New to modding

[lone sonnet]

My name is Jackie and I wanna try my hand at modding. I'm not really sure where or how to start. Any and all help is appreciated :)

[tame stump]

Are you wanting to mod your games or start modding? Either way we need to know what game it is you're working on to be able to give an answer

[lone sonnet]

I want to start modding. Like creating mods. I want to eventually mod Helldivers 2 but I know how hard it is so I’m willing to really start anywhere. I just know damn near nothing when it comes to this sort of thing

Hell I’ll even start on Minecraft if that’s a good place to start haha

[tame stump]

Well every game is different, sometimes a little bit sometimes drastically.

The only modding knowledge you'd realistically carry over from game to game would be how file paths work and knowledge of the manager if both games use the same manager (For instance, Vortex). The actual details will always differ

[lone sonnet]

I understand. All I really want to do is just visual things, like changing the color of my armor or making a whole new armor

[tame stump]

And to answer your question, there's no "good" place to start. There are games that are not very modding friendly, and there are some that are open to modding. Certain games will give you a decent bit of freedom to where you can nail the basics, something like GTAV, Skyrim/Fallout 4 etc. If you go deep enough in those games you can get a good idea of the basics of modding that you can carry over to whatever other game you mod.

[tame stump]

That would involve multiple tools. Blender for handling the meshes in most cases, something like Photoshop/Substance Painter etc for texturing.

Easiest way to get into that sort of stuff would be start with retextures, then go into mashups (Combining existing assets, from the game or other mods if you have the permissions) and making your own. And eventually getting into making models from scratch.

[lone sonnet]

I see, would you be willing to maybe hop into a call today or another time and just chat with me and maybe show me how to do certain things and how to get the tools and what not? It’s easier for me when I can just hop in a call and show ya what I’m looking at/doing haha

[tame stump]

I'm really only able to help with Bethesda related games, mainly Fallout 4 and a little bit of Skyrim. Plus I haven't done much of the work that you would want to ask anyways probably. So I won't be of much help sadly.

[lone sonnet]

Also, I’ve been told that Helldivers 2 doesn’t give like ANY help to modders. So I would probably try out Arma Reforger since they give you like. Every tool in the book I hear

[tame stump]

Yea that's what I meant with some games are easier and some games are harder to mod.

How much the devs 'officially' support modding. That dictates if you have official dev tools (Like the Creation Kit for example in bethesda games, RedKit in the Witcher 3, etc etc) vs some games that actively try to keep you from modding/altering files.

[lone sonnet]

I do have fallout 4. I’d be alright with learning how to do things in there as a stepping stone if you were willing :)

[tame stump]

ARMA is also a very good choice, has a pretty sizeable modding community

[tame stump]

Sure

[lone sonnet]

WOOOHOOOOO

Would you like to talk here, DMs, or a call (Private or in server)?

[tame stump]

I typically like to keep everything in-server

[lone sonnet]

Fair enough, then would you prefer a call or type? Calling (in server) would probably be easiest imo. But typing would work as well, I don’t mind either way

[tame stump]

I don't either.

[lone sonnet]

We’ll do a call then. When are you free next? :)

[tame stump]

I'm free right now, provided you atleast have Fallout 4 ready to go

[lone sonnet]

I’d need like 10 minutes or so to install it and I’m putting together a tiny bookshelf so gimme like uhhh an hour and a half or so

[tame stump]

Sure

[lone sonnet]

Finished with the bookshelf. Downloading Fallout as we speak :3

[tame stump]

Alright

[lone sonnet]

I really appreciate you taking time to sit with me show me the ropes :)

[tame stump]

No worries

Do keep in mind, I'm not that fluent in making armors. So I might not be able to answer all of your questions

[lone sonnet]

No worries!! What you can’t tell me I’ll ask around and try to find out :)

[tame stump]

Fair

[lone sonnet]

It's downloaded. Ready to VC whenever you are :)

[tame stump]

Alright

[lone sonnet]

(sorry it took longer than expected. PC decided to be slow today lol)

[tame stump]

heh no worries

[lone sonnet]

1 sec MZO