|
|
Gaming on a
Budget:
Customizing Your Gaming
Experience
By Cody
“Micajah” Bye
May 7, 2007
Trying to ascertain your gaming budget is a difficult
proposition. Your options are nearly endless. You can spend your money
on monthly fees, games, or save it up for new hardware, and each of
these categories have a whole selection of scenarios to run through.
It’s a difficult task for any gamer, but often one that must
be done if you plan on having any money left over for your golden years.
My goal with this column regularly requires me to advise
gamers on what to spend their money on, and how it could go to good
use. This time, I’m going to suggest a different tact.
Instead of spending money on the newest, latest, and greatest,
it’s my goal to help you save that money by getting the most
out of your current game. We’re going to breathe life into
your old games by giving them some modifications, using various tools
to improve them, and by finding other free add ons to play with.
By customizing your gaming experience through these various
mods and add ons, you can heartily enjoy your aging game and possibly
become part of a larger modding community in the process.
Mods – A Shortened Way of Saying Modification
Mods are a distinct part of the RPG culture, both MMOs and
single player titles. Downloadable mods typically adjust the
“safer” side of your programs, adding various
options to your gaming experience that may not have been included in
the initial packaging of your new (or used) game. Since many gamers
that read the articles at Ten Ton Hammer occupy both the single and
multiplayer side of things, I’ll be discussing a bit of both.
The title for this section may be a bit misleading, for mods
may not necessarily mean distinct modifications. Many single player
titles use the term “mod” to describe modules that
can be downloaded and added to their single player game. Unlike MMOs,
which need to protect their server side securities and don’t
want gamers cheating, single player mod designers are often free to
change and interact with distinct elements of the game. For example,
Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights modders have changed leveling schemes,
in-game character graphics, loot drops, and more.
border="1">
href="modules.php?set_albumName=album224&id=Raph_Koster&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
class="image thumbnail" title="Oblivion Mod Manager"
alt="Oblivion Mod Manager"
src="/image/view/7673/thumbnail"
height="52" width="100">
style="font-style: italic;">
style="font-style: italic;">Here's a capture of the Oblivion
Mod Manager; most games feature some sort of mod management system.
These two single player titles also feature a vast community
that offers new gaming experiences every few days. Downloadable
dungeons, geographic locations, and more are all available in vast
assortments throughout the internet. Unlike MMOs, gamers have actually
been granted the use of the level design tools (or at least a version
of them) that the developers used to create the game in the first
place. Creative gamers can create whole new worlds for themselves
without paying a penny. There are multiple ways to find Oblivion and
Neverwinter Nights add ons, but the easiest way would be to simply use
your search browser to locate the numerous module and add on sites for
your game of choice.
Modifying an MMO is a much more restrictive experience, but
many gamers undertake the challenge because MMO mods are often used by
many, many more players. Take the World of Warcraft mods for example.
Titan Mod is the most prolific downloadable mod on the
href="http://wow.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=TTHUIRepository">Ten
Ton Hammer
World of Warcarft Community Site, with over 21,000 downloads
to its name. Titan mod is also
available on other sites, so the amount of downloads for Titan Mod
alone is enormous! The
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=TTHUIRepository">
Ten Ton Hammer Vanguard Community Site also hosts a vast
array of Vanguard UIs, so if you’re a Vanguard player, check
them out as well! There are many other games with mods available, and
the best way to find these modifications is by searching Ten Ton Hammer
first, then moving on to the other MMORPG sites across the
‘net.
Modules for MMOs typically come in the form of User Interface
(UI)
customization. For those that aren’t familiar, the user
interface is what you use to interact with the game world around you.
It’s a rather simple modification, but in the end it can pay
immense dividends to add this to your game. Think of the number of
hotkeys that are currently available to you. Now add one, two, three,
four, or more hotbars onto your screen. Think of the possibilities that
you could possess with that many keys!
Not only is your number of hotkey potential enhanced, but a
great deal of information that is otherwise tucked away can become
available. Real-life time, money, XP per hour, XP for session, total
play time, and more is all available at a glance rather than having to
be searched for. Please, if you’ve never modified your
client, try our mods at TTH. They may add more to your gaming
experience than you could guess.
Making It Your Own
border="1">
href="modules.php?set_albumName=album224&id=Raph_Koster&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
class="image thumbnail" title="WoW UI Mod"
alt="WoW UI Mod"
src="/image/view/7672/thumbnail"
height="69" width="100">
style="font-style: italic;">
style="font-style: italic;">An example of one World of
Warcraft UI...along with a weird panda thing in the background.
For the adventurous, I would recommend developing your own UI
Mod. I’m not going to go into the details of creating a mod
yourself – because that is an article in itself –
but I will direct you to Krimm’s World of Warcraft AddOn
Design page, hosted by the lovely folks at the
href="http://wow.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=353">
Ten Ton Hammer WoW Community Site. This guide explores the
finer points of mod making in World of
Warcraft and provides a good explanation of XML goals and points that
are useful for any mod crafter.
Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the tools
necessary for mod creation, start your AddOn experience by looking at
some of the more popular examples. After you’ve mastered
this, submit your mod to Ten Ton Hammer and get it posted!
There’s nothing greater than showing off your work to the
appreciative public.
By developing new customized options for your MMO or single
player game of choice, you’ve expanded your realm of horizons
and closed your pocketbook. Modifying games is not only appealing, it
can also give you a sense of ownership in a game that you’ve
only been a player in. By changing the rules to suit your needs, you
can reestablish a positive relationship with your game again.
Comments, suggestions, ideas? href="mailto:[email protected]">Email me!
Ten Ton Hammer is your
source for all
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=TTHUIRepository">Vanguard
and
href="http://wow.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=TTHUIRepository">WoW
UI Mods!
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Vanguard: Saga of Heroes Game Page.
