A modder has cracked open some disabled abilities in the official modding toolkit for Baldur's Gate 3, making it possible for modders to create new levels.
Modding a modding tool so you can mod more mods. Jokes aside this is really cool. I know Divinity OS2 had similar tools, but given how much more popular BG3 is there will likely be more substatial mods made for it.
What didn’t you like about Div 2 rules? I understand some of them wouldn’t adapt well to tabletop / dice but I liked their AP system better than BG3s action / bonus action
It's not 100% clear why Larian didn't include these features in the toolkit to begin with, but it may be a case of protecting certain copyrighted assets being scraped easily from the game, or from being altered in a way that is unpleasing to DnD's intellectual property overlords.
Super duper cool that this was done, I just worry that WoTC/Hasbro will mandate this sort of thing needs to be squashed. The new DND system is focusing heavily on a virtual tabletop system under a subscription plan. While standalone BG3 isn't a threat, a modded full custom campaign could be seen as one. I wouldn't even bring this up buuuuut between sending Pinkertons to collect MTG cards and the OGL crackdown, seems like any scummy move could be possible.
Bethesda tried this when they attempted to monetize mods. You can't stop the signal on truly user-generated content. At best they might have a copyright claim on official DnD lore or monsters, which can be sidestepped with a custom setting, which is pretty much the whole point of user generated content.
What I, and a lot of other folks were hoping for. Even if you don't like the BG3 campaign... With this there's the potential for pretty much anything. People could create their own "games" using BG3 as an D&D engine. Neverwinter 1 & 2 lived on for a long time because of this.
That's crazy. The campaign was one of the best computerized D&D adventures I've seen published to date.
Neverwinter 1 & 2 lived on for a long time because of this.
I enjoyed the Neverwinter toolkit, but the graphics were still so blocky and clunky. There's a polish to BG3 that, I think, will draw in a bigger audience.
Also, a big beautiful modding toolkit can have so many knock-on effects. Half-Life gave us a rich basket of spin-offs, from Team Fortress to Counterstrike. Starcraft and Warcraft popularized us a slew of new game styles, like Tower Defense and DOTA. Fingers crossed that we get something similar from BG3.
NVN is over two decades old at this point, of course the graphics aren't great. I personally also aren't a huge fan of the semi real time combat system, as it really messes with some classes. Modding (along with computer games in general) was also nowhere near as big as it is today. But despite all that it's still alive, due to its campaign editor. I'm sure BG3 will be modded to death with this (not literally ofc).
Currently, that is the case. Update 7 was supposed to have mod support for consoles as well, but that got delayed to a future patch. It's coming though.