May 4th is here, and with it we can expect some Star Wars news and excitement from around the internet. ModDB's Star Wars modding scene has been going strong for decades, so today we've picked ten awesome Star Wars mods to take part in the fun!
Knights of the Old Republic III: The Jedi Masters
By Trex01
Whilst Knights of the Old Republic was a smash hit, its sequel didn’t perform as well, and the future of the series was thrown into doubt. Star Wars: The Old Republic picked up hundreds of years after the storyline in the KOTOR games and took many liberties with the source material as a result. This mod aims to be a successor to KOTOR II with a full set of new planets, stories, and characters to meet, as well as a vast swathe of new gear and quests to chase.
Darth Nihilus For SWBF2 (2017)
By DeggialNox
The heroes and villains of Star Wars are as numerous as they are legendary, gathered from all corners of the canon; from an old but well-loved comic to the newest Disney canon. KOTOR's characters hold a special place in many fans' hearts, especially with no sign of another entry in the series for conventional play even almost two decades later. Well, mods are all about fans making their dreams come true, and so if you wanted to wreck face in EA's newest Battlefront venture as the Lord of Hunger himself, this mod bringing Nihilus to the field will be just your cup of tea.
Star Wars: Movie Duels
Movie Duels is a remastered edition of the original, 2009 “Movie Duels 2” mod for Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, with updated maps, models, sounds, and various other improvements, to bring the mod into the modern age. This mod uses Jedi Academy to bring a whole bunch of classic movie fights into your hands - a perfect way to celebrate the history of Star Wars this May 4th as you take part in the Duel of the Fates, the Jedi Temple March, and the Death Star II confrontation; all bookended by encounters from the extended canon too!
LEGO Star Wars: Knight Of The Old Republic Character Pack
By Skulluse
Okay, okay, you've got us - we really love KOTOR as well, and we promise this is the last KOTOR-oriented mod on this list...buuuut whilst we're here, who doesn't love a bit (read: a lot) more representation of that once iconic era of Star Wars history? Lego Star Wars might not be the first game that comes to mind as a moddable Star Wars venture, but some of the older Lego titles have been the subject of passionate work by committed fans, introducing new characters en masse that, in the case of this character pack, transform the core cast into a whole different era of Star Wars.
Ultimate Outcast
By KiraImmortal
Jedi Academy might be the newer-age darling of those looking for classic lightsaber duelling, but before that, Jedi Outcast was the introduction to a lightsaber system that many still regard as the best representation of the weapon in media to date. If you've been looking for something new, with Ultimate Outcast, you're in luck - with a set of sixteen challenging maps that test your knowledge of the game against a variety of difficult opponents. Step back into the shoes of Kyle Katarn and prove why he's still one of the top dogs of the EU!
Rise of the Mandalorians
By the_Farseer
One of the bigger and most fondly received additions to canon by Disney are those made to the Mandalorian people - elaborated upon in The Clone Wars as part of a civil war arc, and then given physical iconic form with the titular show surrounding this enigmatic people, Rise of the Mandalorians gives you control of the combined might of the warrior people, assembling many of their most iconic elements from in and out of the Disney canon, combined with some liberal original concepts.
Empire At War Remake: Galactic Civil War
By The Empire at War Remake Team
Empire at War: Remake: Galactic Civil War is a mod that made a splash and continues to stoke hype whenever an update is announced. Transforming the graphics of the now fifteen years old Empire at War to an almost recognisable level of visual fidelity, this mod has placed in MOTY before as testament to its quality, tracking a meteoric rise of popularity on-site. With a massive 4.0 release early last year, it still bats with the very best that Empire at War has to offer and might be the best way to experience a vanilla-adjacent version of the game in 2023.
Antstafer's Enhanced Gameplay & Graphics Mod
By Antstafer
Getting back to Battlefront - the original, we mean, not even the 2004 sequel - might demand a little bit of retroactive thinking what with three successors to keep in mind since then, but for some, the simplified sandbox and nostalgic interface is where they learned to love large-scale battles in the galaxy far far away. Well, if you wanted to revisit this classic with something more than rose-tinted glasses, Anstafer's enhancement mod seems the way to go, with attention spent on making the game feel less sluggish and bat a little more independently in the shadow of its contemporaries.
Saga Edition
By Spiret
So popular they had to remake the entire franchise a second time, Battlefront is a name made legend in the Star Wars community. The newer titles haven't had such a productive time in regards to UGC - although there are still plenty of great examples of what is possible in the newer title on ModDB - but the classic Battlefront II has commanded modders for many years. Saga Edition is another addition to this modding saga of its own, with new factions, heroes, and units to explore across 18 converted maps that give you a whale of a time whether with a group of friends or alongside AI companions.
TIE Fighter: Total Conversion (TFTC)
By AngelTFTC
Some of the best games in the early Star Wars line-up were those putting you straight into the dog-fighting action of the movies, pitting you with and against the evil Empire. These days these games hold up well enough for a playthrough, but TIE Fighter: Total Conversion (TFTC) achieves a truly superb standard of visual fidelity considering how much of the underlying technology remains authentic. With engagements that look decades more engaging and more support on the way, TFTC has been a labour of love with a lot more to give!
And there you have it! Did you feel compelled to try any of the mods on this list? Are there any others you'd suggest to others looking to get in on the fun today? Let us know in the comments down below!
A Star Wars Battlefront II mod I quite love is Darth Sith's pack of conversions from Battlefront I to Battlefront II, what makes these conversions stand out from the other ones is that Darth Sith altered the skyboxes and lighting of these maps in beautiful, artistic ways, just take a look at the previews for these maps and you'll immediately see what I mean: Moddb.com
As a bonus, the maps also come with some cool custom heroes of both modern and classic Star Wars.
Oh, yeah! These look very nice indeed - it's always good to see BF1 ports to help BF2 become something like a best of both worlds :)
Thanks for the shout out! A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Didn't expect to see my mod here, especially my oldest one for outcast. Thanks for the mention, I appreciate it :)
A nicely done article; as a Star Wars fan, this is always something to look forward to when checking the site on May 4th, and I particularly enjoy the emphasis on the older Star Wars titles.
However, I cannot help but comment on the misconception that KOTOR II was received worse than it's predecessor or was somehow a worse game merely because it was released unfinished. The writing, setting, plot and depth of character choice in KOTOR II remains entirely unparalleled amongst Star Wars games today, and it is easily still some of the deepest and most intriguing Star Wars material to be found altogether. A lot of it's storytelling also put the background and characters of KOTOR I into greater perspective.
The future of the KOTOR franchise was certainly not "thrown into doubt" after KOTOR II. There were earnest and genuine efforts by Obsidian to work on KOTOR III, picking up where KOTOR II left off in it's story, and the ideas for KOTOR III's setting and plot were immensely rich to say the least. The real damage to KOTOR was done when EA and LucasArts decided instead on SWTOR, hoping to maximize profiting on the franchise with an MMO. This decision was of course followed only a few years later by Disney's acquisition of the Star Wars franchise, which of course, made the KOTOR setting non-existent in Disney's new Canon.
As a "too long, didn't read"; KOTOR II was actually the saving grace of the KOTOR franchise, very far from being where the series was thrown into doubt. It is very unlikely that the KOTOR setting would be as memorable or unique as it was without the second game. In any case, there's a Restored Content mod for KOTOR II which restores much of what was left unfinished or bugged about the game.
Star Wars Conquest for Mount & Blade Warband deserves at least an honourable mention. While it was never entirely finished, it's nonetheless very comprehensive, polished and lovingly crafted rpg fare.
Guessing it's a bit difficult to choose since there are so many good ones.
Arma3: Star Wars: Opposition; COD4: Star Wars Mod: Galactic Warfare