Mods with external assets

[jhall181]

I just have a quick question.

Why do I keep seeing people say that mods with custom, pretty much anything, can’t be used on Xbox one?

Microsoft absolutely DOES in fact allow mods with external assets on its consoles. Both Skyrim and fallout 4 have all manner of mods with custom textures, scripts etc.

So what gives?

Why is giants, or MOD authors, or whoever, misleading the community? because it seems to me like they very clearly are.

[MrSquealypig]

I don't know what you mean by external assets.

All mods are external assets.

[Mwal]

Might have something to with the fact that Microsoft owns Bethesda. Also Microsoft has rules with licensed products as well. As far as custom scripts go I would guess it’s just simplicity of testing and stability. I’ve played fallout 4 on Xbox with script mods, saying it’s a mess is putting it nicely. Lots of game breaking issues even with Xbox specific versions. There’s a reason why Sony draws the line where it does and I can’t imagine giants wants to deal with all the extra work just to get script mods on console that likely will bring a whole host of issues to the user.

[alha alha]

That's why sometime fairly early in the Xbox 1/PS4 era, I started making the move towards PC gaming, and for the most part haven't looked back. It's just so much better, once you've experienced it with adequate hardware, you really don't want to go back. At least I haven't, it's probably been a year or maybe close to 2 since I've fired up either one of those consoles, and haven't felt the need, nor the desire to attempt to acquire either of the newest gen versions.

[jhall181]

1. Microsoft didn’t Own Bethesda when Skyrim special edition and fallout 4 first came out and they had the ability to have mods on them almost from the time that they came out on PS4 and Xbox one.

2. Most of the mods for fallout 4 and Skyrim actually don’t have many issues at all, if you put them in the right load order, because that’s a very important thing with those two games.

3. From the moment that mods were available for Bethesda’s games on Console, Microsoft has allowed Bethesda to allow mod authors, to test their own mods and get them working. Maybe it’s time that Giants took that approach and stop inserting themselves as an unnecessary middleman.

[cwattyeso]

What Microsft does or does not allow on their consoles from developers is between Microsoft and those developers. Giants have been told by Microsoft no user made content containing user-made scripts, so therefore Giants have to enforce that by not publishing mods to the console ModHub that contains such material.

Sony have never allowed 3rd Party Custom Made content on their platform or their network, they say it's for "Security" reasons. So again Giants can not release user made mods that contain user made scripts on the platform, even if Giants have tested it via their own testing team. Going back to your previous examples of Fallout 4 and Skyrim, you look at mods available for those games on Playstation and you'll see a huge difference in the mods available compared to the Xbox and PC. On Playstation mods could only use "In-Game Assets" on Playstation, which means modders had to make stuff with items, objects and scripts that were already in the game.

[jhall181]

What Microsft does or does not allow on their consoles from developers is between Microsoft and those developers. Giants have been told by Microsoft no user made content containing user-made scripts, so therefore Giants have to enforce that by not publishing mods to the console ModHub that contains such material.

Sony have never allowed 3rd Party Custom Made content on their platform or their network, they say it's for "Security" reasons. So again Giants can not release user made mods that contain user made scripts on the platform, even if Giants have tested it via their own testing team. Going back to your previous examples of Fallout 4 and Skyrim, you look at mods available for those games on Playstation and you'll see a huge difference in the mods available compared to the Xbox and PC. On Playstation mods could only use "In-Game Assets" on Playstation, which means modders had to make stuff with items, objects and scripts that were already in the game.

I’m sorry but I simply don’t buy it. Why would Microsoft allow Bethesda to have mods which have user made assets on Xbox but not Giants?

And anyways if that’s true, and mod authors are not allowed to upload mods with user made assets how did seasons exist before the current game?

There’s literally no way that seasons on farming simulator 17 or farming simulator 19 didn’t have custom Scripts in it.

It doesn’t make sense.

[Mwal]

You can treat it like a grand conspiracy but like I said first there’s a lot of reasons and if you want to ignore those and focus on the least likely reasons for rebuttal that’s fine. As to your first point if you don’t think a much larger developer that’s stands to bring in more money that they were possibly negotiating to purchase at the time doesn’t get preferential treatment that’s crazy. To the second point I understand load order, I play the games on pc as well. The Xbox didn’t handle script mods well. Consoles built in reaction to kill the game as a protection to itself is painfully apparently when using the heavier mods even one at a time. As to everything else you’ve stated the haven’t mislead anyone. When mods were announced they very clearly stated that they were following console standards, both of which were different. They very clearly found a sweet spot that would work for both and went with it. That doesn’t scream conspiracy to me just a company not calling out one of their partners as better or worse of the two.

[eric21]

Bethesda work a with Microsoft, that's why, giants decided to treat all console players as equal for mods,

[Mwal]

And anyways if that’s true, and mod authors are not allowed to upload mods with user made assets how did seasons exist before the current game?

There’s literally no way that seasons on farming simulator 17 or farming simulator 19 didn’t have custom Scripts in it.

It doesn’t make sense.

Giants did work to get season to console, a special circumstance for a special mod

[FarmCatJenkins]

^^ With a special update to add the scripts needed.

[DirectCedar]

^^ With a special update to add the scripts needed.

Was just going to mention this. The reason Seasons could run on consoles was only because Giants patched the base game to include the scripts that Seasons needed, so that Seasons could be a console mod without external scripts. My understanding of the arrangement (which was well-publicized and discussed on this forum) was it was a unique one-off situation because of the enormous scope and popularity of that specific mod.

[cwattyeso]

It also given special arrangement because half the Season's Mod Team (Realismus Modding) are actually Giants developers, who developed the mod in their spare time. Hence why a lot of the scripts that Season's needed, got patched into the game, because those guys had access to the game. Regular modders do not have access to the game and can't add their own scripts or code to the base game in the same way, which is why there is no external script support for consoles.

[Drmattymd]

It also given special arrangement because half the Season's Mod Team (Realismus Modding) are actually Giants developers, who developed the mod in their spare time. Hence why a lot of the scripts that Season's needed, got patched into the game, because those guys had access to the game. Regular modders do not have access to the game and can't add their own scripts or code to the base game in the same way, which is why there is no external script support for consoles.

Not exactly. One of the four members of realismus was hired by Giants after seasons was brought into the game in FS 17. Now a second member may have also been hired during the course of 19 (reallogger) but I'm not positive.
Also Season's was the mod contest winner for 17 and part of the prize was the chance to turn the mod into a dlc. RM chose not to do that but it was released as a mod instead. It was such a game changer that it was grandfathered in for 19.
Back to the OP, Microsoft may or may not be willing to allow outside scripts but Sony absolutely will not and Giants has said they're keeping the game equal on consoles. You dont have to like it but that's the way it is