If there's one thing that PC versions of (non-Infinity Ward) games have over console versions, it's the excellent modding community. PC gamers have been able to extend the longevity of their favorite games almost infinitely by designing their own variations, be they serious or funny. It's something that would be awesome to have on the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead 2, but Valve has explained why something like that could never happen.
"One of the problems now when you look at a lot of the mods that are made is they can't run on low-end PCs, they can't even run on mid-end PCs often -- they can only run on high-end PCs. They can't run on Xbox 360," explains writer Chet Faliszek. "There's a lot of work we do to get things to the performance levels that are acceptable for us. You look at a lot of the modders and obviously that's a very technical thing; you have to know the engine and the tools very well.
"... The coolest thing we could ever do would be to take something that was made by the community and share it with everybody -- including Xbox 360 owners. How that happens and what work needs to be done is a little bit complicated."
And here we thought it was just Microsoft being a c*nt.
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Contest:
10:40 AM on 11.09.2009
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I cant buy that.But on the other hand PS3 does...and it has orange box...
maybe...nah it would never happen.
but a lot of them do, also UT3 on the ps3 is calling your bullshit.
Now that I use professionnal, internally developed tool at a big video game company, I see a whole department dedicated to optimize the game, especially for console!
A lot of work is needed to achieve a decent frame rate on consoles, and the moding community simply doesn't have the resources and time to fix everything.
Then again, I'm speaking of the Source Engine. The UT engine may be different somehow? Anyone know more about that?
Now, certainly small mods would work just fine. I mean, if the console doesn't have room for a few measly megabytes of data for a tweaked character model or something then there's a real issue with the game to begin with. But adding a whole new game mode like Prop Hunt to Team Fortress 2 is another story most likely.
@Knives
Because the PS3 version of UT3 supports mods perfectly fine with no problems.
IF there is one thing... PC gaming is better in almost ALL regards. Only the EXCEPTIONS are better for console gaming... lol
but it doesn't take a very high end systems... what is "high end"? I would say a $400 computer is pretty high end and can run pretty much every mod I have heard of...
I can't think of one that couldn't
Best wishes
Valve.
Yeah i know, but why bring up the PS3 when he's not talking, referring or mentioning it at all when he's talking about mods in the interview?
I mean, he's saying "xbox360 can't run mods", why is the counterpoint "Lies! the ps3 can!!" ? Just doesn't make much sense to me.
In other news, the Modern Warfare 2 manual is lying when it says you can't move your character by shaking the controller, because that's totally how the Wii FPS games work.
He's saying that mods on Xbox 360 "can't" work, but his boss says that the PS3 is a "waste of everybody's time", despite the fact that the PS3 has been proven capable of supporting mods. The irony is bitter.
If I'm not mistaken Epic has released user made maps packs for the 360.
But oh does it make HL2 look good. Especially in Full HD. A feat which both consoles can't even achieve with the standard version. But my 80 € Graphics card can. ^^
Here are some comparison pics to drool over. The lower ones of each pair is the Cinematic mod. As if one couldn't see the difference immediately.
A lot of Source mods really push the engine beyond its design parameters and if you look back and compare Half-Life 1 to the popular mod Natural-Selection(1) you'll find that NS actually requires a 32bit video card which is NOT required to play Half-Life 1. Of course that's an extreme case but there are others such as Sven Co-Op and Paranoia. Sometimes the things designed in the mod just plain ole weren't optimized for the engine.
El Mabo
^^^
This guy is 100% correct too.
Also a thing to remember about UT3 is for the most part a lot of the bigger mods were just not portable to the PS3 because there are limitations for mods on the PS3. For example what was only just fixed recently was that NO NEW audio could be added for UT3s PS3 version. However other limitations still persist that keep mods like The Haunted from showing up on the PS3.
I think Valve's statement is trying to appease console gamers, even. Unless they have some whacked sense of the word midrange, they are totally wrong. IMO, midrange is like a $600 PC and I don't think there are any mods that they can't handle. Midrange pc's can actually play most games on very high at resolutions higher than 720p, so there's no problem there. Except for mods that vastly increase the graphics, even a low-end machine can handle mods.
Take a look a user made TF2 map and then at a Valve made one. The amount of work they put in to optimize the maps is insane.
Just because there are a lot of junky poorly optimized maps on PC doesn't mean better mappers aren't capable of making things that would run fine. We all know there is no way Microsoft would EVER allow free mod content to make it's way onto games on their platform. Valve just seems to be on this weird kick of trying to excuse having their games be on 360 and not PS3 lately for some reason.