Is modding kotor 1/2 harder than other games?

[MAQS 12]

I have no knowldege of how creating mods work but im interested in learning, i have read many times here modders saying that moding kotor is overall very time consuming, is this normal for any other game or the kotor games happen to be harder than most?

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

Harder, but mostly because there isn't a really great all-in-one toolset that combines everything into a nice, concise workflow. Fair Strides is working on a Toolset though, which should make things quite a bit easier.

[DarthParametric 3,783]

There's no universal standard of difficulty for modding. Some games, like those with an SDK/toolkit, facilitate modding more so than others, but that doesn't necessarily make modding such games "easier". If you don't know how to model, how easy it is to get new models into a game is kind of irrelevant. That said, KOTOR does have a slew of various hurdles that make certain things difficult or even impossible. And the nature of the engine and quirks of the tools also make certain tasks tedious. I wouldn't say that things take longer than other games though, necessarily, depending on what it is you are comparing. I'd be cautious about what you read in certain parts of the internet. There is plenty of spurious info around.

 

If you want to learn, pick a target to focus on. What are you interested in? Do you want to play around with models, textures, items/equipment, dialogues, characters/NPCs, levels/areas, quests, etc.? What skills do you already have?

[MAQS 12]

I first want to learn how to create armor, but for a very, very long term goal ( years and years ), im interested in total conversion mods, which means in the end i would have to learn every aspect of modding  right?

[VarsityPuppet 1,085]

There's no universal standard of difficulty for modding. Some games, like those with an SDK/toolkit, facilitate modding more so than others, but that doesn't necessarily make modding such games "easier". If you don't know how to model, how easy it is to get new models into a game is kind of irrelevant. That said, KOTOR does have a slew of various hurdles that make certain things difficult or even impossible. And the nature of the engine and quirks of the tools also make certain tasks tedious. I wouldn't say that things take longer than other games though, necessarily, depending on what it is you are comparing. I'd be cautious about what you read in certain parts of the internet. There is plenty of spurious info around.

 

If you want to learn, pick a target to focus on. What are you interested in? Do you want to play around with models, textures, items/equipment, dialogues, characters/NPCs, levels/areas, quests, etc.? What skills do you already have?

 

Much better explanation than mine ^^

[DarthRevan101 104]

If I can do it, anyone can. That said, I'm not that skilled nor do I know anything about modelling etc. If you want to learn how some stuff works then Real Rece's tutorials on YouTube are the most helpful I've ever seen for most of the basics.

[Darth333 3]

1. have a Jawa Juice

(it can be as dull as flat water or whatever you like)

 

2. Know what you like

Set yourself a modest and specific goal (such as:  "that armor is ugly, I have to replace it!" or "every toon has to look like Bastila or Carth!"): in other words, something you can see the end of such as recoloring, retexturing, changing something very specific in the game or adding an item to begin with and you'll be good. It will allow you to learn a few aspects of modding and how the game files structure work.

 

3. Explore:

I started modding because my old computer back in 2003 could barely handle swoop races...I had to find a way to win! I didn't know anything about modding so one day I explored the game and its files, found the first version of kotor tool which was only a few months (if not a few weeks) old on LF,  experimented like a mad scientist (i had no clue as to what I was doing) and found a workaround the swoop nightmare. Nowadays there are many tutorials but if you can't find what you are looking for, move to item 5.

 

4. Don't get lost

Don't start with an ambitious conversion project that you'll never see the end of.

 

5. Ask questions

What you think might be a stupid question> not asking and being stuck

 

6. Have fun

(no explanation needed)