PC gamers spending more time modding then playing their games..

[iv-tecman]

There was an interesting comment made the other day over in the consoles sub forum.

I’ll paraphrase –

“PC gamers spend more time tweaking, modifying and looking to gain an extra few fps then actually playing their games. Also, PC gamers seem more concerned about screen resolution and how configurable the games graphics options are then actual gameplay”

Interesting and almost valid comment I felt.

I’ve been guilty of this, when F1 2010 by codemasters was released I’d search the internet for high res texture mods, Skyrim has been the same… I’ve spent more time modding F1 2010 and Skyrim then actually playing the game.

Batman Arkham City however, not a single mod – result is, game was completed. I played the game on my laptop with a gamepad and thoroughly enjoyed it. I purchased as an impulse via Steam – Yesterday. An indie graphic adventure, not a single mod applied, played with very little graphics options as the game offered pretty much one option – screen resolution. Game completed.

Played F1 2011 with very little modification, just ENB series and I’ve completed a championship. F1 2010 was highly modified and I never did get very far with it.

Which brings me to the point.. as a PC gamer its more important I feel to just play the game you’ve paid good money for then endlessly trying to get them modified with excessive eye candy to obtain that ultimate screenshot, or tweaking them to get that extra fps when the game could run at 30 or 60fps if you just accepted default settings or knocked the res down a little.

Anyone agree they spend too much time modding and not enough time actually playing their games?

 

[Kosmiche]

Err, personally I usually only set the graphics options twice - first of all I max them out, then the second time I lower some stuff if the game isnt performing up to scratch.

I don't spend more time modding than playing, the game I've modded most if mount & blade warband and I have around 5 mods for that.

 

[Montegue]

I wouldn't think it was that many, only the one's that are anal about improving textures with higher res ones or lower ones for those that cannot afford high quality rigs.

Interesting the person who wrote that doesn't know the difference between the words "then" & "than"

 

[iv-tecman]

Interesting the person who wrote that doesn't know the difference between the words "then" & "than"

oops, yes that was me typing and not reading what I’d wrote.

 

[arknor]

i usually just set the graphics and play , when it comes to modding skyrym i just grabbed the a bunch of mods and it took about 15minutes to have a much better looking game.

i dont see how people spend hours and hours faffing about with games to get them working...

 

[uv]

I modded Torchlight loads, and completed it three times. Modding has no correlation to completion imo

 

[Caseh]

I have an obsession with making sure any game I play is running at a constant 60FPS. I can't sit and play a game if it dips below that, and I don't know why.

I guess I must be a wrong'un.

 

[Vimes]

This was me...



when I have recently reinstalled Oblivion through Steam I spent that long installing all the mods that by the time I considered it ready to play I sort of lost the will to live, never mind play the game.

 

[HaggisUK]

I'll spend maybe 5 minutes at most on graphics settings and adding AA etc, modding is something i tend to do only after i've completed a game.

Somehow i think they've made the amateur mistake of using a blanket term like "most gamers".

 

[mattyfez]

It really depends on the game, things like Batman and need for speed, I don't mod.

That sain, with things like oblivion/skyrim the scope for modding is massive, things like mini games, extra missions, user generated weapons ans armor, the list is endless, and provides a lot of extra fun.

Starcraft is another example, the mini game 'marine arena' started out as a mod, and its epic fun, Ive played that way more than the main game.

There is a lot more to modding than HD texture packs and performance tweeks.

That said I do what I feel like, if I want to play the game vanilla style I do, if it happens I can have more fun modding and doing silly things that I'm not nesseserily supposed to, then I do!
A game should be an enjoyable experience, and if modding is enjoyable, I don't see an issue with it, I think it should be encoraged.

In terms of graphics tweeking, I agree with Eames, it doesnt take 5 mins to figure out where your PC is comfortable.
(with the rare expetion of things like skyboost and the skyrim texture packs which can seriously enhance the visuals/fps with pretty much no effort - especialy usefull for people with older rigs).

Personally I got a bit bored with vanilla skyrim after about level 20, and to me, modding it has given a lot of added value to a game that in all honesty, I would have shelved by now.

 

[d_brennen]

When Doom 3/Far Cry were new I spent more time staring at time demos than playing until it hit me. Both were amazing games that I nearly ruined by obsessing over FPS/settings.

 

[arknor]

I have an obsession with making sure any game I play is running at a constant 60FPS. I can't sit and play a game if it dips below that, and I don't know why.

I guess I must be a wrong'un.

im happy with 30fps in most games unless its an online fps then 60 is a must and i would gladly sacrafice graphics for framerate

 

[Evilsod]

This was me...



when I have recently reinstalled Oblivion through Steam I spent that long installing all the mods that by the time I considered it ready to play I sort of lost the will to live, never mind play the game.

That was exactly the first thought I had when I saw this thread title too...

But really, just no. Short of looking for a way to disable the bloody intro movies (which is normally quite a simple config tweak or renaming/deleting the files) there isn't that much you can do by yourself. I do recall spending hours trying to get 1 of the massive compilation overhaul mods for Oblivion working (forgot what it was called now) and by that point I'd lost the will to live never mind play it but no other game has anywhere near that potential for wasting time.

 

[Kamwah]

About as stupid as saying all console gamers are kids who can't afford a real PC.

 

[Alex74]

Depends on the game really.

I spent a very long time messing around with Crysis settings, in the ToD and graphical settings, as well as installing and playing with various mods. It was great fun, especially since my rig was..rather limited in performance.

Bridge commander was another one that was great fun to play around with, importing loads of new ships and such, really brought the game to life when you started adding to it . Such a good modding community.

 

[Hastarius]

Yesterday I had to remind myself that I had not played Skyrim that day. I was to busy looking and installing mods

 

[eekfek]

can you imagine if they put graphic settings in console games, they'd run for the hills !!

 

[Evilsod]

can you imagine if they put graphic settings in console games, they'd run for the hills !!

Whats the difference between 'Low' and 'Lowest'? /trollface

 

[SeraphX]

yup this is true for me with Fallout 3 Goty lol spend days hunting for god knows what, then play for a few hours to test if it works etc etc, then more hunting for more mods haha

 

[Fred]

Purely game dependent in my view. Only rarely would I spend any decent amount of time researching and loading mods, probably fallout 3 and skyrim are my biggest culprits

Some older games I'll do quick mods on to bring them up to scratch a bit. Dark Forces really needed that to make it playable for me