TheMix wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 7:30 pm
You may be able to do some limited modding now, with some games. But I think it will be a while (if ever) before you will be able to add 50+ mods to Starfield.
You can easily add 50 mods to Starfield right now. There are around 1300 of them available. It's what kind of mods you can install that will change once the construction set is released. Right now, people can alter textures, effects, some game mechanics, the interface, etc. I wouldn't touch any mod that comes out that actually adds items to the world or in any other way alters the cells (spaces) in the game prior to the construction set unless you are a fan of corrupted saves.
Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:31 pm
I see...was not aware you couldn't use mods with Gamepass...that's...not great.
To clarify Mix's answer, you can use mods with the Game Pass version, but it'll always be extremely limited. Any game acquired through Microsoft is subject to Microsoft's draconian policies, which include locking down many of the files so that they can't be altered or, in some cases, even accessed.
Bethesda games have a set number of things that their scripts (using a system called Papyrus) can do. They don't add any functionality to said scripting that they don't personally use themselves. That's extremely limiting when modders come along and want to change something Bethesda does or do something new that Bethesda never thought of. So the modders mod scripting language itself, giving other modders access to many, many more functions. Oblivion has OBSE (Oblivion Script Extender))< Skyrim has SKSE. Fallout 3 has FOSE. Fallout 4 has F4SE. Those script extenders are such powerful tools that probably 2/3 of all mods, and practically
all mods that don't just tweak the textures or add new, basic quests/locations use them. They work by hooking into the game's executable when you run them (which is why you have to launch modded Bethesda games with the script extender .exe, not the game .exe or the launcher.)
Starfield has
SFSE. Guess what executable Microsoft prevents outside programs from altering? FWIW, Fallout 4 on Game Pass is also only barely moddable. And not only does Microsoft not let you fiddle with the files, but some of the files are fundamentally different than the Steam versions. Net result? Once the modding tools get released, most of the important mods won't work with it, and most of the mod authors won't bother taking the GP version into account at all, since it'll be so limited.
Now, for the goodish news - the save files can be transferred from the GP to the Steam version. The downside is that the Game Pass version uses a completely different format for your saves, so you'll have to use a
third party program to convert them. And the program is new, so there's no telling how
well the saves get converted in the long-term. It'll probably be fine, but it'll take time for enough people to make it all the way through to the end with converted saves before we know if there are any issues with the process.
