fallout And The Elder Scrolls Have Practically Become Brand-New Games
Bethesda has two gigantic series; Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, and these are also the most buggy. There are even some recurring problems that plague these franchises. For Fallout, you had a high number of visual glitches and crashes. Launching a nuke is no small task and it was accompanied by some sort of visual malfunction. Elder Scrolls, specifically Morrowind and Oblivion had a save file glitch and intense crashing that could make them unplayable.
On this saddening day, we put to rest my save file. I loved him. I spent more than 200 hours playing, and was one quest from ending the game. Good night, sweet prince Dirvyn.
byu/DaMonstah13 inMorrowind
These are some earlier examples of how mods made Bethesda games significantly better. Take a look at Fallout 4. Coming from Fallout 3 which had an infamously high crashing frequency, Fallout 4 was also filled with visual bugs and physics glitches. Soon after its release, the first unofficial patch by modders was released which made the game considerably stable. The focus then shifted to adding improvements even the developers never considered, like the True Storms mod.
A similar case is with The Elder Scrolls. No doubt Skyrim is exceptional, but prior entries; Morrowind and Oblivion are nothing to scoff at, either. However, these brilliant games were riddled with game-breaking bugs. Mods completely overhauled these entries by improving visuals to an unbelievable extent, making gameplay much more fluid and tactical, and changing the entire game design with mods like Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul and Tamriel Rebuilt for Morrowind.
It’s Near-Impossible To Go Back To Skyrim Without Mods
Probably the best example of this point can be found in Skyrim. My reason for discussing Skyrim separately is precisely how much of an impact mods had on this game. Even when The Elder Scrolls 5 was released, it was a landmark in open-world gaming and has been highly influential for a lot of subsequent titles. There are a few games that reached worldwide renown as much as Skyrim did.
Yet, this brilliant game was filled to the brim with bugs, glitches, crashes, visual errors, and physics malfunctions. The PS3 version was rendered unplayable because of some of these issues, and even other platforms suffered game-breaking problems. You can gauge the severity of the problem by how almost the entire player base’s first step when playing Skyrim is loading the unofficial bug fix patch.
After fixing the issues, the next step for modders was to immortalize this adventure. Skyrim started receiving mods that completely changed the entire experience. Visual upgrades were created; the world was made more vibrant than ever. Options like FXAA to sharpen images, improved lighting and reflections, and most importantly, many QOL improvements like better UI, markers, map design, and menu improvements.
In addition to improving what’s already in the game, Skyrim modders went above and beyond to add a large amount of extra content, significantly improving the experience. You get more locations and brand-new areas to explore. And if that’s not enough, you can even create a whole new game. Skyrim’s Enderal mod is your way to go if you want that. It is a complete overhaul and uses Skyrim as a base to build a completely different game. With its lore, locations, and quests, it’s a completely distinct experience.
Starfield Mods Have Already Started Improving The Game
Bethesda’s latest giant is here, and it’s Starfield. One of the most anticipated games of all time, the hype for Starfield was unreal, primarily because of the modding history of Bethesda games. A project of this scale with hilarious customizations and then further beautified by mods; the possibilities were phenomenal. And the scenario here was also a bit different from the past releases. Bethesda promised a bug-free title, and they delivered on it to a high degree.
Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty says if Starfield shipped today it'd have the fewest bugs of any Bethesda game that's ever shipped pic.twitter.com/nLRQfan1py
— World’s Famous Giant Bomb (@giantbomb) June 12, 2023
Since bug fixes were not that much of a need, the focus of mods is on improving the overall experience. Starfield faced some performance issues, but according to Todd Howard, it’s an indication of the user’s outdated hardware. Still, people did suffer problems, and thus some early mods aimed to fix some of these performance issues and make the gameplay experience smoother.
Speaking of performance, another highly important mod is the DLSS one. Starfield came out with only FSR support, and DLSS for a modern game is a definite requirement. Thus, to facilitate NVIDIA users, a DLSS mod was implemented which is quite an impressive addition. Moving on, we have some impressive QOL mods for the game, The StarUI Inventory mod is an excellent example.
The mod aims to make Starfield’s inventory management and UI a lot cleaner. You don’t need to navigate complicated options to acquire basic information. Similarly, the lengthy cutscenes every time you land and take off from a planet can be off-putting, and mods aim to rectify that. More excellent examples include the FOV slider, Achievement enabler, Weight ratio, HUD improvement, and refining the AI of the game.
Verdict
Whether it be fixing bugs, revamping games, or adding hilarious details, modders have never disappointed. Especially Bethesda games benefited the most from mods, and the developers know this, too. To honor fans’ wishes, they even made modding easier for Starfield, and this is a great step. Knowing what your audience likes by listening to feedback and upholding their desires is the best thing I can ask of a developer. Modding has transformed the landscape of modern gaming and I hope it continues to get even better.
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