One of the reasons that the modding scene in Bethesda’s games is as thriving as it is is because of just how buggy these titles are- they ship with a lot of glitches and errors, and even though Bethesda usually try to address them with patches and updates, a lot of them go unfixed. That’s where the modding community steps up, fixing what Bethesda fail to.

That’s what the Skyrim Special Edition Unofficial Patch mod does for the game. The mod is available now on PC and Xbox One, it fixes ‘hundreds of gameplay, quest, NPC, object, item, text and placement bugs.’ Not just that, but the mod is specifically designed to be compatible with as many other mods as possible, and will be consistently updated to fix all other bugs and glitches in the game’s code, too.

The mod is available now on PC (via Nexus Mods) and Xbox One (via the Bethesda Workshop). It is not yet available for the PS4, and given the 1GB memory limit that mods on that platform are subjected to, it is actually not quite clear whether it ever will be. Skyrim‘s remaster is available now on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. A version for the Nintendo Switch may be announced later.

Like with all Bethesda games, Fallout 4 has a hell of a modding community (and this is before the official modding tools are even out!). Modders are a crafty bunch, and they can usually make a game sing while standing on a toe on a rolling egg, if they want it to.

Or they can make the game into absolutely anything else – we’ve already had Thomas The Tank Engine in Fallout 4, and another really good mod made the game look like Borderlands 2. But the most popular Fallout 4 mods seem to be all Star Wars themed. There are a whole host of Star Wars mods for Fallout 4. VG247 has gone ahead and compiled a list of all of them, which you can find below:

• Stormtrooper Combat Armour Variants by stiptikspec
• Star Wars Blaster Sound by norelon
• Kylo Ren – Adam Driver V2.0 by anjoss
• Kylo Ren Helmet by arlindo50
• Boba Fett Armor Re-texture by DazFaz
• R2D2 Dress by Jimsaylor95
• Star Wars ESB Shirt by LostStormTrooper
• Star Wars – Galactic Empire Flag by Artyom4942
• FlagMinutemen by Chronokiller (blue Rebel flag)
• Star Wars TIE Fighter Pip-Boy (4K Pipboy) by doctrderp
• Black Trooper Pip-Boy by Pajonk77

Hopefully, these mods all show up on consoles whenever Bethesda brings Fallout 4 mods to the PS4 and Xbox One- though I think those cross platform mods may be limited to just the ones made using the official suite. Such a shame.

The promising looking ‘Pinnacle of V’ mod for the PC version of GTA 5, which was meant to be a complete and total graphical overhaul of Rockstar’s latest episode in their crime saga, has been shut down amidst a wave of controversy. The mod had been receiving a lot of criticism, because apparently, it was stealing lots of assets from other mods and sources, without crediting them.

Today, Josh Romito – who is the creator of this mod – decided to shut it down due to these claims. Josh claimed that the mod was a collaborative effort, and a lot of things that made it in were contributed to it by other people- things that he did not realize were stolen.

“Over the past week or so, I have been informed that parts of this project have been directly stolen from other developers, and handed to me as additions to my work. I have been made a fool of due to the motions of my peers, and I am taking action to try and preserve any honesty and integrity with the community I can. I apologize to everyone who was stolen from, and I wish there was a way this could be reversed.

He then explained that he would be shutting the mod down entirely as a result of these allegations.

“I have personally put hundreds of hours of my own time and hard, legitimate work into this project. I am truly hurt and disgusted to see the fraud that has come from others. I hope the community can see this situation for what it is, that I have been honest from the beginning, and am doing what I can to make amends of this wrong doing. I started this project as a learning experience, and it turned into fraud when others became involved. The internet is full of scammers and people who serve no purpose but to cause havoc. This was my first time getting involved in a “community” type project, and I was shocked to see some of the support I was receiving, and how generous people were. It turns out it was all lies and stolen content. I’m not sure how else to handle a situation like this, so I am simply shutting it down and releasing the honest truth.”

It’s a shame that it came to this- the mod did seem very promising, that’s for sure. Good on Josh for doing the right thing, though.

Fallout 4’s official modkit may not be out until early next year, but the game already has some pretty cool mods out, which do some neat things to the game. You can find them over on nexusmods, where they have dedicated a whole subsite just to Fallout 4 and its modding scene.

These mods include the Fallout 4 Enhanced Wasteland Preset, which make the game’s coors a bit more saturated, Batch File all the junk, which adds 1000 of all junk items to your workbenches in your workshop, so you don’t run out of junk while crafting,Unlimited Settlement Objects, which removes the limit for settlement crafting, and funnily enough, a mod that makes Todd Howard’s face the icon for Fallout 4’s executable.

None of these are the mods that will make it over to the Xbox One when mods are made available for that platform- and in fact, the true modding scene for this game won’t even begin until after the official toolkit is made available. Still, it is good to see that the game already has a thriving modding scene, just days after launch.

While Bethesda has long been an ardent supporter of mods and the modding community, Fallout 4 represents a new frontier for them- this is the first game in the series that will support mods on consoles (specifically, on Xbox One), and on PC, it will see Bethesda begin to de-emphasize Steam Workshop for modding, and push their own Bethesda.net service.

Speaking to IGN, Fallout 4 game director Todd Howard explained how Bethesda envisions mod support for the game working. He confirmed that they are hoping for the game to achieve the same kind of mod support that Skyrim did. “So, just like Skyrim, there are mods that can break your game pretty wildly, and so we have some safety things on the console for that, but at the same time, we are going to let people break their game. Because we try heavily not to.”

As for how mods will work, well, essentially, your save file will be copied, and you get one with the mods and one without- you choose which one you want to play on when you boot up the game. Howard also confirmed that Bethesda will not curate mods on consoles any more than they do on PC- which is to say, very little. This is in spite of the new Bethesda.net system that they are pushing this time around.

“We don’t want to. We’ll see how we have to go through that. The plan is that it goes through Bethesda.net, but … outside of things that we would normally take down — we take down things on Steam Workshop if it’s got things that are illegal, or things like that — we’ll do the same thing.”

Fallout 4 launches in November on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Mod support for the game launches early next year, and is presently confirmed only for the PC and Xbox One versions of the game. Stay tuned, and we will keep you posted on all news about the game.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launched yesterday, and it is absolutely amazing. While owners of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One can join in on the party this time around, along with their PC brethren, CD Projekt RED’s PC pedigree, as well as the franchise’s history with that platform, means that most of the fanbase will be playing through the latest epic in the franchise on their rigs.

And PC players have a lot of questions about the game- specifically, they are curious about the kinds of mods that will be possible (especially given the controversy with various limitations having been placed on mods by developers and publishers in recent times).

Quest Desiger Philipp Weber gave some information on some of the things that we’ll be able to change. He confirmed that it would be possible to modify and influence the game’s weather system, that, for instance, a player can modify an XML file and make it rain more often. He also confirmed that the number of NPCs in a crowd can be increased.

But of course, the biggest question is making the game look like its 2013 debut- he confirmed that while it would be possible, it’s also not necessarily recommended.

“I don’t know if you can tweak the environment 100% like that, but I think so. However, remember that we had a reason to change it (and these effects have nothing to do with performance). Sharpening only looks good on screenshots and short videos. If you stare at the game like that for a long time, the eyes really start to hurt.”

All of which should make PC players and modders very happy indeed.

The furor and confusion regarding the mod policy for Rockstar’s just released PC version of GTA5 has been never ending. From the first reports that single player mods were getting players banned, to conflicting answers given by Rockstar customer support, to even more confusion sowed by players giving wildly differing accounts, no one quite knows if it is actually safe to mod the game.

Thankfully, Rockstar just released a statement that should put an end to all of this confusion. In this statement, they confirmed that yes, single player mods are allowed and acceptable, and will not get you a ban.

“No one has been banned for using single-player modifications, and you should not worry about being banned or being relegated to the cheater pool just for using single-player PC mods,” Rockstar stated in a recent Q&A post.

“Our primary focus is on protecting GTA Online against modifications that could give players an unfair advantage, disrupt gameplay, or cause griefing. It also bears mentioning that because game mods are by definition unauthorized, they may be broken by technical updates, cause instability, or affect your game in other unforeseen ways.

“We have always appreciated the creative efforts of the PC modding community and we still fondly remember the awesome zombie invasion mod and original GTA map mod for GTA4 PC among many other classics,” the developer continued. “To be clear, the modding policy in our license has not changed and is the same as for GTA4.”

So there you have it folks, straight from the horse’s mouth. Now get modding!

Modding remains a crucial part of PC gaming, and one that more and more PC game developers are eager to support. After some confusion, Dying Light has seen a vibrant and thriving modding community grow on PC, and the developers, Techland, plan on continuing to support this community by providing even more powerful tools to them, via updates to the modkit.

The Dying Light Developer Tools will, in coming updates, get terrain creation and editing, importing custom models and multiplayer support. Players can then, of course, share their creations with other players via Steam Workshop.

You can check out all the updates that Techland has planned for the Developer Tools in the video above, where they highlight their plans for the future of the suite. It appears that this is one game, at the very least, where the modders will be very happy.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information.

The Grand Theft Auto games, with their vast sandboxes and well defined physics, have always invited all manner of mods with their PC releases over the years. A big reason that PC players have been itching for the PC release of the game already (which finally seems to be happening!) is so they can experience an entirely new generation of mods for the title; and Rockstar, it seems, is willing to play ball, and allow as many of them as you’d want, with one caveat.

“Since GTA Online has such a massive and vibrant community, our primary focus is making sure that nothing detracts from that experience or has a negative impact on the overall community of players,”lead gameplay designer John Macpherson said regarding mods in an interview.

This is also the reason that the game will not be launching with any form of mod tools, like GTA4 did- instead, Rockstar are including a full featured video editing suite in the package, which is what Macpherson stressed on in the interview.

“We’ve increased the number of options available so that players can manipulate film speed, depth of field, different kinds of camera positioning and the various blends between them, filters, and more,” said Macpherson. “We have also expanded the ways that players can manipulate sound on their movies.

“Within the editor, players can add and edit multiple radio tracks to a single video, choosing from the huge range of score composed for the game as well select songs from the GTA 5 soundtrack and even in-game advertisements. Director mode gives players the opportunity to play and record their own scenes using any actor from GTA 5 including story and Heist crew characters.”

That said, the GTA5 modding scene is not dead- for instance, Hayssam Keilany is working on bringing the iCEnhancer mod to GTA 5, which means others might follow in his wake- just as long as they don’t fall foul of GTA: Online, which seems to be Rockstar’s main concern right now.

Even so, I can’t imagine PC game players will be happy about this.

One of the best things about video games today is how they enable and facilitate creativity and dedication in modern gamers. Games today are more than just packaged stories, with a beginning and ending- for many, they are a canvas that they draw their art on.

For others, they are something they can waste a lot of time in to show their dedication to another, totally different video game.

And thus, we have the city of Los Santos from Grand Theft Auto V, which has been painstakingly recreated in the game for any and all fans of the GTA games to download.

“Fan of GTA V? Here’s the completely built region of South San Andreas including the cities of Los Santos, Palomino, and Sandy Shores,” modder Steam user grockefeller says in the item’s description. “Ever wanted to challenge and continue the vibrant metropolis of Rockstar Games? Now you could! You’ll have to deal with multiple problem like employment, ecology, waste disposal, and water.”

To download the map, you need to have some mods enabled, and you also need a lot of money, since the city is, well, bankrupt.

Which sounds about right, really.