Larian Studios Forums Divinity II The Dragon Knight Saga / Flames of Vengeance (English) Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga Modding-tool and developer mode?!

Hey Larian Studios.

1. A long time ago there was a dicussion concerning a modding-tool (in the German forum). IIRC you stated that you would like to release such a tool if you had the time/resources to do so. Well, I still hope that you have not completely abandoned this thought! I think a "simple" *.dv2-explorer which enables us to extract and (re-)import resources would be a great tool to enable modding. Or maybe an "override" directory which makes the game "prefer" resources in it over those in the archives.

2. A way for us players to make such great screenshots as you do which you put on the DKS website would be to enable us to use the developer mode (if it exists) with a free camera and a way to hide the GUI.

I hope you find the time to read my post and I humbly hope you think about it.

Anyways

Thank you very much Larian Studios for one of the greatest RPGs I have ever been playing/still enjoying!

Regards

Phnx

1. There was a second/third thread (one after D2:ED release and two after DSK release) about the mod tools, and, AFAIR, it was clearly stated there will be no tools.

2. It exist but disabled and NEVER will be enabled (there is a thread about that as well)


Community already made a dv2 packer/unpacker, but Larian don't like the community's initiative and bans every mention of such tools on this forums. "We don't want to make tools for the game and we won't allow anyone to do so!". I understand why there is no official modkit: game's engine is one big pos, it is not really mod-friendly, also, game is not so popular, so, it's truly not worth to spent precious time for tools. But I totally don't understand why prevent all community's initiative. One of the reasons was: "Oh noez, they all gonna change the dv2-fiels and spam us with invalid bug reports!". Yeah, it is so hard to make small support-tool that calculates md5-hash of all dv2-files.

Well hopefully the developers change their stance for their next game otherwise no one is going to care about it. Modding and user created content is a huge benefit for these styles of games and the only reason people are still playing Oblivion to this day... If they have any wish to compete with the likes of Sky Rim, Torchlight 2, Witcher 2 and the slew of other action rpg's coming out that are all modding friendly or have official tools then they better get with the times and evolve rather then being so anti-modding.

Sacred 2 had the same stance and look what happened to that game.

I think the big issue is asset control and implementing a system that allows fan creations without displacing a market for the original content. Most developers have the same policy regardless of what publishers want and that is: design a system where fans do not compete with the developers themselves. This usually translates into mods that extend the game in diverse ways such as implementing unrelated games like CTF, DM, TD, hero battles, etc. I have not encountered a major production that allows mods and total conversions in similar style to expansion type content. In order words, your creations cannot be based on or extend cannon. However, dev time to create the proper tools and moderate an eco system conducive of mods can be resource intensive. The earliest games with total conversion type mods were shooter; the assets were mostly art and impinging on existing IP was minimal.

Naturally every situation is different and each developer has its reasons for allowing or disallowing mods; and policy on what type of mods are permitted, if any.