For many of Bethesda Softworks’ major open world games including Fallout 3, Fallout 3: New Vegas and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – the broad modding community has been supported with significant development tools being released post-launch. These officially developed tools provide plenty of opportunities for anyone with dedication and passion to modify and craft quests, environments, characters, dialogue, outfits, weapons and more. Fallout 4 has been out for more than five months now, and it is now time for such tools to be offered to the public.
Bethesda Softworks have announced that the Fallout 4 Creation Kit has now entered its open beta phase. This is the same tool which was used by the game’s development team to craft Fallout 4, and can now be downloaded through the Bethesda.net Launcher free of charge. They are even offering a Creation Kit wiki at launch, providing newcomers the assistance they need to begin building upon the dilapidated streets of Boston.
While this won’t affect independent sites who wish to distribute their own mods, a new Version 1.5 update to Fallout 4 will see a new “Mods” option from the main menu. This will allow easy access to mods – with browsing and installation both handled in-game.
PC gamers have automatic access to mods, as has been the case since launch. Bethesda Softworks will launch mod support on the Xbox One next month, with PlayStation 4 gamers to receive support sometime in June. According to them they still have “lots to do yet”, and hope that the implementation of mod support “changes console gaming the way it has changed PC”.
While I find most of Bethesda Softworks’ games to be enjoyable, I have found that their worlds truly shine when it comes to them becoming canvases and foundations for the community to build upon. Having experienced a lot of what the modding community offered Skyrim, I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for Fallout 4.
