Games with under the radar amazing mod scenes.

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Everyone knows about traditional PC franchises like Fallout and Elder Scrolls and DOOM etc that have a massive amount of modding. However, what are some games that have a surprising amount of very impressive mods? I have not followed modding for most games outside of the traditional PC franchises and I'm curious to know what games are surprising in how much modded content there are (eg, Sonic Generations doesn't seem like a traditional "mod game" but there's a massive amount of mods for the game).

 

[JetstreamRorschach]

Monster Hunter World, Street Fighter V, Battlefront 2 (2017) come to mind.

 

[steviestar3]

Most Sonic games have amazing modding scenes. Generations, Adventure 1/2, Mania, Robo Blast 2, etc

 

[Dusk Golem]

The Killing Floor games come to mind for me. They have a lot of really cool maps, new enemies, complete twists on the formula and the like in both games.

 

[Loxley]

Folks are still making new content (maps, weapons, survivor skins, etc) for Left 4 Dead 2 over a decade later.

 

[Amibguous Cad]

I guess people knew about the mod tools in Neverwinter Nights, because it was a big selling point, but I think everyone got off the bandwagon when the live DMing tools wound up being not that great ( they were hyping it as being good enough to replace normal D&D, where any DM would be able to make a story in it and then DM it online). That's a shame, because the more normal mod tools they gave were great. There's a bunch of incredible adventures on Neverwinter Vault.

 

[Teeth]

Metal Gear Solid 5 has a pretty great set of mods available.

 

[GabriocheXD]

Celeste has a pretty nice modding community. The spring collab has over 300 levels I think, and they're all pretty fun for the most part. It's even divided by difficulty

 

[Meta]

Total Annihilation has been supported by fans with bugfixes, QoL features, total overhauls, and even fully-3D remakes for decades.

 

[Shade Vortex]

Sonic Generations is definitely up there, thanks to stuff like the Unleashed Mod, The Unleashed DLC Levels pack, and all the character/level mods.

 

[g23]

The total war franchise

 

[Sawneeks]

My younger brother recently showed me the Terraria modding scene and it's really extensive. There's even an official mod uploader endorsed by the devs called tModLoader on steam to get you started.

One mod I'm playing with family is called Calamity and adds, "lore, an abundance of new items, weapons, armor, biomes, town NPCs, and several hours of post-Moon Lord content. It adds 22 new bosses, 12 new minibosses, and a "Superboss".

 

[Boldy J. Washington]

You can make your own missions in San Andreas. I don't play the main game anymore, but the mod scene is pretty sweet.

 

[asmith906]

PC versions of Resident Evil 1 -3 are straight up incredible. They've done full blown conversion mods, randomizers, Brand New Scenarios.

It's actually crazy to see what they've done with RE3 that it kind of put the official remake to sign.
A new mod that came out has implemented an alternate world system were you can travel between a "normal" and hell version of raccoon city.

They are by far my favorite content to watch on youtube at the moment.

 

[TheMadTitan]

Mass Effect has some pretty decent shit. They pretty much made expansion packs for Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.

 

[collige]

The Quake 3 Defrag mod is the best 3D platformer ever as far as I'm concerned and people are still releasing custom maps for it as of this week.

 

[77DELOREAN]

XCOM 2 Has some excellent mods available on the the workshop.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 have an absolutely enormous mod scene that has persisted for over two decades now.

 

[FarZa17]

Postal 2 has some few weapons, characters and gameplay mods. Some even have custom levels too.
Even better since devs have made the game with Steam Workshop enabled for the game, like 6 years ago.

 

[texhnolyze]

Battletech. You can basically start several completely different games with each big mods. You can play the game forever if you want.

Mods :: BattleTech

Browse 475 mods for BattleTech at Nexus Mods

www.nexusmods.com

 

[Buyao]

Terraria has a pretty active mod community too. Quite a few of them are large mods which easily add 10+ hours of content.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

SSBM is on another level. Old ass Gamecube game has some of the best learning tools, online play and extra functionality that not only did not exist, but surpasses its contemporaries.

 

[Virtua Sanus]

Streets of Rage 2 has some really fantastic ones. Most are a little basic, but some completely rework the game. I love this Puyo Puyo themed one in particular.

 

[Rotobit]

Most every other Final Fantasy game requires essential mods on PC (I think XII and maybe the MMOs are the only ones that don't), and fans have delivered.

One of my most anticipated gaming things is NinoStyle's FFVII updated chibi models mod. I'm legit more excited for this to be completed than most games coming out this year.

 

[Axon]

Starcraft 2. This shit is wild:

 

[Host Samurai]

WWF No Mercy

 

[Drakhyrr]

Freespace 2 has a lot of game-sized total modifications, some with full voice acting.

EDIT: RPS made this article mentioning some of the best in 2019.
Some of them you can play without even needing to own Freespace 2, as the source code is open and none of its assets were used.

 

[KDR_11k]

Most Sonic games have amazing modding scenes. Generations, Adventure 1/2, Mania, Robo Blast 2, etc

Click to shrink...

Isn't that technically Doom?

 

[Atolm]

Assetto Corsa is basically a framework for mods.

 

[RLCC14]

Is Brawl still active? I know that I saw a vid of a cool look tag mod a couple of weeks back.

 

[Snormy]

Like, I don't think it is technically a mod "scene" but I'm going to bring it up because I'm a massive fan of the game and only just became aware of it.

There appears to be a mod for Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. The mod is called One Vision, it changes a lot of things on the gameplay side that I have whinged about in the past such as the imbalance of the RT stat/generation making classes such as tanks hugely ineffective at doing their job.
A quick glance says this mod has been in the works for at least 2 years and the most recent update was 2 Jan 2021.... That is a week ago. Seems like a labor of love to me and I'm grateful this exists.
I believe this is the official change list. It is extensive and has a lot of details of love rather than necessity such as changing the avatars of Obda and Berda so they are now visually distinguishable.

Shame I don't have a way to play any more.

Went to hunt an appropriate pic for TOLUCT but I landed on this tweet instead. Dunno if it is the same as the Dreamboum on era (if not I apologise for the notification) but 👍


If anyone has tried it I would love to hear some impressions too.
Looks like we had an old thread but it generated very little interest/discussion. I guess it is somewhat expected being a game currently tied to the PSP.

 

[Christmastree55]

Postal 2 has some few weapons, characters and gameplay mods. Some even have custom levels too.
Even better since devs have made the game with Steam Workshop enabled for the game, like 6 years ago.

Click to shrink...

Postal 2 is gamergate shit.

 

[Gr8one]

Not sure if rom hacks apply since their not technically PC games—although can play with emulators on PC—but honestly these are some of my favorites, especially since these games are both the GOAT in their respective sports.

Tecmo Super Bowl, almost 30 years after release modders are still updating the game play including throwing lobs, AI, formations and plays, adding teams, realigning divisons and conferences, and updating rosters and graphics.

NHL 94. Another 25+ year old game getting regular updates to rosters, added teams, creating whole new leagues like Swedish Hockey League, 1 on 1, 2 on 2 or 3 on 3, changes to playoffs and AI.

 

[Deleted member 86891]

Hollow Knight has a pretty active mod scene, surprisingly.

 

[lazygecko]

All of the Command & Conquer series has always had a very robust modding scene. The Tiberian Sun mod scene is my favorite, since it was made free by EA over a decade ago, most people are now distributing their mods as their own standalone clients. You just download them and start playing right away out of the box without the need for any complex mod installation procedures over the vanilla game.

DTA is probably the one I'd recommend the most to casual fans as it's a kind of dream match mashup of C&C1 and Red Alert 1 where you can pit the 4 factions from those 2 games against eachother, and aside from skirmishes there's also plenty of well scripted single player missions.

 

[GlitchyDegree]

Tony Hawk's Underground 2. A mod team created a mod called THUG Pro that added all the levels from THPS3, THPS4, & THUG plus most of the levels from the first two games. On top of that, other modders have created new levels for the game.

 

[Deleted member 12323]

The Killing Floor games come to mind for me. They have a lot of really cool maps, new enemies, complete twists on the formula and the like in both games.

Click to shrink...

Indeed!

 

[Unknownlight]

Isn't that technically Doom?

Click to shrink...

Yes, but it's more complicated than that. SRB2 isn't a Doom mod, it's a game that's built upon a heavily modified version of the Doom engine (specifically, Doom Legacy from the late 90's). The Doom modding scene and the SRB2 modding scene are distinct things that aren't compatible with each other.

I love the more recent trend to recreate other types of games within the SRB2 engine. The base game already handles 3D platformers, 2D platformers, NiGHTS gameplay, and first-person shooters (obviously, since it's based on Doom), then on top of that there are mods like SRB2 Kart, SRB2 Persona, SRB2 Bomberman, SRB2Ware (multiplayer WarioWare), etc. Shit's wild.

 

[DaciaJC]

The total war franchise

Click to shrink...

Don't know if I'd call TW's mod scene "under the radar." They might not have any presence on a site like the Nexus, but those familiar with the franchise will know how ridiculously large, active, and high-quality its modding community is.

 

[Deleted member 2317]

Most every other Final Fantasy game requires essential mods on PC (I think XII and maybe the MMOs are the only ones that don't), and fans have delivered.

One of my most anticipated gaming things is NinoStyle's FFVII updated chibi models mod. I'm legit more excited for this to be completed than most games coming out this year.

Click to shrink...

This is FIRE!!!!! 🔥 Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[Deleted member 17207]

The original battlefront 2 had an amazing mod scene back in the day.

 

[darthbob]

Halo Combat Evolved/Custom Edition still has a wacky crazy mod scene. IIRC, Masterz1337 is still working on the SPV3 mod for Halo Custom Edition.

 

[Optional Objectives]

Mixolumia has a growing music and style scene. It's really easy to make music packs, and folks have gotten pretty creative. Great game to chill out with and to explore, and one of my favorite games from last year.

 

[Mochi]

Sands of Salzaar on Steam

Bringing you to an exotic desert where you’ll recruit, train, and guide your troops into battle against rival cities and factions. Embark on an adventure that’s uniquely yours; Customizable characters, professions, and factions. The land is filled with a variety of hidden secrets.

store.steampowered.com

Sands of Salzaar has a pretty huge mod scene from what I've seen.

 

[Flandy]

Most every other Final Fantasy game requires essential mods on PC (I think XII and maybe the MMOs are the only ones that don't), and fans have delivered.

One of my most anticipated gaming things is NinoStyle's FFVII updated chibi models mod. I'm legit more excited for this to be completed than most games coming out this year.

Click to shrink...

This is probably the best character replacement mod I've seen for the game. The game is really built around the chibi proportions so the ones that don't use them have always felt off

 

[Cyanity]

My younger brother recently showed me the Terraria modding scene and it's really extensive. There's even an official mod uploader endorsed by the devs called tModLoader on steam to get you started.

One mod I'm playing with family is called Calamity and adds, "lore, an abundance of new items, weapons, armor, biomes, town NPCs, and several hours of post-Moon Lord content. It adds 22 new bosses, 12 new minibosses, and a "Superboss".

Click to shrink...

Just recently played through Calamity myself. The Terraria modding scene is AMAZING

 

[immortal-joe]

Max Payne had a relatively small scale but exciting mod scene, partly fueled by the desire for people to further push it closer to feeling like the Matrix video game they wanted. The most famous mod is undoubtedly the Kung Fu mod.

 

[Giga Man]

Is Brawl still active? I know that I saw a vid of a cool look tag mod a couple of weeks back.

Click to shrink...

While I'm not sure I would say Smash modding is under the radar because Nintendo certainly notices and Brawl in particular is the most famous modding scene of the franchise, the Brawl scene is definitely still active even after Ultimate which is just kicking off and getting bigger as time goes on. (Smash 3DS/Wii U modding is practically dead though.)

Also, I did NOT know about this tag team mod! WOW!