History Main / GameMod

** Single player controlling of Tails' flight, including carry of Sonic, by using the Up direction.
** Specialised activation of Super/Hyper mode, i.e. the player can't inadvertently activate it just by double tapping jump (as is necessary for all three characters), but instead by hitting C twice.
** Consistent behaviour of monitors when attacked from below (original versions behaved differently).
** Consistent music throughout games
** Option to use Sonic 3 "robot arm" final boss phase, cut from Sonic and/or Tails' Launch Base Zone act in original combined edition.
** Improved Super Sonic sprite animation
** Knuckles' intro cutscene with Egg Robo logically occurs on Angel Island Zone rather than Mushroom Hill.
** Optional opening of different paths for Knuckles for "research purposes".

Also allows the user a large degree of customisation for his/her ideal Sonic 3 experience.

* The modding community for the games of the ''DarkForcesSaga'' was also very thriving in the past, especially for ''[[http://www.df-21.net/ Dark Forces]]'' (link directs to the major DF fansite DF-21.net) and ''[[http://www.massassi.net Jedi Knight]]'' (link directs to the major JK fansite The Massassi Temple). And even so, new levels are still being worked on even today, with recent major releases including ''[[http://www.massassi.net/levels/files/3111.shtml Magrucko Daines]]'' and ''[[http://www.moddb.com/mods/todoa TODOA]]''. Some mod developers, such as ''[[http://www.otherlander.com/ Patrick Haslow]]'' (creator of ''The Dark Tide'') have even worked on major titles such as ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}''.

** The ''IronGrip: The Oppression'' mod for ''HalfLife 2'', which slammed two genres against each other: {{RTS}} and {{FPS}}.

** [[http://www.mariokartsource.com/ Mario Kart: Source]]: a mod that turns ''HalfLife 2'' into a ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' game.
** On top of the typical skins and script modifications, the ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' games have a level editor that allows people to create their own survival and campaign/versus maps. They can even include custom sounds and music, scripted crescendo events, and other things. Naturally, there have been maps of other games like [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Zelda]], and even ''HalfLife 2''. Then there are the Mutations, "official" modifications that come in packed with the game. Recently the developers have encouraged players to develop their own Mutations for submission to be featured for a week. They've also been featuring user-created campaigns on the official blog, and hosting them on the official servers.

* ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' is a highly ambitious and [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell long awaited]] ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' mod that seeks to replicate the original ''Half-Life'' using the Source Engine.

** Two major mods were created by hacking the original game's source code. They are ''Urban Chaos'' and ''Wildfire'', both developed simultaneously by two different teams for several years after the release of the original game. Eventually, the company that owned the rights to [=JA2=] at the time offered both teams the chance to release their mods as commercial expansions (similar to the ''HalfLife''/''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'' deal). The Russian team that made Wildfire eventually took the offer, their mod was released commercially, and the package included the source code for the game executable (published under a semi-open license, paving the way to 1.13).

* Likely the most famed of all mods is ''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'', the full conversion of ''{{Half-Life}}'' into a multiplayer counterterrorism game. It was eventually purchased by Valve and included in later [[LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition editions of the original]].
** ''Half-Life 2'' has a third-party mod called ''Garry's Mod'', that allows you to walk around the map, put things together, move them, animate props, and even script events; in short, a WideOpenSandbox. {{Machinima}} and even comic strips have been done using Garry's Mod (see ''{{Concerned}}'' and ''FanFic/HalfLifeFullLifeConsequences'').

* Having character {{Cameo}} appearances in games continues to be a popular hobby among amateur modders, particularly with FirstPersonShooter and WideOpenSandbox games. For instance, a number of VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}} players (mostly those who play the single player games like Episode 1 and Episode 2) have substituted [[ActionGirl Alyx Vance]] with other famous characters such as [[{{Metroid}} Samus Aran]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-80SocVHO8]], [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Princess Zelda]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCvpM6e9XIQ]], [[{{Vocaloid}} Miku Hatsune]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9vVIRtDCAw]], [[Anime/DigimonTamers Renamon]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6LHQh5gFVI]], and [[DeadOrAlive Ayane]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpGDzrX0Dtk]], to name a few examples, just to watch them perform actions normally not expected of them.

* DarkSouls had its fair share of mods after being ported to PC. It's mostly new textures for weapons, armors and characters (including the obligatory nude mod), some HUD changes and fixes for better connectivity.

** Speaking of [=UT2004=], there's the BallisticWeapons mod that converts the game into a realistic tactical shooter complete with a huge arsenal of guns and features like dynamic accuracy and recoil; toggleable scopes and silencers on many of the weapons; toggleable firing modes between single-shot, burst-of-three[[note]]one submachine gun has both 3-round and 5-round burst[[/note]] and full auto (the minigun instead has single-shot, [[AwesomeYetPractical 1800RPM]], [[GatlingGood 2400RPM]] and [[MoreDakka 3600RPM]]); the loadout system which lets players customize their spawn inventory... All but two guns are kinetic[[hottip:*:three melee weapons, seven pistols, three submachine guns, four shotguns, three assault rifles, battle rifle, two heavy machine guns, minigun, sniper rifle, '''sniper railgun''', rocket launcher, flamethrower, LightningGun, three grenades, [[StuffBlowingUp remote-controlled explosive]], land mine]] and are provided with a backstory. Recoil is very realistic: it's impossible to fire the minigun at full speed and hit someone unless the built-in bipod is deployed first (machine guns have bipods too). All pistols and submachine guns can be dual-wielded, ''[[RuleOfCool even different ones]]''.

** A recent game that has been modded is ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii''. Thanks to the level editor ''[[http://www.rvlution.net/reggie/ Reggie!]]''[[hottip:*:(named after Reggie Fils-Aime)]], mods for the game are starting to become widespread.

** You can find a LetsPlay for ''[[http://fromearth.net/LetsPlay/SecondReality/ The Second Reality Project Reloaded]]'', a remake of two separate ROM Hacks into one game, with the content from the secondary hack tucked away in a super-secret world. [[{{Raocow}} The author]] of the Let's Play in question also features his earlier Let's Plays of the two separate original hacks as a comparison.

* ''VideoGame/MythII'' came with a couple of very good editors; it was actively modded for many years, and to some extent still is. In this player's experience, it has more stand-alone mods than any game made before 2000 except ''Doom'', ''Quake'', and ''Half-Life''... and the fact that it's the only non-FPS on that list says something. Moreover, many of those mods (The Seventh God, Jinn, Chimera, Bushido) are large campaigns on par with the originals, and have been included as bonus content in commercial releases such as ''The Total Codex'' and ''Myth II: Worlds''.

** And for the PC version of ''Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition'', we have ''[[http://www.sf4remix.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page SSFIVAE Remix]'', which aims to make the game faster paced...whilst also making most of the moves and characters balls-out insane. Ryu's Metsu Hadouken Ultra, for one thing is...much different.

* ''FireEmblem'' games - particularly the GameBoyAdvance instalments - are so mod friendly that there is [[http://shrineofseals.net/forum/forum-36.html an entire set]] of tools that help make modding them even easier. Some hacks are simply translations of games that didn't get exported, but some are a [[http://www.feshrine.net/hacking/patches.html little more complicated.]] Perhaps the most ambitious currently-active modding effort is ''VideoGame/ElibianNights'', an extensive MissionPackSequel to ''[[FireEmblemElibe BlazingSword]]''.

* A small modding community has sprung up for ''{{Terraria}}'' [[http://www.terrariaonline.com/forums/client-server-mods-tools.51/ on its official forums.]]

* ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' has a [[http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=16 rather active modding community]] focusing around custom songs: the use of an MP3 and a custom note chart to create songs not on the game disk.

** SuperMario64 hacks are starting to become more prominent with the advent of the level model importer. Noteworthy ones include [[http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/543/ SM64: The Missing Stars]], the first full SM64 hack, [[http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=4 Super Mario 74]], and [[http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/873/ Super Mario: Star Road]].

* ''GuitarHero'' has a [[http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=16 rather active modding community]] focusing around custom songs: the use of an MP3 and a custom note chart to create songs not on the game disk.

* {{Oni}} has a [[http://oni.bungie.org/community/forum/index.php mod community]] dedicated to producing the [[http://oni.bungie.org/community/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1629 Anniversary Edition]] which replaces some DummiedOut content and [[LetsGetDangerous seriously upgrades]] the original [[ArtificialStupidity combat AI]].
* Thanks to the [[http://exult.sourceforge.net/ Exult]] engine, mods can be made for UltimaVII.

** StarTrekOnline (and Cryptic's next major project, DungeonsAndDragons Neverwinter) have the Foundry, a custom mission creator that works the same way that [[NeverwinterNights Neverwinter Nights]]'s Aurora toolset does.

* FCEUX, an NES emulator, features LUA scripting. LUA scripts can directly modify the game's variables. They can also accept user input. The result: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XNTjVScm_8 Mario, meet Kirby Canvas Curse.]]

** [=SNES9x=], an SNES emulator, also does LUA scripting, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHKhMxjEWgU as shown here]].

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' has gotten a few mods, including some fairly major changes to the game code itself. However, the most interesting one seems to be the Ura Zelda Restoration Project. This is pretty much a full blown 'remake' of the beta version of the game and the ura Zelda expansion, with an absolute TON of new content. It plans to have 16 dungeons (about eight or nine of them new), new bosses, new attacks, new items, new enemies, a new soundtrack and a new storyline, as well as redesigning most of Hyrule to add new areas (and changing Castle Town so it's in full explorable 3D). It's official website is [[http://uraproject.the-gcn.com/index.php here]]

* The original ''FinalFantasyTactics'' was practically tailored for modders, and not just for customizing sprites. For starters, the AI was terrible, the difficulty was broken, and - most bizarrely - enemy units never upgraded beyond knights and archers. The "1.3" mod ramped up the difficulty (advertised as "insane" levels), strengthened the enemy units, and tweaked mages to be a little less, well.. useless. This mod definitely qualifies as NintendoHard; the days of finishing off Altima with two Climhazzards are over.

* The original ''FinalFantasyTactics'' was practically tailored for modders, and not just for customizing sprites. For starters, the AI was terrible, the difficult was broken, and (most bizarrely) enemy units never upgraded beyond knights and archers. The "1.3" mod ramped up the difficulty (advertised as "insane" levels), strengthened the enemy units, and tweaked mages to be a little less, well.. useless. This mod definitely qualifies as NintendoHard; the days of finishing off Altima with two Climhazzards are over.

* The original ''FinalFantasyTactics'' was practically tailored for modders, and not just for customizing sprite. For starters, the AI was terrible, the difficult was broken, and (most bizarrely) enemy units never upgraded beyond knights and archers. The "1.3" mod ramped up the difficulty (advertised as "insane" levels), strengthened the enemy units, and tweaked mages to be a little less, well.. useless. This mod definitely qualifies as NintendoHard; the days of finishing off Altima with two Climhazzards are over.

** They have even included a new boss from the RomancingSaGa Ultimania [[spoiler: The Mother of Death, Saruin, Schirach, and Elore; Saiva the Goddess of Destruction]]

* The PC version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has a very active modding scene; the port is notoriously bad, being hindered by a staggered development cycle and numerous incompatibility problems. As such, the modding community has come up with a variety of patches and tools solely for fixing the game; there's even a custom-made graphics driver. There's also a huge volume of superficial mods, offering replacement character models (for both field and battle areas), high-definition textures, total menu overhauls, a complete retranslation effort and a tool to replace the in-game MIDI files with custom music.

* A special case is the ''Knuckles in Sonic 1'' hack, which (as the name implies) makes Knuckles into the playable character in the original ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'', in a similar fashion to the ''Knuckles in Sonic 2'' that is obtained by connecting ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'' to ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog3''. What makes this interesting is that the original developers had tried and failed to put Knuckles in the first game during the making of ''S&K'', citing technical problems. To make matters even more interesting, they've also created another version putting Tails into the game (with the spin dash, and flight).

*** [[http://www.tecnobacon.com/index.html And its being translated!]]

* GoldenEyeX is a total conversion mod for Perfect Dark that [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin turns it into GoldenEye]].

** Two major mods were created by hacking the original game's source code. They are ''Urban Chaos'' and ''Wildfire'', both developed simultaneously by two different teams for several years after the release of the original game. Eventually, the company that owned the rights to JA2 at the time offered both teams the chance to release their mods as commercial expansions (similar to the ''HalfLife''/''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'' deal). The Russian team that made Wildfire eventually took the offer, their mod was released commercially, and the package included the source code for the game executable (published under a semi-open license, paving the way to 1.13).
** By 2010, ''Jagged Alliance 2'', ''Unfinished Business'' and ''1.13'' have several dozen campaigns available between them, not to mention many MANY item packages, map packages, and other enhancements. JA2 is easily one of the most heavily modded games released before the year 2000, overtaking even such games as ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' in sheer volume.

** There's also the infamous hack PokemonQuartz, full of [[NightmareFuel bizarre new Pokemon]] and [[BlindIdiotTranslation some really weird dialogue]]. Despite its flaws, it has fully edited areas and new scenarios, which was actually impressive for the time since Pokémon hacks then were mostly just graphic or text edits.

* ''FallFromHeaven'', a ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'' mod that replaces historical recreation with dark fantasy, and adds more than a few layers to the game. Also contains a healthy dose of WorldHalfEmpty and NightmareFuel for flavor.