Upcoming Console Versions - mods allowed?

[LameLefty]

So I've been seeing little tidbits and snippets of gameplay footage being posted by the gaming media from Squad's attendance at recent game media events. I think it's a great way for Squad to broaden the scope of the game and reach a whole universe of gamers (and thus new potential customers) but at the same time, the limits of traditional console gaming also seem to possibly detract from one of KSP's biggest attractions: the essentially wide-open mod-ability of the game.

However, a recent blockbuster console hit, Bethesda's Fallout 4, has now broken the "console barrier" by not only announcing official support for console mods, but also releasing a video yesterday demonstrating how it will work in practice, and promising to start rolling out support as soon as the next few weeks. So my question is, do you think Squad should do so in a similar manner, and more importantly, will they? 

And let me just say that with my main computer being a 5+ year old Mac but having the Xbone sitting five feet away, I'm tempted to buy the console version simply to avoid buying a new game computer! If I could add a handful of "must have" mods like KER or MJ, KAC and Chatterer, I'd be able to play the vast majority of everything I've ever done or wanted to do long-term in KSP. But at the same time, without access to such informational and planning mods (plus Chatterer for fun), KSP on a console would unfortunately remain just a novelty for me.

Edited April 27, 2016 by LameLefty
typos, clarification

[teag2]

I believe that Squad will do everything they can to allow mods on console. Not sure if they can do it or not (after all, Fallout 4 is the only game thus far) 

[mrclucks]

I think some of the more fundamental mods should be made available for consoles like KER, FAR, KJR, MJ and KAC as well as some others.  

I still think that KSP on consoles is a stupid idea, but the console players should atleast have some of the basic options that PC players have

[Jas0n]

The thing is, it will probably be a pain to operate all the menus and what not from mods with a controller. 

[Alshain]

Even if it supported it, there is no guarantee the mod developers would bother.  They may or may not have those consoles or want to buy KSP on them even if they do.  I doubt it will be supported though.

Edited April 29, 2016 by Alshain

[numerobis]

You'd need an in-game method to install the mods and update them, a la CKAN. That's work. Otherwise I don't see a fundamental reason why not.

[jedensuscg]

It's a shame really,  The console versions. I don't know if Squad stepped back and realized just how much mods make their game complete. Even something as simple as MJ or KER is probably on the vast majority of installs. Not even having a basic Delta V readout in vanilla install is going to drive a lot of people away from console version unless they have an easy way to get mods. I mean I STILL don't understand Squads reasoning behind this despite their explanations since I've been playing back in ver .24. It is like not having a speedometer on a racing game. 

This is just the basics, add-ons like FAR that fundamentally fix the aerodynamic model, RPM which turns IVA into more than a novelty, KAC for speeding things up without screwing up, even stage recovery! I mean Squad made it so you can get money back by recoverng spent boosters but made no easy way to do it.  the list goes on. Squad really needs to step back and think about integrating these features into a console edition, or KSP for console should be renamed KSP Lite, because let's face it the game has relied on the fantastic mod community to make a pretty barebones game into a feature complete game. I will never touch a vanilla install of ksp, it's just too shallow for me and has this weird duality of trying to be a realistic simulation and complete arcade game at the same time.

Edited April 29, 2016 by jedensuscg

[Renegrade]

I'm curious about how practical this 'mods for consoles' business is.  Normally a console game has to go through all sorts of approvals before it can be published.. will a mod have to undergo the same scrutiny and approval?  Will this process and install be compatible with the GPL?

[LameLefty]

4 hours ago, Renegrade said:

I'm curious about how practical this 'mods for consoles' business is.  Normally a console game has to go through all sorts of approvals before it can be published.. will a mod have to undergo the same scrutiny and approval?  Will this process and install be compatible with the GPL?

Good point - and for that matter, not all mods are licensed under the GPL; some use Creative Commons, I've seen other mods using still other license schemes. The wide-open modding environment fostered by Squad seems fundamentally at-odds with the console environment as it currently exists; but so too does the way Bethesda has previously enabled and even encouraged mods for PC versions of their titles in the past. That's what got me thinking about this in the first place.

[swjr-swis]

Support for mods on console platforms sounds to me like a nightmare scenario for mod authors. They're already badgered with the three current platforms as it is, and two of those can potentially be run/tested on the same hardware they currently use. Do we expect mod authors to buy themselves ALL consoles out there to be able to support their free mods for us? "I don't think so, Tim."

The game is completely playable without mods. I have had very modded installs, but also pure stock versions right alongside them, and still have ongoing career saves that I regularly return to. Heck, 1.0.5 I never even modded at all, other than some tests while waiting for 1.1 to hit. Console players will never know what they're 'missing' if they just play the stock game.

[Renegrade]

3 hours ago, LameLefty said:

Good point - and for that matter, not all mods are licensed under the GPL; some use Creative Commons, I've seen other mods using still other license schemes.

Yeah - some types of CC license might not be friendly either to that environment.  Possibly even more so than the GPL.

3 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

Do we expect mod authors to buy themselves ALL consoles out there to be able to support their free mods for us? "I don't think so, Tim.

Indeed.  I actually have an energy-only life support mod on a backburner right now, that I may publish soon.  Unless they make a PS3 / Xbox360 version of KSP, I won't be able to test at all, I don't have either of the "8th generation" consoles.  Or a Wii U - whatever generation that counts as.