

Many games are flexible and allow this, but that is not always so. This can be accomplished without changing any of the original game's existing content. In most cases, an add-on will add one particular element to a game, such as a new weapon in a shooting game, a new vehicle or track in a racing game, or items in a game like Minecraft.
WHAT IS A GAME MOD MOD
A prominent example is Black Mesa, which remakes the original Half-Life.Īn add-on or addon is a typically small mod which adds to the original content of a specific game. Total overhauls are usually combined with significant add-on material as well. This may include upgrading the graphics or adding new models, dialog and music to the original (while still respecting the plot), or changing the pace of how the game is played.
WHAT IS A GAME MOD SOFTWARE
Since most total conversions only share the engine in common with the original game, if the engine becomes free software or freeware, the total conversion can be playable without having to own the original game.Ī total overhaul mod changes or redefines the gameplay style of the original game, while keeping it in the original game's universe.

Often developers intend to sell their total conversion as a stand-alone product, which necessitates the need to replace any remaining original assets to avoid copyright infringement. Total conversions can result in a completely different genre from the original. 3.4 Unforeseen consequences or benefits of moddingĪ total conversion is a mod of an existing game that replaces virtually all of the artistic assets in the original game, and sometimes core aspects of gameplay.See also artistic video game modification, machinima, and demoscene. They can include recording in-game action as a film, as well as attempting to reproduce real-life areas inside a game with no regard for game play value.
WHAT IS A GAME MOD MODS
For vanilla games, prefix "v" or "V" is commonly used together with the game title acronym, e.g., VQ3 stands for "vanilla Quake 3".Īs early as the 1980s, video game mods have been used for the sole purpose of creating art, as opposed to an actual game. "Vanilla Battlefield 1942", for example, refers to the original, unmodified game. The term vanilla is often used to make this distinction.


In that case, players might have to clarify that they are referring to the unmodified game when talking about playing a game. Mods can help to continue the success of the original game, even when the original game has become dated. Developers such as Firaxis, id Software, Valve Software, Mojang, Re-Logic, Bethesda Softworks, Crytek, The Creative Assembly and Epic Games provide extensive tools and documentation to assist mod makers, leveraging the potential success brought in by a popular mod like Counter-Strike. The Internet provides an inexpensive medium to promote and distribute mods, and they have become an increasingly important factor in the commercial success of some games. These mods can add extra replay value and interest. Games running on a personal computer are often designed with change in mind, allowing modern PC games to be modified by gamers without much difficulty. Mods that add new content to the underlying game are often called partial conversions, while mods that create an entirely new game are called total conversions and mods that fix bugs only are called unofficial patches. They can be single-player or multiplayer. They can include new items, modded weapons, characters, enemies, models, textures, levels, story lines, music, money, armor, life and game modes. Mods are made by the general public or a developer and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not stand-alone software and require the user to have the original release in order to run. Mods can be created for any genre of game but are especially popular in first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games.
WHAT IS A GAME MOD CODE
For general modification of hardware and software, see modding.Ī mod or modification is the alteration of the program code of a video game in order to make it operate in a manner different from its original version.
