Modders: So, is it open for modding?

[Shovas]

Is ACC locked down or open for modding?

That was one of the big questions in my mind about the longevity and success that ACC could have.

*fingerscrossed*

 

[Richard Dastardly]

No-one has ever said it was locked down, including Kunos. What made you think it was?

 

[patrod78]

Is it really worth to mod on this ugly thing?

 

[Shovas]

No-one has ever said it was locked down, including Kunos. What made you think it was?

Kunos indicated something to the effect modding wasn't 'officially supported' and that they were focusing on the game rather that supporting modders, at least in the beginning.

So the question has been to clarify whether they locked it all down or if it's open and it's just not documented/supported but modders can still do their thing.

I took a look at the steamapp files for the game. They're definitely not individually manageable files. They used a pak file approach. Might be perfectly manageable, might not. Definitely more problematic to work with then individual asset files, though.

 

[Ryno917]

Kunos indicated something to the effect modding wasn't 'officially supported' and that they were focusing on the game rather that supporting modders, at least in the beginning.

They also said that they would not do anything with the purpose of making it unmoddable; they're simply not going out of their way to make it moddable.

Either way, modding ACC will require some people smarter than I am to figure out how to do it. Remember, the early days of racing sims weren't expressly moddable, either; NASCAR Racing series, GPL, SCGT, et al were not built specifically to be modified. Smart people figured out how to do it, and the scene took off like a rocket.

When it comes to racing sims, AFAIK rFactor was the first one to be explicitly moddable by intent.

 

[mclarenf1papa]

The .pak file is encrypted, so without some cryptography or the encryption key, there won’t be any modding.

 

[Shovas]

The .pak file is encrypted, so without some cryptography or the encryption key, there won’t be any modding.

I was afraid of that. Appreciate what Kunos has produced and bought today but this is a misstep, I feel.

 

[OMitchF]

The .pak file is encrypted, so without some cryptography or the encryption key, there won’t be any modding.

Is there a possibility that it might be encrypted just for the duration of Early Access to prevent people fiddling with the game while it's still in such an early stage of development?

 

[Shovas]

Is there a possibility that it might be encrypted just for the duration of Early Access to prevent people fiddling with the game while it's still in such an early stage of development?

That's certainly possible and Kunos's reputation and comments on this make me hope this is the case but my gut and experience says this probably won't change.

We can always hope for AC2 to be open, though.

 

[Simon Kaminski]

I think it is in general very hard to almost impossible to mod UE4 games because of how they are packed/compiled unless modding tools are released which you can find for Squad or Ark in the Epic launcher for example. (all the shaders will be compiled and the compiled versions are saved when you export the project and reverse engineering might be very difficult and that's just one little part what you have to do)

 

[djtopa]

Bad news for ACC users but good for AC users(like me who dont need a gt3 only game).If it is like posts above say this means even longer life for AC.

 

[OMitchF]

That's certainly possible and Kunos's reputation and comments on this make me hope this is the case but my gut and experience says this probably won't change.

We can always hope for AC2 to be open, though.

I think it's a bit premature to assume the worst.

It wouldn't be wise of Kunos to allow us to have access to unencrypted files at this stage considering there are a few other car models in the game (R8, 488, AMG GT). If things were open then it would be just a matter of days before someone finds a way for us to be able to select those cars to drive from the menu. Considering those cars are unfinished it's in their best interest to prevent us from having access to them.

If the game reaches final release and the files are still encrypted then it's time to panic .

 

[Simon Kaminski]

If the game reaches final release and the files are still encrypted then it's time to panic .

That's not how the engine works. When you export your project the engine itself will compile a lot of stuff pack and encrypt it. You never should say never but unless they release the project files (100% unlikely) or modding tools it will be very hard.

 

[OMitchF]

That's not how the engine works. When you export your project the engine itself will compile a lot of stuff pack and encrypt it. You never should say never but unless they release the project files (100% unlikely) or modding tools it will be very hard.

When exporting in UE4 you don't have to use .PAK files nor do you have to encrypt them.

 

[Simon Kaminski]

When exporting in UE4 you don't have to use .PAK files nor do you have to encrypt them.

You know that meshes, materials, textures and so on will be converted to native unreal engine files when you import them?

 

[mclarenf1papa]

You know that meshes, materials, textures and so on will be converted to native unreal engine files when you import them?

Yes, but those files need not be in a .pak file.

 

[A3DR]

I just got the game for the sole purpose of messing with it once someone cracks the code, so I'll keep an eye open for any developments in this area

 

[Simon Kaminski]

Well I don't think much modding will happen but I would be happy to be wrong.

 

[Philip Antonia]

How will kunos be able to follow bug reports etc, if people were able to fiddle around with the core files and content?

This surely has to be locked for now to allow proper testing and reporting!!

 

[mclarenf1papa]

How will kunos be able to follow bug reports etc, if people were able to fiddle around with the core files and content?

This surely has to be locked for now to allow proper testing and reporting!!

...the same way they did for AC?