How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

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How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Six_Bricks » Thu Dec 02, 2010 12:08 am

How will it even be possible? Blizzard announced they are going to use the same facist nazi tactic they used for Starcraft II where you ALWAYS have to be online to play their game, even if it's just single player.

So, I ask, even if we hash out our own modding tools, how will it ever work?

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by kingpin » Thu Dec 02, 2010 12:16 am

Modding will always be possible in one way or another.

But, let's let Blizzard finish the game first and hope it's so awesome we don't even need mods for awhile. I know I will myself just play it until I get tired of it and start look into modding it after.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Six_Bricks » Thu Dec 02, 2010 12:28 am

I won't even buy a copy until there are modding tools and tutorials available. I never was into either Diablo game for the game it shipped as. I don't like playing as a good human. That's what I am in real life, so why would I want to be that in a fantasy world? I like modding the game into an open war zone of demons versus humans and playing on the demon side.

I guess until we have a way to do that in D3, I will keep my money in my wallet. ;]

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by D2 MOD player » Sat Dec 11, 2010 3:30 am

Who says you have to play a good guy? Maybe your character is destroying evil for his own evil purposes. Don't think that evil only fights good, in fact it's often the opposite. They just end up fighting themselves and good comes in and wipes them out. The reason why often true good is stronger then evil. Anyway, some of these characters in Diablo 3 look pretty neutral or even evil. Like the Witch Doctor.

I'm willing to bet Diablo 3 will be much more likable unmodded then D2 was. I admit I wouldn't have played D2 much after a few years myself. Here I am still playing mods. I've always liked playing with characters on the good side, but then it's all the more gratifying to play one that doesn't appear to have good intent at all. :twisted:

In most games these days people seem to be able to easily mod the graphics part of the game one way or another. We'll have to see later if other more basic gameplay elements can be changed easily. But I agree with Kingpin that we just need to play the game when it ships next year (hopefully) first and then assess (I think that's the word) what we want to do with it.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Voragoth9 » Thu Dec 30, 2010 7:59 pm

Yah I'm not too optimistic either. I'm sure the game will be great yah, but half the fun at least for me is playing and creating mods. As it stands we know modding will not be officially supported for D3; same as D2. The difference is this time around is there won't be the option of LAN, TCP/IP and Open.net for multiplayer. So by this account it seems that any kind of modding would be limited to single player, as I very much doubt Blizzard will have some kind of a custom game/seperate character ladder feature built into battle.net to host mods through their service as that would be considered official support... Sure there will probably be private server emulators fairly quickly for this game or some third party program that will allow multiplayer outside of the official "one server to rule them all." But Phorzen Keep will never support an option that goes against Blizzard's terms of service... It seems like they want to control Diablo 3 as if it were an MMORPG... despite the fact that it clearly is not.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by D2 MOD player » Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:13 pm

I certainly know what you mean. There's nothing funner than creating something of your own and seeing other people enjoy it. And not just that, the creative process is so much more addictive then game playing. And equally there's nothing funner than finding someone else created a mod and being able to play it for free without doing any work on it (but likely you'd end up doing feedback if you want it further developed).

That's my one gripe about Blizzard. They are about taking away the players rights. Other companies just makes the games, Blizzard has to have their stamp of approval in everything. Starcraft is getting the treatment of expansion after expansion to make players buy it over and over just like World of Warcraft. Starcraft has modding support. Why they would do this with Starcraft and not Diablo is baffling. They recognize Starcraft success is partially if not largely based off the many mods for it. But this is equally true with Diablo, if not more so. Starcraft is a very basic/addictive RTS. Diablo while more complex is equally boring without new maps, skills, etc. However, where there's a will there's a way. Regardless of modability, someone will figure out how and make it common knowledge. The same as it was for Diablo 2, or so I hope....

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Voragoth9 » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:27 am

Didn't SC1 have 2 expansion packs?

Also despite the fact that SC2 actually has modding support; it isn't very compatible with battle.net 2.0. The famed Galaxy editor essentially has it's arms and legs cut off by the limitation and restrictions on maps that can be played through the battle.net 2.0 custom game feature. A lot of the more interesting and innovative maps; including some very cool projects have been abandoned by developers because their maps won't work via the built in custom game feature and that's the only way you can play multiplayer maps currently; so a lot of what the Galaxy Editor can do is currently limited to single player... If SC2's multiplayer modding is running into these kinds of obstacles despite having an official editor and modding support; I'm worried to see what's gonna happen with Diablo 3. At this point it sounds like the only way you'd be able to mod D3 and play them multiplayer would be via through options that breach Blizzard's ToS. The current battle.net 2.0 service has a lot to be desired for and seems far to restricting and limiting. Hopefully at the very least D3 will be friendly to modding and have lots of power and flexability to make up for being limited to single player.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by D2 MOD player » Sat Jan 01, 2011 2:53 am

Starcraft had one expansion, Brood Wars. It had all 3 campaigns in one pack. However, it is true that Starcraft II has a more dynamic campaign and it probably took more effort. I'm not totally convinced since it's still 60 dollars, it's a bit steep for me.

Thanks for the information on Starcraft 2, but that does sound rather disappointing. That means to me more now then ever that Diablo 3 without official support is better.

Yes, the most frustrating part is the continuous online play. You may be correct that it will violate their terms of service and therefore be difficult to support by lawful websites. :( I can only hope that they will be lenient when it comes to modding and realize it's the only way people will continue to buy and play the game just like they did with Diablo II. I absolutely guarantee Diablo II would have been pulled from the shelves 5 years ago without mods. Same with Warcraft III and Starcraft. It's what keeps them alive. Why buy a new game when you know you can pickup Warcraft, Starcraft, or Diablo and play tons of mods for free?

I'm really hoping :blizzard: is reading this. Hint hint.....

Ahem, looks like I repeated myself a bit. But that's ok. :)

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by kingpin » Sat Jan 01, 2011 10:01 am

Yes, the most frustrating part is the continuous online play. You may be correct that it will violate their terms of service and therefore be difficult to support by lawful websites. :( I can only hope that they will be lenient when it comes to modding and realize it's the only way people will continue to buy and play the game just like they did with Diablo II. I absolutely guarantee Diablo II would have been pulled from the shelves 5 years ago without mods. Same with Warcraft III and Starcraft. It's what keeps them alive. Why buy a new game when you know you can pickup Warcraft, Starcraft, or Diablo and play tons of mods for free?
You overrate the importance of mods. There is only a limited of mods that actually kept their player base over long time. Most mods have had their share of popularity over short time, then players moved on.

There is still alot players playing on bnet (in diablo II). Just look each time how many who tries to rush on each ladder restart and those players would never considered to stop play D2 just because of mods.

Now, startcraft II is a huge success on it's own. It have a competitive online matchmaking system. What more do you require of an online game? it have one of best single player stories ever aswell. I didn't enjoy a single player like I did with startcraft II since very long time. They have aswell mod support in sc2. Just look over their last year announcement they are working on their own dota version as one of their own mod map projects for sc2.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by D2 MOD player » Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:10 am

kingpin" wrote: Now, Starcraft II is a huge success on it's own. It have a competitive online matchmaking system. What more do you require of an online game? it have one of best single player stories ever as well. I didn't enjoy a single player like I did with Starcraft II since very long time. They have as well mod support in sc2. Just look over their last year announcement they are working on their own dota version as one of their own mod map projects for sc2.
I can't deny it's success at all, I stand humbled by it. I'm just trying to avoid buying the game 3 times, the same price it would be to buy a new set of tires for my car. :) RTS isn't my favorite or I would have already picked it up. And I'm sure when I do I'll have to get every campaign disc. I'm sure I'll enjoy it a great deal. And I'm sure it will remain popular even if there were no mods. But I would think more popular with mods.

At least in my opinion even the original Starcraft is less flawed unmodded and causes less hassle. To me that means better success on a Blizzard RTS unmodded, but I suppose that will never be known since those titles are probably more modded then Diablo because modifying the game is easy. Diablo II has major flaws, especially in single player when unmodded. When it comes to bnet most of those problems are resolved, but I was never that kind of player. But I do see your point when it comes to bnet players. It's hard for me to think like they do, I think part of it's appeal is like in WOW, it's a community and some people need that. They don't like playing alone. I always have (some exceptions, but not bnet). So I'm sure the average bnet player can come online and tell me it's not flawed and that I am. Maybe so. ;)

When it comes to popularity of D2 mods I'm sure that administrators on Phrozen Keeps are authorities on the subject. :) But there's so many ways they are distributed I think it's more difficult to gauge than what's seen on the surface. For instance there's P2P. There's friends sharing files. There's even recommendations and direct downloads from unauthorized sites by fans. I've even seen communities from other countries play English spoken mods, even translate them. There's keeping the mod and never re-downloading it. So it would be difficult to tell if people were still playing New Dawn for instance (never played it, just an example of an older mod). Some of the forums on the Keep are completely dead and most realize the authors are long gone. So even if they still played it, it's questionable they would try posting on a long dead forum since it's assumed nothing would happen but wasting time. And there's no reason to download it again because it's never updated. So unless the author comes back and posts, it stays gone forever. Not gone on hard drives, but gone to community discussion.

However much I spin a long tale, I admit Blizzard doesn't need modding to be successful. And regardless of how much more popular a game becomes from a mod, I can't deny you're correct when it comes to it being popular regardless. But when it comes excessively old games like D2 is; at least to me, it makes it more likely to still be popular because of mods, or many would have moved on. Perhaps I'm wrong or just a hopeless romantic, that's just the way I see it. I'd assumed many many more thought like I did, but perhaps not. :-|

When it comes to Starcraft II and it's greatness wanes, and that will take along time, many years down the line will be the only way we'll ever be able to tell if mods make a dent in it's popularity. It's more popular then the original after all.

EDIT: Now when it comes to Diablo 3, perhaps it will be good if mods stay out of the limelight. It will allow mod makers to continue what they've always done well. Expand the Diablo universe into uncharted and delightfully fun directions.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Voragoth9 » Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:19 am

Kingpin... In regards to Diablo 2, the success of the modding community was really held back by Blizzard's policy... Given there was never any official support for D2 and their policy on private servers... You were never able to play "custom games" through battle.net as you were with WC & SC, and a lot of people in the battle.net community don't even know there are mods for Diablo 2 or that modding was even possible... I can't count the number of mindless replies I get on those forums while trying to garnish support for D3 modding that state something a long the lines of "modding not being possible for D2 and won't be for D3" some think developing user created content for D2 in general was even illegal... Furthmore D2 modding faced many hardships and limitations... such as new official patches rendering any previously created mods and 3rd party tools/plugins useless and legal multiplayer options being limited to LAN, TCP/IP and Open.net, which were highly vulnerable to cheating and didn't offer the same kind of unified community as battle.net. Hell Unleashed was released five years ago and still has a healthy multiplayer fanbase, but it is also largely an underground and under-advertised mod due to the breach of Blizzard's ToS.

WC and SC have largely been popular on their own, but there are also some very popular custom maps for both series of games, but again often limited in their multiplayer capacity. WC3 for example you could not create a multiplayer campaign because data cacheing/storage and map to map transitions were disabled in multiplayer... SC2's Galaxy editor has even more restrictions and limitations for your map to work via the "custom game" option on battle.net 2.0, which is the only way to play custom maps multiplayer...

Blizzard has a frustrating track record of making highly addictive multiplayer games, yet at the same time teasing us with amazing editors "WC3/SC2" and or unofficial modding support "D2" ... that are often limited to single player; seems kinda contradictory. "Look at all this cool stuff you can do, but only for single player, even though are games are way more fun multiplayer" Single player projects are cool, but most people will really only play through them once and that's it... Multiplayer is the course of longevity in Blizzard's game, but their multiplayer is often not compatible with user created content and moddability, and has largely held user created content back in all of Blizzard's games in the passed 10 years. Especially D2 and it looks like we'll be in an even worse situation with D3 sadly...

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by D2 MOD player » Fri Jan 14, 2011 8:08 pm

Regardless of what a Terms of Agreement states, when you buy a game it's yours and you can do what you want with it. At least here in the US. Regardless of what agreement you automatically sign when you purchase the title, the law states it's yours. I think it's a similar argument about PS2 modding for instance (never done it myself), the thing that really makes it illegal is their ability to import a game illegally. Sony may gripe about it till the end of the world, but there's nothing they can do about someone altering their own personal possession. I haven't really read D2's terms of agreement, but I'm sure there's some clause there that goes against modding. If only stating making changes on bnet is cheating and you will be banned. But considering there are tons of mods even with WOW....

Just like if I get a job and sign an agreement to receive employment. Anything in the agreement that goes against current laws for my state and nation are nullified.

Phrozen Keep can continue to keep strict rules about Diablo 2 and modding and I'm sure that helps it's cause. But it in no way officially receives support or cease and desist orders either way. It's unofficial and off the main radar (according to Kingpin, which I have to agree with), however bizarre that can be. Considering I've only logged onto the official site forums a few times and much prefer this site. To me talking about vanilla is lame when I can get chocolate chip instead. ;)

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Kardon » Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:55 pm

D2 Mod Player, there is still a ToS that is enforceable. With software, it usually just goes as far as to remove you form online functions, and possibly disable your software if you use DRM software. But once you start modifying memory and what not (see WoW Glider lawsuit) then you get bigger issues. I'd look at the SC2 modding scene. That's probably what we are in for. Use the built-in tools, and you're fine. The built-in tools won't always do what you want, and if you use external tools, you run the risk of legal action. Anything form cease and desist to a full lawsuit. Who knows, it varies too much to say. But overall, I'm not worried about it too much.
Most cases are notably with hardware. Since, for instance, hacking a PS3 counts as a felony of computer hacking now, apparently.
It sucks, but it's true. We no longer own games, but lease them.

And, I'm sure they will severely limit the multiplayer modding, since they will use it for 'E-GAMING' or whatever they call it. And, for the reasons Voragoth9 mentioned.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Necrolis » Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:14 am

Kardon" wrote:D2 Mod Player, there is still a ToS that is enforceable. With software, it usually just goes as far as to remove you form online functions, and possibly disable your software if you use DRM software. But once you start modifying memory and what not (see WoW Glider lawsuit) then you get bigger issues. I'd look at the SC2 modding scene. That's probably what we are in for. Use the built-in tools, and you're fine. The built-in tools won't always do what you want, and if you use external tools, you run the risk of legal action. Anything form cease and desist to a full lawsuit. Who knows, it varies too much to say. But overall, I'm not worried about it too much.
Most cases are notably with hardware. Since, for instance, hacking a PS3 counts as a felony of computer hacking now, apparently.
It sucks, but it's true. We no longer own games, but lease them.
there are a lot of loopholes and legalities surrounding this stuff, one would basically need to be a qualified lawyer, however, most of the cases pursued by blizzard always involved loss of revenue, bnetd lost for this reason, glider got targetted for this reason as well, most of the SCII hacks got targeted cause they where sold, but now that most of them are free, the cease and desist orders have thinned out and not much is said anymore. there are a lot of grey areas when it comes to modding these days, however, if you not making money or causing people to loose money, I don't think your gonna get served any time soon, even the IEEE supports reverse engineering so long as your aren't out to steal trade secrets etc.

whats quite hilarious about the wow glider lawsuit, is the fact that blizzard is was also treading into areas of system memory they had no authorization to, however they quickly pulled that to save face...
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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Voragoth9 » Tue Mar 08, 2011 3:59 am

It would be nice if Blizzard changed their policy in regards to player run servers for Diablo at the very least; it seems highly irrelevant now due to WoW. If they have no plans to include LAN or incoporate user created content into battle.net 2.0 somehow then it's the least they can do.

I have ran a popular D2 server for over 4 years, advertised on Blizzard's own forums and contributed in Diablofans.com interviews on the matter of Diablo modding and player run servers. I've never taken heat from Blizzard for it, but it's still a breach of their terms of service and really gimps advertising as well as alienates some players due to the legality of this. Phrozen Keep also maintains a zero tolerance policy on this issue and I imagine that won't change unless Blizzard alters their policy.

Runic Games has stated that they may develop and release software that will allow players to run their own servers for Torchlight 2, not that I expect the same from Blizzard.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by D2 MOD player » Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:29 am

Vorgagoth9, Runic Games has always been very open about being modded and it's cool. Too bad big companies hardly ever do this. When I did improve their first Torchlight graphics over several days it looks just like D3 beta (I'm sure I mentioned it, but it's cool enough to mention again), the only real difference was a change in contrast settings! Of course they have the same artists so it makes sense they'd draw the same kind of stuff.

I somehow missed all this, didn't get emailed on it that I know of. You guys certainly have good points.

I think Necrolis is right. On the main they won't care what you mod as long as it's not considered a hack (excuse me, a modification :) ) that interferes with their online service or are trying to make money off of it. Heck, I have tons of stuff I could sell if they didn't have copyrights on everything. :o But the reality is we have to create something truly unique with our own licenses to sell, or make an authorized mod Blizzard wants you to sell. Some authors are approached by the original copyright owner and there's a way to make money (it has to be really great for that), but that's the only legit way.

I suppose modding will always be a gray area. But you can't tell people to not be creative and mod things they love. People will always mod Blizzard titles and I'm sure Blizzard recognizes this. I wouldn't doubt it if they liked all the attention their games get online because of it. Makes their name shine even more with no effort of their own. If only a small amount.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Voragoth9 » Sat Jul 02, 2011 8:25 pm

My biggest grip is from what we know so far. Modding may very well indeed be possible as Diablo 3 will probably use XML for it's data, which are easily moddable. The main issue is the fact that there will be no multiplayer outside of battle.net and Blizzard has no intention of supporting a "custom game" mode or intergrate user created content in anyway; meaning legally all mods and user created content would be strictly bound to single player only and that blows considering Diablo 3 at it's core is built to be a multiplayer experience.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by D2 MOD player » Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:49 pm

I agree with what your saying.

And I think it will be inevitable that fans will complain quite loudly. But I'm afraid it will likely go on deaf ears because this is a company now with alot at stake since they make so much money and they consider this to not only be the "Wave of the Future" for all games but a good way to protect their own intellectual properly.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by kingpin » Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:57 pm

Voragoth9" wrote:My biggest grip is from what we know so far. Modding may very well indeed be possible as Diablo 3 will probably use XML for it's data, which are easily moddable. The main issue is the fact that there will be no multiplayer outside of battle.net and Blizzard has no intention of supporting a "custom game" mode or intergrate user created content in anyway; meaning legally all mods and user created content would be strictly bound to single player only and that blows considering Diablo 3 at it's core is built to be a multiplayer experience.
The way you "refer" to multiplayer don't exist in d2 either, without go into it any further. You know what I mean with this.

There is no point complain before the game is even out. Those who was modding back in 1.03 know how little modding was supported, compare to how game is supported today and how far some mods come even further then Blizzard even intended with modding their game. You will see the same in Diablo III aswell, in one way or another.

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by D2 MOD player » Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:26 pm

kingpin" wrote:The way you "refer" to multiplayer don't exist in d2 either, without go into it any further. You know what I mean with this.

There is no point complain before the game is even out. Those who was modding back in 1.03 know how little modding was supported, compare to how game is supported today and how far some mods come even further then Blizzard even intended with modding their game. You will see the same in Diablo III aswell, in one way or another.

Now that's the kind of positive post I like seeing. And it makes sense so I like it even more. :)

Kingpin. You can't blame people for wanting to know a future they may not know as well as they think they do. Anticipation to this game is big time. Tempers flare, disappointment mounts, and sheer delight are all coming. ;)

I always end up agreeing with Kingpin's post it seems. They are very knowledgeable and encompass things on the larger scale. Very practical as well, and therefore have a firm foundation. And so despite how I like talking about what's to come, again I agree. :) However science fiction writing is among my favorite writing and it predicts without being prophetic, it can be used as a warning of things to come and educate people. Conjecture has a large part of a successful well planned out society. But what that has to do with gaming I have no clue :-|

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Voragoth9 » Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:41 am

Yes Kingpin I realize that but D2 at least offered TCP/IP, LAN and Open.net as built in features that allowed you to legally play mods multiplayer. Blizzard has confired that those will not be featured in D3 and the ONLY way to play multiplayer will be through the official battle.net server.

Would a LAN or TCP/IP plugin/emulator be a breach of Blizzard's ToS or would that be fully legal? As it is highly unlikely they will change their policy or stance on player run servers though you know where I stand regarding that paticular issue.

EDIT: Someone recently publized a 3rd party LAN mode plugin for SC2

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Jase » Thu Jul 21, 2011 9:33 pm

True, but to sue somebody over ANYTHING, it requires a lot of money to pay lawyers and legal fees. It all comes down to "How much money do you have?" Works the same way with website making - disney won't sue mom and pop's disney shop for infringing copyright, but if Fox or ABC even TOUCHES the name disney you can bet that they'll have lawyers all over them with lawsuits in the billions. It's unprofitable for blizzard to sue modders because most of them are average everyday people who have a passion to mod their game who make average wage, so the payouts are unprofitable. (I'm sure theyre impressed that peple mod their stuff, I got the impression from their history video on youtube). They like the creativity end of things - all they want to do is sit back and make games. Not to mention, d2 mods keep the d2 title alive, which is otherwise a game that should be long forgotten by now. Mods are also free advertising for their game and their company, what company doesnt want that?
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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Lady Isabelle » Thu Jul 21, 2011 9:56 pm

Not to mention, d2 mods keep the d2 title alive, which is otherwise a game that should be long forgotten by now
I still honestly play LOD still, and so do alot of people on b.net. It aint dead yet, but by the time you get D3 out, D2 may die. I for one just made a mod that is LOD, but its actually HARD ;). LOD is only hard wen you come across a boss pack/fight a act boss solo.

But on topic, if Blizz does not support modding in any way shape of form, it would be very hipocritical (however you spell that word) of them. They supported modding in D2 (if you check the 1.10 change log it says so iirc) and they have had map editors for Starcraft and Warcraft, which is in a way a community of modders.
Hopefully they will in some way...

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Voragoth9 » Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:06 am

XiresNar D2 never had any official modding support, true 1.10 expanded the moddability and features that could be changed but it was never official support. It's more likely this change was made so Blizzard could make patches and updates easier or yes throw a bone to the modders. 1.11+ did not continue this trend as any mods created were pretty much locked into whatever patch version they were created with and dependant on certain fan-made plugins.

The line between support and non support is fairly grey with Blizzard. D2 was moddable but never supported. The WC3 world editor and SC2 galaxy editor state "these are not officially supported" when you load em up. I doubt Blizzard is going to lock players out of modding entirely and make everything hardcoded... even WoW uses XML databases that can be easily modded, which is a reason heavily modded WoW private servers exist. So regardless of Blizzards official stance of "no modding support" the game will still likely be moddable, garantee if they use XML... How much will be open to moddability is unknown at this time and we will likely face the same obstacles we faced in D2 such as version to version compatability and hardcoded features.

What is set it stone and what we know for sure is the game will release with no other legal way to play D3 multiplayer outside of the official battle.net server, which will have no built in support feature for user created content like SC2 or WC3. So essentially upon release all modding will be limited purely to single player. Someone will prolly create a LAN / TCP IP plugin as was recently done for SC2... But Blizzards stance regarding private servers is still the same as it has been for many years. They are against the ToS and technically illegal. A

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Re: How can we expect to mod Diablo III?

Post by Lady Isabelle » Fri Jul 22, 2011 9:16 am

entirely and make everything hardcoded
Alot of code often has to run in some sort of txt file to register, you cant really hard code "everything".
XiresNar D2 never had any official modding support, true 1.10 expanded the moddability and features that could be changed but it was never official support. It's more likely this change was made so Blizzard could make patches and updates easier or yes throw a bone to the modders. 1.11+ did not continue this trend as any mods created were pretty much locked into whatever patch version they were created with and dependant on certain fan-made plugins.
Id say its more of throwing a bone as you put it. mpqs clearly do not need any txt file in them what so ever as the game reads the bin files. They threw the bone by inserting the base txt files in 1.09 + and kicked it up in 1.10. Then iirc (correct me if I am wrong) Blizz South took control of patching Diablo and changed all the code placing/functions all about.

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