Best game to start modding on Thread

Recently bought a new PC after my 5-year-old one died, so currently reinstalling games, and now have a pretty decent machine. Just wondering what games other people have found are the best to start modding on.

Off the top of my head, I've got Dragon Age, Portal, Half-Life 2, Skyrim, Fallout 3, Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2,Amnesia Dark Descent, Deus Ex, and Shadowrun Returns, which all have modding tools. What games have you found easy to dive in and just create things? Any tips for a complete newbie to modding?

If you have some serious plans, i guess you should use UDK or Unity. You can do hl2 mods too but there is no way of making a real game or getting an engine license for it these days.

You can try some old school games like Unreal 1 and Quake 1. They're both reasonably easy to mod.

There's also some very highly advanced Quake 1 engine modifications such as Darkplaces you could try out.

I personally started modding Unreal Tournament 2004 (this was my first game to start doing weird things on) I've hosted my own modded RPG-like server on it, yet ever since the Creation Kit for skyrim released i've been obsessed with it. Don't take this thing lightly cause its not that easy to learn, it's easy to learn basics but the advanced stuff in here isn't meant for someone with no IQ, I've been using it forever since it got released by Bethesda but i have yet to master every single thing.
But I have to say I've gotten pretty darn good at this.
I wouldn't recommend you something impossible but if you have the motivation to learn alot I'd recommend you Skyrims Creation Kit, even though it might be a little tough if it's the first thing you'd start off with.
If you can't figure it all out on your own there's more than a bunch of Tutorials from Bethesda and others on Youtube to find.

Modding is an extremely fun experience to do in my opinion and I'd probably never quit it.
I hope you find something that fits you, I wish you the best of luck.

Edited by: Lusaa

Minecraft.

Minecraft is not easy to mod. You need advanced programming skills. HL2 tools are buggy and you have to invest alot of time just to get them to work! Skyrim seems to be easy, but you need Mapping/Modeling skills.

Of course, you need some skills based on what you want to do:
You can only do some maps for Portal/HL2, than you just need the SDK and some Hammer skills.
You can create some stuff for Skyrim, like Models etc. So you might need some Modeling/Texturing skills and some knowledge of their SDK. But I think you can create Map stuff, too.
For Minecraft you need mid to high programming skills, for optimizing etc.

True but its easy to come up with ideas and apart from the bugz it wouldnt be super hard once he makes some other mods it just takes time and practice.

Everything takes time and practice.
But he also has to learn Syntax, API, OO Programming, and how to implement stuff etc.
So "easy" is something else

Right.

Ashkandi wrote: If you have some serious plans, i guess you should use UDK or Unity.

UDK is best for modding, it comes with a ton of tools already implemented; vehicle physics, weapons, pawns, spawning, portals, the list goes on. The drawback is that you are going to have to learn unrealscript which can be a huge pain.

Unity is good if you're just starting out. It's very easy to prototype levels and game mechanics. It uses C# and JS which are both pretty robust and easier to learn than c++ imo. The starter project has a lot of good stuff in it too.

Both of these options have a huge community with great beginner to intermediate tutorials. However, as you become more advanced it is harder to find solutions when you run into problems.

Good luck!

I'm biased, but I'd recommend Far Cry. Excellent SDK, flexible engine.

cW#Ravenblood wrote: Minecraft is not easy to mod. You need advanced programming skills. HL2 tools are buggy and you have to invest alot of time just to get them to work!

I thought minecraft was fairly easy? Guess I was wrong about that, I never tried it anyway and I'm probably never going to.

cW#Ravenblood wrote: Skyrim seems to be easy, but you need Mapping/Modeling skills.

Skyrim's basics are easy, yes. But the advanced stuff isn't easy at all.
Indeed you need some Mapping/Modeling skills, it just depends on what you want to do, create new area's? or enhance already existing area's?
Create or Model new items from already existing items or inplement your own? there's so much you can do, it's not all as easy as it may seem.

Kuzen wrote:

I thought minecraft was fairly easy? Guess I was wrong about that, I never tried it anyway and I'm probably never going to.

Well, I think easy if you are able to programm and understand code

Kuzen wrote:
Skyrim's basics are easy, yes. But the advanced stuff isn't easy at all.
Indeed you need some Mapping/Modeling skills, it just depends on what you want to do, create new area's? or enhance already existing area's?
Create or Model new items from already existing items or inplement your own? there's so much you can do, it's not all as easy as it may seem.

Of course it is based on what you want to do. But these skills are needed with UDK, too.

True that, I've got some experience from playing with UDK in the past but I can't say it's easy, neither am I even close to what a pro can do with it.
In fact nothing is 'Really' easy, it all takes its own bit and time of learning.

Edited by: Lusaa

All depends on the kind of modding you enjoy, every engine has it's qwerks pros and cons which favour different kinds of modifications. Can't really give you a suggestion of where to start until you share what your interested in doing as a game mod or your current skillset.